"glasses" news and stories

If you're in Philadelphia over the weekend, be sure to check out Let Them Eat Cake, a wedding cake design competition whose proceeds will go to benefit City of Hope, a California-based cancer care center.

Whether you're a participant (entry fee is $100 for professionals, and students can compete for free!) or just drooling spectator, it'll be totally worth it to take in the scene and watch as pastry chefs battle it out for nine different titles, including Most Artistic and Best Tasting (the cakes, not the chefs).

The 2006 Best of Show winner (pictured) was a delicate pink and white number from Ann's Cake Pan of Horsham, Pa.

The special guest judge will be Sylvia Weinstock, baker of extraordinary cakes and wearer of over sized glasses. (Her cakes are amazing, but the intricacy of the website alone tells me I could never afford one).

So, go! Marvel! Drool! And cross your fingers that they give out free samples at the end.

For Halloween, you can either mix up your own creepy concoctions at the bar and call them
by some overly cute name like "Monst-arita" or "Frankentini," but that assumes you're a pretty good mixologist. My guess is that the best you've done outside of your usual is mixing too much Diet Coke with your vanilla vodka. In other words, leave the creative mixing for the professionals.

Still, to keep with the spirit of Halloween, you can serve Halloween-ish drinks by serving them in Halloween-inspired glasses. Why bother messing with your favorite Dirty Martini or Cosmo? Just pour your poison into one of the above glasses, Wicked Witch, Mummytini, and Fright Night, by Lolita.

The glasses are available from Deb's Unique Gifts.

Sometimes it isn't what is inside the glass that counts, it is the glass itself. Jaden at Steamy Kitchen used Bodum Pavina Double Walled Glasses to make a gorgeous cup of Espresso con panna, which is espresso topped with a generous dollop of whipped cream, as show above.

Though the beverage inside is what caught my eye, I had to take a closer look at the glass itself. They are insulated and double walled, handmade and mouth-blown, and come in six different sizes ranging from an iced tea glass (21 oz.) down to a 2oz. espresso / shot glass. (The glass shown in the picture is a 5oz.) Prices range from $11.95-$39.95 on the Bodum website, for a set of two glasses.

Is it too early to start making my Christmas wish list?

I spotted this great set of Cheers Shot Glasses over at Luxist. Made by Waterford, each of the glass shot glasses is engraved with a different way of saying "cheers!" In addition to English, the other languages are Gaelic - slainte!, Spanish - salud!, Italian - cin cin!, Japanese - kan-pai! and German - prost! The glasses will serve as a conversation piece and will add a little bet of extra cheer to any and all celebrations. The set is packaged in a circular gift box, so all you need is a bow to turn it into a holiday present or a hostess gift. Best of all, the set is part of one of the Vintage Marquis collection, which is one of the more reasonably priced Waterford lines, and is only $49.

If shot glasses aren't a part of your entertaining plans for the holidays, Waterford is also offering a set of celebration balloon wine glasses ($79) that are engraved with celebrate, cheers, joy, festive, soiree and holiday.

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Onion goggles don't have the same effect as, say, beer goggles do. Much like swimming goggles, they have a foam seal around the edges that is designed to keep things out. In this case, they keep out the tear-causing onion fumes and allow you to see clearly as you do your prep work in the kitchen.

Your eyes water when you cut onions because the onion cells have enzymes that, when released, turn into irritating gasses. Once the gas reaches your eyes, the body starts producing tears to cleanse them.

You could still choose to wear swimming goggles to get the same effect, but thebenefit of choosing these is that they simply slip on like regular glasses and don't have an elastic band holding them in place. Plus, white plastic glasses with foam padding are simply all the rage this season. Didn't you know?

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