Fab Friday – Travel Edition

February 3, 2012 By 2 Comments

I can put a check­mark by one of my Culi­nary Goals for 2012. I took the plunge and reg­is­tered for not one but TWO blog­ging con­fer­ences this year – Bloggy Boot Camp in May here in Philly and Food Blog Forum Orlando in March.  Jen  at One Curly Fry has already started the count­down til #FBFOrl and this gal has to start prepping!

With a trip to Orlando on the cal­en­dar, that means a cou­ple extra days vis­it­ing old friends and, of course, a din­ner soiree at SL’s house. So, mar­i­nat­ing on that, I fig­ured I’d cen­ter this week’s Fab Fri­day around the Orlando trip.

x Fab Friday – Travel Edition

 

1. No mat­ter where I go, I always hear “You’re Cook­ing in Stilet­tos – Where are your stilet­tos?” Granted this is at either a food fes­ti­val where there is major walk­ing to be had (I learned my les­son after I severely twisted my ankle in 4″ boots) or at a book sign­ing where the lines are 2–3 hours long (if you think I’m going to stand for 2+ hours in 5″ stilet­tos, let me hand you a pair and you try that). I have, how­ever, mas­tered the art of the wedge for these events. As I have some run­ning around town to do, I prob­a­bly will pack some favorite flats (my Tory Burch Teal Revas and the lighter than air Cole Haans – per­fect for Dis­ney), a pair or two of rockin’ stilet­tos for the soirees and, of course, my much beloved Mark + James Mag­no­lia Wedge San­dals that I have yet to wear but just HAD to have. (Side note – I got them for a steal on HauteLook ages ago. You can always catch Mark + James on the sam­ple sale sites lately.)

2. As some seri­ous cook­ing is to be done at SL’s house (and I’m still ham­mer­ing out the menu), I will need my trusty knives. I have never trav­eled with them before so I need to get this lovely Global Knife Case and pack it with my checked baggage.

3.  I’m debat­ing on a sig­na­ture cock­tail or two for SL’s soiree and, as I am very fond of my Cruzan, I might have to play around a bit in the test kitchen. One thing that I know will be flow­ing will be the wine and I might have to swing by Crate and Bar­rel at the Mil­lenia Mall to pick up some extra stem­less wine­glasses – just in case I drop a glass or two icon wink Fab Friday – Travel Edition

4. Speak­ing of bot­tles, every­one needs a good bot­tle opener. This Cas­tle Key Bot­tle Opener would be per­fect for SL as this would fit into his home décor per­fectly. I swear – how he designs a room would make even Nate Berkus stand at attention.

5. One of the dishes I’m flirt­ing with needs a dutch oven. This 5qt. Le Creuset Oval Dutch Oven in Ocean would be per­fect. Could a gal pack her Le Creuset, I won­der (or should I just ship before I head down…hmmmm)

6. When­ever I enter­tain, some of most raved about recipes come from my col­lec­tion of Nigella Law­son cook­books. As it’s not on the kin­dle yet, I know I will be pack­ing one of my first cook­books from her, Nigella Bites: From Fam­ily Meals to Ele­gant Din­ners — Easy, Delec­table Recipes For Any Occa­sion Fab Friday – Travel Edition. I think SL has a cou­ple other Nigella books in his cook­book arse­nal, if I remem­ber correctly.

What are your “must haves” when you travel to a blog con­fer­ence or just to visit with friends?

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Filed Under: Crate and Barrel, Fab Friday, Fashion, Le Creuset, Nigella Lawson, Traveling in Stilettos, Williams-Sonoma Tagged With: , , , , ,

12 Days of Giftmas – Bloggers Edition

December 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I put a ques­tion out to some of my favorite blog­gers ask­ing what would be THEIR picks for *the* per­fect gift that they’d love to find under the tree and, let me tell you – I got some amaz­ing responses.

