It’s approaching that festive time of year once again when thoughts not only turn to the meaning of Christmas but also on what gifts to purchase for friends and loved ones. Let’s face it this does not get any easier as time goes by, and in fact can in some cases get harder each year. Secret Santa is becoming an increasingly popular idea within the workplace and makes for fun office bonding between colleagues at very little cost. To help make the job a little easier of buying for colleagues, friends and loved ones, Temptations Direct has come up with a list of ten of the more unusual and quirky stocking fillers and Secret Santa suggestions that make for unexpected yet fun and practical gifts. The top 10 is as follows:
Perfect for chocolate lovers everywhere, the Chocolate love Drops Kit consists of dark and white flavoured massage oils , a mini paint brush applicator and a ‘how to’ guide so that you can be as decadent as you wish!
2. Get Naughty Party Tattoos
Ever fancied a tat but too scared to commit to a permanent inking? Well, this pack of 40 temporary tattoos is the perfect solution! Apply the tattoo of your choosing to the desired area, peel away the backing and hey presto, you have a totally waterproof tattoo for 2-5 days. These are the perfect accessory to go with any party dress.
3. Shockaholics Shockolate Vault
If you are trying to stay off chocolate for a while, this could be the perfect inspiration! Place your stash of chocolate inside the jar and set the timer. If the temptation gets too much and you try to retrieve the chocolate before the timer has lapsed, you get a mild electric shock.
4. Happy Man Bottle Stopper
Preserve the freshness of your open wine bottles with the Happy Man Bottle Stopper. With the cork in the shape of a man’s appendage, this fun bottle stopper is perfect for plugging bottles. Just pull him out when you’re thirsty.
5. Strip Mug – Sexy Male
Here’s one for the ladies! When you pour a hot drink into the special mug, his clothes magically disappear revealing his nether regions which then reverses when the mug cools down. Surely this is more than enough reason to keep having hot drinks!
6. Boys Night Out Card Game
Ideal for a night out anytime of the year, an evening in the local pub, a birthday or a Stag do, this pack of 50 cards contains bar room pranks, tricks, dares and challenges to add fun to the proceedings.
Make your own novelty shot glasses by filling the moulds with water and freezing. Fill with your favourite liquor when frozen and your night will be off to the perfect start!
8. Peppermint Posing Pouch
Ladies, now you can explore his nether regions like never before when he’s wearing a Peppermint Posing Pouch. The minty flavourings add a sensational tingling sensation on your tongue and your partner’s bits!
9. Nativity Set – Shepherds
A must for all collectors of Bad Taste Bears – this set of 4 inch long hand painted figurines illustrates one shepherd tucking into a slice of pizza and the other one carrying a star shaped kite while a sheep is getting much more than it bargained for!
10. Complete Bingo Night
eyes down! Whether you care to admit it or not, everyone likes a good game of bingo. The Complete Bingo Night set consists of everything that you need for this – 90 wooden bingo balls, a velvet bag, 200 bingo cards, a bingo grid, instructions, menu suggestions, recipes and invitations. As the tension mounts, who will be the first one to shout ‘Bingo’?
Coffee is nearly a food group to the majority. It becomes us going in the morning, keeps us going in the afternoon, and tastes good after a fine meal.
There are so many options now. Ever gone to a specialty coffee shop? It can be tougher that getting a takeout burger! Non fat, lo-fat, espresso, double espresso, cappuccino, latte, fat-free latte, chocolate latte. And the list grows, as you are able to add toppings.
This naturally doesn’t help the waistline, But Hey it’s Coffee and you have got to’love‘ Coffee
With this new surge of coffee and coffee stores out there, there are coffee artists which will make your coffee look to good to drink. There are some fantastic videos on YouTube and you can see one of our Aussie Barista and Latte Art champ at my blogspot Blog theperfectespresso.blogspot.com
Who ever thought there would be such a thing as a coffee artist? Latte art is really pretty but I always appear to not need to drink itas I can wreck the pattern. celebrity Baristi are as hot as celebrity chefs
if you’re serious about changing into a Celebrity Barista then you will need a barista Kit. Some providers offer, what they call, a full barista kit, which includes everything a barista needs to bring the art of espresso brewing to the next level.
These barista kits include items such as, latte art pitchers, whisks, shot glasses, straightforward steamers, thermometer calibration tools, digital shot timers, splashing guards, foam knife, syrup pumps, long twist spoons, cups and saucers, and cleaning supplies.
