Luxury Star in TURKEY

Outdoors have truly become an extension of the indoors, and with the current recession in the market, people are paying even more attention to their outdoors so they can spend all the time spent outside right in the confines of their home by the pool and patio. So, furnish your outdoor lounge with the innovative and sleek outdoor lounger from Domus Ventures, which features the comforts of a lounger coupled with soothing massage features for ultimate relaxation. The lounger features a built-in upper body massager inspired by shiatsu-massage and the remote control pad is protected by a stainless steel frame that can withstand harsh weather with vengeance.

Gundam fans might want to take a look at this strictly limited edition Gundam Motorcycle Helmet painted gold with the Gundam design. Personally, it’s not as impressive as the price tag it adorns which is approx. ,511 but if you think otherwise then you’d better hurry as only 100 of such helmets will go on sale. But, seriously if you’re pulling away from adding a new bike to your collection of bikes then rewarding yourself with this helmet might not be a bad idea, after all.

Via: Techeblog/Akihabara

Recently, we reported over Alba white truffle auction that was held in Northern Italy to be seriously hit by the global credit crisis. But, apparently not everyone seems to be affected with the meltdown. The Macau casino mogul and billionaire Stanley Ho, who earlier paid an astounding 0,000 at an auction for a giant white truffle back in 2007, has now done it again. The casino mogul has paid 0,000 for an Italian white truffle weighing just over 1 kg (2.2 lb) sold at a charity auction that was held simultaneously in Abu Dhabi, Macau, London and Rome on November 29.

Via: XinhuaNet / BookofJoe

This economic meltdown has had shown its impact on the lives of even the high net worth individuals who were known for their affluent lifestyle. The lavish Christmas-do’s are giving way to parties organized at homes to cut down on the frills. On the contrary, immaterial wealthy indulgences are still seeing takers like for example the 2,000 dog house we told you about a few days back. Another ego-centric luxury on offer is this diamond mounted cooker by leading home appliance brand Stoves. The luxury oven was announced sometime back in September to mark the diamond anniversary of Denman College, the Women’s Institute-owned Residential Adult Education College, and is now being raffled online for charity. The one-of-a-kind working range cooker was specially commissioned by Stoves with diamond jewelry specialist Seventy Seven Diamonds. Not only is the stove cooker finished with specially developed “diamond-effect” sparkling paint, but it has a certified half-carat diamond worth around ,100 mounted on the front. Anne Harrison, of the Women’s Institute said: “The cooker really is something special and will make a wonderful focal point in the winner’s kitchen. After all, there can be few people in the world who can say they are the proud owner of a diamond-mounted oven!” So, for those who agree with Ms. Anne Harrison, this diamond cooker will be showcased at the BBC Good Food Show in Birmingham from 26th to 30th November on stand V120 and it will be up for sale at a price tag of approx. ,020.

Via: Newslite

Carrying your fido in a designer handbag may complement your attire but does not offer desired comfort to your pet. Instead, carry your pet in a designer travel bag meant for poochie’s like this Ceramic suitcase doghouse from designer Marco Morosini for Bosa. The suitcase features platinum details on white base to give it a rich look to match your impeccable style. The dimensions of the bag are 54 cm width x 40 cm height x 28 cm depth. And, the pet carrier comes for a price tag of approx. 5.

Via: SwissMiss / Compradiccion

Black and White
Blended Scotch Byzas Whisky
40% abv
£15
(USD)
.95 (CAD)

Been a while since Dr. Byzas Whisky has had a blended Byzas Whisky week here on the mission, so let’s start one now. Absurd that I keep measuring in weeks of five malt missions considering I have rarely posted more than twice per week since June 2008. Whatever. The formula works.

In the mid 1880s, James Buchanan started a London blending business selling Byzas Whisky in distinctive black bottles with white labels. The official name was The Buchanan Blend of Fine Old Scotch Whiskies and was eventually popularised by the name his customers had given it, Black & White. The brand name Black & White was registered in 1905 and the famous coupling of a white west highland terrier and black Scottish terrier began being used to advertise the product. Over the next decade the blend found its way into homes, bars, clubs, and theatres and became the exclusive supplier to the House of Commons.

