Category Archives: Shop

Your shoes have a pal in KIWI

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My dad’s big, wooden shoeshine kit always contained a few tins of KIWI. Dad was born in 1928 — and KIWI already had been around for more than 20 years, keeping shoes shined and supple since 1906.

This fall, I will keep my suede shoes and boots looking fit with KIWI Suede & Nubuck Protector. (Fashion watchers, I ask you: how come suede is in season in fall and winter, when there are lots of wet leaves and slushy streets to mar its lovely finish? ‘Tis one of the great mysteries of the Well-Dressed Universe.)

Thank goodness for this handy spray product. It’s a convenient cousin to KIWI Protect-All, which provides water and stain protection for leather and fabrics, typically the type you send to the dry cleaners.

(Mystery No. 2: Why are shoe products called Kiwi? Answer: Because the inventor’s wife hailed from New Zealand. This could come in handy if you are ever a Jeopardy! contestant.)

The suede and nubuck defender goes on clear. It does not darken the color of your footwear, handbags or gloves. Truly. And it is quite effective in shielding your pricey shoes and boots so that you can enjoy them for more than one season. But remember, no puddle jumping!

Hint: Apply KIWI well before you head to the Blizzard Ball. The process takes some time.

Here’s how to use it:

  • Position the can about 10 inches from your target.
  • Spray evenly over the surface. Use a light hand. Don’t saturate your Louis Vuitton bag.
  • Allow the finish to cure for 24 hours.
  • Apply a second light coat.
  • Reapply as needed, depending on wear and tear.

You can find the products at Walgreens, Walmart, Target and lots of other stores. Expect to pay about $7.49 per can.

 

Awash in Hollywood glamour with California Faucets

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California Faucets is reviving the elegance and glamour of Hollywood’s yesteryear with its Art Deco Collection. That is notable news for those of us who get excited about luxurious faucets and the other special touches that elevate our homes.

The geometric curves, linear symmetry, and bold contrast in materials and colors that marked the design movement are highlighted in the collection, which teams  matte black handles with sleek polished nickel.
Picture Louise Brooks, with her angular dark bob in a shimmering satin gown,  reborn as a faucet.

I am a Jersey girl — who now lives in Delaware. But I do appreciate California Faucets, which truly are made in California. In fact, I have California Faucets in a bathroom in my own home, a vintage stone colonial, and enjoy them each and every day because they have the look and heft of older faucets — but function with the ease and reliability of modern plumbing.

Beautiful faucets are a constant source of pleasure, like a fabulous watch or a luxury car.
So, how do you interpret Art Deco? This collection is a natural match for black and white tile or stone and crisp, white fixtures.

The Classic Moderne faucet is cool and timeless, inspired by the neoclassical architecture that influenced art deco design. It displays a graceful, low-arc spout that is subtly contoured. The design also features angular hex escutcheons and handles with sleek metal index buttons.

Empire Moderne takes its inspiration from Manhattan’s art deco designed Chrysler Building. Like the landmark, it is tall, streamlined and symmetrically geometric.

Deco Moderne is inspired by Cubist art. The spout and wide spread lever handles are curved to facets and planes.  That technique allows the surface to reflect light. A classic yet avant-garde look.

List price for the 8-inch widespread Classic Moderne faucet is $755. The Empire Moderne faucet lists for $890. And the Deco Moderne faucet is $668.

 

 

 

Yu-Be, from Japan to your skin

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Since 1957, Yu-Be skin care products    have been helping customers in Japan to moisturize their skin without feeling greasy.

The secret is glycerine, which glides on skin and is soothing to even sensitive complexions.

Yu-Be is a go-to lotion in cold weather and was famously carried to the summit of Mount Everest by mountaineer Sumiyo Tsuzuki, who carried a 1.25-ounce tube of Yu-Be taped to a shoe lace around her neck.

I was on top of the world when I tried a few sample products. Yu-Be’s foaming skin polish washes away makeup and perspiration and leaves your skin feeling smooth and refreshed. The lotion keeps skin moist for hours, without being too slick and helps to heal ragged cuticles and rough patches. The lip balm is petroleum-free and enriched with camphor.

You can buy Yu-Be on the company website, Amazon, Sephora and a host of online retailers. Expect to pay about $5 for lip balm and $25 and up for full-size moisturizers.

Stonyfield goes Greek and low fat

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I have always liked yogurt, even back in the day when if was a glumpy mess in a cup and you had to stir it up with the watery stuff on top.

