Food, something which nearly everyone enjoys. Come on, even those who lives on take-out pizzas or those crappy McDonald burgers will have to admit, we do live on food. And so why not live to enjoy food at the same time? So check out Fox & Obel - they sell different kinds of food produce - breads to meats to cheese to wine to seafood to some stuff which I have never heard of. It is time to try something different, something gourmet. They even have a cafe for those who are adventurous and would like to try great tasting food right in the shop. Their market carries gourmet food from all over the world - I am sure you will find something you like in their market. It is like stepping to another continent. Oh, if you need catering, you might want to check out what service and menu they have on their website. Gourmet food usually cost more but hey, you only live once right?

Fox & Obel

Desserts. Don't you just love them. After finishing your meal, I often look forward to some desserts or snack so as to wash everything down. Yes, I said it - wash everything down. Honestly, we all have a sweet tooth. The best way to satisfy that sweet tooth is to have some sweet dessert. And what better dessert than an European style one? Ferrara Bakery & Cafe makes some of the most delicious looking dessert I have ever seen - check it out on their website. Filled Cannoli, Truffle Cake, Panettone Alto, Cheesecake, mini Sfogliatella par, Tricolour cookies, frozen Chocol, Big Dippers, Torrone, Peasant Cake and many more. They are also able to do weddings and catering, even to design a custom cake for your big day. Their cafe serves cold and hot drinks as well as several types of pastries.

Ferrara Bakery & Cafe

We often look at the news and see how poor the farmers are in the third world nations. We understand their plight but there doesn't seem much we can do about it. But there is - by supporting companies with fair trade! These companies help the farmers and growers by offering better (aka fairer) prices than what is set by the cartels. This way, you get better produce and you get to help the locals. I think it is a win-win situation. Anyway, Equal Exchange Co-op was started in 1986 and they claimed to have helped farmers with sustainable farming methods. And check out the products they have - coffees, teas, chocolates, bananas, olive oil and almonds. All are organic and they have been awarded fair trade several times. If you are looking for a supplier for your organic store, they do wholesale (bulk) as well.

Equal Exchange Co-op

Wow, ice cream, chocolate and candy maker! Although I would not consider this company as those old school candy makers but they do have a history of making great tasting candies and chocolates. It was founded in 1960 and they actually started at the basement of the founder's house. Then they expanded and became one of the largest candy maker in Pittsburgh. Visiting their website always brings tears to my eyes as memories of their chocolates and candies flood my senses. Yes, I do love my candies when I was young. Of course nowadays I don't really like sweet stuff anymore. But still it was great while it lasted. Their boxed chocolates, chocolate pretzels, milk angels, toffee, chocolate pecans and so on - just wonderful, especially during the holidays.

Sarris Candies

Old school chocolate and candy maker. I love it. I know that there are many new flavours of chocolates out there designed by god knows who with many new exciting flavours which cannot be described. I know they are indeed delicious. Usually they come with tons of fillings and topping. Not saying that we should not try them or even enjoy these chocolates but somehow old school chocolates appeal more to me. I just love simple stuff like chocolate-dipped strawberries, caramel and candied apples and so on. Simple, yet delicious. Of course if you are looking for something more exciting, they do make them as well. Peppermint creams, candy cane marshmallow, milk chocolate cherry cordials, dark chocolate coconut,mint patties and so on. For the youngsters.

Russel Stover

One of the most popular restaurants located in New York. If you are into celebrity dining, you would have surely heard of this restaurant. Founded and owned by Gabriel Hamilton, who won the Best Chef in New York City by the James Beard Foundation, you will find the best of the best here. Their menu includes Parmesan Omelette, snails with Walnuts, grilled head-on shrimp with anchory butter, Trippa Milanese, Saffron Carrots, Roasted Garnet yam with brown Vinaigrette and many many more wonderful creations. If you are living in New York and you have the dough, perhaps you might be interested to head down to their restaurant. Remember to wear something nice or you might not be allowed to enter. This is not your regular diner.

Prune Restaurant

It is all about old fashion candies here. You will find a wide selection of those hard-to-find candies that will make you nostalgic and walk down memory lane when you were just kids. I remembered those times fondly. And I love visiting the candy store. But of course, it sold alcohol as well. So you will get a full complement of half drunks - one group half drunk with alcohol, the other half drunk with sugar. Isn't life back then much more fun? Check out their best sellers - cherry mash, chocolate babies, turkish taffy, long boy, skybar, cinnamon gum, sour fizz candy, caramel cream and so on. Yes, brings back the good old times doesn't it. Just make sure you brush you teeth so that when you get old, you won't need false teeth to chew your food like me.

