Fun Halloween Wine Glasses From Lolita

Halloween is just around the corner, which means it’s time to start thinking about what you will enjoy this year. Whether you are just starting your Lolita wine glass collection or need to add more to it, the Halloween wine glasses from Lolita this year are great!

Talk about fun ones! As usual, the designers from the Santa Barbara Design Company have done it again. They have created the most unique and charming wine glasses for the Lolita collection. I’m ready to add to my collection. How about you?

Lolita is a real person. Even though that’s an alias name for her. She started designing unique wine glasses one evening while enjoying a girl’s night out with her friends. She was bored with the plain wine glasses they had. Yep, she drew her first design on a cocktail napkin that very evening.

That first design wasn’t Halloween, but there have been plenty since then! All the Lolita Halloween wine glasses are hand painted. Even any add-on designs are hand applied. And every design includes a drink recipe on the bottom of the glass. These are recipes that are appropriate for the types of glasses. You can just imagine what those drink recipes are for the Halloween wine glasses!

One of my favorites is the Miss Mummy glass. She is adorable as a mummy with big beautiful eyes popping out of the mummy wraps. Those eyes have cool eyelashes applied on as well. Too fun!

Of course, the Halloween witch wine glasses are great, too. After all, can you ever get enough of the world of witches for Halloween? So you can enjoy them on wine glasses as well!

Now, I need to warn you. Most of the Lolita glasses are limited numbers. This is especially true for the holiday ones, like Halloween. So you need to make sure you get yours early! The Lolita Halloween wine glasses will sell out quickly.

Dark Chocolate and a Healthier You

Yes, you can have a healthier you by eating chocolate. Dark chocolate is the kind you want. Many of us are already well-versed in these benefits and why. Books, news reports and articles have been available for several years now. But, in case you didn’t know, here’s the scoop.

Why Dark Chocolate?

You may very well prefer the sweeter taste of milk chocolate. Actually, I do, too. Of course, I’m passionate about anything chocolate. But, the sweeter ones contain more sugar and other ingredients that aren’t quite as good for you.

Dark chocolate contains more of the cacao bean, which is what contains those great health benefits for us. They are called flavonoids, which are anti-oxidants and more. Flavonoids are also anti-inflammatory and anti-clogging agents. All of this is great for the heart and the blood vessels.

The Health Benefits of Dark Chocolate

There’s plenty more benefit. The Health Benefits of Dark Chocolate outlines much more of what they are, along with how this all works. There’s also a section on how intense that percentage of cacao beans are best for you.

Did you know that just an ounce a day can also help your brain function better? That was one of those delightful tidbits that I enjoyed learning about. I want my brain function to improve and continue to stay alert into my old age. Don’t we all?

Sure there are tons of internal benefits to dark chocolate, but there are also the external ones. I was thrilled to discover that my skin improves. Just like an anti-aging cream, but tastes much better.

In simple terms, enjoy that great ounce of dark chocolate every day. It’s actually good for you, inside and out.

Planning a Chocolate Fondue Party

One of my favorite types of parties is one that involves chocolate. Well, chocolate can be perfect for just about anything. But, how about a chocolate fondue party? Now that sounds ideal to me. The world of chocolate is such a fun thing to plan a party around and fondue makes it even more fun. So let’s look at what great things can work for a chocolate fondue party.

Planning the Party Timing

Certainly, you want to consider when you will have your party. With a dessert theme like chocolate fondue, you don’t want to plan the timing to replace a meal, but rather look at timing outside of meal times.

After dinner for dessert is the most common, but you aren’t limited to that time only. Think about things like a weekend day mid-afternoon. Depending on the additional foods that you could have on the menu, a mid-afternoon timing makes a fun party.

Start with the Invitations for Inspiration

Party invitations are a great source of inspiration for all kinds of things party related. Decorations are one of those favorite things that I get from party invitations. But, I can also get menu ideas, even special themes.

Let me give you an example. Recently, I was looking for something different in the party theme world. A chocolate fondue party seemed like a great idea, but I found a fun invitation that centered around a vintage look. That gave me the idea to have a costume theme to my fondue party. I asked the guests to dress as their favorite historical person. As you can imagine, the party was a huge hit. My guests are still asking me to make this an annual event.

Work with Menu Ideas

The menu planning is one of those all-important aspects of your party planning. First, with anything fondue, you most likely want pre-cooked foods that are easy to dip. They need to be pre-cut into bite-sized pieces before you guests even arrive. So there is some work ahead of you.