Espresso supplies do or die the espresso drinker’s experience. The better your supplies are the better a coffee you’ll brew. Remember that espresso is a ritual and as such, only the best gear will produce the unusual experience of drinking espresso
naturally, apart from the physical supplies you require, a non-physical supply is available. And that’s knowledge. Many online espresso suppliers offer short courses or information booklets on the way to become your own barista, that is, an espresso expert. When you stock up on pitchers and handles and cups, why not add books, cds and videos that are full of info on everything you must know about making the ideal espresso, or running your own cafe.
It is difficult work getting ready to open a cafe of your own. You need to choose the most suitable providers, fit out your shop and hire your staff. There’s also the little matter of advertising to take into account.
One of the best, most effective methods to advertise your business is to seek some free publicity.
Make an event of your launch and invite a local celebrity to come along. Create a reports story, then issue a press release and send it to your local media. Local media love local stories, so be creative
Pay for some radio advertising
Local advertising corporations with experience in eaterie and hospitality launches may also be great resources for you. Just make sure you convey your financial position to them, so they can establish if they can work with you. Also be certain to get them to itemize everything they can do for you – and at what cost. You must know what you’ll be getting value for your money and targeted [*T].
e-mail your buddies with a small flyer marketing your business isn’t just something that you do at launch time. It’s something you want to do steadily.
you want to be in the minds of your clients and prospective patrons, so they get their coffee, tea and cake from you – not your competitors.
So – you want a continual approach to your promoting and advertising.
When it comes to marketing your business, you can be as creative as you like! Here are only a few ideas to get those creativity running :
create a website so people can find you on the web. Include your web address and email on your business card.
Provide published leaflets so your clients can take away and pass onto mates. This also includes commitment cards. Your customers will always have your details on your loyalty card for new patrons to contact you.
Offer special promotions. Have a faithfulness Card with your details and services on it. If you’re doing deliveries this is one sure way of new consumers being able to contact them.
When planning think about supplying a Web to attract business people or college students
What you can do is actually only limited to your inventiveness, so start blue skying today!
it is wonderful how one easy – yet creative idea – can get people into your coffee shop and returning.
Remember always keep up your marketing efforts! Marketing is a continual thing and the more marketing methods you use, the better.
.
About the Author
Jenelle lives in Australia and owns and operates a coffee business. Jenelle owns a mobile coffee van and a mobile coffee cart.
You can read more at
Standing in the terminal where, you receive your boarding pass in front of the gate, with my carry on duffle bag in hand. I wanted to hurry and get my boarding pass, so I could hang out more with Jesse.“Would you like a window or isle seat, Mike?”
“Window, I still always like staring out into the scenery of the mountains and city scape.” Said in the airport terminal, at the gate, with a fiery smile, where you could almost see all her teeth.
“Here’s your boarding pass, and if you want to look at the plane it’s just off to your left of this information stand where the windows are, left of the boarding door, in the waiting area, there are a few seats still open, over there, the plane should be ready, to board soon.”
“Ok, hey Jesse, you gonna try to get the isle seat next to me?
“Yeah, is it available?”
“Let me check real quick,” After, the flight attendant typed away,
“Mmm it looks like, I’ll place you in,” Damn she’s a pretty flight attendant, about 5’8, Asian, and with a curvy figure.
“And here’s your boarding pass 25A next to 25B.”
“Come on Jess, let’s check out this plane, while we wait,(intercom, now boarding passengers in first class) oh sounds like their calling first class to board.”
“Maybe we can take some more pictures, we’ve got a lot of us smoking, let’s get some of the plane.”
“Kiss me or loose me for ever,”
Wow, what a nice smile, and look at those hips I’m gonna grab them.
Mmm, her nice, soft kiss, and yet firm on the inside of her lips.
“I’m gonna take a seat and get my expensive camera with an extended zoom ready for some plane pictures.”
Wow, the plane looks shiny, oh, the glare from the giant ten foot window, where are my favorite pilot sunglasses, oh yeah I got my cool shades on, now.
“Jesse, you ready to take a picture of the plane?”
out the window, the plane seem to have fire coming from just over the near wing close to the main body of the plane. On closer inspection, stepping, closer, closer and closer to the window, a thunder, on a sunny day? That came from the other side of the airport. Metal bending from the other side of the airport. Check on the fire that I could swear I saw, probably simply a mirage, look for it search for it, all I saw was a large ever growing fire ball that was red, and had black lines going through the fire, Wow, a ball of mucus, that was red and black, the fire ball expanded over the whole terminal. I feel the thunder vibrating in my body, there goes the glass in front of me, waves in the window pain right next to me, that thunder sound again, I was already in a sprint to dive behind the plastic row chairs.On the 10 foot sprint, I saw Jesse standing there a few feet behind me,just standing there, still looking out the window, I grabbed her by her waist, dropped her flat on her butt behind the blue plastic row chairs, adjacent to the windows, and fell on top of her.