Home Town Favorites

Groovy baby! It is all about candies here. And when we talk about candies, we need to talk about variety. People get bored with eating the same old candies every day, so there is definitely a need to have variety. And for stores or even online stores selling candy, they need to keep on adding new varieties so that people will keep coming back. And hence everytime you visit such a store, you will find yourself under a mountain of different candies. But I like it. Sure, it sometimes can be overwhelming to search for the candy you want, but variety means that I won't get bored. So I am not complaining. And if you are free, check out their "retro candy". You will find old fashioned candies from the 50s, 60s and 70s like Jujubes, Sugar Daddy, Chuckles, Candy Buttons, Fruit Stripe Gum, Tootsie Pops and so on. And oh, remember to brush your teeth okay?

Groovy Candies

Co-operative. I like it. They started in 1919 and have more than 1,200 farmers behind them. Most people think of co-operative as a small organization but in actual fact, most co-operative actually runs like a business. And they do help small farmers, especially those farmers who do not have the resources and means to "add-value" to their farm produce. Of course big farms are different - economy of scales allows them to invest and product more sophisticated products from their farm - like cheese for example. Cheese is not just about adding salt to cream, it requires a lot of time, patience, expertise and knowledge (and of course marketing). Anyway, Cabot Cheese makes cheeses obviously. Their Cheddar cheese is famous throughout the world and they have won numerous awards. I myself have not tried their Cheddar before. I can't find it anywhere in my area.

Cabot Cheese

Apparently Wisconsin is famous for their cheese. I myself actually do not know that Wisconsin is famous or well-known for their cheese. I had thought that it was usually Europe or Australia that makes great cheeses. But I could be wrong. I have never tried Wisconsin Cheese before so I have no idea. This little online mart sells only Wisconsin cheese. They claim to have the widest selection of Wisconsin Cheese in the world, so you should have a nice range of products to choose from. And Wisconsin is known as farm country and with so many farms, they should have a lot of cheeses as well. Cheeses like Cheddar, Harvati, Asiago, Bierkaese, Juustoleipa, Gouda, Monterey Jack, Blue, Abergele and many many more are all available for sale on this site. Well lucky you if you live in Wisconsin then.

Wisconsin Cheese Mart

The self-proclaimed world's leading wine industry solution. I guess what they meant is that they provide information and tools to help wine makers do their job better. We often think that making wine is old school - decades in the barrel and old silly men drinking and splitting in a bucket. But when technology advancement, there comes new and exciting tools for wine makers. And this little site provides such news and articles to help wine makers decide which is the best process. Also check out their classifieds - useful for those who are thinking of joining the wine making industry or just looking for a supplier of grapes or wine making equipments. They also provide calculators to measure this or that, certainly very useful for the wine maker.

VinoEnology

Gin is basically distilled alcohol with spices like Juniper berries. And it is very popular with the British it seems. Something about drinking the disgusting stuff makes the British well....British. Well of course nowadays Gin is not as popular as it is before. Perhaps because of competition and the fact that people are starting to realize that there are other better alcohols available. But Oxley London Dry Gin is breaking from this trend, which probably shows that they did the Gin right. Their Gin is achieved via cold distillation and are made in small batches so the quality can be easily controlled. It is not all about just dumping alcohol with spices and hoping for the best. And they are smart - their bottles are attractive and well if you don't buy one, you are not appreciative of the art. Top up with some tonic water, add some lime and you can enjoy some great "Gin & Tonic".

Oxley Gin

Ahhh....whiskey. I am not too sure why but we love whiskey. Even the young are starting to appreciate whiskey. I know that cocktails are great for party goers but honestly, if you want to really enjoy alcohol, whiskey (Irish) is the best way to go. Whiskey can be enjoyed straight up and once you have you first taste of whiskey, you will never go back to the other crap you have been drinking. Anyway, Kanppogue Castle 16 (Twin Wood) is aged 16 years in bourbon casks then finished in sherry casks, something very unique for whiskey. And the aging certainly helps make their whiskey one of the most sort after whiskey around the world. Made from single malt, which I really like. Of course it might be a bit difficult to find them anymore. Hopefully they will come up with even better whiskey some time soon.

Knappogue Castle Whiskey

It is kind of sad to see the British seem to have meads all figured out but in the United States, it is much lacking. Although meads are starting to appear in our liquor stores, I still think that it has a long way to go before it can be accepted as a alternative to wine or even beer. But at least people are starting to take notice of mead right? I don't know why, mead is just so delicious and it doesn't take much to appreciate mead. Unlike those distilled varieties of alcohol, mead is actually a simple drink. I took to it immediately. You don't need to learn this or that, just to have some alcohol in you. And most importantly, it is tasty stuff. Lindisfarne produces fortified mead combined with grape wine and herbs, so it is not a straight-up mead. But who cares? I hope to get a bottle and have a try but alas, you probably can't find it anywhere nearby.

