Women’s Handbags – What Styles Are In Fashion This Winter

Winter is a true challenge for women, as they need heavy yet stylish clothes to pass through the harsh weather with a great look. Besides that bulky clothes “hide” handbags. As a consequence, you may need some imagination to make your overall look to be sparkling, warm and comfortable at the same time.

So, if you are a trendsetter in your group, then you are probably interested in the new types of Women’s Handbags available for this season.

For daily usage, fashion specialists recommend oversized bags. Not only are they the most comfortable and spacious type of women’s handbags, but they are also visible from the bulky clothes you have to endure during winter.

Also, they can easily accommodate all those winter accessories without which you will never make it (gloves, scarf, etc.) when you go inside a warm location.

The best thing about these oversized bags is the fact that you can put your gym equipment and your papers early in the morning, go to work and then rush to the gym without going home as you have everything you need in your purse.

They help you save lot of time and make your life easier than you ever thought it would be!

For special events, experts recommend a small purse with a long strap. You can go for a small leather purse with a long golden or silver chain. It is a highly elegant choice that will beautifully complete any special event outfit.

If you are not very fond of long straps or long chains, then you can choose a clutch. It is stylish and suitable for cocktails or classy parties and it is still very trendy.

You can put in it your essential make-up items for minor retouches, your phone and your keys.

As for colors, there is a strong tendency towards animal print this year. Whether you want to purchase clothes, shoes or accessories, you must necessarily buy at least one animal print item.

By far the most popular animal prints are zebra and leopard, but snake, lizard and giraffe imitations can look very cool on one of your accessories too.

Thus, if you want a trendy women’s handbag this season make sure you have an animal print bag. It will certainly not remain unnoticed!

Now that you know what bags are in fashion this winter, make sure you write Santa a nice, touching letter to make him understand how much you need a new women’s handbag! If you ask him, you can bet you will find it under the Christmas tree this year!

Why Chocolate or Roses Make the Perfect Gift on Valentine Day

There is a good reason that chocolate is the most popular gift at Valentine’s Day. It is a delectable, delicious morsel of sensual delight which literally melts in the mouth and brings a feeling of well-being all in a tiny little bundle. The flavour of chocolate can be combined with a multitude of flavours and ingredients, while its versatility allows it to be crafted into a variety of shapes. Such as Chocolate on Valentines !

Chocolate itself comes in different forms from the bitter, high cocoa content dark chocolate to the creamy sweet milk chocolate and its white counterpart which contains no cocoa but is made from cocoa butter, milk and sugar.

Chocolate originates from South and Central America, and Mexico where the Cacao from which it is derived has been cultivated for at least 3000 years. One of its first uses was in the form of a drink which the Aztecs called xocolatl which means “bitter water”.

The average 16th century European citizen would never have heard of chocolate. This recent discovery, brought ashore from the west by Spanish explorers, was so expensive and desirable that only royalty and those who mingled with the court could afford to enjoy this luxurious import.

Substances present in cocoa solids include theobromine and phenethylamine which are alkaloids that have certain effects on the body. There is a school of scientific thought which believes that dark chocolate, eaten in small amounts can lower blood pressure and that the high level of anti-oxidants it contains can assist in reducing the formation of harmful free radicals.

Eating chocolate is known undeniably as an enjoyable experience, but many would also associate with it a sense of well-being. It has also been suggested that chocolate contains aphrodisiac properties although this has never been proven. It is said that both Emperor Montezuma and the great lover himself, Casanova, both swore by these notions.

Chocolate can be enjoyed in a seemingly endless variety of ways. It can be moulded into just about any shape which makes it an ideal gift for any occasion. Easter bunnies, santas and coins for Christmas. And Chocolate Roses or hearts for Valentines Day. Apart from the delight of eating a plain chocolate, it can also be combined with ingredients such as nuts, dried fruits, caramels and fondants to produce such delights as:

- Chocolate coated almonds
- Chocolate coated peanuts
- Chocolate coated macadamias
- Liquor filled chocolates
- Fruit-flavour filled chocolates
- Chocolate coated toffee
- Chocolate coated Turkish delight
- Chilli flavoured chocolate
- Chocolate coated raisins
- Chocolate coated ginger

And these are just the chocolates! If we broaden the topic to include cakes, biscuits, cookies, brownie, drinks and desserts the list would become tiresome by its sheer length.

