Category Archives: New Products

Introducing the “Meat Boy” Collection

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What every well dressed meat lover will be wearing this year.

Guys, I didn’t want you to feel left out. I know the Food Gal logo is pretty darn cute, but it’s also a little too girly for you manly men out there.

So just for you, the new “Meat Boy” collection of T-shirts, sweatshirts, and aprons makes its debut with its very own distinct logo featuring a big, macho cleaver.

This collection, of course, is named after my hubby, whom you already know as the original Meat Boy for his insatiable appetite for all things meaty. Yes, he’s the guy who’d rather order a second entree of meat than save room for any frou-frou dessert (so unlike me). He’s the guy who gets more excited by prime rib going on sale at the grocery store than the Niners’ winning a Super Bowl — er, or any game these days actually.

This collection is for anyone who is a Meat Boy at heart (or stomach). Peruse the racks in our boutique by clicking on the “Food Gal Boutique” page at the top or just click here.

The perfect apron to don when grilling ribs and roasts.

Sprinkles Cupcakes To Open Its Doors on Tuesday

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A tower of frosted delights. (Photo courtesy of Sprinkles Bakery)

Get ready for red velvet, chai latte, ginger lemon, banana dark chocolate, and more cute-as-can-be, freshly baked, no-need-to-share treats when Sprinkles Cupcakes opens on Sept. 23 at the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto.

Yes, the cupcake bakery that’s all the rage with Tyra Banks, Oprah, Katie Holmes (Mrs.Tom Cruise), and other celebs is finally putting down sugary roots in the Bay Area. Other Sprinkles bakeries can be found in Beverly Hills, Newport Beach, Dallas, and Scottsdale. You can spot them easily by the lines outside the doors.

It’s only fitting that Pastry Chef-Proprietor Candace Nelson and her co-owner/husband Charles Nelson open a shop here. After all, Candace’s French-American great grandmother, Margaret Craig, owned three successful restaurants in the Bay Area for more than 20 years. Candace and Charles also are two former Silicon Valley tech investment bankers who spent long hours crunching numbers for others while they longingly dreamed of baking cupcakes. (Hey, I would, too!)

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Totes for Tots

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Perfect for toting lunch to school.

This lunch bag is not only cute, but made of certified organic cotton that’s easily washable. It also was designed by a self-professed “industrial designer and Silicon Valley dropout.”

Susanne Maddux of San Francisco was the first woman on Apple computer’s elite international design team. She later started her own design consultancy business, where she helped design products for such companies as Sony, Nike, and Kuhn Rikon.

About two years ago, after losing her father and step-father to cancer, and giving birth to her second child prematurely, Maddux’s focus shifted, after she painfully realized how fragile life could be. She rededicated herself to designing things that would be socially and ecologically responsible. The result was her company, Hero Bags, which manufactures totes in the United States using sustainable materials.

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Amano — Chocolate From A Former Scientist

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Amano chocolate bars

Art Pollard is a scientist by training. His specialty is search engines. In fact, his code is on most of our computers, in one form or another.

He’s also a chocoholic. More than 10 years ago, he started studying the science of chocolate. And two years ago, he started sharing his chocolate handiwork with the sweet-tooths of the world.

Thus was born Amano Artisan Chocolate. The name in Italian means both “by hand” and “they love.” It’s Pollard’s way of saying he hopes what he handcrafts will be loved by all who try it. He works with cacao farmers to improve their growing, fermenting and drying techniques. In return, he says he pays them three to four times the going market price — well above “fair trade” level.

He chose Orem, Utah for his factory, believing the high altitude (4,441 feet above sea level) and dry climate have beneficial effects on the chocolate. His 2-ounce bars ($6.95 each) are available online.

I’ll use my patented scale of 1 to 10 lip-smackers, with 1 being the “Bleh, save your money” far end of the spectrum; 5 being the “I’m not sure I’d buy it, but if it was just there, I might nibble some” middle-of-the-road response; and 10 being the “My gawd, I could die now and never be happier, because this is the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth” supreme ranking.

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Perfect Wine for Labor Day

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Black Eagle Wines

Uncork a bottle of Black Eagle Wines to toast Labor Day in a most apropos way.

Black Eagle Wines is a collection of varietals launched by the field laborers and leaders of the United Farm Workers. It signifies the progress made by the UFW — from its founding by Cesar Chavez to its days of grape boycotts 40 years ago to the pride these days in the harvest and production that respects farm workers’ labor. The grapes for these wines were harvested by workers whose union membership has helped bring better wages and living conditions.

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