Shopping | Food Nouveau

A Chocolate and Pastry Tour in New York City {And a Signed Book Giveaway!}

If you’re following me on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook, you know that I was in New York last week attending the International Association of Culinary Professionals’ Annual Conference. It was an amazing culinary, educational, and inspirational experience, which I still need to decant to assimilate. I will read the many pages of notes I jotted down over the weekend, and I promise to concoct a write-up that should honor the incredible experience it was.

In the meantime, I have to tell you about the Chocolate and Pastry Tour I chose as an optional activity on the day I arrived in New York. The IACP program provided over 20 different optional tours, all of which looked fantastic. But I was immediately drawn to the Chocolate and Pastry Tour when I saw that pastry chef and author of Les Petits Macarons, Kathryn Gordon, would be conducting it.

Posted on April 5, 2012 • Category: Giveaways, New York City, North America, Restaurants, Shopping • 45 Comments

What to Eat in Sicily

While 5 days in Sicily was certainly not enough to experience all the deliciousness the Italian island has to offer, I went prepared (and hungry!) and was able to taste lots of local gourmet foods and dishes – enough to fill many notebook pages with recipe ideas to make at home. Here’s a pictorial of my best and most delicious discoveries.

Pesce e Frutti di Mare (Fish and Seafood)

This one should be obvious since Sicily is an island, but I didn’t expect fish and seafood to be such a staple. I actually wonder if even one of the meals I had in Catania didn’t have fish or seafood in it. I loved it, especially since it gave me the opportunity to try many new things and because it’s so hard for me to get my hands on a variety of fresh seafood at home.

Of course, I visited Catania’s famous fish market, La Pescheria, which is set up daily (except Sundays) in and around the city’s central Piazza Alonzo, just a couple of steps down from the well-known Piazza Duomo.

Posted on March 15, 2012 • Category: Europe, Italy, Restaurants, Shopping • 7 Comments

On Cheese, Cured Meats and Chocolate: A Foodie Tour of Salt Lake City {Part 2 of 2}

The second half of the Foodie Tour led by Lindsey in Salt Lake City was a stop at Tony Caputo’s Market & Deli. Tony Caputo’s store {let’s call it TC from now on} is divided in half: on one side, you have fine cheeses, cured meats, chocolates, olive oils, imported products and freshly baked breads that infuse the store with deliciousness. On the other side, the deli offers some of the best sandwiches the city has to offer (I can attest to that – the Muffaletta {salami, ham, mortadella, cheese and spicy olive salad on a ciabatta roll} I had was finger-licking good!). And in the middle of all that, there’s a small open space where the store hosts local farmers and artisans to allow them to sell their products during the winter months.

Posted on February 7, 2012 • Category: North America, Shopping, US West Coast • 0 Comments

Shopping Gourmand: Gadgets – Plus, a roundup of the best online holiday/gift guides!

Just when you think you have everything you need in the kitchen, there’s a new, clever tool that grabs your attention and promises to make your life easier. Some gadgets will just become clutter that overfill that “throw-it-all-in-there” drawer we all have, but many are really useful and make great gifts. Here are 9 gadgets that grabbed my attention.

These product choices are not sponsored and I do not earn any money by presenting these great finds here. I just think they are fantastic and gift-worthy!

P.S. Don’t miss my roundup of the best online holiday/gift guides at the bottom of this post!

GADGETS

Scroll down for details about each product.

Posted on December 9, 2011 • Category: Shopping • 0 Comments

Shopping Gourmand: Wood

Natural wood objects warm up any decor. I think they especially look terrific in the kitchen, where even a brand new item instantly feels like a heirloom piece. Browsing around for wooden kitchen accessories, I found tons of modern and attractive items that (momentarily) made me want to throw stainless steel out of my kitchen for a while. Here are my top 9 gift ideas – which are all part of my own wish list now.

These product choices are not sponsored and I do not earn any money by presenting these great finds here. I just think they are fantastic and gift-worthy!

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WOOD

Scroll down for details about each product.

Posted on December 2, 2011 • Category: Shopping • 1 Comment

It’s Back! Shopping Gourmand: Colors

I don’t know about you, but I love guift guides: they are inspiring and great to find one-of-a-kind gifts. I’m addicted to I love browsing the kitchen and dining sections of home decor shops or perusing through Etsy in search of a cute, unique item. Every Friday for the next five weeks, I will present you my finds, hoping they’ll provide you a holiday shopping shortcut. Enjoy!

