Recently in Food | Drink Category
So as I have been trading my morning cup of joe for a strong cup of green tea, I have found Kusmi Tea to be a great replacement to my sugary, creamy, coffee concoction. I found the line of Kusmi Teas at Dean & Deluca recently in Napa Valley and tried the Kusmi Detox tea. I've got to say, it's a great, invigorating tea without the coffee jitters - not to mention all those additional calories. Kusmi Detox tea is a great blend of Maté and chinese green tea with a refreshing hint of lemongrass, which I love.
Kusmi Tea has a 140-year history in teas. Their site offers a variety of teas and recipes too. Their Campus Tea recipe made with Ceylon and dry white wine sounds, extraordinique!
Where to Buy | Website
So a friend and Extraordinique reader has been encouraging me to post about this great gift she got from her dad. Knowing his daughter loves Pelligrino, he bought the family their own "Soda Stream." She loves it and last weekend I saw it in action. Quick, simple, easy and bubbly!!!I love the idea of reducing all of the plastic we buy weekly for our spring and sparkling water. Now, with Soda Stream, you can turn your water or any types of flavored water into sparkling water or your favorite soda. (That is if you have the keys to the Pepsi recipe vault.)
Website | Where to Buy
I don't know how many times I've said, when are they going to make a drink that is the antithesis of all these "heart-attacks-in-a-can." Well, apparently there is now one on our shelves, Slow Cow - a relaxation session in every can. I love it!Website | Where to Buy
Have you ever craved a unique ingredient in your favorite cereal or love mixing different ones together? One of our Extraordinique readers just turned me on to MojaMix as a result of reading this week's SF Bay edition of the Thrillist.Looking in to this more, I think this idea is amazing and fun! Create your own favorite cereal in three easy steps. Choose your cereal, add dried fruits, add nuts and seeds and voila!, you have the the perfect hearty and healthy mix.
I love the "Runner's Fuel" recipe and "Happy Camper" too.
What will your mix be? Check out MojaMix on Facebook and Twitter too!
Website | Where to Buy
You know when your bottle of hot sauce says, "Pain is Good" you're about to punish, yet tantalize your taste buds. Creating micro-batches, Original Juan, maker of gourmet sauces, dips and spreads, looks to "sizzle the soul of chile-heads and tantalize the tastebuds of the meek and mild; to pursue the finest, most complex, and richest flavors from the outmost extremes of heat to the sweet and mild."
Their label shows the intense flavor and spice you'll enjoy.
Website | Where to Buy
It's often the question of the day for the "chef" of the house - What's for dinner? It's also the familiar quest to do something fun and unique at the next dinner party. Preparing meals during the busy week, having some fun on the weekends entertaining or just having a quiet Sunday to relax is only limited now by your imagination. What if you could freeze, mold, even bake with familiar characters and shapes everyone will be talking about.Kick Up Your Mimosas
Recently celebrating our one year anniversary @Extraordinique, our friend and photographer, Calvina, suggested Tyler Florence's fantastic recipe for Orange Cream Mimosas. What was the most fun was using Sillycone's Symbol Ice Trays to toss in frozen @ symbols for our toast! Cheers! Try Buckwheat Pancakes with Vanilla & Cinnamon Butter
Enjoying the smell of sizzling bacon and pancakes on the griddle makes for the perfect weekend morning, but how about kicking it up a notch by making your own infused butter cubes. We used Sillycone Letter Trays and made a mixture of vanilla and cinnamon in softened butter. Poured into the molds and wrapped in freezer wrap, not only were we able to take out what we needed, but we have some left over in the freezer to keep for the next pancake splurge. Yum!Celebrate Colorfully
For a special birthday celebration, I have always wanted to experiment with fondant. The Sillycone trays made shaping the fondant easy and fun to decorate our three layer chocolate decadence cake. Make a wish!
Reverse Your Thinking
Mold to your hearts content, but also think outside the mold. Serendiptously, we found that we could also have some fun with Sillycone's Number Trays and Letter Ice Trays in reverse order. Placing the trays in glass pie tins, we put the trays in shallow water then in the freezer. Pulling the trays out once frozen, we found the perfect imprints of numbers and letters. Add a little food coloring to each letter and voila! - we had a very interesting mold with all sorts of applications to add to your punch bowl or just hours of creative fun for the kids!
What's amazing about Sillycone Trays
is that you can literally do anything with them. They are highly
flexible and can be used safely from freezing to baking. Sillycone even
suggests some other creative ideas like making your own sidewalk chalk,
pouring concrete numbers, molding your own soap, candles, and crayons,
too. With the holiday season coming up, there are all kinds of
applications for homemade fun. They also make for a perfect stocking
stuffer under $20. :)
Website | Where to Buy
Special thanks to Calvina Photography who helped tell the story through her photography, exclusively for Extraordinique.
Mold to your hearts content, but also think outside the mold. Serendiptously, we found that we could also have some fun with Sillycone's Number Trays and Letter Ice Trays in reverse order. Placing the trays in glass pie tins, we put the trays in shallow water then in the freezer. Pulling the trays out once frozen, we found the perfect imprints of numbers and letters. Add a little food coloring to each letter and voila! - we had a very interesting mold with all sorts of applications to add to your punch bowl or just hours of creative fun for the kids!
What's amazing about Sillycone Trays
is that you can literally do anything with them. They are highly
flexible and can be used safely from freezing to baking. Sillycone even
suggests some other creative ideas like making your own sidewalk chalk,
pouring concrete numbers, molding your own soap, candles, and crayons,
too. With the holiday season coming up, there are all kinds of
applications for homemade fun. They also make for a perfect stocking
stuffer under $20. :)Website | Where to Buy
Special thanks to Calvina Photography who helped tell the story through her photography, exclusively for Extraordinique.
Not too long ago, my nose led me to a very aromatic booth where coffee beans were being canned at our local Farmer's Market. There was a substantial line to find out more and I was intrigued by some shoppers who actually were handing back their coffee tins for more. Once I got to the front of the line, I learned all about Pachamama Cofee Co-Op, a very unique farmers-owned co-op that was incorporated in Davis, California in 2001 and spans from Ethiopia to Peru. 
Choosing a French Roast Premium blend to try, the sales team also told me about their "refill" tin program, which reduces the number of tins wasted and encourages customers to bring back the specially designed steel can to preserve freshness.
Pachamama Coffee Co-op is very impressive on so many levels - the family farmers and their stories, the 100% organic farming practices, the unique coffee beans themselves, and their mission to provide customers with premium coffee in the most direct manner possible and, in doing so, improve the lives of small-scale farmers and their families.This cooperative is democratically-controlled and owned by its members, producer-groups of representing small-scale coffee farmers around the world.
Pachamama's member-owners ship their finest, organic single-origin coffee to the USA from Ethiopia, Guatemala, Peru, Nicaragua and Mexico. Pachamama Coffee Co-op hand-roasts in small batches in California and ship direct to customers.
Extraordinique!
Website | Where to Buy
