Hope you don’t mind if I share something personal. I just got back from my honeymoon in Napa (no, I will not be posting photos), and of all of the tasting rooms, wine shops, and California cuisine restaurants, my best glass of juice was at Titus Vineyards. It wasn’t just the fact that I’d already blazed three dozen wineries up the Silverado Trail in my rented Mustang, like an oenophile Dr. Gonzo. This transcended my buzz (which, if you’re a CHiP officer, is pure hyperbole). This small label makes gigantic reds that are smooth but full of personality; a nice Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and a Zinfandel that will deftly remove your underwear and refuse to call the next day. I bought everything, including a Petite Verdot and Petite Sirah varietal you don’t see a lot of in the valley. If you don’t just drink, but actually enjoy wine, you won’t be disappointed.

We don't mention McDonald’s too much on this blog (aside from a few snide comments here and there), but a new billboard in Chicago - masterminded by Micky D’s ad agency Leo Burnett - recently got our attention. To promote McDonalds’ “Fresh” Salads, they let lettuce (yes, the real stuff) grow from the sign for three weeks to spell out "Fresh Salad." We have to admit– a very original take on a timeless, and otherwise plain vanilla advertising medium. We’re not asking you to eat there, but anyone in Chicago that has seen this living billboard should let us know how it looks up close.

Via Azsustainability

Got milk? Chocolate Flavored Straws, recently released by The San Francisco Chocolate Company, are a great example of fun, functional packaging to bring out the kid in all of us (milk drinkers). Within a sealed, wider than normal straw, chocolate beads are encased. You simply put it into a glass and sip. We tried it with organic non-fat milk and soy milk. The straw is definitely for casual as well as hardcore chocolate milk enthusiasts. It's not overwhelming, but a healthy balance. I've been waiting for an accessible version of the overseas flavored milk straw product to make it to the U.S. – and it finally did! What do you think of the concept? Have you tried the Australian or European versions?

NYC has culinary gems like I have never seen. The best part is, there are the great classic restaurants, but there are also always new diamonds in the rough popping up to challenge the classics– keep em honest if you will. The art of creating a sublime cocktail is, in my book, a very culinary, focused, and difficult process to master– a truly astute cocktail is every bit as impressive as the plated delights. Mike Arauz has transferred his appreciation of finely crafted adult beverages into his newly launched site, The Lush Life: Guide to Manhattan’s Best Cocktail Bars. It looks like Mike is setting his site narrowly and with the utmost discretion, focusing on only his all star team of establishments, probably chosen through some sort of secret scientific method he’s concocted. But who knows, maybe he’ll add some others after we flood his inbox with tips of our own favorites. May I start with my own recommendation? The Randolph at Broome– most insane cocktails I encountered in the city.

Now that summer’s in full swing, it’s pretty much a given that there’s going to be a lot of grilling going on. If you don’t have a gas grill, odds are you might have to employ the traditional combination of hot coals and lighter fluid to get the party started. Unfortunately, that often leads to a fluid-infused food flavoring. If you’d like to avoid that taste mingling with your marinade, break from the Kingsford tradition and grab a Baja BBQ Firepack from Mike and Maaike, available at gourmet grocery stores. Their chemical-free charcoal packaging makes starting your fire simple. Thanks to its 100% biodegradable paper pulp makeup, all you have to do is light the box and voila. The two pounds of natural lump coal contained within take a mere 15 to 20 minutes to be in perfect cooking condition with the aid of the package’s integrated chimney design. All you have to worry about now is overcooking.

The salt revolution is coming. I know, we all thought artisan salts were totally passé in the gourmet world, now that everyone and their mom has had Himalayan pink sea salt. It's time to put it on something else besides bread and meat. The latest drink accessory? Salt. My salty source tells me the master cocktail craftsman (he hates being called a mixologist) at Cyrus is paving the way with Alaea Hawaiian Sea Salt rimmed specialty cocktails ... we're not talking about your $5 happy hour Chevy's margarita. While this new concoction of Cyrus' famous Scott Beattie has been unconfirmed, ask for the Caprese Martini rimmed with Grey Sea Salt. If you are looking for a way to add salt to your non-alcoholic repertoire, try adding the buttery and rare Aguni Japanese Sea Salt to your morning espresso — it will remove any unwanted bitterness. Whether its Fleur de Sel, Grey Sea Salt or the Alaea Hawaiian — its totally in.

Luxury. Binary. Juice. Is there a limit on what people will pay to nourish themselves through the medium of fruit juice (and, um, nutritional gel)? It seems as though MonaVie has set out to answer that question — a little social experiment if you will. “Let’s pack 19 fruits into a wine bottle (including acaí — wooo!), chalk it up to the Balance-Variety-Moderation philosophy, and charge about $45 per bottle.” MonaVie has been around for a few years now, but I just heard about it. Given that it is sold through a MLM (multiple level marketing) system, that doesn’t surprise me … maybe those peddling it are too ashamed to announce the price to potential customers. At any rate, I (reluctantly) can’t wait to try the stuff. Hopefully it’s coming to a martini bar near me someday soon.

I have a couple of questions for our readers: (1) Have any of you tried the juice? (2) What are your thoughts about products sold this way (is it an automatic turn-off or do you let the quality of the product speak for itself)?

