Food & Drink

[November 22nd, 2006]

Fancy Pants

Ooh la la! This authentic Louis XVIII Chocolate Pot ($150, Cacao, 414 SW 13th Ave., 241-0656) is the crème de la crème. An original, handmade porcelain design from Pillivuyt, one of the finest producers of porcelain in France, this decadent dessert accoutrement has been in production for almost 200 years. It comes with a removable wooden handle and paddle used to accompany the chocolate when serving. This is a chocolate lover's dream. (EB)

Chocolate Fix

Dagoba chocolates come in an amazing variety of flavors for the sophisticated palate. In dark chocolate, try Mint/Rosemary, Lavender/Blueberries and Citrus-Macadamia Tango. If milk chocolate's your thing, try chai chocolate bars. For a gift that's sure to trigger serotonin-induced bliss, give Dagoba variety packs, which include 12 different flavored chocolate bars. ($2.79-$3.99 for individual bars at Wild Oats Natural Marketplace, 2825 E Burnside St., 232-6601, and other locations. Gift packs can be ordered online at dagobachocolate.com.) Dagoba uses high-quality cacao from producers that receive equitable prices and maintain organic and sustainable harvesting methods, which makes their chocolate even yummier. (SR)

Real Wheel Deal

Northern California pottery is the only thing better than Northern California pot. Heath Ceramics ($9.50-$120, Canoe, 1136 SW Alder St., 889-8545) makes a wide assortment of handcrafted cups, bowls and plates with the kind of artisan skill that comes from over a half-century of practice. They're a beautiful, simple way to serve a meal...after a holiday bong rip. (BC)

All That Glitters...

Few would dare to drink champagne with a straw—especially from a can—but Francis Coppola is reshaping the rules of etiquette with Sofia minis, a blend of sparkling white wines that come in little cans. Each can of bubbly comes with a straw—kind of like Capri Sun, only more stylish. And alcoholic. Sofia minis come in packs of four and sport shiny colors, making them a great treat to keep on hand for last-minute holiday entertaining ($3.75 for a single can or $15 for four-packs, sofiamini.com). (SR)

Legless Wonder

World-champion Austrian skier Hermann Maier nearly lost his legs in a 2001 motorbike crash. Had he lost them, he would have resembled another famous Austrian: the Riedel stemless wineglass ($24.95, In Good Taste, 231 NW 11th Ave., 248-2015). Made with abnormally strong yet thin crystal, the Riedel stemless collection is durable like Maier, who came back to win a world championship two years later. Riedel also makes a fancy decanter that looks like the trunk of an elephant. (BC)

Northwest Noshing

Marionberries, salmon, wild mushrooms. You may have heard it all before, but Kathy Casey will make you hungry all over again with her new cookbook, Kathy Casey's Northwest Table ($35, Powell's City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4651). This regionally inspired collection makes a great gift for those who live elsewhere in the country and who will be awed by the plethora of deliciousness that comes from our fertile lands. Or give the book to someone who already lives in the Northwest and remind them how lucky they are. (SR)

Who You Callin' Fruity?

Stollen isn't your ordinary fruitcake. Loafish in shape and topped with white icing, Stollen was first baked in Germany to symbolize the swaddled baby Jesus. Luckily, you can order Stollen ($12.50, Baker & Spice, 6330 SW Capitol Highway, 244-7573) right here in Portland...or just haul your loved ones to Dresden for the annual Stollen Festival. There they can meet the Stollen Maiden herself and receive a piece of freshly cut pastry straight from the source. (SR)

Warm and Fuzzy Holidays

Stirrings ($10.95, Sur La Table, 1102 NW Couch St., 295-9679) makes the holidays fun with a selection of holiday cocktail mixers in Chocolate Peppermintini, Spiced Apple and Peach Bellini. Their all-natural martini mixes are made with real juices and are so easy to prepare that you can open presents and make great cocktails at the same time. All you have to do is shake, pour and let the good times roll. (SR)

Shopping at a Fast Clip

Coupons are making a local comeback! Like the one to the Alberta Co-op that gives out a ginormous bag of organic goodies on the cheap. OMSI, REI and others headline the 2006-07 edition of the Chinook Book ($20, Whole Foods, 1210 NW Couch St., 525-4343, other locations at chinookbook.net), the snip-and-save wonder that functions much like a green-stamped housewife did in the 1950s. (BC)

Yikes! Stripes!

So, you're invited to a Thanksgiving potluck, and all you've got time to "cook" is a pitiful salad. Fancy up the limp lettuce with a spunky pair of French Bull salad servers ($19, Hello, Portland, 525 NW 23rd Ave., 274-0771). Adding a medley of stripes and patterns with a kick of vibrant colors will undoubtedly distract from your sub-par cooking skills. And then, when the leaves have left, you've got a great gift for the hostess to keep! (EB)

Sparkling Secrets

Personalize your wine offering with a custom-designed label by Northwest Cellars. Add a dated family photo to your festive Oregon Sparkling Brut ($75 with custom label, nwcellars.com) and sit back and listen as your drunk Uncle Bert oohs and ahhs at the good old times way back when. Then watch in horror as he proceeds to down the bottle and begin spilling the beans on previously undisclosed family secrets. (What's that you say, Uncle Bert? My sister is really my mom??!) (EB)

Urban Cowboy Coffee

Press-Bot ($21.95, Oregon Mountain Community, 2975 NE Sandy, 227-1038) is a French-press mechanism made to fit inside a Nalgene water bottle. It allows you to make great coffee anywhere you go and is an ideal gift for travelers or for the cosmopolitan and caffeine-addicted. Just throw some of your favorite coffee into a water bottle, allow it to brew for five minutes and press down the plunger. French-press-brewed coffee captures more of the beans' essential oils, making a cup of coffee so strong it'll put a smile on your face and hair on your chest. (SR)

Coffee Cozy

Being the cunning reader you are, you've probably realized that the above-listed Press-Bot has just one glitch: Once the 30-degree weather hits, that delicious, fresh-brewed coffee is gonna get cold. Don't worry, it seems that ventureDESIGNworks has created a Bot for everything. Accompany a gift of the Press-Bot with Sleeve-Bot ($7.95, REI, 1405 NW Johnson St., 221-1938, and other locations), made from Neoprene to keep hot and cold liquids in your Nalgene bottle the temperature you want them. Now they've got it all figured out. (SR)

^GIMME MORE

Benito Musso-tini Fascist dictators were the rage in the 1930s, but art deco barware from the same era ($35-$175, Decades Vintage Co., 328 SW Stark St., 223-1177) outlived their bombast. And didn't end up hanging upside-down in Italy, dead.

Dizzy Make a cinnamon-Campari sidecar under the mistletoe. All it takes is Velvet Falernum liqueur and a bimonthly subscription to Imbibe ($16, imbibemagazine.com). Celebrate drinks, drinking and drunks.

Hasta la vino, bebÉ Argentina, country of tight male butts, makes pretty fantastic wine. Experience the Men-doza area at School of Cork (Cork, 2901, NE Alberta St., 281-2675). Classes are about $50.