Search Results

We were introduced to this soap during a spa treatment in Ibiza and we never looked back. Fortified with rich, natural, nourishing ingredients this soap is stunningly fragrant and astonishingly moisturizing. Sulphate free, the soap's sole surfactant ingredient is potassium olivate, a derivative of olive oil. Added to water and the surfactant are pure eucalyptus oil, olive oil, and Argan oil which produce a thick paste with a consistency and color somewhere between the most decadent sticky caramel and a refreshing olive gel. The fruity earthy scent of olive tames the eucalyptus, resulting in a strong almost medicinal herbal fragrance without venturing to the dark side of Vic's vapor rub eucalyptus scents. Opening the glass jars to reveal the dark soap will instantly transform your shower into a Moroccan Hammam or better yet, the La Sultane de Saba Spa in Paris. Allow your skin to soften in a warm bath or shower before massaging a small amount of the slippery paste onto the skin. Steam will enhance the benefits of the eucalyptus and flood the air around you with the most invigorating scent as the olive oil and vitamin E sooth even the driest skin. For an even more pampering experience, allow the soap to melt into your skin ~5 minutes before using a kessa glove or loofa to gently polish and brighten body. The smell and texture of this paste are so enchanting the five minutes before we use the kessa glove fly by almost too quickly! Pair with a Moroccan rhassoul clay treatment or an Argan oil hair mask to create an easy but indulgent Hammam ritual or simply transform a mundane weekday shower into a rejuvenating cleanse by trading out your shower bar with a jar of this exceptional soap.

Guitars offer an impressive diversity of sound. From the vigor of flamenco to the power of rock, successful guitar riffs can transform any track into a hit. Today, however, we want to shine a light on an unsung musical genre: acoustic instrumental guitar. This melodic but technical genre is the emotion-eliciting ear candy we are starving for. Played in the morning, it offers a peaceful meditation that can carry us through even the most hectic days. Mid-day, its a familiar and warm taste of home and, in the evening, it's a suave ballad that reminds us of roaring fireplaces in the winter and rich tulip glasses of cognac. Moreover, played during any party, instrumental guitar gracefully adds an air of understated intellectualism and elegance in a way smooth jazz cannot. Need some inspiration? It's no surprise that Victor Wooten was ranked in the Top 10 Bassists of All Time by Rolling Stone and he takes the bass to new levels on his album Palmystery. We find such joy in this blessed blend of jazzy tradition and polished modernity. Performing Fences, Kaki King plays the tinny and angelic Griffin guitar, a petite 12-string instrument thats uniquely capable of capturing all the complexity of this flawless composition. When we first heard her perform this piece, on a rainy Tuesday night in Manhattan, it brought us, and many around us, quite literally to tears. While the recording can't capture the nuance of live acoustics, we still listen to it ceaselessly! No acoustic guitar list would be complete without Maneli Jamal. Jamal had moved 20 times between five different countries before he was 18, often as a consequence of refugeeism or deportation. Ending up in Canada, Jamal would wake in the middle of the night understandably not knowing where he was and, taking to songwriting for comfort, he wrote Morning in Adanac (Canada spelled backwards if you missed it!). We feel an effortless sense of peace listening to this and it's one of our go to tracks when we start feeling lost or overwhelmed by life. Pat Metheny takes a slightly different approach, enticing us with intense ebbs and flows of an undulating melody. Complete with dizzying layers and gorgeous builds, the way this piece engulfs us is almost palpable. Utilizing the gentle rumble of supporting drums, Thievery Corporation transports us to Brazil with this contemporary interpretation of ethereal and sensual bossa nova. Saudade, named after a Portuguese word that describes the feeling of sadness associated with missing and longing for something you love-a melancholy combination of nostalgia and pining-this track makes us shiver with emotion.