 

x 12 Days of Giftmas – Bloggers Edition

 

[Read more…]

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Filed Under: 12 Days of Giftmas, Fashion, Gift Ideas, Gifts 'n Stilettos, Great Blogs, Holiday, Technology, Williams-Sonoma Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Shopping In Stilettos: Fab Monday — The Big 4–0 Edition

November 7, 2011 By 14 Comments

Yes, you guessed right, this gal hit the big 4–0 late last week and, I swear, with age comes mem­ory loss. It’s been chaos this week­end in between a retro Dancin’ on Air tap­ing for a spe­cial that will be air­ing this Thanks­giv­ing on PHL17 to get­ting the Sous­Pug ready for his stitch removal (hope­fully this is the final stretch with his major health issues and he can just rest for a change). I def­i­nitely fore­see some Cruzan in my imme­di­ate future after this roller coaster of a year.

Over the week­end, I decided to unplug and take a step back from the com­puter and gather my thoughts as well as think about what’s ahead in this new chap­ter of life. So, in true Aly form, I fig­ured I’d shake things up a bit with a lit­tle Fab Mon­day action.  Here are a few things that I am obsessed with currently…

x Shopping In Stilettos: Fab Monday The Big 4 0 Edition

 

1. These Mark + James Dan­nie boots caught my eye recently. I saw them in a teal color and am kick­ing myself now for not buy­ing them when I saw them. Cur­rently, my stilet­tos are crossed that these lovelies get put on the sale block at one of the sam­ple sale sites.

2.  Con­fes­sion: I am hor­rid to shop with some­times. When it comes to big ticket items, I hes­i­tate, chan­nel my inner Suze Orman and, for the most part, can indeed behave (except when it comes to Williams Sonoma or Sur La Table or cook­books – after that, all bets are off!) There are some huge things that I am still obsessed with (like my favorite Crate & Bar­rel French Mar­ble Island) but I can’t jus­tify the expenses so close to the hol­i­days.   After a recent excur­sion to NYC, I saw a cou­ple Kate Spade bags that I could NOT get out of my head. Every time I would go into Bloom­ing­dales, Nord­stroms, etc., I would look at those bags (specif­i­cally the Kate Spade Maryanne and the Cob­ble Hill Leslie ) and would do a men­tal cost per wear depre­ci­a­tion in my head to see if it was, indeed, worth it. After get­ting an email about the Friends & Fam­ily sale cur­rently hap­pen­ing at Bloom­ing­dales along with 6% cash back from Ebates, I bought my first “40 and FABULOUS” bag – specif­i­cally, the Cob­ble Hill Leslie in this gor­geous stormy grey that will last a lifetime.

3. I did a lit­tle retail ther­apy this week­end and fell head over heels for this Mar­ble Cheese Board from Crate and Bar­rel. They showed it up against my favorite Cam­den stoneware set that I’ve been lust­ing after for­ever and it just looked stun­ning – talk about a way to make a sale.

4. I’ve tried the French Press, the espresso maker and even a drip cof­fee maker and, con­fes­sion time, my cof­fee mak­ing still leaves A LOT to be desired. This Chemex 6 cup cof­fee maker is gor­geous to look at and, I’m plan­ning on using Anne Thornton’s Spiced Cof­fee recipe. If I fail with that – you have per­mis­sion to slap me upside the head because, clearly, a cof­fee fiend that CAN’T make cof­fee – shame­ful *sigh*

5. After read­ing this arti­cle from Saveur about Whoopie Pie Pans, I decided that I could actu­ally do more with it than just make the typ­i­cal whoopie pie (which I have yet to attempt).  I picked up this Wilton Whoopie Pie Pan and I’m fig­ur­ing that I might attempt mak­ing a few things like the “Muf­fin Tops” and other good­ies with it around the holidays.

6. Speak­ing of bake­ware, I am still on the fence about “pur­chase or not to pur­chase” this All Clad 8-in. Square Bak­ing Pan. I’ve bought some typ­i­cal 8×8 pans before and, after repeated use, they really don’t last as well as I would like them to. I have been seri­ously con­tem­plat­ing this All Clad Bak­ing Pan for some time now – just a ques­tion of “Do I really want to spend THAT much and have it not work?” Has any­one used this and could maybe give a lit­tle insight?

