Holiday Gift Idea #2: Mouthblown Crystal Pilsner Beer Glasses

Our mouthblown crystal beer glasses are ideal for pilsner-style beers and showcase the color, effervescence, and clarity of the beer. The inverted cone shape with an even taper focuses the hop aroma of a beer and maintains a robust head. The development and retention of a foam head is important because it enhances the trapping of certain volatiles that evaporate from beer to create its aroma.

Beer Advocate Magazine raved about our pilsner beer glass and wrote “Headhunters, consider this your new lust item”.

Each beer glass is individually mouth-blown from lead-free crystal glass. The superior quality of these premium glasses is evident in their clarity, brilliance, timbre and finish. Handcrafted in Switzerland by Glasi Hergiswil since 1817.

Available exclusively from Artazza.

Holiday Gift Idea #1: Swiss Handcrafted Fondue Set

In its simplest form, cheese fondue consists of at least two varieties of cheese (typically Gruyere and Emmentaler) that are melted with white wine, a bit of starch, a hint of garlic, and a shot of cherry brandy, and served in a ceramic or earthenware pot over a flame. Diners use long forks to dip and stir cubes of
bread in the molten cheese.

Two other types of fondue include dessert fondues and oil or broth fondues. Examples of the former include chocolate fondue (Fondue au Chocolat) and Dulce de Leche (caramelized milk), while the latter includes meat fondue (Fondue Bourguignonne) and seafood bouillabaisse. Dessert fondues, like the cheese fondues, are prepared in a ceramic or earthenware pot. Diners dip chunks of pound cake, banana, pineapple, and strawberries, as well as marshmallows and orange sections. Oil and broth-based fondues require higher
heat and are therefore prepared in stainless steel or copper pots.

Our dinnerware includes probably the best fondue set on the market, comprised of a handcrafted, eco-friendly Terra Keramik fondue pot and matching plates (both available in eight brilliant colors), stainless steel burner and forks. Tested by Swiss fondue gourmands, this set qualifies as professional equipment.

Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah, the No. 1 ranked ski resort in North America for the past three years, uses our Terra Keramik fondue pots in their restaurant.

Available exclusively from Artazza.

To get you started, we have created a series of fondue cooking tips and recipes.

Roasted Squash with Bacon Recipe

We have posted a new recipe “Roasted Squash with Bacon Recipe”, which was especially created for us by Ashley Rodriguez, chef, food author and teacher to demonstrate how to prepare an outstanding Thanksgiving sidedish using our Swiss handcrafted, eco-friendly serveware.

Ashley writes: “Squash – a delightful side dish for any Thanksgiving table. But with the addition of bacon suddenly ‘delightful’ becomes extraordinary. The mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce will feel neglected while your diners help themselves to heaping quantities of this deliciously simple dish.”

Roasted Squash with Bacon

serves 6

• 1 large butternut squash
• 6 slices bacon, cut in 1/2″ pieces
• 4 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 medium leek, thinly sliced
• 1 tbl coriander
• 1 tsp cumin
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• pinch salt
• 2 tbl olive oil

For the full mouth-watering recipe, accompanied by beautiful photographs, visit Artazza.com.

We recommend that you check out Ashley’s award-winning food blog Not Without Salt for additional wonderful recipes and stunning food photography.

Thanksgiving Parade of your Favorite Characters

The Stamford, Connecticut Thanksgiving Parade is considered the second biggest parade of balloon characters after Macy’s famous Thanksgiving Parade in New York City. This past weekend the temperatures were touching 60°F and the skies were blue with a few white, wispy clouds. Perfect weather for a parade. Our family thoroughly enjoyed the unseasonably warm weather for this time of year in the Northeast.

All of our favorite characters from TV, movies, and comics books paraded down Summer Street. On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street, Big Bird, Elmo, Cookie Monster, Grover, and Kermit the Frog (Muppet Show) were guided down the parade route in all their splendid colors and shapes. Many of the balloon characters reached heights of 50 feet or more and had to be lowered on their backs to fit underneath traffic lights. With crowds chanting “spin, spin, spin” whenever a balloon character passed, the handlers would spin the characters in a circle to the delight of the crowds, and then move on. Our favorite character was Billy Blazes (the hero fireman), appropriately tethered and guided by Stamford’s volunteer firemen.

Other highlights included the many adult and high school marching bands, floats, clowns, jugglers, tap dancers, cheerleaders, military services, fire trucks, and one of our favorites, the various police departments from Connecticut to New York on their Harley Davidsons roaring down the street. Easy rider.

Simple and Light Flash Slideshow

We’ve had some nice feedback on our new, rebranded Artazza.com website and we’re indebted to several talented people who have contributed to the design. We love to highlight some of the awesome ideas that are out there and the creative minds behind them.

With the rebranded Artazza.com website, we wanted to highlight our big, bold product and mood photographs. What better way than a simple, light Flash slideshow that would create a showcase for our products captured in stunning photography. Pierre Laveklint, a Flash developer and rock musician from Sweden (we can call him a rockstar!), has created a dynamic Flash slideshow using a third party tweening engine. He designed the slideshow using Adobe Actionscript 3.0 and XML. The Flash player component is very light (minimal code), customizable and re-usable (thanks to the XML file). Performance is excellent on our site.

Someone with basic Flash and Actionscript skills will be able to follow Pierre’s video tutorial and build a nice Flash slideshow in a couple of hours. Thanks Pierre!

Lead and wine shouldn’t mix in your crystal decanter

Our Glasi Hergiswil crystal glassware is mouthblown and handcrafted since 1817. Best of all, Glasi believes that the addition of lead is not required to achieve qualitatively superior glass, and since at least 1975 works exclusively with lead-free glass. This protects both the artisans who work with the glass as well as consumers who use it in their daily life.

