"Amazon" news and stories

Dad's Root Beer Crate. Photo: eBay.

Several weeks ago, I covered my co-worker's wedding in Louisville, Ky., and raved about how she doubled her wedding cakes as centerpieces. It got me thinking: Everyone attending our wedding knows that both Jon and I are serious foodies. I want to incorporate food into our decor too, but I don't want to overdo it (and believe me, that wouldn't be hard!).

With the cost of food eternally increasing, I need to come up with other ways to incorporate our passion into our cocktail hour and reception. With the help of eBay and Amazon, I think I'll be able to pull it off. I have a vision of filling up old crates with bright, white hydrangeas and placing them by the bars.

Taking that idea one step further, I started a search on eBay for wine crates and stumbled across an antique Dad's Root Beer crate, which just so happens to be one of Jon and my father's favorite root beers. Five days of bidding and this puppy was mine!

Check out more of my finds after the jump!

Amazon.com, the Seattle-based juggernaut that revolutionized the way America buys everything from books and CDs to Le Creuset cookware is at it again. This time around it's set its sights on fresh foods.

Last week it announced that it will begin selling farm-fresh produce and meat online. True to form, one of the products on offer is a loss-leader: a 5-ounce steak for $1.99.

Lest you wake up tomorrow morning in Peoria thinking that this new service is available everywhere and log on to Amazon to order a dozen eggs, allow me to clarify. The new service, dubbed Amazonfresh, is a pilot program that, for now, is only available on Seattle's Mercer Island.

Source

While we occasionally post about products on Slashfood, whether cool gadgets, beautifully designed dinnerware, or some other hot new item, we very rarely talk about actual shopping.

That's changing tonight because this is something that cannot be kept to ourselves. Amazon.com has a 10-piece Cuisinart Chef's Classic Stainless 10-Piece Cookware Set that's originally priced at $400, on sale for $149. That, my stainless steel cookware-less friends, is a steal, particularly since you can get this shipped for free!

Thanks to Elise of Simply Recipes for the heads up.

Amazon is selling gift certificates to restaurants that range in value anywhere from $10 to $25, but selling them for a fraction of that value. For example, a $25 gift certificate for the New York Deli in Century City (Los Angeles) is only $10. The certificates are provided by restaurant.com and are for quite a long list of cities.

They might not be the highest end restaurants out there, but the places that are participating are decent enough for a good meal. There are some restrictions on the certificates, e.g. "dine-in only" and/or "weekdays only," but for the most part, it doesn't seem like a bad deal.

I wonder if they'll ever have one for The French Laundry.