7. I went a lit­tle “cook­book crazy” and picked up a few books that I just “had” to have. I know I will be using them like crazy over the hol­i­day sea­son and, of course, using a lit­tle recipe inspi­ra­tion from them for here. One of the lat­est acqui­si­tions was so good, I couldn’t wait for it to come over from the UK and bought it on the Kin­dle app for the iPad – Lor­raine Pascale’s Bak­ing Made Easy Shopping In Stilettos: Fab Monday The Big 4 0 Edition. If you haven’t caught her show, Sim­ply Bak­ing, on the Cook­ing Chan­nel – you should. It def­i­nitely has shown me that the only com­pli­ca­tions that I asso­ciate with bak­ing are clearly just in the mind – it’s not as dif­fi­cult as I once thought. Her recipes are stel­lar and, you should be all set if you have a dig­i­tal scale.  Her show def­i­nitely reminds me of some of the early Nigella episodes – very casual and a wealth of info.

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Filed Under: All Clad, Bloomingdales, Cash Back, Crate and Barrel, Fab Friday, Fashion, Lorraine Pascale, Reading In Stilettos, Saving In Stilettos, Shopping In Stilettos, Williams-Sonoma Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Fab Friday — New York City Wine and Food Festival Edition

September 30, 2011 By 3 Comments

One thing I’m look­ing for­ward to is a day of R&R in one of my favorite cities – The Big Apple. This year’s Food Net­work New York City Wine & Food Fes­ti­val is set up a bit dif­fer­ently in that the demos are at the Grand Tast­ing Tents so the like­li­hood of me run­ning around the city like a chicken with my head cut off like last year is null and void. The tents are near one of my favorite happy places, Chelsea Mar­ket, and, if time allows, per­haps a quick jaunt to the store with a shoe floor that has its own zip code might be on the agenda.

x Fab Friday New York City Wine and Food Festival Edition

 

1. I’m on the fence between sassy flat and wedgy boot. How­ever, in a per­fect world, what I would LOVE to wear is this Tory Burch Law­son bootie. I’m a sucker for wool and lace up details.  I know I know – when it comes to shoes, I will never learn.

2. Well, I can say that I learned my les­son last time and, in addi­tion to NOT wear­ing 4″ stiletto boots, I will also not be lug­ging any­thing super heavy – whether it be cook­books, mag­a­zines, etc. until I’m head­ing home.   It’s bad enough that the dslr cam­eras are a bit hefty.   One must item to take is my lovely iPad to do some blog­ging and writ­ing in my trav­els and this Rebecca Minkoff Touch And Go iPad Case Fab Friday New York City Wine and Food Festival Edition has been a life­saver – chic and func­tional. I broke down and got the pink one but I will say that when I’m look­ing for my iPad among a slurry of books, binders and other items, I always can see the bright pink and smile.

Now – if only this gor­geous Jimmy Choo nude iPad case would be priced MUCH lower, I’d be a very happy stiletto wench. Sadly, it’s about the cost of a pair of stilet­tos *sigh* Oh well…

3. One of my must visit places is the Chelsea Mar­ket. Every time I head to the city, I drop by there to pick up a thing (or three) and I have def­i­nite plans on pick­ing up some seri­ously del­ish pump­kin seed brit­tle from Jacques Tor­res, perus­ing the cook­books at Pos­man Books, look­ing for intrigu­ing cook­ing finds at Bow­ery Kitchen Sup­ply and pick­ing up this lovely Pem­broke Salt Dish from Anthro­polo­gie for my Aleppo pepper.

4. One of the demos I’m excited about see­ing is the Beek­man Boys. They have a great cook­book, The Beek­man 1802 Heir­loom Cook­book: Heir­loom fruits and veg­eta­bles, and more than 100 her­itage recipes to inspire every gen­er­a­tion Fab Friday New York City Wine and Food Festival Edition, that is gar­ner­ing quite the buzz. Ama­zon has it but it was a bit of a wait time on deliv­ery.  Luck­ily for me this week­end, Barnes & Noble had copies promi­nently dis­played and a copy imme­di­ately went home for the cook­book arse­nal.  This is a cook­book that will be trea­sured – beau­ti­fully pho­tographed with vin­tage notepad touches and the recipes – oh the recipes. We’re talk­ing sea­sonal recipes that scream com­fort such as Beer Braised Beef with Onion Dumplings, Har­vest Beef Chili with Pump­kin and Beans, Orange Gin­ger­bread with Bour­bon Cus­tard and Jum­ble­berry Pie. Seri­ously – get this cook­book because I promise you will cook from it often. These are recipes that I’m sure are “Polka Spot The Llama Approved”.