“I feel something hard poking me almost all the way through my abdomen,” said quietly and calmly.
“Move up a little, yeah like that, it looks like, it’s just my camera, the whole place is filling with smoke, it’s hard to see anything,” tilting her head up.
“It’s my wrists there throbbing, move a little so I can get my hands up from behind your head to undo this hug hold I have you in, ooh, the glass is everywhere, my palms have glass in them, now, from dragging my hands across the carpet,”said calmly again.
“Poor thing”
“My hero though, let’s get up and see if we can find everyone else.”
My knees shaking, legs feel like rubber, and boy are they swore, got to make sure, got to remember don’t touch anything with my hands, there killing me, and starting to go numb, from the pain of the glass poking threw my jeans .
Man, the smoke is really filling the terminal, my head and body are throbbing and still vibrating down to my bones. Crawling aimlessly a few feet, following the line of row chairs feeling for the base of the chair set to the very last chair in the smoke filled, dark terminal, I can hear my heart beating faster and faster. The smoke began to cloud my lungs. It’s getting really hot in this terminal, I’m starting to sweat so bad. Thud, I heard a thud the pay phones, which were in the middle of the room had something destroy them from the ceiling,
“Cough, cough,” People’s voices in the background calling out in agony.
I gotta take a knee I’m so tired and winded, I’ve got to wipe this sweat before it get’s in my eyes, what, that looks red, in my eye brows, it’s blood droplets in my eye brows, oh no, few, it’s from my hands, blood from my hands. Take a deep breath
“Jesse, where are you?”
No response, after seconds passing,
My eyes began to tear, alone, in the dark, in this smoke filled room, it feels like forever is passing. Kneeling there not thinking anymore, suddenly, I think those are tears flowing down my face from the smoke, I started to shake or what feels more like trembling, the longer I sit the worse the trembling, all over my body becomes. Am I still here, what’s happening, streaming through my mind, the trembling won’t stop, my hands, arms, legs trembled in consortium, up to my neck and head, it’s not stopping. Ok, I have to put my head back up, and not stare at the ground any more, the trembling is getting worse, the tears, just tears, never let them see you down..
“Walk toward the center of the room, and keep your head down, baba.”
Walking, crouched down toward the center of the terminal.
“There are metal beams here, reach your hand out through the smoke, and feel for it you’ll be ok.”
The endless trembling, began to calm a little, the smoke began to clear, some. Standing there crouched down, looking straight ahead, in a blur of smoke and tears, it seemed to be a mirage, a five foot Asian girl, not the flight attendant, with four tattoos on her and a flawless slim body with long flowing raven hair. In the haze of my mind and the terminal, trying to catch my breath, while still shaking.
“More groans, in the background” of people injured and dying.
“Does anyone know, CPR,” yelled some stranger.
Out of the semiconsciousness, fog, that same Asian girl said.
” I do,”
and floated me by the hand, and brought me further down to the end of the terminal. There was a approximately 50 something year old women laying there with some blood all around her,
“I’m a paramedic start the respirations,”
Kneeling down next to the paramedic, in front of the knocked out women’s body, with more glass on the ground all around her, I closed my eyes for what seemed like an eternity, I hope, my heart pounding and the shivering would just stop.
were the words I heard, with warm breath on my right cheek. Searching over to my right, wow, a five foot Asian girl, again with her eyes closed, leaning over me, I can feel her warm breath. It made me feel warm in my abdomen, that feeling kept moving upward to my heart, up to my head and down through my arms and legs, it’s calming me.
whispered “Start respirations now, baby”
“done with my pumps”
I opened my eyes and tilted her head, by her neck with my two fingers, I leaned in and started breathing in her mouth.
“Cough, cough”
“She’s back,” said the paramedic, that was right next to me.
Standing up, looking down at the glass and the woman who was recovering, I felt warm in my heart. Saving her saved me, now, where is that girl cute Asian girl? Walking to the other end of the terminal toward the same blue, plastic row chairs next to the glass,
“take my hand baba,”
“everyone evacuate the terminal, from the side door, to the run way,” said a person with a badge, Keep moving, toward the door, don’t let go of her hand, shifting my head up I saw a line of people scurrying out the door. Racing down the stairs keeping up with people around me I looked up I saw smoke still billowing from a pile of rubble, keep moving, don’t let go of her hand. Down the stairs, out the doors, walking along side of the airport by the runway, gotta make it out of here, trying to keep up with the mob of people, finally outside the airport wanting to make it to the street in front of the airport. Once I reached the side walk by the street, sweet relief, catching by breath from the fast walk to a jog, I let go of her hand and crouched down and held on to my knees.
