Category: Stuff We Love

For San Francisco Bay Area brides, have we got an idea for you: how about a rehearsal dinner celebrated with the folks at Kitchen on Fire in Berkeley? You bring your guests, KoF provides the ingredients, kitchen facilities and tools and you and your fam cook your meal together before sitting down to eat. KoF’s professional chefs are on hand the whole time to provide guidance and support if needed. All the preparations are taken care of by KoF and the group can enjoy a completely private dinner (unlike simply reserving a table at a restaurant). You are also welcome to customize a menu that would be meaningful to you and your family (like an Italian-themed meal before the honeymoon in Rome.)

Talk about a green wedding! Has anyone seen these plantable wedding invitations and favors? Guests can actually plant the paper to grow their own wildflowers as a lasting memory of your wedding.

Hanna Hartnell, wedding dress and formal-wear fashion designer extraordinaire, has cooked up six red-hot gowns to fit the bill. Her special collection of attention-grabbing hues range from a deep rose to rich merlot. Hartnell, who is working with the Red Cross to help make the event a big success, is also donating a $3000 gown for their live auction.

Every Valentine’s day, my husband Jaya brings me truffles from The Candy House of Davis, a wonderful chocolatier in Davis, CA. Each box comes with a card, picturing each of the 30 different kinds of truffles they make by hand. By comparing the way the truffle looks to the picture, you can find out what flavor ganache is inside. Whether it be Irish Creame, Decadence, Grand Marnier or White Russian, each one is so beautiful I almost want to save them… but of course, I never do. Each one I taste is more delicious than the one before.

I can only imagine what the new Real Simple Weddings magazine, which officially launched this week, will be like—and what I’m imagining is pretty darn good. If you’ve managed to snag an early copy at Crate and Barrel, I’d love to hear what Real (Simple) Brides think of it.

Thank goodness I discovered Dagoba. Fair Trade, Organic and award-winning, Dagoba’s unique “chocolate alchemy” combines flavors in innovative, tantalizing ways. Dagoba chocolate tastes genuine—that is, biting into a small piece, the first taste is chocolate, rather than sugar. Its authentic musky flavor sings of forests and unspoiled wilderness, invariably lifting my spirits. I’ve come to prefer my chocolate dark & spicy, and Dagoba’s Xocolatl, accented with cocoa nibs and chile peppers, satisfies my cravings. My husband isn’t as adventurous and fancies less intense varietals, such as New Moon, the best of bittersweet.

For wedding favors, I love Vosges’ adorable takeout containers which can include truffles like the Black Pearl (ginger + wasabi + dark chocolate + black sesame seeds). Their two-piece truffle boxes can be customized with your names or message and your choice of ribbon colors. And, you can feel good about Vosges’ green commitment.

Unlike my colleagues Lisa and Meredith, I didn’t even think about what chocolate my significant other would be. Instead, I grilled my poor boyfriend on what kind of chocolate he thinks I’d be. After vetoing every type of chocolate he came up with (“What? Really? Where the hell did you get that idea?”), the answer dawned on me while I was restocking on shampoo at the drugstore. An M&M! Or is it an M?