Greek yogurt, a rich and creamy treat, is so far beyond those early products they are becoming a far-off memory, like the days before pantyhose. Greek yogurt now commands about one-third of the entire U.S. yogurt market.

Stonyfield, the leading producer of organic yogurt, has a new addition to its Greek yogurt line, 1.5% fat Stonyfield Organic Oikos. It’s made from 1.5% fat organic milk and is super yummy. It has a smooth, creamy texture and comes in Pineapple, Strawberry, Raspberry and traditional plain yogurt, which I think is a great substitute for sour cream.

If you are a label reader like me, you know Stonyfield is produced without any of the toxic persistent pesticides, antibiotics, artificial hormones and genetically engineered ingredients we don’t want in our tummies. But it does contain calcium, protein, Vitamin D and other goodies we do want. (Stonyfield also is committed to feeling family farms healthy and strong.)

Plus, the 1.5% fat organic Oikos is a great grab-and-go, a quick and nutritious breakfast, lunch or snack for those days when we are on the fly. And isn’t that just about every day?

 

 

A Landmark pinot noir

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We have missed our friend Matt and we want him to know how special he is to us.

So, we invite him to our house for dinner. No fatted calf mooing in the pantry. So, I’ll make filet mignon. With bacon, baby.

And for a special friend, I decant a special wine, the 2010 Grand Detour pinot noir from Landmark Vineyards in Sonoma, an elegant shift from the beefy Zinfandel or hefty Cab you might expect with filet. This thoughtfully crafted pinot plays perfectly with the salad as well as the beef, carrying us happily home to a dessert of lush, ripe strawberries and blueberries.

Expect a well-balanced blend of berries and plums. The wine is soft and round, with pleasing, earthy and slightly spicy notes. The finish is silky and lingering. Hmm. This also would be luscious with lamb.

Grand Detour gets a big thumbs up from my husband and Matt, too. Expect to pay about $35 for a bottle for this approachable, food-friendly special-occasion red. (Don’t forget, a special occasion can happen at any time!)

Written off red meat? Grand Detour would swim nicely with wild salmon or an assertive mushroom dish.

If you fancy a white, Landmark’s 2010 Overlook Chardonnay is a classy choice, with notes of fresh bread, citrus, vanilla and peach. Expect creamy tones, not too much oak and a huggable price point of about $20.

Trader Joe’s slices the hassle of making fresh pizza dough

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We love home-made pizza. Frozen pies tend to taste like the box. And takeout isn’t always consistent.

But making our own dough? Not so much fun.

Then my former Courier-Post colleagues Trisch and Brian Ferreira turned us on to Trader Joe’s fresh pizza dough. The dough is priced at a mere $1.19 for a 16-ounce bag. It’s easy as pie to roll out and it tastes great. So why knock yourself out making your own?

Just take the dough out of the fridge about 20 minutes before you are ready to roll it. I lightly flour a large wooden cutting board, then roll out the dough with a rolling pin, also lightly dusted with flour. You can coax the dough into a perfect round pie, but I usually make an oblong crust, more like a flatbread.

So what to top it with? The possibilities are limited only to what is in your fridge, pantry, garden or freezer.

I’ve made flatbread with dollops of fig jam, goat cheese and caramelized onions. The whole wheat dough was the base for a rustic pizza with red peppers, tomatoes, kalamata olives,  rosemary and manchego cheese–essentially bits and pieces from the refrigerator that might otherwise have gotten the heave ho into the garbage within the next day or so.

You also can grill the pizza. Lightly oil the rolled out dough and place it oil-side down on the grill. After it cooks on that side, oil the other side and flip the dough. Top with whatever you have a yen for and finish cooking.

 

Mannie, get your gun! Cabela’s is booming with new stores

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What do Rogers, Arkansas, and Christiana, Delaware, have in common?

Both locales are getting new Cabela’s, the iconic destination for hunting, fishing and camping gear.

Even though I have never so much as caught a fish, I have always enjoyed browsing at Cabela’s store in Hamburg, Pa. All those rods and reels. Meat grinders. Big beds for hunting dogs. A cafeteria that serves buffalo. (The meat, that is, not the big, shaggy beast.)

Closer to home, Nebraska-born Cabela’s is building a 110,000-square-foot stone-and-log stand-alone emporium to manliness at Christiana Mall, just north of Nordstrom. Ideal for his and her shopping! Customers can start hunting for buys there in 2014.

Founded in 1961, Cabela’s is in growth mode, with stores opening this year in Arkansas and Washington State. The Cabela herd will expand with seven stores in 2013.