An officer approached and with his bull horn began to say
“everyone will have to come back tomorrow to be interviewed, if you need a place to stay we will help you find one.”
“Try to find a cab I now a hotel we can go to but let’s try to wrangle everyone in the class together too,”
We all began to cluster around the curb looking for a cab when Pete was across the street and said
“I found a couple of cabs hurry and let’s get out of here,”
The class piled into a couple of cabs and headed to the hotel the teacher had in mind.
Once there I just wanted to sleep from the long day which seemed like a few short hours. The hotel was a slanted cavernous space with smooth dry hall and only stairs with no elevator. I fell asleep that night as soon as I hit the pillow in my hotel room.
“It’s time to go back to the airport it’s 9am,”
I wandered out to a chair in the lobby with some jitters about returning to the airport again. When my whole class gathered in the lobby we left to the airport. Arriving at the terminal I was nervous, nervous about having to tell the people in charge about my experiences of the day before, but be strong. Stepping into the terminal on the other side of the airport from where the explosion happened I couldn’t wait to get my interview over with. Sitting down in a room with a
“hello Micheal Stephens I’m a intelligence agent I want to know your account of what happened.”
“Well, I heard the explosion then saw and jumped behind a plastic row chair and grabbed my girl friend, after that I went toward the middle of the terminal, where some Asian girl brought me over to a women who needed CPR, I assisted with respirations with someone who said they were a paramedic from America. Then I proceeded out the terminal through a side door and around to the street where my class got a cab and went to a hotel.”
“Wow, what an experience what class are you taking and what’s your major.”
“I’m taking Art history and I’m a graphic design major”
“Since you’re the first one to interview out of your class I just wanted you to know we plan on retracing your steps to see where exactly you came from in Europe, we’ll send some people to your hotel to go over it more in depth, and we can ask your teacher for the rest.”
I left tired and sick to my stomach, wondering about that Asian girl is she real or did I imagine an angel? The next days went by in a haze question after question to me and my class. All I could think was what happened to that cute Asian girl?
two way mirror and yellow painted dry wall all around. There was a table in font of me it felt cold on my folded arms and the hard wood chair felt uncomfortable. When one of the people in charged walked in he began to say
The next morning I woke up feeling refreshed and renewed. My teacher knocked on the door and said
passing up the fall in metal beams from the ceiling I couldn’t think, as I held her hand I felt safe and secure,
As many of us are aware, those who drink wine and use the proper stemware are conscious about its long-standing history. Wine glasses have been used since ancient times, and survived today and the future due largely to the ever-growing wine making industry.
Circa 23 to 79 A.D. the philosopher Pliny wrote about how silver and gold drinking ware were being replaced by those made of glass. The prices also escalated, and one had to pay almost the same amount for glassware made from precious metals.
One of the oldest surviving glasses is of European descent from the 15th century. These were enameled goblets complete with stem and foot.
According to history, wine glasses were affected with refined engravings towards the culmination of the 16th century.
Also in the 16th century, we discovered primitive English wine glasses which were engraved with diamonds by the late Verzelini. By 1740, wine glasses with adorned upright stems became fashionable. air twisted stems were also commissioned around that same period, although a decade will pass before these very stems were made with incised twists on their peripherals.
Crystal wine glasses of superior quality made headlines in France circa 18th century. During the same era, cordial glasses had bowls of similar dimensions that were common for wine glassware. But there were much more minuscule and housed only about an ounce of liquids.
Wine glasses made in the 19th century were more often than not manufactured as sets. These sets comprise 12 each for containing liqueur, champagne, port, sherry, burgundy and claret.
In the 1950s and onwards, glassware extraordinaire Riedel, further distinguished the glassware evolution by making wine glasses for almost every wine variation. Each glass is shaped uniquely with specific purposes such as wine tasting. Riedel’s special wine tasting vessel comes with a minute bowl enough to contain a single sip. The tasted wine can then be tipped on its side and swayed across a smooth plane to cover its inside surface with wine. This takes practice though.
Although wine glassware are made for drinking wine, designers have become more creative and discovered and promoted a multitude of other uses for them. For instance, certain types of food can be presented in wine glasses, such as shrimp cocktail or layered desserts.
For a formal dinner, the wine glassware selected is usually ones which are tall-stemmed for white wine, expansive goblets for reds, and smaller versions for aperitifs. A suitable water glass should also be added for those who sip water between wine drinking.
