More Great Online Boutiques for the Holidays

The holiday table seems to be taking center stage this year which means that many discerning hosts are looking to procure some of the finest products for their special feasts.  Lamb is an excellent choice for New Year’s celebrations, but only the finest will leave your guests thinking about your festive meal throughout the year.  I’ve discovered Lava Lake Lamb, all-natural, certified organic grass-fed lamb from Idaho, that is absolutely succulent.  In purchasing this lamb, you are also supporting an ambitious conservation plan to preserve the lands where this livestock has been raised for generations.

Olive Oil: Round Pond's Liquid Gold

You’ll want to serve a fine red wine with your lamb dinner and perhaps also some vegetables, oven-roasted with superior quality olive oil.  Round Pond,  another family-owned company, is dedicated to producing exceptional food and wine products; they’ll readily supply you with acclaimed wines and gourmet foods from their Napa Valley estate.  In traditional French fashion, I would still end such an extravaganza with a wedge of cheese and a serving of salad.  Vermont once again earns my vote, especially for a handcrafted cheddar—aged one to four years—from Grafton Village Cheese Company.  For a truly remarkable addition to your cheeseboard, select the Grafton Duet, their Premium Vermont Cheddar layered with a Minnesota Blue Cheese.  It’s as beautiful as it is delicious.

Toffee, a sweet made by boiling molasses or sugar with butter, seems to enjoy special recognition around the holidays.  Nuts—especially almonds—and chocolate are typically added to this confection that presumably originated in England during the early part of the eighteenth century.  There are many variations on this theme but for me, the essential is for toffee to taste buttery good and fresh and not stick to your teeth!  Ruth’s Toffee fulfills that criteria and more.  This family-owned business is located just over an hour from Telluride in a very remote part of Colorado.  Clearly they manage to have only the finest ingredients delivered to their door.

In addition to being welcomed additions to your table, all of the above would, of course, make for excellent gifts.  

Great Online Boutiques for the Holidays

Sure you might plan to cut back this year, but I know you’ll still do some shopping.  And if you’re anything like me, you’ll be picking up as much for the people on your list as for yourself!  This is the one big time of the year when we get out into the stores or even better, cozy up to the online boutiques.  

I’m easing your Internet shopping searches by presenting you with some of the best boutiques I’ve found on the Web.  As always, quality, originality, fun and even ambiance count a lot for me in my shopping experience and I can assure you that that’s just what you’ll find in the establishments below.

So put on the kettle and fix yourself a nice cup of tea.  

Prime Rib Roast from Allen Brothers---yum!

Food items are a big hit with most people most of the time.  You want to make it good though—none of those Hickory Farms gift boxes for me, thank you.  How about steak, rib roast or Beef Wellington for your mother-in-law’s holiday table? (Or for yours?  Remember, one for me, one for you.)  You’ll find the finest meat in the land at Allen Brothers.  You might want to consider smoked salmon as a starter for that special holiday feast.  Call Bill Tomicki (805-969-5848), editor of ENTREE, to place an order of delicious gently smoked or smoke-roasted salmon from Santa Barbara Smokehouse for you and your best friends.

If you want to go all French on me, you’ll finish off this feast with a glorious cheese platter and a lightly-dressed salad.  Contact Vermont Butter and Cheese Company for your most refined creamery needs such as delectable goat cheeses, crème fraîche, mascarpone and a sea salted cultured butter that would make you swear you’d just procured it from the Sunday morning market in Normandy.  Call upon My Boulangerie for ready-to-bake artisanal breads to arrive at your door in time to pop them in the oven for your special meals.  You’ll also feel as though you’re in Paris when you nibble on My Boulangerie’s buttery croissants, brioches and a variety of other French bakery items and treats.

Specialty Goat Cheese from Vermont Butter and Cheese

O.K., now if you go the whole nine yards and really do it up in style, you’ll serve a lovely tray of coffee and chocolates at the end of your fine repast.  (Or provide the necessary ingredients so that your loved ones may do so.)  The Broadmoor Hotel boasts a robust blend of coffee, rich and elegant, worthy of the name of this world-renowned establishment.  Telluride Truffle rings in as the finest chocolates of the Rockies, and if you truly want to round out the selection of quality mountain-born sweets, you’ll order some famous almond toffee from Enstrom’s.