5. Finally, after the chaos of the day to day and all that’s gone on with the Sous Pug recently, I reached my exas­per­a­tion point and made an exec­u­tive deci­sion – the hair needed to be chopped. I’m a ser­ial cheater when it comes to hair­styl­ists and always have been. When I went to SOBE, the ‘do was the result of last minute rush­ing to some­one I didn’t know and, when I saw the pho­tos, I winced. Also, know­ing that I was cut­ting off a ton of hair, I didn’t want my fab­u­lous friend Heather to be put into a posi­tion of deal­ing with my crazy “Cut. It. Off.” moments as I adore her too much. Look­ing at my packed sched­ule, I made a call to Manayunk’s own Salon L’Etoile and begged the gals to see if my favorite styl­ist there, Jeff, had an open­ing. Thank­fully there was one spot left and thanks to Jeff’s very skilled scis­sors, the hair is short (well for me) and sassy and will do fine in NYC. Jeff accepted me back with open arms and he’s aware of my styl­ist com­mit­ment issues but never judges.  Seri­ously, if you are in Philly and need a fab salon that will spoil you rot­ten, check them (and him) out.

What do you have planned for the weekend?

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Filed Under: Beekman Boys, Cookbook, Cookbooks 'N Stilettos, Culinary Events, Fab Friday, Fashion, Food Network, Philly, Traveling in Stilettos Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Fab Friday — All Things Williams Sonoma

September 16, 2011 By 5 Comments

I think come Novem­ber, you are going to think “Aly – c’mon – it’s WINTER – stop crowin’ about fall finds” but I fig­ure that while I can show­case fall items, I’m going to do it

This week’s Fab Fri­day choices are from one of my favorite happy places – Williams-Sonoma.  I spent some seri­ous time there this week fondling the new dis­plays, kitchen islands, look­ing at new items, etc. and I have to say – GET THEE TO WILLIAMS-SONOMA STAT – even if it is to stock up on their famous But­ter­nut Squash puree (which, btw, make EXCELLENT but­ter­nut squash ravi­oli – just a thought).

x Fab Friday All Things Williams Sonoma

 

First of all, I am really miffed that the Nine West stores are no longer in Cherry Hill or King of Prus­sia malls. I would have LOVED to rock this Nine West Mav­enue bootie for NYCWFF or for Tuesday’s book sign­ing. Boots and I are funny friends – they have to fit and I can’t buy them sight unseen with cer­tain brands because of size vari­ances. Oh well – I’ll just have to order them for the day to day. Check out that detail­ing on the heel… Love!

Pieces from Williams-Sonoma’s Heir­loom Pump­kin Serve­ware Col­lec­tion – espe­cially the Dip­ping Bowls – will be a must for the Thanks­giv­ing table. Per­fect col­ors – not too cut­sey and, yes, I do have a pump­kin candy dish on an end table that I feel adds a touch of whimsy. I’m not going to pull a San­dra Lee and tell you to tablescape every­thing but if you like fall details, why not incor­po­rate them into your décor, right? Who knows, I might even use the dip­ping bowls on a desk to hold odds and ends. All I know is that it makes me smile when I see it.

While we are on the sub­ject of table­ware, how stun­ning is this Venezia Wooden 3 Tier Stand. Sim­ple yet elegant.

How do you store your onions, pota­toes and gar­lic? I keep my onions and gar­lic in a bronze bas­ket on my (lit­tle to no room) coun­ter­top and I have a potato can­is­ter that isn’t as ele­gant look­ing as this. I am over the moon about this Potato, Onion & Gar­lic Stor­age Can­is­ter Set that is on my “must get” list. If any­thing it will make my kitchen look just a bit more “together.”