Many people can't live without the caffeine jolt provided by a daily cup of Joe, but lets be frank, coffee is mundane. While we appreciate the stunning compositions of an epic cup of freshly brewed Colombian coffee, most of the time we grab a cup of stale coffee from the break room or dish out far too much money at Starbucks for something that only resembles coffee. So today, we offer you 5 live-changing beverages that will drastically improve your quality of life. 1. Jallab Turn to this sweet syrupy refreshment to curb even the strongest coffee cravings. Jallab is a popular in much of the Middle East and is a beach side staple in Syria and Lebanon. The drink is made by mixing a jellaba syrup into still or sparkling water (our personal preference). Dates and rose water are added to a base of thick indulgent grape molasses to create the syrup which is then infused with the smoke of incense adding a perfumed flavor that we don't often encounter in our daily lives. Served over ice and adorned with golden raisins and nuts this beverage is a pick-me-up that will make you feel like you're summering on the Mediterranean. 2. Kvass When you need a mid-day jolt and don't want to cave to coffee cravings, turn to kvass. This bubbly fermented Russian beverage is somewhere between an alcohol free beer and a kombucha. Kvass has the same alcohol flavor profile as kombucha (and same alcohol content at less than 1%) but replaces flavors of tea with those of yeasty sour bread. A simple combination of water, black bread (a rich rye), sugar, and yeast or sourdough starter can be flavored by adding raisins or other sweet fruits before being left to ferment and become a rustic sparkling beverage. We've also tried kvass sweetened with honey and blended with warm herbs and can attest to its unusually complex deliciousness. If you are on board with kombucha you will likely succumb to this Russian classic! 3. Ruk’u’x Ulew Ceremonial Cacao Paste Hot Chocolate Nothing elevates life like chocolate. And, for us, no chocolate can come close to the pure ceremonial cacao paste from Ruk’u’x Ulew. The cacao is grown at an organic indigenous family farm in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala before being processed by a women's collective on the shores of Lake Atitlán. Small batches beans are left to ferment then are sun-dried and roasted over a wood fire before being shelled by hand. Once processed, the cacao is formed into beautifully swirled disks of untempered pure chocolate. With notes of dark coffee and smoky earthiness there isn't any detectable bitterness in this gorgeous paste. We admit to savoring every last drop of rich cups of cocoa each day to start off our mornings with peace. We begin with hot (not steaming) water or milk into which we add some finely chopped or grated cacao off the block for the most incredible cup of hot chocolate you could imagine. For some added magic, whip the cocoa by hand, with a blender, or a hot chocolate steamer for a foamy masterpiece. We don't add sweetener but you absolutely can! 4. Gorreana Chá Verde Chá Gorreana is a vibrant gem in the rough of commercial green teas. This smooth Portuguese tea, harvested on the oldest tea plantation in Europe, is a sweet refreshing green tea without the unpleasant verdant grass flavor that defines trendy matchas and mates. Grown on the Portuguese island of Saõ Miguel in the Atlantic, the tea leaves that compose Gorreana green teas are free of pesticides and are hand picked during the early summer when a wet fog shields the tiny buds from harsh climate, preserving the teas' distinctively sweet and delicate flavor. Should you desire added freshness, Gorreana has a green tea with mint that we swear by to brighten our mornings. 5. Horchata Craving sweetness? Nothing satisfies our sweet tooth like the creamy decadence of horchata. A staple from West Africa to Spain, horchata is a delicate blend of rice or tiger nuts, sugar, milk, evaporated milk, and water scented with vanilla and cinnamon, and served over ice for a refreshingly rich treat. If you are lucky enough, you may be able to buy some at local restaurants but if not, just let your ingredients soak overnight to quickly whip up your own like an elevated morning smoothie. Not digging the dairy? Simply switch out the milk products for an almond or coconut milk. Feeling adventurous? Add cubed fruits for a colorful juicy texture enhancement. For a Middle Eastern twist on horchata, try meghli: a warming mix of sugar, powered rice, and toasted caraway, fennel, anise, and cinnamon that is steeped in water as a fragrant tea. The starches in the rice powder thicken the tea to an almost pudding like texture that is then topped with chopped walnuts, almonds, and pistachios for both crunch and a balancing whisper of salt.

