Novica Product Review

Cue the first of my Holiday posts, complete with photos of twinkling lights and presents to boot! One catch though: there's no food involved. Instead I wish to talk to you about Novica, one of the leading fair trade artisan websites, which I discovered recently. Here is an excerpt of their mission statement:

"We want to give artists and artisans around the world a global platform to express their true artistic talents and to spur their creativity. And, we want to provide you with access to unique, hard-to-find items at great values that only the Internet infrastructure can allow.

At the deepest essence of our philosophy, we want to create a bridge between you and the many talented artisans across the globe.

We want you to know about who you're buying from. We want you to feel that attachment to the product and to the hands that created it."

In association with National Geographic, Novica gives talented artisans around the world a place to express their artistic talents and provide access to the world market. They have thousands of top fair trade corporate gifts and home decor items on their website. Seriously, all kinds of jewelry, bracelets, earrings, gifts for mom, gifts for him, clothing, handbags, I could go on!

I was lucky enough to get an offer to review their products and website, and I absolutely jumped at the chance to do so. What really got me was the uniqueness of each item. I don't know if I've ever mentioned this but I am a sucker for huge, unique rings and, although I had such a hard time choosing among the literally hundreds of gorgeous rings on the website, when I spotted Venus Moon, I knew I had to have it! The ordering process is really easy, you can find out the cost of shipping for any country you would like to have your gift shipped to and if you order right now, until December 13th, they guarantee shipping on many items for December 24th.

Whether you decide to shop for Christmas or any other occasion, shipping is quick and the product packaging is flawless. For us folks living in Canada, some international fees apply and must be paid upon receiving the package, but it's well worth it. My items even came gift wrapped, and very cutely so! And I was totally blown away by the quality craftsmanship of the jewelry I ordered. I recommend Novica to everyone who loves distinctive, fair trade gifts. I mean, come on, who wouldn't want something so unique and thoughtful wrapped up under the tree? I know I still have quite a few items on my wishlist so I think I'll forward it to Santa ASAP!

Please note: The nice folks at Novica sent me a gift code so that I could order a few items of my choice from their website (including shipping but not international fees). The opinions expressed in this post are my own.

November Blues

I just love Fall, it is my absolute favorite season. But when mid-November rolls around and the trees are bare and you wake up in the morning to a frosty lawn and gray skies, I just feel like packing my suitcase and going on a trip... Anywhere!


Since a trip just isn't in the cards right now, there's nothing like an online shopping spree to cure the old November Blues. The nice folks at CSN Stores suggested I do a review of one of their products. Stay tuned, this should be interesting! And hopefully I'll get into the cooking and baking mood again soon, and be back, better than ever, with new recipes to share with you all.

CSN Stores Review (Homemade Ketchup/Tomato Chutney Recipe)

So, have you guys had a chance to check out the CSN Stores website yet? If you're like me, you have and you're drooling over every single product they offer, and they have quite the selection! As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I got the opportunity to review their products and services. This took a little longer than I expected because I couldn't decide what to order! Is there such a thing as too many choices? In any case, I finally chose a gorgeous Le Creuset casserole. I placed my order and was pleasantly surprised to be offered a free gift! Cool right? Included in my order was a Le Creuset oval dish, in the color of my choice. The ordering process is very easy and all the information is clear and accessible. The shipping on the item I choose was free but being in Canada, I had to pay some international charges. These charges include duty fees so you don't get a surprise payment to make when your purchases are delivered. I received my packages within a week of ordering and I was quite satisfied with the service. And, most of the packing material was recyclable; no packing peanuts here! Bottom line, I would order other products at CSN Stores in a heartbeat. I'm also pretty excited to say that I'm working with CSN Stores again soon for a giveaway, so stay tuned!!!

Of course, the first thing I wanted to do when I got my beautiful new toys was to cook up something to showcase them! I made a humongous beef stew in my casserole dish and it was incredibly delicious. Unfortunately, photogenic, it was not. So I made a small recipe of shepherd's pie and used my cute little gratin dish! I won't bore you with my shepherd's pie recipe, but I will tell you I use both regular potatoes and sweet potatoes in my recipe. It adds color, flavor and vitamins!


The recipe I want to give you today is for Tomato Chutney, or Homemade Ketchup as we call it here in Québec. It is delicious served up with shepherd's pie or any dish that needs a little pizazz. This is a perfect recipe to use up those tomatoes from your garden or farmer's market. And the mix of fruits, veggies and spices makes it colorful and comforting. I made up this recipe to suit my tastes but you can change the ingredients as you wish to make it all your own.

Homemade Ketchup/Tomato Chutney

1 large green bell pepper, diced
1 large red bell pepper, diced
2 medium onions, chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, minced
8 to 10 large Roma tomatoes, blanched, peeled and diced
4 peaches, blanched, peeled and diced
4 apples, peeled, cored and diced
3 pears, peeled, cored and diced
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
8 whole allspice berries
1 bay leaf
1 star anise
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp salt

In a large pot, heat a little olive oil and add the bell peppers, onions, celery, garlic cloves and sauté, over medium heat until the onions are translucent. Add the tomatoes, peaches, apples, pears, vinegar, brown sugar and all the spices. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and let the chutney simmer for about one hour. By then the juices will have reduced and concentrated and it will smell fantastic! Remove the allspice berries, bay leaf and star anise. Let cool, divide in convenient portions and freeze in ziptop bags.

Please Note: I was offered a 100$ coupon code from CSN Stores in order to do a review of their products and services. Shipping and international charges were not included and I was not paid for my opinions.

Margherita Burgers Recipe and a Review to Come

As I mentionned briefly in a previous post, we've been changing things around the apartment lately: cleaning, painting and searching for some new furniture. I've been looking for inspiration pretty much everywhere I can find it. From kitchen tables to window treatments and wall hangings, I've been Googling like crazy!
One site that has it all is CSN Stores and I've been given the opportunity to review their services and products. I'm not kidding when I say they have everything, have a look for yourselves! So, please stay tuned for more in the coming weeks!
While we have been working pretty hard on making our apartment feel a little cozier, we've also been trying to take advantage of what's left of Summer vacation. The kids start school in less than a week now and it seems like just yesterday we were so happy that Summer was finally here! It has been a little cooler lately and I've been trying to use up those herbs I have growing on the porch. My favorite is basil, I could use it in just about anything, and most often I end up putting a big handful in my burgers. A few weeks ago I "invented" this burger recipe and I've made it at least 3 times since! The burgers are juicy and flavorful and yes, they taste like Summer!


Margherita Burgers
You can change the given quantities of pretty much any of the ingredients to suit your tastes.

2 lbs lean ground beef
1 egg
1/3 cup plain bread crumbs
1/4 to 1/3 cup of sun dried tomatoes, in oil, chopped finely
2 tbsp of the oil the tomatoes are packed in
1 small red onion, finely diced
1/2 cup of chopped fresh basil
Salt and pepper to taste

Hamburger buns
Slices of fresh tomatoes, mozzarella and fresh basil leaves, for garnish

In a large bowl, mix the ground beef, egg, bread crumbs, sun dried tomatoes, oil, onion, chopped fresh basil and salt and pepper. Mix well and form 8 patties. You can cook the burgers on the BBQ, in a pan or, as I like to cook them in my panini press, it takes half the time as they cook on both sides at the same time! Just cook them from 8 to 10 minutes per side or until the internal temperature of each patty is 160F. Let the burgers rest a few minutes before serving them.

Heat or toast the hamburger buns, place a patty on each bun, then top with mozzarella, tomato slices and fresh basil leaves. Then enjoy what's left of Summer!