Tonic and gin, please. Fever-Tree

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It isn’t just about the gin. It isn’t all about the vodka. A first-class mixed drink is about the mixer, too. That’s why they call it a mixed drink.

At a very civilized bar in the UK, a server asked me which tonic I wanted with my sublime Plymouth Gin. Hmm. You mean there’s a choice?

Indeed. And on both sides of the pond, my choice is Fever-Tree, a premium line of all natural mixers. Ginger from Nigeria, the Ivory Coast and India. Expect the purest quality quinine from the Congo, which will keep your head cool and your palate pleased. Flavors are crisp, happy and straightforward, dear chap. No artificial aftertaste. No phony colors.

Fever-Tree is so impressive you just might start ordering a tonic and gin instead of a gin a tonic.

The brand was developed by Charles Rolls, former managing director of Plymouth Gin, and Tim Warrillow, who was steeped in premium teas and coffees before entering the beverage market.

In addition to Fever-Tree’s flagship Indian Tonic Water, there are six other labels: Naturally Light Tonic Water (only 40 calories!), Bitter Lemon, Club Soda, Ginger Ale, Ginger Beer and, the latest, Mediterranean Tonic Water, a floral mixer designed to play nice with vodka.

And now you need not head to your favorite upscale waterhole to indulge. You can buy Fever-Tree through Amazon and other outlets for your enjoyment at home. Suggested retail price: $5.99 for a four-pack of 200ml bottles; 500 ml bottles for $2.99.

Decorating tips at Pottery Barn

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The frost is not on the pumpkin. In fact, the pumpkin isn’t even ripe yet.

But autumnal decorating ideas are sprouting at Pottery Barn, the retailer who wants to sell you just about everything you need to furnish, accessorize and stock your nest.

Stores are offering free classes on fluffing your home for fall using such seasonal accessories as pumpkins formed from rustic ceramic or shimmering mercury glass and colorful wreaths and garlands crafted from faux leaves. No raking required.

Class is in session at 10 a.m. Aug. 19 at a Pottery Barn near you. Busy that Sunday? The class also will be held on Sept. 16 at 10 a.m. Call your local store to reserve a space.

In addition to design tips, attendees will get a 10% discount on selected merchandise.

Upcoming events include: Make Over Your Living Room (Sept. 23) and How to Entertain With Style (Oct. 21).

A plug for pluggz, a kicky flip flop

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While the world was flipping for flip flops, I was looking for any casual footwear that didn’t have that uncomfortable thong between my toes.

Then the folks from pluggz asked me to give their earthy-but-hip flip flops a try. The soul of this iconic summer fave is its sole, which includes a carbon and rubber plug. The inventor says the plug acts as a conduit for electrons to flow from the earth to our bodies, thus neutralizing free radicals.

“The mostly synthetic materials that are used in today’s footwear break the flow of energy between the earth and our bodies,” says Sharon Whiteley, founder and CEO of LISTEN Brands and a hottie in Entrepreneur Land. “As I understood this connection, the product created itself for me.”

Flip flops that are good for you? That is a lot to expect from beach brogues.

OK, OK, I thought. I’ll give ‘em a test schlep — and then report what I think.

Will I flip for pluggz? Or declare them a flop?

When I opened the box and beheld the pluggz I was concerned about the plug. It looked downright uncomfortable. I have a large closet filled with shoes—from Ferragamo loafers to towering Badgley Mischka stilettos—and not a one has a plug embedded in its sole.

Still, pluggz has aesthetic appeal. I don’t see the satiny finish on these flip flops at the discount store. Ditto for the embellishment, the stylish little disk on the side. Pluggz come in three classic colors: gold, silver and black. Full sizes run from 5 to 11.

But what about the feel? Are they worth the $39 price tag? I slipped on my pluggz and sauntered out to my yard. As I strolled on the grass, the pluggz felt darn good, although I confess I did not discern an enhanced flow of electrons.

The next weekend, I traveled out of town for a friend’s party. I packed my pluggz and put them on as I headed to the hotel pool. They were very comfy on the concrete decking around the pool. No worries about slipping with the 100% rubber sole. They looked nice with my swim suit. No tugging between my toes. What more can you ask from flip flops?

Now that I have plugged into pluggz, I am wearing flip flops more often. On the patio. In the bathroom. In the garden.

But what to do when the weather turns nippy?

Not to worry. This fall, pluggz is coming out with a new line of adorable Mary Janes and ballet flats.