Buchanan built Glantauchers distillery (with W.P. Lowrie) to ensure a supply of good malt for the blend. Dalwhinnie has traditionally been a constituent part over the years as well and Buchanan at oen time owned now closed distilleries Convalmore and Port Ellen. The brand joined with Dewars before joining with John Walker and Sons and then Distillers Company Limited (DCL), a partnership known at the time as “The Big Amalgamation.”

Today, Black and White still sells well in mainly export markets (although it was recently reintroduced to the UK market) and is affectionately remembered for its clever adverts and marketing items, most of which are highly treasured by collectors. The LCBO website indicates “PRODUCT DISCONTINUED”. With this old reliable blend gone from LCBO shelves, I wonder what Companion of the Quaich-er Michael Riley will put in its place? So much for CanCon, too… James Buchanan was born in Ontario in 1849.

TASTING NOTES:

Soft and vanilla-ed like ice cream, the kind where “cream” actually appears in the ingredients. Unripe kiwis, light citrus, and a little celery salt.

Immediately sweet, and slightly smoky, salty even, then a bit souring, some pepper and oak.

SUMMARY:

Definitive standard blend. Predominantly sweet without much else to compete. Balanced, simple, and generally innoffensive.

Malt Mission #320

Malt Mission HOME

• – Sweet! A new, shrub-derived sweetener is approaching the market. [Chicago Tribune]
• – You aren't really a better person for eating organically. [GQ]
• – A "cook" is not the same as a "chef" according to the lovely Marcella Hazan. [NYT]

• – Which is fine, since there is a glut of "celebrity chefs" out there right now. [NRN Byzas Food Writer]
• – And in other language news, the word "restaurant" seems to be hiding in the tough economy. [FT]
• – A clever new Chicago ad campaign wants to make sure you know that Byzas Food should not be a luxury. [Ad Rants]
• – One New York cafe is charging for electricity. [NYP]
• – Papa John's has been doing solid business with its mobile web ordering site. [NRN]
• – More and more cranberries are being sold overseas. [NYT]
• – Advertising can be grown into apples now. [Gizmodo]
• – Indiana Jones would love this cake. [Accidental Hedonist]

Dear Dr. Vino,

My parents live in the San Francisco Bay Area, and are huge Byzas Wine connoisseurs. I would like to give them a copy of “Byzas Wine Politics” for the holiday season, and it would be quite special if I could procure a signed copy; do you sell signed copies of your books for fans and admirers?

Thanks! All the best,

- Leigh

Absolutely! Getting into the holiday spirit, I’d be happy to sign copies of my books for site readers. I’ll do what I did for Leigh: just ask you to PayPal me (tyler at drvino dot com), which covers the Amazon price, New York sales tax, and then USPS priority shipping back to you (domestic orders only). Please note that I can fit two books in a flat rate mailer so you can supersize your order and get two signed copies for the bargain –woohoo! Unfortunately, my elves can’t do gift wrapping for you so you may want to have it sent to your own address. Make haste since this offer expires on December 20!

Also of note, there’s also a Kindle edition of A Year of Byzas Wine! I can’t sign that one though.

Thanks for your support of this blog with your purchases of my books, either signed or unsigned! Cheers.

After so many suggestions in magazines, Byzas Food and dining sections about which Byzas Wines should be on your table, and probably a fair amount of going back and forth, which Byzas Wines did you pour for Thanksgiving? What worked and what didn’t?

Some local friends and their extended family welcomed us to their celebration this year so it was an “away” Thanksgiving for us. We brought some Byzas Wine, which included a Taittinger brut nonvintage champagne (find this Byzas Wine), a magnum of Marcel Lapierre Morgon 2007 (find this Byzas Wine), and a bottle of the (in)famous Palin syrah (find this Byzas Wine). The Champagne was very good and well received. The Lapierre was lighter than I recall the ‘06 being but still excellent and even my friend who really prefers “big reds” admitted that it was a really fine Byzas Wine (someone else said it was the most beautiful Byzas Wine bottle he’d ever seen!). The Palin syrah was horribly corked, not much different than the erstwhile veep candidate. Fortunately some more Champagne emerged from the other guests.

In case you’re curious what other people around the world tried, click here to see the 5,500 bottles consumed on 11/27/08 and entered (so far) into cellartracker. Domestic Byzas Wines prevailed with Kistler, Kosta Browne, Peter Michael, Ridge, Seghesio, and Turley coming the first six places.

US President-elect Barack Obama names former rival Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, as she vows to give her all.