Lindisfarne Mead

What is better than having a sip of wine after a long tiring day at the office? Well mead of course! I know that mead is not as popular as some of the other alcoholic beverages available out there but we should all try mead. It is just so damn tasty. Of course mead might be a little more expensive than lets say a comparative wine but I don't know why, I like mead better. And an increasing number of people are starting to take notice of mead, which is a good thing. this means that we will see more mead makers and meaderies coming out. Anyway, this mead maker is one of the more well-known meaderies in the United Kingdom. Yes, all their products are fruit meads (which are honey and fruit fermented) which technically does not make them real mead but I like it. But you might not be able to find their meads near your place though.

Cornish Mead Co

Coffee. Most of us cannot live without it. Just imagine life without coffee. A lot of us will be walking around in the morning looking (and stumbling) like zombies. If aliens were to arrive, they might even doomsday our planet just to save themselves. That is how important coffee is to us. However, what is sad is the kind of coffee we drink. It just taste horrible. Coffee should not taste bitter, sour nor flavourless. Thus it is my opinion that this site provides you guys with real coffee for you to check out. Browse through the various brands of coffee and take a look at what other consumers have to say. Or if you would like an expert opinion, they do reviews as well. Once you have tasted real coffee, those supermarket brands will taste like crap to you in the future. Oh, other than reviews, they have articles like guides and how-tos and news on the coffee industry. As I said, this site is all about coffee. Reminds me of a great morning.

Coffee Geek

Fancy drinking mineral water from "volcanic" regions? Well, now you can - it is called Borjomi. The mineral water is from some volcanic region in Georgia and they claim that the water comes out from the source warm. Isn't that amazing? Most spring sources come out cold (or cool) but this water comes out warm. They also claim that the water is full of essential minerals and probably one of the most important selling point of this water. So if you are looking for some mineral water to replace Evian, how about having a go at this brand. I myself don't usually drink mineral water. I think that tap water is good enough. But if your location do not have good tap water, you might want to consider bottled water. If you have the money why not try some unique brand out? Borjomi actually looks pretty good as a mineral water.

Borjomi

Did you know that mineral water is big business? I am not joking. Apparently it is such a big business that there are now Artesian waters available. Big names like Evian where a bottle can cost an arm and a leg or lesser known bottled water manufacturers like this one from Argentina.They all have tons of health claims and that their water is the most "pure" form of water and so on. But the simple fact is that they are pretty expensive. I honestly don't mind paying for health but sometimes the prices are just really ridiculous. Not many can afford these prices. But it has already become a fashion trend. Many hip youngsters in suits and power ties do drink such mineral water, even at bars and restaurants. That is the power of advertising and our media. So if you can afford it, why not try this brand and you can out-shine your snobbish friends drinking Evian.

Lauquen Water

It seems that everybody loves fast food. Perhaps it is because we are busy. Cannot be, most fast food restaurants are packed to the brim with customers, so you still have to wait for your turn at the queue. What is it that fast food does to appeal to so many people? Well, whatever it is, it seems to be spreading, especially here in the United States. Even Italian food is now fast food. Check out Fazoli's - Italian fare done fast food style. But it comes with a difference - you get real fork, plates and knives. You would think that it is all plastic and so on, but no, you get real eating utensils! What an amazing concept for a fast food chain. Their menu includes pizzas, salads, toasted Ravioli, Piada, breadsticks, roasted chicken platter, baked spaghetti, pizza sticks, pasta and so on. Yes, your regular Italian fare but perhaps a little more "high-class" than the other fast food chains. They have over 230 restaurants located around the United States.

Fazolis

What is the first thing you must have when you wake up in the morning? Come on, admit it - isn't it coffee. I have seen people looking like a zombie in the morning and only after their first cup of coffee do they look alive. Yes, it is the caffeine and most of us are already addicted to it. Good news to coffee companies everywhere. However the problem I see is the quality of the coffee we have, especially in the supermarkets. They taste like crap and the only thing that keeps them in the stores is because they are just so convenient. You pop the granules into a cup, add boiling water and you get coffee. Even if it tastes bad, everyone in your house or office still drinks them. I think however it is about time people start tasting real coffee. Try the coffees fro "The West Bean". They claim that their coffee are all "hand-crafted" and are of the utmost quality. Handcrafted as in "micro-roast" their beans so they can better control the quality of the roast. Well, once you have tasted real coffee, you will never go back to the store bought ones anymore.

The West Bean