Did you know that significant concentrations of lead, a reproductive toxicant, can be leached by alcoholic beverages contained in lead crystal decanters and glasses for periods ranging from less than 30 minutes to several years? That’s the conclusion of a scientific research paper (supported by lab tests) written by members of the California Department of Health Services and the California EPA and published in the December 1992 issue of American Journal of Public Health.

The paper concludes that:

• One research team measured the amount of lead migration in Port wine that was stored in lead crystal decanters. After two days, lead levels were 89 micrograms; after four months, lead levels were between 2,000 and 5,000 micrograms.
• White wine doubled its lead content within an hour of storage, and tripled it within four hours.
• Brandy stored in lead crystal for five years had lead levels around 20,000 micrograms.
• Any liquid can leach lead from crystal just as effectively as wine and other alcoholic beverages.

To put these numbers into perspective, the EPA’s lead standard for drinking water is 50 micrograms per liter.

In 1986, six years before the publication of this paper, California enacted Proposition 65 (formally titled “The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986″), which promotes clean drinking water and keeps toxic substances that cause cancer and birth defects out of consumer products.

The following warning label must appear on products sold in California if they contain chemicals on the Proposition 65 list of hazardous substances.

WARNING: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.

Today, companies such as Baccarat (France), Mikasa (France), Orrefors (Sweden), Waterford Crystal (Ireland), Riedel (Austria) are known for their lead crystal stemware, decanters and tableware. Still other prominent crystal companies like Steuben Glass (US) and Swarovski (Austria) focus their work on lead crystal collectibles, jewelry and other items.

Not much is published in the mainstream media outside of scientific journals about the risks and dangers of lead crystal glassware and ceramic tableware that contains lead and other toxic materials. And many manufacturers have been slow to adopt lead free glass and ceramics in their product lines. We’re pleased to be able to offer an eco-friendly alternative with our Glasi Hergiswil crystal glassware and Terra Keramik ceramic tableware with zero lead and cadmium.

Read more about our environmental commitment.

Awesome BHG Videos

We would like to give a big shout out to Better Homes and Gardens (BHG) for their two awesome videos featuring our Terra Keramik plates and Terra Keramik cups. Thank you!

Just in time for the Thanksgiving and year-end Holidays, BHG launched a series of videos that show you how to decorate festive tables, including folding napkins into some really cool seasonal designs.

How to fold napkins to look like pumpkins

[Featured: orange and black Terra Keramik dinner plates]

videos copyright by BHG.com

Ghost-shape folded napkin add spookiness to your Halloween table

[Featured: black and white Terra Keramik dinner plates, black Terra Keramik cappuccino cups]

videos copyright by BHG.com

Cider and Gruyère Fondue Recipe

We have posted a new recipe “Cider and Gruyère Fondue”, which was especially created for us by Ashley Rodriguez, chef, food author and teacher to demonstrate how to prepare a gourmet fondue using our Swiss handcrafted, professional quality fondue set.

Ashley writes: “Fondue is a creative cook’s dream. For sweet or savory fondue, a base recipe can easily be altered to suit your taste buds. And then there are the dipping items – you’d be surprised at how many things can taste good once their covered in hot cheese.”

Cider and Gruyère Fondue

• 4 cups coarsely grated Gruyère cheese (about 1 pound)
• 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 cup hard apple cider
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons Calvados, applejack brandy, or poire Williams (clear pear brandy) *optional*

For the full mouth-watering recipe, accompanied by beautiful photographs, visit Artazza.com.

We recommend that you check out Ashley’s award-winning food blog Not Without Salt for additional wonderful recipes and stunning food photography.

Roadtrip to Stumptown ACE, New York City

What’s all the buzz about? The long anticipated opening of Stumptown Coffee Roasters’ cafe in the ACE Hotel in Chelsea, Manhattan has created quite a bit of buzz in the coffee community and the media. Based in Portland, Stumptown opened its first operations on the East Coast, with a roastery in Redhook, Brooklyn and the cafe in the ACE Hotel.

We took a roadtrip to Stumptown last week armed with our coffee palate, camera and cash (no credit cards accepted). We enjoyed a couple of delicious lattes prepared by knowledgeable, friendly baristi who confirmed that our selection of several bags of whole bean coffee would blow us away.

Lobby of Ace Hotel in NYC: location of Stumptown Cafe

Stumptown Ace Cafe in NYC

Retail shelves

Selection of whole bean coffees

Small and medium lattes, bags of whole bean coffee

Nice latte art

Kenya Gaturiri Reserve

Kenya Gaturiri Reserve, Guatemala Finca El Injerto (Pacamara Varietal) and Honduras Finca El Puente

Artazza.com is the new Terrakeramik.com

Just about a year after we started working on a new brand and a new website, the finished product has arrived. Well, almost. On November 1, 2009 we launched the brand Artazza and the website www.artazza.com. Version 1.0, that is.

In early 2007, when we gave birth to Terrakeramik.com, we did not contemplate that we would grow and expand from a single brand in a single market to multiple brands and many markets. With Artazza we are creating a flexible platform for growth and expansion. An independent, modern brand that will continue to offer the existing exclusive brands to the North American market, and allow us to carry additional brands – both exclusive and non-exclusive – in markets of choice. A brand that will represent premium, handcrafted, eco-friendly tableware with simple and functional designs.

The new website www.artazza.com is intuitive to navigate, seamlessly integrates products and content, and showcases our products with large, gorgeous images. It was a labor of love with evenings, weekends and holidays spent designing, prototyping, coding and testing.

And this is only the beginning.