If you've ever found yourself in the rare, but nonetheless frustrating predicament of needing to eat sushi while you have only your glasses on you, Brad Gressel's got an inventive solution. The American industrial designer's STIX eyeglasses give you a whole new reason to keep your eye on what you're eating. Combining the practical (needing to see, needing to eat) with the fashionable, you'll find a pair of handy stainless steel tipped chopsticks inside the hollow plastic arms of these glasses. Covering all the bases, they're also fully washable, and the ends of the glasses are left open so there's no nasty bacteria build-up. Plus, there’s a third function. if you're not eating or trying to see, you can always use them to put up your hair.

Warm weather means more than shorts, t-shirts, and flip flops…it also means it’s time to brush off that grill and start bbq-ing. Whether you’re a carnivore, herbivore, or omnivore, you’re going to need more than just fire and coal to make your flame broiled fantasies a reality. Every grill master needs some quality utensils — and we’ve got just what the doctor (or chef) ordered. This set of stainless steel folding grill tools from Sur La Table includes a brush, a pair of tongs, and a spatula with eco-friendly pakkawood handles that allow these cooking tools to become compact providing a sleek space saving solution to your searing situation. Also, they might be useful in fending off a mugging providing you can convince your would be attacker that the folding spatula is also a switchblade.

Related: Meat = Mine

Not since Frank Perdue and his poultry-looking family sold us on his “all natural” birds have we been so taken with an advertisement for chicken. Foster Farms has taken Dove’s “Campaign for Real Beauty” ads (the he ones where models of all shapes, sizes, and skin conditions teach us about the trickery of Photoshop), and applied it to tasty all-white meat. The ad is cute, but to be honest, we’re not sure which we’d go for: the untouched sock puppet chicken, or the unappetizing brand logo at the end. Ah, what the hell…it doesn’t really matter as long as it goes in the deep fryer.

Via swissmiss

I remember walking into A Salt and Battery the first year I lived in New York, and having heart palpitations when I discovered that at Easter, they do deep fried Cadbury Créme Eggs. As disgusting as that sounds, you shouldn’t knock it till you’ve tried it. I was transported back to that memory just now, when I was mucking around on the Goo-ology website, and watching a series of disturbed Creme Eggs seeking help for their mental problems and suicidal tendencies. Those eggs managed to escape vats of hot oil, though. Go give Eggs & Ladders a play, watch the brilliant UK ad spots under the ‘Fantasties’ section, and when you can’t stand it anymore, rest assured any Duane Reade or Rite Aid will have at least half a million of them in stock already.

Plenty of people love to showoff their chopstick chops while chowing down on Chinese food. They'll specifically ask for the troublesome utensils in order to impress their friends as soon as they reach the table…and sometimes, if you look over at those same folks at any given moment during the meal, they're the ones sneaking stray grains of rice onto their spoon because they don't exactly have the hang of chopstick handling they wanted to exhibit. Well, thanks to Choplery, they don't have to fake it anymore. The cutlery/chopstick hybrid from DesignGO! Studio made from 100% bamboo and presented in the three basic utensils (fork, knife, and spoon) gives eater's a fighting chance of conquering their meal by giving them the choice, cutlery or chopsticks? Ease or struggle? The decision is at your fingertips.

Paper just got a little more obsolete. A week after Orange and UK ad agency The Alternative debuted a much buzzed about no touch interactive phone menu in the window of its Carnaby Street store, NYC's legendary St. Regis Hotel has taken the new-age menu up a notch.

The St. Regis is home to celebrated chef Alain Ducasse's Adour Restaurant and, despite the opulent old-skool feel of the sheepskin covered gold wine bar, ordering a drink is decidedly high tech. Created by Potion Design, an electronic touch sensitive menu is displayed onto the bar from a built-in projection system in the ceiling. Foodies can check out Adour's extensive wine list just by tapping their hands on the interactive menu before them. Once you've narrowed it down to a specific wine, a flower icon appears displaying info about the bottle on each of its petals; country, vineyard, grape varietals, and all that fancy sommelier stuff is displayed, literally, right at your fingertips.

Mary Poppins had it right. A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. Even better, what if the sugar is the medicine.

Designed in Barcelona by studio m, Happy Pills is a modern day collision between confectionary and apothecary. The store, literally wedged between two large buildings, might go unnoticed if not for the acid-pink Red Cross logo above it's door. Inside, the pharmaceutical design bend is consistent: jellybean filled pill bottles and fully-stocked "first aid kits" line the shelves, or you can self-medicate by filling up bottles with your candy of choice.

My personal fave are the handy "morning-afternoon-night" pill holders, just to make sure your sugar-toothing stays on schedule.

We know you love swinging by your local neighborhood chain restaurant for both the ambiance and the quality eats, but sometimes dining out can get a tad bit pricy. If only you could employ your own skillet skills to serve up the same sensational suppers in the comfort of your kitchen, you'd sure save a lot of scratch. While eliminating the waiter as the middleman between you and your meal sounds great in theory, T.G.I. Friday's doesn't just give out their top-secret recipe for their Jack Daniels Grill Glaze...or do they? Well, not exactly, but Todd Wilbur, the mastermind behind Top Secret Recipes, thinks he's figured it out. Wilbur has spent the last 15 years in mastering the practice of kitchen cloning, creating perfect clones of brand-name recipes and uncovering the most guarded of ingredients for everything from fast food to yoo-hoo. So just what are those ingredients? You'll have to go to his website to find out for yourself.