On silly holiday experiments, and with so much wine around combined with freezing (ok well not literally freezing, but cold for LA) weather... and seeing Mulled Wine, Spiced Wine, and Glögg recipes on Liqurious... when it came time for dan's birthday Xmas eve we couldn't help but read up on all the different recipes, and there are SO many variations, and ended up making out own variation that we've tweaked a bit over the last few days as well! So, here is ours:

NOTGLÖGG ~ a simple NOTCOT take on Glögg
1 Bottle Red Wine
1- 2oz Creme de Casis
1-2oz Creme de Mures
4-5 oz Brandy
1/2 cup Sugar (adjust to taste)

in cheese cloth:
2 Cinnamon sticks
6 Cloves
6-8 Cardamon pods
2 All Spice
pinch and a half Nutmeg

Put 1 bottle of red wine in a pot ~ add sugar and the cheese cloth bindle (we just tied it all up in there... yes, it looked like a bloody bandage) ~ keep it just under boiling for about half hour ~ add creme de casis and mures and brandy ~ simmer a bit longer ~ serve HOT [Notes: make sure its not TOO sweet ~ makes about 4 mugs... ~ also, i kind of wing all the measurements ~ so fiddle to taste... other optional ingredients we saw in researching - honey, sugar cubes, vanilla, almonds, raisins, corriander, orange/lemon peel (twist peels to release oils before dropping in)]

For more info, here's wikipedia on Mulled Wine and Glögg... See more pictures of the process, and some fun new glasses on the next page!

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Tags: drinks - liqurious - recipes

Recently, i showed you our first Liqurious recipe inspired by Rachel's Yogurt, Bee Cool, and promised you there were two more to come! Well, here they are!

Inspired by Rachel's Yogurt flavors, here are - Sweet Summer Revival inspired by Revive (Peach Green Tea) and White Flower Bramble inspired by Glow (Berry Jasmine), and concocted by the fabulous Anita (yup, Married with Dinner, Anita who's been working on Liqurious with us!) ~ So check out the recipes and how gorgeous pics of some of the key ingredients on the next page!

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Tags: drinks - liqurious - recipes

For their latest Design Issue, Canadian magazine The Block commissioned chocolatier Thomas Haas to replicate the now-iconic 1949 Eames House in CHOCOLATE! Funniest thing is that this house is right down the street, and i've probably driven by multiple times a day for years...

"This sweet miniature design mimics the original structure Charles and Ray Eames created as part of Arts & Architecture magazine's Case Study Houses program. The program asked prominent architects of the day to design affordable and cost-efficient homes as possible solutions to the post-WWII housing boom. The modernist Pacific Palisades home is a semi-prefab wonder; the airy steel-and-glass structure with its brightly coloured panels was built in just three days. The Block's modernist chocolate dollhouse took 30 hours to complete."

Check out the photos, The Block issue cover, and article (including Thomas Haas' Chocolate Shortbread Recipe)... perhaps it's inspiration for gingerbread house building this year?

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Tags: architecture - chocolate - eames - food - magazines - recipes

Martinis + Pop Art? How could i resist a press release that starts with "After collaborating to create an Ad Campaign for their vermouths in the late 1950's, MARTINI & ROSSI brings Warhol's iconic artwork and style back to life with a modern twist. From canvases to cocktails, MARTINI & ROSSI has embarked on a new advertising and cocktail campaign - The MARTINI Factory - aimed at redefining vermouth and the art of the aperitif. The vermouth aperitif drinking occasion, hugely popular in Europe, has yet to take hold in the U.S. market where cocktails dominate popular culture. This new campaign offers consumers an array of innovative vermouth cocktails featuring contemporary ingredients. MARTINI & ROSSI will also unveil a collection of six innovative Warhol-inspired vermouth cocktails at an invitation-only MARTINI & ROSSI Warhol Factory party - being held in NYC on August 6th - what would have been Warhol's 80th birthday."

Take a look at the original 50's and 60's advertisements by Warhol on the next page, as well as some of the new Martini Factory Drinks! With playful names like the Factory Martini, Velvet Edie, Pop Art 'Tini, Bohemian Cocktail, and more... this is certainly one of my favorite retro/present campaigns of the moment, and the merging of art + drink is such a perfect match.

Here are the 6 Martini & Rossi Factory Drinks (recipes on the next page!)

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Tags: advertising - art - drinks - recipes