I love recommending top-of-the-line products from the West and France, all in the same breath.  High Desert Foods will fill your pantry (oh, that’s right—this is supposed to be about gifting) with the glorious flavors of organic fruits grown in the red rock country of the Colorado plateau.  Fruit confitures, tomato sauces and smoke dried tomatoes stand out among their specialties.  Look for more to come in the upcoming months.  Telluride Gift Baskets rounds up many other artisan- style food items in Colorado including jerky, jams, honeys, mustards and more.  All are arranged with great care in Colorado-made baskets, perfect for friends and family that enjoy delectable treats packaged with heaps of mountain charm.  More jams and specialty food items—this time with a French flair—may be procured at Trois Crepes, a Web-based business that also distributes some of France’s best baking ingredients such as chestnut cream.  Ever hear of wine confits?  They are flavorful little jellies that catapult even your finest cheese offerings into an extraordinary gastronomic adventure.  You may purchase these and other prized comestibles from France along with a plethora of handsome nonfood gift items at Quel Objet.  

High Desert Blackberry & Wild Blueberry Conserve

How about going a little green?  You can outfit most of the people on your list with a beautiful, handmade water bottle from Harmonik.  Made of eco-friendly materials whenever possible, Harmonik Bottles are like totable works of art that people are sure not to leave behind.  Plastic castoffs begone!  For the wee ones in your life, shop at Eco-Kids for all natural creative play-dough and fingerpaint.  You’ll find more fun ideas for children at CBHStudio, especially in the Little Packrats section.  I’m gaga over their colorful totes and backpacks that feature happy animal designs of horses, dogs, penguins and other lovable critters.  Oh, to be a kid again.  But big kids can have fun shopping here, too, especially on the messenger and laptop bag pages where you’ll find more style-y creations which are also crafted out of durable vinyl.  For more great green gift ideas, check out what I wrote about Daryl Hannah just a couple of months ago.

Doggie Knapsack from Packrats: How Cute is That?

For clothing for men, women and children, why not be fanciful with eye-catching togs from BaliDog?  These Telluride-designed, Brazilian made creations are just as well suited for the yoga studio as for a night out on the town.  But I can’t stray long from the Old World.  A tour around the Alpen Schatz Web site is almost as heartwarming as visiting Christkindlmarkt, the Christmas markets of Germany.  Here you’ll discover all kinds of alpine treasures for men, women, children and even your pets (definitely not to be forgotten this time of year).  High-style items for both you and your doggies include traditional leather belts and collars handcrafted in the alps.

Did I just say handcrafted?  Absolutely.  Why not buy something truly extraordinary that will be cherished for years or at least for the duration of two to three good ski seasons?  I’m talking 100 percent, American made, supremely-crafted goods here.  Museum quality.  Birdhouseking showcases handmade birdhouses of heirloom stature, fashioned by a master woodworker that is eighty-five years young.  Exceptional carpentry skills (and lots of high tech know-how) are applied to entirely different objets d’art at Wagner Custom Skis.  Located just outside of Telluride, Wagner crafts sybaritic boards in a progressive, super eco-friendly manner.  

I think the only ones I’ve forgotten about so far are Leo and Clara.  That would be my two kitties.  Of course I fit the model of a single woman with two cats who sits on her couch, sips tea and reads while her pussycats are curled up beside her.  (Oh, if life was only always so good!)  I’m quite confident in any event that my little babies will be receiving some lovingly crafted, earth-friendly pet toys from Purrfectplay this year.  That sweet little site also sells pet bedding, good to know if ever I decide to kick them off of my bed.

Be sure to visit my Shopping page on this site where I’ve written more extensively about my favorite online boutiques.  There you’ll also find an offer for a special discount from Telluride Truffle when you order from them on my behalf.  Next to tea, cats and books, chocolates are also a girl’s best friend.

Bon Shopping!

Just a Few More Ideas  

I think magazine and newsletter subscriptions always make for great gifts, especially if you match the right publication to the right reader.  For Paris, Paris Notes is my all-time favorite.  For all of France, subscribe to France Magazine.  Right now they’re offering holiday gift subscriptions at a reduced rate; click here and be sure to use promotion code PR07G.  And for a good read on high-end travel (and some shopping) worldwide, check out the above mentioned ENTREE.