Coco-luxe New Bars
February 19, 2009 Coco-luxe Confections just launched three new chocolate bars, and I'm happy to say they are yummy! The Roark Bar, their highest cocoa content dark chocolate bar, is an intense, high octane boom with cocoa nibs. Great for the cocoa purist, this one sure packs a punch. This one is inspired by the character Howard Roark from Ayn Rand’s The Fountain Head.
I dug the Bessie - it's a rich milk bar with fun piebald patches of white chocolate. The white patches add a subtle vanilla edge to the bar, which I approve. The Spumoni is a tasty white bar with dried cherries, pistachio, and cocoa nibs. Love how the tartness of the cherries contrasted with the white chocolate. Founder Stephanie Marcon created this bar in honor of her Italian American roots.
Do try their other bars. I like the Monkeyin' Around (milk chocolate mixed in with banana chips and cocoa nibs).
Available at gourmet retailers and at the Coco-luxe Boutique (1673 Haight Street, San Francisco) and online at Coco-luxe.com. If you go to the store, don't forget to get their award-winning caramels!
Claire Foy in Little Dorrit; BBC 2008/ Mike Hogan for MASTERPIECE
The 
2 cups flour (plus ¼ cup for kneading dough)
1 tablespoon baking powder
¬Ω teaspoon salt
¬Ω teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup butter
¼ cup sugar
2 eggs
¬Ω cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1 cup dried currants, plumped in ¼ cup orange juice*
¼ cup sugar
1. Set the oven rack in the middle position. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Cover a 14-inch by 16-inch baking sheet with foil, shiny side up. Coat the foil with vegetable spray or use a silicone liner.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
3. Cream butter and sugar in a medium bowl. Combine eggs and 1/2 cup of the heavy cream and add to butter mixture. Add grated orange zest. Add sifted dry ingredients and stir until a soft dough begins to form. Squeeze orange juice from currants and incorporate fruit into dough with your fingers.
4. Place dough on a generously floured surface. Knead gently five times, turning corners of dough toward the center. Pat dough into a 1/2-inch thick circle. Using a floured knife, cut dough into 12 equal wedges. Using a floured wide spatula, transfer each wedge to baking sheet. Brush wedges with the remaining heavy cream and sprinkle with remaining sugar. Bake 12 to 15 minutes, or until tops of scones are lightly brown and bottoms are golden brown. Place baking sheet on a rack and cool about 10 minutes. Serve scones warm with butter and jam. They are best when eaten the day they are made.
*To plump currants in tea, orange juice, or water, bring the liquid to a boil, immerse the raisins, continue to boil for 1 minute and set aside to allow them to absorb the plumping liquid. If needed immediately, place in plastic container and chill in freezer for 10 minutes. If not used the same day, refrigerate and use when needed.
Recipe originally appeared as “Marion A. Carter and M. E. Carter’s Cranberry-Orange Cream Scones” in Heirloom Baking With The Brass Sisters by Marilynn and Sheila Brass, published by Black Dog & Leventhal, Inc. © 2006 Marilynn and Sheila Brass. Photographs copyright © 2006 Andy Ryan.
Check it out at: 
The sophisticated eye shadow palettes are mellow and delicate. It looks bright, but once you finish applying the colors your eyelids end up glowing. I like the utopia a lot. It makes me feel like a female subject in a Monet painting.
Jason Hoffman, shu uemura Principal Makeup Artist, suggests the following for the Fantasia palette:
“You can absolutely mix any combination of the three colors and layer on the lid. My favorite look for the Fantasia palette is to mix the pink and the lavender on the lid with a shu uemura Kolinsky Hair Brush, which deposits more color, then softly blend the grey into the crease. For a little more definition to the eye, add Drawing Pencil in 14 ME Light Blue, and Liquid Eyeliner in Black.”
The cheek palettes are superb. The cream and powder duos are meant to be more like subtle and buildable highlighters, not like a traditional blush. The orange phase gives a more defined, sculpted look, while misty glow gives a dewy luminosity to the face.
For the misty glow, Hoffman explains that “Both colors in the Misty Glow palette are for highlighting. The cream color, which gives a dewy glow, is great for cheeks and lips. The lighter pink powder is a great powder highlighter for eyes and cheeks. If you wanted to use both, I would layer the two, and apply the cream first and then set the cream with the powder for longer wear.”
Also love the lip duo tint & gloss. Perfectly soft for the springtime romantic look, this gives a fresh wash of berry red and a hint of gloss. Use alone, with the gloss, or with any lipstick.
Available at 
Image by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images
A tangy, passion-red libation inspired by Rowley’s Fall 2009 collection, it's super easy to make at home:
1.0 oz. Basil Hayden
.50 oz. DeKuyper Luscious Strawberry Patch
.50 oz. Fresh Lemon Sour
Champagne
Shake all but champagne and strain into a chilled champagne flute.
Top with champagne and serve with a small fresh strawberry on the rim.
Credit: Beam Global Spirits & Wine
Another choice would be the new 
Just enter the code SPOONLOVE (in capital letters) to receive the discount online, bring in the blog post, or mention the code SPOONLOVE in the New York store, located at 17 West 20th Street. The offer runs through Feb 28, 2009.
Jennifer Siebel Newsom and Kip Pardue in "The Trouble With Romance."
(Credit: Lacy Terell; Courtesy of Sweet Violet Films)
David Eigenberg (Sex and the City) has a good turn as a husband who refuses to get into a threesome with his wife and a co-worker, while SF Mayor Newsom's wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom (Mad Men) conjures up a hallucinatory closure in the hotel bathroom with her ex-lover.
See the trailer here:
THE TROUBLE WITH ROMANCE, Directed by Gene Rhee; 88 minutes; Rated R. Available for the month of February (via On-Demand/Pay-Per-View). The film will open its theatrical engagement at the Quad Cinema in New York on February 27, 2009.
Guilt-free flowers: Whole Foods is offering Whole Trade Roses from Ecuador for $19.99 per dozen. Producers of these flowers ensure fair wages, safe work conditions, and environmentally friendly business practices. Available at all Whole Foods Market locations in Northern California and Reno.
For the boys, Burberry's recently launched 
For those with no budget whatsoever, do it the old-school way. Letterpress designer 