It is obvious that chocolate is an undeniable pleasure which is loved by almost everyone. Sadly there are a few people who inexplicably don’t like chocolate. To them I say, “All the more for me!” If, however, you are considering getting a chocolate gift for your special person for Valentine’s Day, Chocolate Roses would be just perfect.

Bodum Santos Stovetop Vacuum 34 Ounce

I’ve been an Amazon customer for quite a few years, but I haven’t before felt the need to review a product. This time, I felt like I had to defend this from other reviewers.

Before I bought this Bodum Santos Stovetop Vacuum 34 Ounce here I read great reviews on wholelattelove.com. But here on Amazon, it’s plagued with a few bad reviews. People have said their coffee pot has cracked, other pieces have broken, etc. The instructions included clearly state that some care needs to be taken- you are putting glass on a very hot surface. If you’re not careful, it will crack. But that’s true of all glass – it’s not a design flaw in this product. In fact, the bottom globe was thicker and sturdier than I was expecting. It looks more fragile in the pictures than it actually is. It seems some people can’t follow directions, and they want to blame anybody but themselves.

Yes, when it’s ready to be taken off the stove, all the water is in the top globe, so it’s a little top heavy. Have some common sense.

And a couple people seem to be giving this product a bad review because of bad service they’ve received from Amazon. This isn’t the place to complain that Bizrate had items mixed up, or that Amazon sent you a used product. Again, common sense…

This Vacuum Coffee Maker makes GREAT coffee – every bit as good as a french press, and with less sediment. I’ve used it everyday for two months, and haven’t had a single problem. I think it’s fantastic, and I haven’t regretted buying it for a second.

Excalibur 3900 Deluxe Tray Dehydrator Review

I’ve used virtually every dehydrator on the market and even a few home-made versions. Trust me when I say that this dehydrator is the best you can get for the money.

The round tower-type dehydrators are inexpensive for a good reason: Excalibur 3900 Deluxe Tray Dehydrator aren’t worth it.
-The trays are flimsy and crack too easily.
-The holes on these trays are too big to use with herbs or diced foods, so you must use the mesh inserts.
-You only have about 1/2″ of space between trays, so you cannot dry bulky items–like flowers or granola.
-When it comes to fruit leather, the only thing more inefficient than the round shape is the hole in the middle. Yes, I know they come with fruit leather trays, but have you ever tried to store fruit leather pealed off of the tray and rolled up? A shredded mess to begin with and a sticky mess once they’ve stored for a while.
-With the motor on the bottom any food or juices that fall through the cracks shortens the life of the machine.
-The drying process in these tower-types is not uniform–the bottom trays dry quicker than the top trays, the center dries quicker than the edges.
-Some models have only recently started adding temp controls. Still, it does little good because there is more heat on the bottom than the top.
-The motor is loud–I had one model I had to run on the porch because it was so loud.
The two round models I bought died within a year and a half of use.

The next best dehydrator on the market is the L’Eqip. It is much quieter, comes with a healthy 10yr warranty and has temperature controls. But it is a hybrid with many of the faults of the round models and few of the benefits of the square-shaped Excalibur. It still has a hole in the middle. It still dries unevenly. It has deeper trays but you still can’t dry flowers. It still has a motor on the bottom. I have a friend who dried berries in her L’Equip. They leaked on the motor and it died the first summer of use. Now granted, the folks at L’Equip stood by their machine and replaced it for her with no hassle, but how many times do you want your summer-time dehydrating held up while you wait for your replacement to come?