With a chocolate fondue party, you will want to think of many options for dipping. Fruit is one of those great items. Strawberries, cherries, apples, pears, pineapple and plenty more fruits make delicious treats when dipped in chocolate. Add in things like pound cake, cookies, even fortune cookies, to round out sweets.

Nuts are another great option. But a word of caution here. Nuts are typically too small and breakable to speared with the traditional fondue forks. Instead, have a variety of tongs to use for dipping nuts.

 

Coasters to Tickle Your Wine Funny Bone

I just had to chuckle when I saw a great line up of funny coasters all centered around wine drinking. I do enjoy wine. At times to just relax with, at other times to enhance my food. But, either way, my sense of humor enjoys funny things about wine.

Actually, I’m in awe of how creative some people are. The designers of funny wine coasters certainly know their stuff. They do a great job of tickling my wine funny bone. Maybe they will for you, too.

In my home, I have lots of sandstone coasters. Just about all were given to me as gifts. Which means I do treasure them. But, I am ready now to add to my collection with a set of funny wine ones.

It was nice to discover that these beverage coasters are also available as cork-backed ones in sets of 6. Which means I have the perfect gift idea for my sister. Yes, she’s another wine lover. She’s also one that I can joke about wine with.

One of my favorite funny wine coasters has this quote: Wine is the answer. What was the question? Yes, I can hear you laughing right along with me.

But, there are plenty more! The one I featured in this article is another favorite. Wine really does make great group therapy! OK, the group of wine bottles works for me.

Take a look for yourself. Funny wine coasters has a nice collection of great ones to pick from. You may find just the right set for your own enjoyment or you may find the perfect gift for some one on your gift list. So laugh a little, then pop the cork.

Chocolate Recipes – DIY Cookbook

If you’re anything like me, you have a bunch of recipes that you want to try, have tried, or just think someday these would be nice. I have them by the handfuls for chocolate desserts, candy-making and chocolate gift giving. So I put them together and made my own chocolate cookbook.

First, I found a great binder. Since I print out recipes from the internet or pull them from magazine pages, I needed a full-sized binder. But I like to have my recipe books that look great. I don’t want just a plain old, plain old cover. I want something fun and easy to recognize on my shelf.

True, most of my recipes are on pages that I can just 3 hole punch and put in my binder. But, I also get recipes from friends. Those will tend to be on index cards. Or even those darling little recipe cards. I have some options for adding these to my chocolate cookbook binder. I can glue them onto a standard paper. Or I can get the fun plastic inserts.

Here is a great idea my daughter did for my birthday last year. She knows how much I love chocolate and love to try out new chocolate dessert recipes. She put together a separate chocolate recipe binder. She even titled it New Chocolate Recipes for Mom’s Kitchen. She could do that personalizing because she ordered the binder from Zazzle.

Then she went through my own DIY chocolate recipe binder to make sure she didn’t duplicate any recipes. She got me a whole new set of chocolate recipes to try! It was a great gift. Now, as I try new ones, I can move them from “New Recipes” to my own chocolate binder. DIY recipe binders are the greatest in my view. My kitchen is so much more fun!

Prepare for Summer with Gourmet Picnic Baskets

Ah, the coming of summer always brings me to thoughts of picnics. Then I start thinking about special picnic baskets for all the fun foods and drinks that I like to have. For years, I have been perfecting my own gourmet picnics.

And, actually, I have several baskets. Each with a different theme. I have one that is all about a fancy romantic picnic for  two. Including wine glasses, real china plates and cloth napkins. Those are such special picnics when we can get away alone together.

But, I have other more casual baskets. These are more in the fun line up, with red checkered tablecloths to serve the picnic from.

For me, and my family, we are getting away from disposable goods in our picnic baskets. So paper plates and cheap plastic eating utensils aren’t part of my baskets. Instead, we have sets of unbreakable plates and fun flatware.

These sets stay with each picnic basket. As I prepare the food for the next picnic, all of my extras are already loaded. It’s just a matter of choosing the foods that will go along.

With themed picnic baskets, I like to match the food choices to the theme. When I can add gourmet foods, that all the better. It makes the picnic seem more special, too.

I have also given many a gourmet picnic basket as a gift. I load the chosen basket with a small set of dishware and linens, then complement the gift with a few gourmet food items. These really turn out to be fabulous gifts.

After all, who doesn’t enjoy a lovely picnic on warm summer day? The whole family together for a fun time. And a meal to go with it.

So plan out your own gourmet picnic basket. You and your family can have an easier time sharing in the summer fun.