While everyone can appreciate tulips, catmint, and cone flowers, occasionally we desire something a little more interesting from our gardens. Perhaps it's the impact of the coronavirus, but this year we are trading vibrant florals for textured vegetation. We've balanced sueded whites with vibrant greens and forbidding plums to create a garden dripping with complexity. So here are our spring picks for a garden that will add sophistication to your yard and undoubtably generate neighborhood envy! Angel Wings this silvery, nearly white, plant resembles a lambs ear with long velvet tongue shaped leaves. Purple Heart a fierce plant, the Purple Heart grows with bamboo like spires in a gorgeous plum color that put out delicate pink flowers. Limegreen Nicotinia this incredibly fragrant tobacco plant sports an abundance of bold green flowers. Mouse ear a Hosta variety, mouse ears are clusters of tea drop shaped blue-hued leaves that seem so eager to open they wind and twist around one another. Silver Artemisia this wispy plant forms a mound of silver feathery leaves that are the perfect complement to the many rigid plants we included in this list Creeping Jenny offering such euphoric vibrance is creeping Jenny, a fast spreading ground cover comprised of lime green dime-sized disk-shaped leaves. Purple Shamrock this lovely low growing plant has deep purple triangular leaves broken up by a scattering of delicate pink flowers atop surprisingly green stems. Silverberry Shrub for some added height, incorporate this beauty. the young leaves are covered in shimmering silver scales and the plant produces hidden but highly fragrant flower throughout the early and mid autumn.

Outsider contributions are too often overlooked in the seemingly impenetrable art world. By definition, outsider art is any art that is created by someone without formal art training who remains uninvolved in the mainstream art establishment. But for the purposes of this post, we are going to focus on a specific faction of outsider art: art created by individuals with developmental, physical, and intellectual disabilities (DD/ID). As artists with DD/ID experience no pressure from the art establishment to produce, no pressure to compete, and no pressure to be more original, each piece is the result of pure inspiration without any motive other than to create. We really can't say enough about our overwhelming love for this type of outsider art. It's boldly and unapologetically creative, exhilaratingly genuine, and often very reasonably priced. The pieces bring something truly special: art made by artists with DD/ID is profound in a way that most art we see isn't. Because they are separated from the art world, artists with DD/ID are expressive in a refreshingly unrestrained way as the stifling pressures associated with the art establishment aren't causing them to second-guess their artistic choices. While these artists are living with DD/ID we want to make clear that there is no lack of glorious artistic talent in this community. These artists have both innovatory vision as well as impressive technique and as such we love both representative and abstract pieces by outsider artists. They often develop unique voices complete with preferred color palettes, mediums, and application techniques that create distinctive and recognizable portfolios. Take the massive painting (roughly 5ft wide) created by the brilliant Katie Carcieri that we've included at the top of this page. Carcieri is a powerfully joyful person and her work,not surprisingly, reflects this with overflowing color and flourishing florals. Her work is described as "depict[ing] one true thing: what the inner soul of a happy individual looks like"(1) and we can feel this genuine delight when we are fortunate enough to be in the presence of any of her paintings. Hopefully, after reading that last sentence, you are longing to own one of her pieces! Who wouldn't want a glimmer of that joy in their home? Nearly all cities have organizations that offer adult education and care programs to people with disabilities and, more often than not, art is involved. Contact an organization near you to inquire about art shows. We've found that facilities often host holiday art fairs where you can meet the talented artists and peruse works in a gallery setting. All the photos in this post are of pieces from our personal collections! Not only are they beautiful but they offer a very unique positive energy to our walls. If you haven't explored the outsider art world we couldn't recommend it more! We have found most art of this kind is priced under $300 so there are no barriers to owning and enjoying magnificent pieces by artists with DD/ID. Please know that we never buy outsider art as an act of charity; we do so solely because we truly feel it's our privilege to experience works created by such unguardedly genuine people.

