ThumbnailBourbon Banana Bread Pudding

ThumbnailPreserved Lemon Cocktail

ThumbnailWinter Salad, Miso & Ginger Dressing

ThumbnailEating Like a Local in Sydney

ThumbnailSparkling Jam Cocktail

ThumbnailFig and Vanilla Vodka

Maggie Battista

Angelina, Paris and a Paris Gift Box

by Maggie Battista
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In about 10 days, I’ll jet off to Paris for some much needed… pastries! Okay, I’m going for work but pastries will definitely be consumed. Before each visit, I jot down a list of must-eat spots and, in parallel, reflect on the ancient establishments that make the city so perfect. On my very first visit

Sparkling Cocktail Recipes

by Maggie Battista
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My short week gallivanting all over Brooklyn/New York City was FABULOUS and I can’t wait to write more about the Cookbook Conference. That conference changed my perspective on everything and I made some new forever friends. BUT, we have bigger things to celebrate today. It’s Valentine’s Day and if your sweetie didn’t send you one

Ginger Rose Sparkler

by Maggie Battista
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Sitting in my tiny Brooklyn apartment, during what’s been a whoosh of a week, I’m about ready for a cocktail. It’s almost Friday, how about you? To be honest, I actually sipped a beautiful coupe filled with fig jam, rum and sparkling wine last night at local restaurant Dumont. It reminded me of my Sparkling

A Day with Béatrice Peltre, La Tartine Gourmande

by Maggie Battista
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There are so many things that make Béatrice Peltre extraordinarily special. She’s most definitely kind and generous, something I noticed instantly from our emails leading up to Eat Boutique’s Holiday Local Market in December. At our event, Béa had her first ever book signing as a published author. Along with her family and her new

Valentine’s Day Food Gifts

by Maggie Battista
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Relationships are difficult. And they get only more complicated around the month of February, mais oui? My February holds two trips: a week in New York City and the start of a three-week trip to Paris. I also have a big birthday that, due to travel plans, will be spent away from my husband. Yes…

Cookbook Conference, Part 1

by Maggie Battista
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I love cookbooks. Like so many of you, I harbor hundreds of them, a trove of gems, each sparkling and shiny and waiting to be my next gleefully consumed novel. They sort of call out to me from my shelf, like a pretty vintage handbag that surprises me each time I dig it out from

Holiday Local Market Recap

by Maggie Battista
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Wow, it’s hard to believe that our Holiday Local Market was last month. On December 10th, more than 600 of you enjoyed handmade food samples and carefully chose from all those special items for holiday gifts. All the food makers were so pleased to meet you – thank you for spending time with us, tasting

7 Food Wishes for 2012

by Maggie Battista
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Food trend posts are ubiquitous this time of year, oui? I’ve seen every magazine, blogger and television personality attempt to predict what 2012 will bring. Trend posts tend to tire me but I do see value in wishes. And food wishes – an expression for what we hope will happen in food – are never

Sparkling Jam Cocktail

by Maggie Battista
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We’re down to the final hours, 2012 is really just moments away. I’m ringing in the New Year in Portland, Maine. The working port is just outside my apartment window, the ferries chugging back and forth between some of the prettiest islands in all of the States, in my humble opinion. But it’s too cold

Sparkling Cocktail: Violet Ombre

by Maggie Battista
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We’re in the midst of one of my favorite weeks of the year! The anxiety of Christmas has passed and the peaceful days leading up to the new year are just plain lovely and party-filled. Everyone seems to be in a good mood, perhaps because we’ve bid adieu to family, and my afternoons are filled

Merry Christmas

by Maggie Battista
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Wow, it’s been the busiest December of my life. In the last three weeks, we’ve packed and shipped more batches of gift boxes than we’ve sent during the entire existence of Eat Boutique. That’s a lot of craft paper and a lot of hand-written cards. My right hand has a sort of happy heaviness about

Fig and Vanilla Vodka

by Maggie Battista
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I’m no stranger to infused booze. In fact, during a month when I’ve spent every free moment (quite happily) packing holiday gift boxes and planning our winter tasting programs, you could say that infused booze and I are best friends forever. My cocktail of choice these days is either straight Champagne or little more than

Holiday Local Market: The Food Makers

by Maggie Battista
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I’m beaming! The Eat Boutique Holiday Local Market is this Saturday, December 10 and I couldn’t be more excited to meet you all. Behind the scenes, I’ve been making hang tags for the gift wrapping station, making up batches of gift boxes, and printing signs for our (count ‘em!) 15 food makers. I thought it

Sparking Cocktails in Progress

by Maggie Battista
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It’s December 1st and, certainly, it’s busy. We’re in the final planning moments of our second local market, a Holiday Local Market taking place next week. I’m sourcing ribbon to wrap your market food gifts, creating hang tags for those gifts, speaking to food makers about final details and even signing on some wonderful last

Holiday Local Market Update

by Maggie Battista
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Gosh, has it been almost three months since our Fall Local Market? The time just flies by when you’ve been: Attending the New York Food and Wine Festival Finalizing holiday gift boxes of handmade food Meeting new food makers in New York, Maine, New Hampshire and Bermuda Cooking for 12 at Thanksgiving, all on the

Eat Boutique Holiday Gift Boxes

by Maggie Battista
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I am deep in holiday planning mode at Eat Boutique and we’ve got boxes stacked everywhere. (That’s our new Holiday Breakfast Gift Box pictured above.) At the end of today though, I’ll start baking, prepping, decorating and, let’s not kid each other, drinking for Thanksgiving. My menu is highly collaborative this year, just the way

Honey Saffron Ginger Cocktail

by Maggie Battista
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This time last year, some tough news hit my family. I was in the midst of so many good things – finally feeling my way through my Paris gig and loving all things Paris, prepping for a wonderful Eat Boutique holiday gift box season, tasting treats from a variety of emerging food makers, planning our

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