Wine glasses must never be filled to the brim, the accepted amount is between one third to one half full at any given time. Do not replenish wines so quickly. Ask your guest to avoid embarrassment. The reason for this measurement is so that the drinker may tilt the glass to a 45 degree angle, to best appraise and derive pleasure of the color and taste of wine.
Wine glassware has withstood the test of time, and no matter what the occasion, adds an elegant touch to any evening of wining and dining pleasures.
About the Author
DiscountMugs.com is a large distribution company based in Miami, Florida. They are web-based and factory-direct which allows them to keep prices lower than the rest of the competition. They also have a huge selection of glassware
from wine glasses
and shot glasses to beermugs and champagne flutes.
As a bartender, it’s essential to serve drinks in the correct glassware. The whole essence and experience of a drink is in the quality and style of the glass it’s served in.
Would a nice cognac really be the same in a highball glass as opposed to a snifter?
Would a glass of wine really be the same in a rocks glass?
Would that sexy cocktail really be the same in a pint glass as opposed to a frosty, chilled cocktail glass?
Glassware isn’t just designed for the look and feel of a drink either. There’s often a beneficial purpose behind the design. For example, the slim, tapered neck of a champagne flute is designed to prevent the bubbles in the champagne from escaping. Also, the wider bowl of a red wine glass is designed to let the wine breathe.
Now I’m not going to list every shape and style of glassware in the universe. I’m going to focus on basic, ESSENTIAL glassware you’ll be expected to use and be familiar with as a bartender. I want to help you succeed, not intimidate you with dozens of different glasses out there.
Remember also that good-quality, sparkling clean glasses make a huge difference to the customer. Drinking is a ritual and all aspects of the ritual should be perfect, so glassware is something you should take very seriously.
You’ll have more of these break on any given night than any other glass. The kind of people pounding shots back will naturally slam them down on the bar, which often chips and even shatters them.
The most common are 1 oz. or 2 oz. shot glasses. shot glasses are used for any shot or shooter. From a flaming shot of Bacardi 151 to a layered B-52 shooter.
Shooters with juice in them, like a Broken Down golf Cart, should go into a 2 oz. shot glass so that the customer gets their 1 oz. of booze in the shot.
Used as a measuring tool as well, shot glasses are a must have in every bar.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Rocks Glass (Old Fashioned) 4 – 9 oz. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Known as a rocks glass because it’s used to serve many drinks with ice in them. The rocks glass is used for serving any built, single cocktail on-the-rocks.
When you’d use this glass:
- if a customer asks for their drink “short”, this is what you’d use.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Highball Glass 8 – 12 oz. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
A “highball” is any drink that mixes alcohol and a mixer. i.e. vodka cranberry, rum & coke, gin & tonic, whiskey seven etc. Thus, the highball glass was developed to accommodate these types of drinks.
While “highballs” can just as easily be mixed into a rocks glass, it all depends on what the policy is where you work, as well as the volume of the glass. I will use highballs for ‘doubles’ and rocks glasses for “singles”. I’d rather give the customer a little less mixer on the “single” which is why I use a rocks glass in that situation.
Highballs are by far your most versatile glass.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Cocktail/Martini Glass 4 – 6 oz. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
This glass has true presence. You can take a simple cocktail, like a screwdriver, and shake it with ice, pour it into a frosty cocktail glass, add a nice garnish and voila! You’ve got a very sexy cocktail!
Any martini must go into this glass unless requested otherwise. Only shaken drinks will go into this glass as well, you’ll never build a cocktail into this glass, that would be very low-class.
Also, because of its ‘V’ shape, having ice in this glass is very awkward because it will keep hitting your teeth when trying to drink the concoction. Never add ice to a cocktail in this glass, unless a customer requests it, which does happen occasionally.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Brandy Snifter =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Despite the often large size of the brandy snifter, don’t pour more than a couple of ounces of brandy into one. The short stemmed bowl design is meant to be cupped to allow you to use your hand to warm the brandy.
Also, the size of the snifter will greatly influence the strength of the aroma, and unless you warm your brandy you will likely prefer to have a snifter smaller than 16 ounces.
For some, there’s nothing better than a frothy, big headed mug of beer to satisfy one’s craving. Not every bar has mugs but your bar should have some type of glass designated for beer.
There are so many types and styles out there. In Belgium for example, each beer has it’s own signature glass!
Generally beer glasses are very thick and sturdy compared to other glasses.
—————– Now you’re a little more familiar with the necessary glassware that every bar should have.
