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Archive for December, 2010
December 16, 2010
Bill Arbios – Winemaker
We first met Bill at the Small Family Winemakers Expo in Pasadena about 10 years ago. Little did we know that we were already fans of his wine making! In fact, it wasn’t until a couple of years ago while while walking with him in his vineyard in the Alexander valley that we found out that he had been the winemaker at Lyeth, whose wine we had been carrying in the late 80′s and early 90′s. “Down there,” he said, pointing far down to the valley floor, “is what used to be Lyeth, It’s now a little company called Silver Oak.”
Artisan food and wine makers put a lot of extra care, thought, effort and expense into their work to deliver the most delicious products possible. Bill is no exception. Take his Cabernet Sauvignon, for example. This year most wineries are releasing their 2008 vintage wines. A lesser number are releasing their 2007. Bill is just now releasing his 2005! Why? Because it needed more time in the bottle to meet his standards. Buy some for yourself and see what this means in your glass – you’ll be glad you did! Or end it to your friends and clients in one of our wine gift baskets.
We’re featuring Several of Bill’s wines in our California Harvest basket, notably his Alexander Valley Cabernet and his Praxis Lagrein (lagrein is an Italian grape). It makes an outstanding Holiday Gift.
December 15, 2010
People Love us on Yelp!
Recently Yelp, a local business review web site, honored us with a sticker which says “People Love Us On Yelp.” While a sticker may not be as glorious as a trophy, it is none the less a sticker reserved only for the most renowned and best reviewed businesses in the city. By earning an average of 5 out of 5 stars, we have proven our dedication to top-notch quality and supurb service. We are certainly proud of our sticker, but we take more pride in the satisfaction we bring to our customers.
December 12, 2010
Lemon Bird Jams
Recently we participated in Artisanal L.A., a food show focusing on local artisans. To our delight, in addition to showcasing some of the local artisans we already carry at Fancifull, we found new local producers with outstanding products – so we now have even more locally produced and handmade products for our gourmet gift baskets and our shop.
Lemon Bird Jams is one such company. Making jams up in the mountains in Wrightwood, Amy Deaver uses seasonal fruit from local farmers to create unique flavor combinations that are enhanced by spices from around the world. Right now we have her delicious Cocktail Tomatoes in our California Gourmet Gift Basket and the Fig Mostarda has joined the California Harvest Basket. We have yet to design her Tomato and Vanilla Bean jam in anything except custom gift baskets, but that will happen soon. We will also be finding a basket home for her Spring Onion Confit.
Of course you can buy any of these for your own use at home right here in our store.
Warning: Amy produces in small batches and only seasonally, so once these are gone I can’t guarantee we will them again until next year. But no worries, we will bring in whatever Amy is preserving and we can guarantee it will be a treat.
December 5, 2010
Compartes Peanut Butter
I love peanut butter, it might be one of my favorite foods. When I met up with Jonathan Grahm at the Artisanal L.A. Showcase in October and he introduced me to his peanut butter I was in heaven. I mean really, peanut butter made locally, how does it get better than that? Well, he adds honey and sea salt crystals to it for a great blend of flavors and textures, that’s how.
We include it with our California Gourmet Gift Basket and can of course put it in a custom gift basket and it makes a great addition to any healthy gourmet basket. It’s fabulous on apples and pears, but I also like it just on a spoon.
You can also buy it in our store.
December 5, 2010
Bella’s Blog: The Tricky Peanut Butter
I’ve got to tell you, sometimes human food can be a bit strange at first. Take peanut butter, for instance. Man that stuff really gums up your mouth. But I like it anyway, even though it does make me a little thirsty. This is a rare treat for me because they don’t open these jars as much as they might sample cheese. But when they do, and I can finagle a bite or two, it is pure heaven.
So when Terry got this new kind in for her gift baskets recently I was eager to try it. I did my happy dance and everything. It’s called Compartes and it has a little bit of sweetness to it, hmmm, (sniff, sniff), that’s honey in there! And crunchy little salt crystals. Hey! There’s something else! That’s my flea control pill in there! Oh well, I won’t be scratching for a while. And the taste combination wasn’t that bad. Maybe the song should be “a spoonful of Compartes Peanut Butter helps the medicine go down.” Ha ha. Hmm, maybe I can get some more. Ooh – gotta go! – smell ya later…
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