You know I had to ref­er­ence the pump­kin & but­ter­nut squash prod­ucts again at WS, right? Well they are in stock and ready for your pantry. My favorites include the Pump­kin Parme­san Pasta Sauce, the Pump­kin Curry Sim­mer­ing Sauce, and, of course, the But­ter­nut Squash puree. I stock up on these in the fall/winter because they often sell out and use them through­out the year. Who says pump­kin is only good for fall, right? They haven’t got­ten their Apple Cran­berry Orange rel­ish in stores yet but when they do, my happy behind is adding that to the stockpile!

Finally, as I’ve said before, I can­not wait to add Bobby Flay’s Bar Amer­i­cain Cook­book Fab Friday All Things Williams Sonoma to the cook­book shelf come Tues­day. Bobby will be at the Williams Sonoma in King of Prus­sia this Tues­day, so Philly peeps, hope to see you there. More details about his cook­book tour are HERE.

What are you obsessed with this week?

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Filed Under: Bobby Flay, Fab Friday, Fashion, Seasonal, Shopping In Stilettos, Williams-Sonoma Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Fab Friday — Hurricane Irene Edition

August 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

When I moved up north, it was the implied under­stand­ing that Mother Nature could send all the Nor’Easters, Snow­maged­dons and all that fun win­tery crap with the agree­ment that I was never to deal with earth­quakes or hur­ri­canes ever again. Trop­i­cal storms – meh – they hap­pen – but when both an earth­quake and a hur­ri­cane impact Philadel­phia within a week, I want the num­ber of the fool here who irri­tated Mother Nature so badly she’s chang­ing the scheme of the weather.

So – let’s jump to a few things that will make a gal happy, shall we?

x Fab Friday Hurricane Irene Edition

 

1. If you looked in my shoe arse­nal, you would see I have a pen­chant for booties – espe­cially lace up heeled ones like these Sam Edel­man Rowin booties that are new for Fall 2011. Plus – with the impend­ing flood warn­ings for Man­ayunk, well, the name is appro­pri­ate as well… *sigh*

2. I’ve decided that since Mother Nature is so insis­tent on mak­ing the houses rat­tle and roll, that per­haps I should look into invest­ing in new din­ner­ware for when this weather drama is over. I will never for­get Colin Cowie’s advice to use the “good dishes” just because – as he had lost some favorite pieces in a earth­quake years ago. I’m over the moon about this Cam­den din­ner­ware from Crate and Bar­rel and plan on get­ting mix and match pieces in all three shades!

3. When­ever I see a mini-baker, I always think of Sin­gle Serving’s Manouschka.   This ruf­fled baker from Anthro­polo­gie is beyond adorable and it’s the per­fect size for indi­vid­ual por­tions.  Love the ruf­fle detail­ing and the coral shade.

4. I will be mak­ing good use of this lovely All Clad Deluxe Slow Cooker from Williams Sonoma while the wind and rain cause a ruckus out­side.  I don’t care if it’s still August, this gal will need to make some com­fort food for the week­end and I think Pork Tinga or Short Ribs might be on the menu. I can­not say it enough – this slow cooker is one of my best culi­nary invest­ments ever – next to my knives and my Le Creuset.

5. I already warned that this was going to be a “Can­ning in Stilet­tos” week­end – and I finally suc­cumbed and added yet another can­ning book to my arse­nal: The Art of Pre­serv­ing from Williams-Sonoma Fab Friday Hurricane Irene Edition. I plan on mak­ing the Mixed Berry Jam, Dijon Style Mus­tard and maybe another recipe if all goes well – the Chipo­tle Ketchup looks like a viable option or should I go with the Cin­na­mon Apple­sauce? Hmm­mmm – deci­sions decisions.

East Coast­ers – stay safe out there – This Irene gal is not one to play nice in the sand­box.  Hun­ker down and tell us what has you obsessed this weekend!  