The New England Cheddar is, in fact, not a cheese. Confused? So were we! Named for its resemblance to a wheel of cheese, the New England Cheddar is a pumpkin variety with a smooth matte rind that we'd characterize as more of a blushed cantaloupe color than golden cheddar and a sweetness that we never thought possible in a squash outside a Delicata! We firmly believe it is an indefensible foolishness that people don't regularly eat pumpkin outside of seasonal pies and, with flavor like this, the New England Cheddar maybe be the squash to inspire people to explore the culinary potential of pumpkin! We LOVE to cook with this pumpkin. Its sumptous orange flesh is soft, with an almost mousse texture, and has a relatively low moisture so it's an excellent pumpkin to incorporate in baked goods. But our preferred way to eat these gorgeous vegetables is to roast New England Cheddar halves and enjoy them with a pinch of flaked sea salt or a touch of allspice as self-contained bowls of buttery smooth and tender pulp. With a flavor reminiscent of caramelized roasted root vegetables you won't think twice about serving halves for a unique pumpkin centered-meal! Given its versatile flavor and texture, the New England Cheddar has become our go to pumpkin. During the fall, you can find us utilizing the vivid color and squatness of Cinderella pumpkins and soft blue hues of the Jarrahdale and Blue Doll varieties in our autumn decorations but, when it's time to cook, we exclusively reach for the New England Cheddar.

From tea-sweetener to antibacterial treatment, honey is a household staple in bear shaped bottles and glass jars alike. But Hana's Honey is leaps and bounds above all other honeys. Stunningly thick and gloriously gold, the honey is as beautiful as one hopes and expects the sweet syrup to be and arrives in a variety of jar sizes and shapes adorned with endearing vintage-looking labels. What sets Hana's Honey apart from the rest of the saturated honey market is the flavor profile. It lacks the now standard clover honey softness as well as the unique, but impractical, specialty flavors provided by honeys produced from eucalyptus or citrus. Rather, it offers smooth, complex flavor complete with floral and herbal notes without any saccharine sweetness. Of course, Hana's Honey is sweet, but it is significantly less sweet than conventional honeys which allows the flavors to breath and shine. All the nuances of New England vegetation are captured in the stunning jars and, because it is less sweet, the opportunities to use Hana's honey are countless. Beautiful as a cheese pairing or generously slathered over butter on warm toast, Hana's Honey is best appreciated in situations where its unexpectedly subtle sweetness is highlighted. We love that its neutrality enhances savory flavors that may be overshadowed by sweeter alternatives making it a perfect addition to sauces, salads, and stews. No matter how you choose to use it, you will surely love this unique rendition of a typically kitchen staple.

When our salt cravings hit we almost always turn to the reliable cracker. Whether we broil some olive oil coated baguette slices for fresh crostini or reach for the buttery but admittedly plebeian perfection of flaky Ritz crackers, we've tried and love most cracker options. Having said that, none come close to the effortless balance of Beth Bakes Currant & Fennel Crackers. Replace a savory or sweet treat with one of these spectacular crackers for a brilliantly satisfying snack or add them to cheese plates and charcuterie boards and confidently wow even the most discerning party guests. A smooth, nearly wafer thin, cracker provides a distinctive snap and crunch while sweet currants, caramelized by baking, offer unexpected moments of delectably sticky fruitiness. The sophisticated texture profile is enhanced by the seemingly effortless flavor balance: the afore mentioned currants playfully mingle with the herbaceous, yet subtle, fennel seeds and the mouth-watering flaked sea-salt scattered atop each cracker. Each cracker, each bite, is meticulously even, leaving genuinely nothing to be desired. Naturally, with balance so flawless, we enjoy our crackers plain. What is better than the purity of such simple perfection? We'd argue nothing! But we have have tested the recommended smear of sweet cream and can attest to its deliciousness; the richness of silky fat adds another texture dimension that is not unwelcome and rounds out the mouth feel of the crackers. To make these crispy delights more tempting, they are gluten-free, nut-free, soy-free, starch-free, non-GMO, AND vegan. Not to mention, the brilliant creator of these treats, Beth Fradin, is stunning and sincerely delightful. She offers two other cracker flavors, Crispy Classic and Pumpkin Seed Cumin, but we are partial to the salty sweet combination of the Currant & Fennel!

