See Health Benefits of Green Tea

How about Green Tea Broth with Udon Noodles

• On the first day of Christmas – Cucina “Risotto Bag” gift pack, available in three fragrances and less than $20!

• On the second day of Christmas – Aromatherapy Candles the can inspire, stimulate and relax with completely natural fragrances.

• On the third day of Christmas – A New York City dish towels that includes some hand stitching and highlights New York Cities greatest attractions!

• On the forth day of Christmas – Take time for tea with Tea Forte’s Dolce Vita sweet pyramid tea bags, beautifully packaged and creating a true tea experience.

• On the fifth day of Christmas – our friends from Seattle created caramels with a touch of smoked or fleur de sel, salt, now everybody is doing it but they did first and better! Fran’s Chocolates is an original!

• On the Sixth day of Christmas – our friend from Southhampton, New York – Kathleen with her legendary crispy cookie recipe now available with dark chocolate, walnuts, wholewheat floor and glutton free – all from Tate’s Bake Shop.

• On the seventh day of Christmas – Anne Taintor, whose graphics and phrases have humored us for a decade now has a brand new recipe book to be even happier, a cocktail happy hour book.

• On the eighth day of Christmas – from war time England in the early forties comes the phrase, Keep Calm and Carry On, which has many, many applications in our times, and is the perfect complement to a good cup of tea.

• On the ninth day of Christmas – make time for a beer and although you will need a little time to brew it but it sure tastes good home-made – kits from Brooklyn Brew Shop!

• On the tenth day of Christmas – While you are waiting for the beer to brew, our favorite NYC snack from the East Village Red Head Restaurant is Bacon Peanut Brittle, spicy, slightly sweet and smokey – you can not stop.

On the eleventh day of Christmas - Imported from the Aisle of anglesey in northern Wales,  Halon Mon Salt, in original, smoked and with celery, with its clear sea flavor and delicate texture, it is the perfect finishing salt.

• On the twelfth day of Christmas – Butter, sugar and floor with some tweaking, makes for the perfect bit of crunchy sweetness – Shortbread House of Edinburgh is why Scotland is famous for shortbread!

Now it is time to rest and think about next year!

We all at CMB wish you and your family a happy, healthy and of course tasty holiday and New Year.

I thought I would share a little of the behind the scenes process of creating the catalog.

Creating our yearly catalog helps us define and grow our business. We are always on the look out for new and different products – from down the street, to the other side of the world. Creating the catalog forces us to make many decisions about our assortment-what new items to buy and what items to discontinue.

We look to evolve our gifts over time, slight modifications to selected baskets are made each year. This allows us to share our most recent findings with our current customers as well as new customers.   We also have fun developing a new crop of gift each year, this year we have many gifts that feature foods from different geographic regions- such as Brooklyn, New England and California.

Once we decide on the assortment and components in the gifts, we photograph the items. Taking a photo of a gift that includes many components is not always easy – it takes both art and science to get a shot that best represent the item.

The same team has worked together for many years now adding their piece of the puzzle: David the owner traveling to different parts of the world to find food, Mickey Mathis the photographer, and Amy Ashford our graphic designer and myself as the “stage director” making sure all the pieces come together.

Once the photographs are taken, the images are carefully cleaned-up and we go to work on the layout of the catalog, once all the proofs and edits are made the final product is sent to the printing house.

In the below picture, David (owner) and I are setting up the Chelsea Market Bounty basket during one of our photo-shoots.

Some new items we are excited about this are year:

NYC Hot Chocolate- All the best NYC hot chocolate mixes and drinks in one basket.

Brooklyn Boys- Handmade foods all made in the trendy borough of Brooklyn.

Edible New England- Sweet and Savory products all made in New England and boxed in our “new” New England boxes.

California Dreamin- A gift that highlights California and their diverse food culture.

British Tea and Biscuits- From across the Atlantic we have selected the best biscuits, aka cookies for this gift, all boxed up in our modern British box.

Here is a link to our full catalog:
CMB Holiday Catalog 2011 (pdf)

Here are some of our favorite items:

• Iveta Scone Mix -  This easy-to-make mix is sure to please, and we have a gluten-free option for special diets!
• Kitchen Garden Jams – Made by hand in the Cotswolds, these jams and preserves are fit for a queen!
• Bay Tree Very Lemon Curd – As the name says, this lemon curd is extra tart and perfectly tangy, with no preservatives!
• Clotted Cream – Traditionally served with scones, luxurious clotted cream from Devon is also delicious with pancakes!
• Ahmad Tea – An exclusive selection of twelve favorites -it’s a tea of the month club in one box!
• Harney & Sons Mother’s Bouquet – 3 Sachets of Floral Tea in a beautiful small gift box
• Kusmi Tea -  Fanciful and healthful, the benefit and beauty of Kusmi Tea make it a perfect gift!
• Shortbread House of Edinburgh – Buttery sweetness is the taste of leisure – you cannot go wrong with this classic biscuit!
• Keep Calm and Carry On Enamel Mug – A great morning coffee mug with the timeless words of wisdom from the Queen that date back to WWII.

