News from BelleRinger PR

LET'S CELEBRATE! This is a VIP (Very Important Post) - it's my 100th post! Congratulations to me! If I've learned anything while blogging I've learned to relax and have fun. Sure, everything I post is going out into cyberspace where zillions of people can pore over it for years. But who really cares? As long as I can post a pretty picture and spit out a few coherent sentences I'm happy. A pink cake like this would make me even happier. It's one of the creative yummies you can see at Coolest Birthday Cakes where you can find recipes and pans for cake designs ranging from Dora the Explorer to lambs and alligators to monster trucks. Like everything else on the Net - there's something for everybody.

FRANKIE GOES ORGANIC The recent discovery of toxic substances in some pet foods, followed by the recalls, sent shivers down my spine. Like most pet owners I quickly became paranoid that my little friend, Frankie, might be effected by it. My reaction was to start preparing Frankie's dinner myself, in my own kitchen. My husband fell out of his shoes when I started doing this. He had to help me find the map to the kitchen. Then he quickly became envious of Frankie's healthy home-cooked meals. I decided that if I was going to cook for Frankie I would prepare the safest and best food possible for him. After consulting with his vet I started feeding him a combination of brown rice, organic green peas, fresh baby carrots, and organic ground round. I add a sirloin-flavored multi-vitamin goop (it's impossible to get a pill down this boy's throat). Originally this was going to be a short-term project (I use the word project because that's how I describe any food prep that ha...

TAKE THE PERSONALITY QUIZ Don't you love personality quizzes? I do. Over the years they've helped me establish my identity (to be truthful, create my identity). But sometimes you have to wonder. Today I took a novel quiz; it didn't give me the self-enlightenment I usually find but it ranks among the most unusual I've taken. More about it below. . . True sugar hound that I am, I have many favorite cookies. Circus Cookies, ginger snaps, peanut butter cookies - you get it, it's a long list. This month's favorite is Oreo Double Delight Mint Cream. The traditional crisp Oreo chocolate cookie, paired with a mint cream that has so much sugar in it that you can actually feel the texture of the granules, is exquisite. Today I Googled Oreo, just to see if the web site is as wonderful as the cookie. It's a Nabisco website with a section devoted to all of their cookies. The Oreo site is incredible! Did you know that there are 14 varieties of the cookies? And you'll ...

A WHOLE LOT OF WHINING GOING ON There's been a lot of talk about the recent time change - none of it very positive. It irritated me for some very specific reasons. First, I lost an hour of reading time. I resent anything that cuts into my precious reading time. Right now I'm devouring some of J.D. Robb's brain candy; I missed an hour that should have been spent with Lieutenant Eve Dallas. My Sunday afternoon nap was another casualty. It's a tradition for me to have a snooze late Sunday afternoons and people who know me don't interfere with it. Another casualty was the hour I could have spent at the gym working off the Ben and Jerry's I ate Saturday. (I just learned that they'll deliver ice cream directly to your home. Check out this page for more information.) For those of you who persevered and read this entry - thank you. It feels good to get this off my chest.

MORE ABOUT FOOD Though I don't have an obsession with food I do get almost as excited about it as Frankie (my four-legged officemate) does. New readers - my 1/27/07 post has a picture of his beer-swilling twin. Yesterday I came across this dog feeder made from an actual wine crate. Not only does it look chic, but it's also very practical. Tall dogs don't need to bend too low to eat, uncouth dogs can't push their dishes around so easily, and lazy dogs have both dishes side by side. I know putting two dishes in one stand isn't new but there's probably at least one reader who's dazzled by the concept. Whiner and Diner (appropriate name, yes?) uses crates from US and European (oooh la la) wineries. Though I'm trying to focus on the aesthetics and practicality of the feeder, a little voice in my head says Frankie would look sophisticated if he drank wine from this feeder instead of beer from a bowl.

CHOCOLATE WITH A CONSCIENCE . . . Valentine's Day is a great excuse to share my passion for chocolate. There's a definite advantage to looking at pictures and blogging about this wonder food - it ends up on the page rather than my hips. However, it can be difficult to share my rapture without actually tasting the treats. That said, I must share my latest find. These artisan chocolates from Lillie Belle Farms are more than beautiful - they're certified organic and made with ingredients from fair trade sources. Don't miss looking at their chocolate paintings and sculpture; it's not only exquisite it's edible. Have any of you eaten Lillie Belle's goodies? Please share your experience with me!

HELLO FELLOW CHOCOLATE FANATICS I'm finding so many goodies to share with you in my quest for the perfect chocolate that it's hard to know where to start. Today I came across Moonstruck Chocolate's web site. Reading the description of their chocolate-making process and ingredients hooked me - importing carefully selected cocoa beans, hand-rolling truffles, ensuring a cocoa content of 67 - 70% . . . But the serious drooling began when I looked at the presentation and packaging of these gourmet goodies. This "hand made Thai silk box contains 12 heart shaped hand painted truffles and is packaged with a small book of poetry." Awesome. Or the Chocolate Novel - 15 pieces of heaven in a gold and black book-shaped box. How much better can it get? Send me the name of your favorite chocolatier!

RE-USE, RECYCLE, RE-GIFT These are the 3 big Rs in my household. So when I find something beautiful and recycled I'm always pleased. Today I came across these charming plates from Esther Derkx. She takes 'cast-off' and vintage porcelain pieces and adds fun screenprints to dainty plates (available in sizes ranging from 4" - 9"), platters, soup bowls and teapots. I can just visualize a candlelit room with white linens, the 'real' silver, Esther's porcelain - and a box of gourmet chocolate! See more pictures of this eclectic tableware at Rose and Radish .

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO LOVE TO EAT I stumbled across Hungry Girl one week before Halloween, when I had made the self-destructive mistake of buying two bags of "fun size" candy bars. The timing was truly unfortunate; I had opened one of the bags the night before reading Lisa's column about the horrors of the little goodies. I've since come to love the HG (Hungry Girl, for those of you not in the know) site. In addition to nutrition info and eating tips, Lisa reviews and introduces packaged foods and shares original recipes. I was very impressed by her recipe for homemade peanut butter cups - I wish I'd seen it before Halloween. And I already appreciate the Holiday help she's doling out. I believe the success of Lisa's site is due to her own experiences. She admits that she loves to eat and battled with that extra 25 lbs. that too many of us know too well. Her site is packed with fun, facts, and creative ideas, and makes you want to go back for another help...

YES, THEY'RE EDIBLE! Some of the prettiest - and most realistic looking - cake decorations and goodies that I've seen are at Wendy Kromer Specialty Confections . These cherry blossoms are absolutely lovely on wedding cakes and look great on all kinds of desserts. Many of the beautiful cakes on her site have been featured in Martha Stewart Living and are available to order over the Internet. The company also sells cake 'kits' that contain all of the decorations needed to bake your own dessert - imagine your favorite aunt's reaction to your homebaked cake! Wendy's cookies make great gifts and favors - snowflakes, hearts, monograms and more - you'll find find them on her site. And the best part - everything's edible (with the exception of those skinny little bird legs). My suggestion for a great gift for a business associate or secret santa is the lovely box of handcrafted and painted marzipan fruit . And you can't go wrong for the price - $12 for a box...