Today we are talking Fish; not our scaly water-dwelling Earth-mates but rather an all too aware and devastatingly honest artistic genius, Mr. Fish, who published one of our favorite books: Go Fish: How to Win Contempt and Influence People. Fish is, for lack of a better descriptor, a political cartoonist. With an unbelievable talent for generating a body of work that manages to offend everyone in one way or another, Fish shares with the world drawings and captions that highlight false truths, societal short comings, and failings of humanity as a whole. Mostly harping on religious, economic, and political offenses, Fish utilizes savagely sharp satire to successfully portray the realities of life with clarifying wit and cutting humor. But it's important to recognize that he does so without a drop of innate cynicism; at his core, Fish is simply cursed with unenviable and stunningly unbiased clarity on the state of the world. We like to believe Fish is a hopeless optimist when it comes to people and, as a result, anyone or anything that acts counter to this—by either forcing injustices or failing to live up to an expectation of thoughtful decency—causes him sincere distress that he then expresses through exquisitely rendered cartoons. Looking at his cartoons, we the audience are witnessing Fish wrangle with disappointment. Importantly, there is no despair in his emotional work; even in his most somber pieces the expression is predominantly anger because, ultimately, Fish maintains an expectation that people are capable of more. With this comes the belief that there is an opportunity for betterment, however unlikely it may be. A man who witnesses injustice and has no faith in change doesn't typically have the desire to artistically point out such failings! That is not to say that the anger is always pleasant or palatable. Fish's work often teeters on being too visceral and too provocative. But thats exactly the line he should ride. A political cartoon, in our opinion, is nothing but commercialized fodder if it doesn't elicit a profound response. Whether that be an inspiration to take action or a palpable sense of unsettling outrage, cartoons should never lull you into a feeling of comfortable validation. In this tumultuous time of division, injustice, and unnervingly deep-seated frustration we find ourselves turning more and more to Fish to clear through any political misdirections or over-simplified activism and offer a glimmer of the hard truth. We can always count on Fish to make us look, make us see, and make us feel, for better or worse.

Nothing elevates life like chocolate. And, for us, no chocolate can come close to the stunningly nuanced and gloriously pure ceremonial Criollo cacao paste from Ruk’u’x Ulew. The cacao is thoughtfully grown at an organic indigenous family farm in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala before being processed by a women's collective on the shores of Lake Atitlán. Small batches of beans are left to ferment, sun-dried, and roasted gently over a rustic wood fire before being carefully shelled by hand. Once processed by stone-grinding into a paste, the cacao is formed into beautifully swirled disks of untempered pure chocolate. The flavor is truly fantastic; not bitter—as one may expect from unsweetened chocolate—making it pleasant enough to be consumed without added sweeteners. Notes of dark roasted coffee and smokey earthiness calm any acerbic tones one associates with bitterness. Eaten off the block, the chocolate is lovely but, as it lacks any added emulsifiers, the texture is missing the smooth unctuous mouthfeel of conventional chocolate making it, in our opinion, ideal for hot chocolate. We admit to savoring every last drop of rich cups of cocoa each day to start off our mornings with a peace that only comes from a soul-warming cup of decadent hot chocolate. We begin with hot (not boiling) water or milk into which we add some finely chopped or grated cacao off the block. The untempered nature of the cacao results in a tender brittle texture and, when cut, the cacao naturally wants to break into perfectly sized powdery granules making preparation nearly effortless. Add in some cinnamon, vanilla, and a whisper of cayenne for the most incredible cup of hot chocolate you could imagine. For some added magic, whip the cocoa by hand, with a blender, or a hot chocolate steamer for a foamy transformative masterpiece. We don't add sweetener but you absolutely can! The cacao can also be used in place of unsweetened chocolate in sweet and savory recipes alike. Add it to any sauce for an unexpected but welcomed mole flavor or grate over ice cream for a refreshingly bitter chocolate kick. To make this cacao even more appealing, know that 100% of the profits go to the incredible indigenous Mayan people who grow and process this decadent product!