December 2013 – WineFashionista

Six Sparklers for $15 or Less To Pop On New Year’s Eve

Wine

What’s New Year’s Eve without popping the cork on a bottle of bubbly? Gotta have that “pop” to make it official, right? But those bubbles are getting more and more pricey. When I decided to do a post on $15 bottles I thought I’d have a lot of choices, especially from the US, and mainly California. I was so surprised to find that most of the Cali sparkling wine is priced above my $15 limit. So I had to go the international route, and I don’t mean to Champagne. To find a budget friendly bottle of bubbles made well, you really need to go to Italy and Spain. But I did manage to find two wineries in the states that offer bubbly for $15 or less. All selections are NV which means non-vintage, a blend of many vintages. True vintage sparklers are more expensive, and they aren’t made every year.…

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Scent “Concert” Takes You On A Trip To Japan Via Your Nose

Perfume

Perfume is an emotional thing. One spritz and you’re transported back to childhood, a first love or a special place you’ve visited. Scent is evocative and primal, with the power to revive a memory in an instant. Perfume is also an art form, created by olfactory artists who blend sophisticated compositions worthy of display in a museum or contemporary art gallery. Saskia Wilson-Brown understands all this. She’s the founder of the Institute for Art and Olfaction (IAO), a Los Angeles-based non-profit devoted to providing accessible education on perfume in all its aspects. IAO’s mission is to create initiatives where artists and perfumers collaborate and even innovate projects where scent plays a major role. In January 2014 one of these collaborations debuts as a scent concert. Yes, that’s right, a concert as in a performance. How can scent make a concert? After all, there’s no audio in a perfume bottle. A…

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5 Best Wine Diva Holiday Gifts

Fashionista

When thinking about what to get the wine lover in your life, while a special bottle of wine is nice, quite frankly it’s a cop out. It doesn’t take a lot of thought or creativity. Especially if your recipient is a wine diva. She’ll appreciate your going the extra mile to find something that appeals to her love of sparkle, glamour and, of course, wine. These five gifts are sure to bring holiday cheer to any wine diva. Big Girl Sippy Cups by Bling it On. I can’t help but smile when I see these colorful and sparkly glammed up sippy cups, and that’s the reaction co-creators Terri Campa and Anna DePedrini are going for. Besties since their sons were in school and baseball and soccer, they never set out to create what’s become all the buzz in their hometown of Manteca, CA and beyond. Anna DePedrini and Terri Campa…

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Share – The Cookbook You Must Share

Food

“This is a book about humanity and eating and families and sharing and caring and generosity,” Jesse Ziff Cool is a well known restauranteur and cookbook author based in Silicon Valley. She’s long been an advocate of eating locally, in season and organically, way before it was in vogue. Jesse opened Flea Street Café in Menlo Park, Calif., where her menus have reflected this way of cooking and eating for 33 years. She’s the first one to say however she’s not a chef, but “a cook.” Jesse’s a passionate person, not only about food but about causes she believes in. When she gets behind a project, she’s all in, hands-on. Photo by Tracy Craighead The book Jesse’s talking about is Share: A Cookbook That Celebrates Our Common Humanity. “Isn’t it joyful? It isn’t about despair, it’s about food and it’s joyful,” she says. The cookbook is the result of a…

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The Legacy of Prohibition on Wine 80 Years Later

Wine

There have been many books and films made about Prohibition, the era of the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that banned the production of alcoholic drinks for commercial sale and transportation from 1920 until 1933. A new film focuses on how the wine industry rebuilt itself after Repeal and the effects and lasting legacy of Prohibition. Can’t get wine shipped to your house? Blame it on Prohibition. Can’t buy wine on Sunday? Another legacy of Prohibition. Today, December 5, 2013 is the 80th anniversary of Prohibition’s Repeal. “There is no question that the legacy of Prohibition continues,” says Carla De Luca Worfolk, director of the documentary America’s Wine: The Legacy of Prohibition. She wanted to look specifically at the wine industry. “We thought what would be most interesting and relevant to people is to understand the implications of that period and why that history is still important and relevant…

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Beauty Must Haves For Holiday Giving

Fashionista

Now that holiday season is in full swing, the search for great gifts is on. Since I am always on the lookout for beauty products that really work, I thought a list of my top beauty discoveries this year might give you some good present ideas. These are all products I’ve used, and when they run out, I restock. EOS Smooth Sphere Lip Balm. You’ve probably seen the TV commercial for this funny-shaped lip balm, in a brightly colored egg-shaped case. I”m addicted to lip balm – my lips are always dry. I bought one EOS in strawberry sorbet. EOS, which stands for “evolution of smooth,” is the softest, moistest balm I’ve ever used. I love the dome shaped sphere that glides easily on both lips. EOS balms are chuck-full of good stuff like antioxidants, shea butter and vitamin E. And they don’t have the bad things like petrolatum or…

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