P.S. I started this shopping series last year. For more inspiration, you also can checkout my past posts.
P.P.S. These product choices are not sponsored and I do not earn any money by presenting these great finds here. I just think they are fantastic and gift-worthy!

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COLORS

Scroll down for details about each product.

Posted on November 25, 2011 • Category: Shopping • 2 Comments

Pork Love in Providence, RI

As we left for our summer vacation on the East Coast, we planned on making the most of the sea’s bounty. It’s no secret that New England has some of the best seafood and fish the US has to offer, most of which we can only enjoy defrosted at home. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity of enjoying some of our favorite foods, fresh as we rarely get to enjoy them.

We started our trip in Providence, Rhode Island. I enlisted the help of two friends, Karen and David, residents of the area, to recommend great restaurants, markets and gourmet shops to visit. David’s expertise is evident through his blog, Eat Drink RI, which chronicles the state’s food news and events as well as the restaurant and bar scene. Karen, a food blogger and recipe developer, treated us to tons of suggestions for Rhode Island and Cape Cod as well.

Posted on August 24, 2011 • Category: North America, Restaurants, Shopping, US East Coast • 2 Comments

An Inspiring Visit at the Whole Foods Market Flagship Store in Austin, Texas

In 1980, a small grocery store selling natural and organic products opened in Austin, Texas. Today, this small store has grown into an empire that manages over 300 stores in the US, Canada and the UK, counts over 54,000 employees and is publicly traded. The company is called Whole Foods Market, Inc. (WFM) and its stores have become lifestyle destinations. I have heard and read people questioning the company’s practices, but to me, WFM stores are still a shopping destination whenever I visit a city where they are located. There are plenty of other smaller, independent stores (as well as farmers’ markets) selling natural foods – and I do shop in those stores and markets since there is no WFM in Quebec City – but I see WFM as a leader that is carrying the organic and locavore movement forward.

Austin’s flagship Whole Foods Market store and the company’s headquarters right behind.

Posted on June 14, 2011 • Category: Conferences, Shopping • 1 Comment

4-Star Dishes… Served in New York’s Gourmet Grocery Stores

When visiting one of the great capitals of gastronomy, who would ever think to sit down to eat in a grocery store? Yet there is fierce rivalry in New York’s gourmet markets in terms of diversity, refinement and quality, with some places even calling on the services of famous chefs to conceive their dishes. I took a tour of New York’s best East Side gourmet grocery stores, Eli’s Food Market, Agata & Valentina, Citarella, Grace’s Marketplace, The Food Emporium, Dean & Deluca and newcomer Eataly, and I soon discovered that they cater for all tastes…and all budgets too.

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Eli’s Food Market

Founded by Eli Zabar, a member New York’s influencial Zabar family, this store shows a modest decor but an impressive diversity. In the basement is the grocery store with its impressive vertical produce displays and then, on the first floor, there’s the bakery, pastry and chocolate shops as well as a buffet of ready-to-eat dishes and even books and kitchen accessories.

Posted on March 22, 2011 • Category: New York City, North America, Restaurants, Shopping • 5 Comments

A Food Tour of Paris’ Montmartre – And a Book Giveaway

Montmartre, Paris’ 18th arrondissement, symbolizes a variety of things to different people: some love the artistic vibe, (none other than Dali, Monet, Picasso and Van Gogh, to name just the painters, lived in the neighborhood,) while others enjoy the tranquility, (the narrow and often pedestrian streets tend to make the neighborhood quieter than other areas of Paris. ) Some know Montmartre for its Pigalle “red light district,” others for the Sacré Coeur Basilica, which majestically watches over Paris from the very top of the hill. Still others have begun to dream of visiting Montmartre after having seen it in the popular movie “Amélie.”

To me, Montmartre rhymes with friendship. Our close friends in Paris all live in Montmartre or very near to it. We’ve had countless parties, lavish dinners, and drinks in the area, and we’ve come to know it through the eyes of our friends who would never trade their arrondissement for any other.

Posted on December 23, 2010 • Category: Europe, France, Paris, Shopping • 128 Comments

Category Archives: Shopping

Pesce e Frutti di Mare (Fish and Seafood)

GADGETS

WOOD

COLORS

Eli’s Food Market