The Excalibur is perfect for anyone who is serious about dehydrating. Here are the features that I like:
-Heat source and fan are in the back, forcing air to distribute evenly throughout the chamber. Other than the way you place the food, there is no reason for uneven drying spots.
-Love the timer. I can set it and leave. It’ll turn off automatically whether or not I’m there. That means ’round the clock drying during the height of your summer harvest. Put the food in when you go to bed, wake up to dried food and put another batch in.
-Temp control lets you choose low heats for herbs and flowers, higher temps for fruits and jerky.
-Love the square trays. For fruit leather I line the trays with plastic wrap and spread the fruit puree out. When it’s dry I cut the leather into 2″ wide strips, roll them up and secure with the tail end of the plastic wrap. The plastic peels off easily when it’s time to eat.
-BIG trays–you can pack a LOT of food into this. This is especially important at the height of the summer harvest when there’s a non-stop stream of food that needs drying. (This is also the one single thing that is in my negative column–the trays don’t fit flat in my kitchen sink, making them a little hard to wash. I solve this by washing them in my outdoor garden sink–old fashioned tubs on a stand. Since I like the big trays, I really shouldn’t complain.)
-Mesh liner on all trays. I can dry herbs, diced onions and finely chopped fruits without having it fall to trays below. No food cross-contamination means I can dehydrate more than one thing at a time.
-Removable trays. If I have bulky items–flowers, herbs, granola, etc–I can just remove every other tray and have another 1/2″ or more room.
-Makes a great proofing box for sourdough. Also good for culturing yogurt, esp if you like to make it in larger containers. For both sourdough and yogurt, make sure it is covered so that the moving air doesn’t dry it out.
-10 yr warranty. I’ve had mine for almost 15 yrs and it’s still going strong. Every year the money I save on herbs alone pays for what it originally cost me. That means this machine has paid for itself 15 times over.

If you’re at all serious about Excalibur Food Dehydrator, don’t waste your money like I did–get the best from the get go. That’s the Excalibur.
(Written by Ross’ wife. He’s also happy that I like it so well and have gotten so much good use from it.)

Waste King L-8000 Legend Series 1.0-Horsepower Continuous Feed Waste Disposer

1. This Food Waste Disposer replaced a Badger-1 disposal which had come with our house when we bought it new in 2004. I didn’t even know what type we had until I took it out. We had been happy with the Badger but it eventually stopped working. Doing some research after-the-fact, I learn the Badger-1 only has a 1/3 hp motor and 1 year warranty. The Waste King L-8000 has a full 1 hp motor and a lifetime (non-transferable) warranty.

2. Though the Badger-1 only had 1/3 of the power of the L-8000, the Waste King was actually quieter. We didn’t think either of them was loud, but the Waste King was even quieter.

3. There are basically two types of disposal mounts nowadays. If you have an existing disposal, the odds are nearly 100% that it’s installed utilizing either a 3-bolt mount system or the EZ mount system. If you are planning to replace a disposal that required a 3-bolt mount system (such as the Badger-1) with a disposal that requires the EZ mount system (such as the Waste King) you will also need to purchase the following adapter kit: Anaheim Mfg Co 3 Bolt Mount Adapter Kit 3101.

* The above adapter kit is sold here on Amazon for less than $10 and is very easy to install. All you do is swap out two pieces that came with your EZ mount disposal with the two pieces in the kit. You will then be able to connect your new EZ mount disposal to a sink that contains 3-bolt mount hardware. On a scale of 1-10, I would say that the difficulty factor was a 1 or 2. Easy! Additionally, Anaheim Mfg Co (the company that makes the adapter kit) is the same company that manufactures Waste King disposals. So, everything fit perfectly and effortlessly.

4. I had never done any plumbing but I was able to do this myself. Total time was around 2 hours… but I took my time and also (as the instructions recommended) took time to disassemble most of the plastic plumbing from underneath the sink and cleaned them out real well. I was surprised how much gunk had accumulated.

5. The instructions list nine items or tools it thinks you might need to get the job done… but you will likely need much less. I only needed two tools myself: a screwdriver and a hacksaw. The screwdriver was used to tighten the three screws of the 3-bolt mount system while the hacksaw was used to slightly shorten a couple plastic pieces (the horizontal sink pipe leading from main sink line to disposal & the discharge elbow coming off the disposal).

6. Another concern I had was whether the different lengths of the Badger disposal versus my Waste King disposal might cause plumbing alignment problems when I tried to put everything back together. It was not an issue. I’m now guessing the actual plumbing location within the different brands of disposals are standard. In other words, if one disposal is 16 inches deep while the other is 20 deep inches deep, both would have plumbing entering the disposal at 9 inches down from the top.

7. I bought this unit after seeing Consumer Reports (Aug 2009 issue) rate it highest out of six disposals they tested. They also showed the price as $230, so seeing it on Amazon for much less and reading all the positive reviews made it a no brainer.

Breville BOV800XL 1800 Watt Convection Toaster

I love this Breville BOV800XL 1800 Watt Convection Toaster – it is a pleasure to use, functions beautifully, and is beautifully designed.