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Easter is the perfect season for us to bring out our finest chocolates, spring treats, decorations and not to mention a whole new range of Easter Baskets.

We have a large selection of chocolate eggs and rabbits, some are filled, some solid and other hallow. Our customers’ favorites this year are quail eggs, that are caramel in a dark chocolate covering and then covered in a colorful hard candy shell, praline filled eggs and Leonidas Belgian rabbits.  In addition to chocolate we have a selection of American’s traditional Easter Candy, which includes Jelly Belly Jelly Beans, Peeps, Malt Balls and Reese’s.

If you are looking for Easter decorations – look no more. We have a multitude of Easter baskets, nests, decorative eggs, hanging egg lanterns, chocolate place tags, shred and ribbon – in every imaginable color.
To have a look at what we have in store browse the photos below.

Until Easter, we are offering FREE Gift Packing (including a decorative pick, ribbon and shrink wrap or cellophane) for in store purchases of $20 or more. (Normally we charge $10 or more for packing a gift.)

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African Market Baskets made in Ghana, West Africa are bright and stylish, each one being different in shape, size and color.  Oversea Connection, Ltd has been working with the Co-op in Ghana, West Africa for many years; overseeing that the artist that weave the baskets are happy with their conditions and wages. The purchase of these Free Trade baskets also help provide healthcare and school supplies.

Other uses include: Magazine holder, picnic basket, shopping and toy storage

Since you know your Mom the best, create a custom basket just for her.  Select $50.00 or more of merchandise including a basket and we will be happy to assemble it for FREE, when you mention our blog.

Some store favorites for Mother’s Day include:

Vance Kitira Candles

Castelbel Soaps

Gifts by Do Not Disturb

Various gifts sure to please Mom

Don’t have time to stop by the store, order a basket online at cmb-gifts.com

]]> http://chelseamarketbaskets.com/blog/2010/05/05/mothers-day-may-9th-2010/feed/ 0 http://chelseamarketbaskets.com/blog/2010/01/20/baskets-are-not-only-for-gifts-sale-25-off-though-january-25th/ http://chelseamarketbaskets.com/blog/2010/01/20/baskets-are-not-only-for-gifts-sale-25-off-though-january-25th/#comments Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:43:10 +0000 andy http://chelseamarketbaskets.com/blog/?p=703 Continue reading →]]> Get yourself organized at home with CMB natural fiber baskets and save 25%. Our baskets are designed to have good utility or function and are perfect to help within that not always spacious NYC apartment although they are designed to be attractive and can help make your big NYC apartment even prettier! Our new combination of an antique finish with a light green “patina” line work with with many kind of interiors and we think make a good fashion statement.

At the same time you can be eating bonbons at home after it is organized with our January White and Brown Sale. Leonidas Pralines as they are called in Belgium or just fresh good chocolates are now $29 a pound instead of the regular $36 a pound, sale goes through January 25th also, and is only good for in-store purchases.

Here at Chelsea Market many people stop by to see what all the fuss is about.  “Salt on caramels ?” they profess. “It just doesn’t make any sense!”

However once they try a piece – its a true conversion. This pairing of salt and sweet is perfection. Fran Bigelow’s soft caramel masterfully give this classic flavor combination a 21st Century twist.

For the record – Barack’s favorite is the milk-chocolate caramels with smoked salt, while Michelle prefers the dark-chocolate caramels with gray salt.

Come in to the store and try it for yourself.

Frans Salted Caramels 7 pieces – 2.1 oz $10.50

This is my first entry in our new blog, which we are excited to share with you for lots of reason.  One that is happening right now is that  we are having a fun sale at great prices at our store to get the place cleaned and ready for Easter.  We have containers – some old inventory and some newer at ridiculous prices along with inspired specialty foods at prices starting at half a buck!

Come by we have many tastes and some great stuff that the staff is eager to purchase and they do not get a coworker discount on the stuff!

Early next week we plan to be looking like spring and filled with Easter fun!