The other reviewers have already said much of what I would have written. The ‘Out of Box Experience’ is superb. As another reviewer noted, the packaging is quite a bit like Apple’s (see photos) – attractive graphics on an inner box protected in an outer, recyclable box. The oven itself, when compared to the Cuisinart TOB-165 that we have been using (or even the stainless steel TOB-195 model), is like comparing an Apple Mac to a Dell: visually more stylish and appealing, better engineered ‘guts’, and once operated, functionally very well thought out.

A few years ago, our old toaster oven died and we migrated to the Cuisinart which, like this Breville BOV800XL, is a convection oven / toaster / broiler. We liked it so much, that we gifted several more to friends and family. Ah, if only this Breville had ben available then…

The Breville is so vastly superior in every way – function, capacity, ease of use, and ease of cleaning. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

The timer on the Breville turns the oven off at the end of any kind of cycle as you would expect – toast, bagel, bake, broil, pizza, etc.This is hugely wonderful compared to the Cuisinart unit which only turns itself off after toasting – you have to remember to turn it off when in any other mode. (The Cuisinart’s timer is ‘dumb’ – just a beeper.) Also, each Breville cycle has smart default settings, and can remember your own settings for temperature and time, or slices (toast) and darkness, etc.

The BOV800XL accomodates a 13″ pizza pan (included). We made two pizzas tonight to test the oven, one fresh (deli) the other frozen. I dialed the ‘pizza’ setting, dropped the default 450 temperature to 425, accepted convection mode, and accepted the default 12″ size for the fresh pizza and pressed the on button. Once preheated, the oven beeped for the pizza to be inserted. At the end of the timed cycle, the oven turned off and beeped again: perfect pizza!

I then did a 9″ frozen Amy’s pizza. Similar procedure as above, but dialed the size knob down to 9″ and pressed the ‘frozen food’ button. Again, perfect at the end of the cycle.

Toast setting works great – up to 6 pieces of toast, as does the bagel setting, which toasts the top at a higher temp then the bottom to make the top crispy and the bottom warm but still soft. Frozen waffles come out great – crunchy outside and moist inside, instead of all dried out.

For baking, a 13″ x 9″ baking pan easily fits inside as does, of course, the larger pan that comes with the unit, loaf pans and small muffin pans.

The glass door conveniently labels the three rack positions for broil, toast/cookie/bagel/pizza, and bake/roast/reheat/warm.

The crystalline-looking heating elements (three on top, two on the bottom) seem to heat faster, and more evenly, than the metallic elements in other counter-top ovens. Depending on the mode/cycle, the oven enables or disables certain elements, and changes the wattage of others.

The crumb tray in the front answer another of my big complaints about the Cuininart. No effort to pull the tray out at any time to brush off crumbs, or wash off accidental spills. (The Cuinsart’s crumb tray slides out of the rear of that unit, requiring minor gymnastics – enough to put it off until it is really gross.)

The stainless finish and assembly is of high quality, and the oversized handle and control knobs give a feel of quality as well (and match current upper to high end major appliances).

No doubt I’ll have more comments after we use this Convection Toaster Oven for a few months, but for now, I can only sing its praises.

Calphalon Contemporary 10 Piece Anodized Nonstick : Beautiful and Quaility

I gave this Calphalon Contemporary 10 Piece Anodized Nonstick as an early Christmas gift for my wife. She absolutely had to have a set of non-stick cookware. She loves them.

*Pros
Sharp Looking Anodized Aluminum Finish, Solid Feeling, Comfortable Silicone/Steel Handles, Made of Thick Solid Aluminum, Heats much quicker then Stainless Steel. Cleanup is a Breeze, Good Weight sits firmly on the stove when empty). Great Value, Amazon/Calphalon even threw in a free 12″ “bonus everyday pan” separate from the set.

*Cons
Anodized Aluminum doesn’t like your silverware nor does the non-stick. Many things you have to remember not to do. No Metal Objects, Handwash only, No Stacking, No Green Scrub Pads, No Cooking Spray, – That is if you want them to last a while. Also if you have a stainless steel sink, I wouldn’t allow them to touch that unless you don’t care about the appearance of the black anodized aluminum. Or if you do, you could polish them with the alum polish they sell every once in a while.

Overall of this Calphalon Cookware Set my wife and I are both very pleased with this set. Even though it has all the drawbacks associated with a non-stick set and then some, we’ve managed to find that the clean up, speed of cooking, and Looks outweigh the negatives. Gave it five stars because it works like it should.