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Filed Under: All Clad, Canning In Stilettos, Colin Cowie, Cookbook, Cookware, Crate and Barrel, Fab Friday, Fashion, Shopping In Stilettos, Williams-Sonoma Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Fab Friday — Almost September Edition

August 19, 2011 By 1 Comment

Life is all about the curve ball some­times. Some­one pass me the Cruzan please because this gal is going to need a cock­tail before this day is over. So, as I try to think happy thoughts, here are a few things that have me enam­ored this week­end as I look for­ward to September’s impend­ing arrival.

x Fab Friday Almost September Edition

 

1. I promised you I’d wait a bit and, well, since it is after the 15th, I can actu­ally talk about some­thing that makes me VERY happy – the arrival of Boot Sea­son. I’m a gal who will rock a 5″ stiletto boot and have no qualms about it and these Rachel Zoe Bella lovelies are ear­marked for my shoe arse­nal this sea­son. Gold detail­ing, heel that can do some seri­ous dam­age and a sass all it’s own. Plus – it’s much cheaper than, shall I say, a Louboutin so that leaves a gal some funds for the Le Creuset, right?

2. I don’t think I have pro­fessed my love for Open Sky enough… and, today, I was able to score this lovely Emile Henry Pizza Stone in a gor­geous shade of Figue (pur­ple) for 10% off. I look for­ward to their emails daily and have been able to get some seri­ously fab deals such as fen­nel & dill pollen, sturdy CIA tow­els that have caused me to for­ever forgo pothold­ers, and a kick­azz Bam­boo Pot Scrub­ber that makes clean­ing my cast iron a breeze (thanks Michael Ruhlman). In Open Sky has some amaz­ing cura­tors like Michael Ruhlman, Tom Col­ic­chio, Dorie Greenspan, Lidia Bas­tianich, Aida Mol­lenkamp and, recently joined, Marcela Val­ladolid – there are WAY too many to name.  These lifestyle cura­tors (in food, health, style and design) show­case deals that can­not be missed of prod­ucts they swear by.  Open Sky has quickly become one of my fave online shop­ping des­ti­na­tions and they have YET to steer me wrong. Check them out and, if you haven’t joined, why not join – it’s free!

3. In the midst of the chaos that is my mind right now, I think I need to do some mind­less work and orga­niz­ing every­thing in my kitchen/pantry and fridge is first on my agenda. Check out these Fridge Binz that I noticed at The Con­tainer Store this week. If you want some good ideas for orga­ni­za­tion, may I intro you to one of my new fave blog obses­sions, IHeart Orga­niz­ing – she show­cased her kitchen cab­i­net ideas and a quick Q&A this week that flipped the prover­bial switch for me to get my “house in order!”  Now if only I can find some­thing to orga­nize all these cook­books that are beg­ging to be reviewed and put to good use in the kitchen.  How do you guys orga­nize your cook­books, etc.?  Any ideas, tricks & tips?

4. Fine Cook­ing in Sea­son: Your Guide to Choos­ing and Prepar­ing the Season’s Best Fab Friday Almost September Edition has been on my radar for a hot minute now. For a gal who looks for­ward to the impend­ing arrival of each Fine Cook­ing issue as much as she looks for­ward to see­ing this month’s Vogue, it’s a given that I pretty much trust Fine Cooking’s recipes and cook­books. This cook­book was one of my favorite recent pur­chases and I have a few recipes ear­marked to make use of the upcom­ing fall sea­son produce.

5. While we talk about mag­a­zines and the fall arrival, can I say what else I’m look­ing for­ward to: WHERE WOMEN COOK‘s new issue. I swear – the peeps at the local B&N are sick of my Fri­day stalkin’ as I look for the new issue for Fall 2011. Amaz­ing pho­tographs, inspir­ing ideas and some seri­ously great fea­tures are a sta­ple in every sin­gle issue.  I have the past three and have been beyond impressed. Kudos to Where Women Cook for mak­ing each quar­terly issue a delight!  Now, if I may make a small request – please hurry up and let us see Fall 2011 issue? I’m dyin’ over here! Don’t even get me started about their Where Women Cook: Cel­e­brate!: Extra­or­di­nary Women & Their Sig­na­ture Recipes Fab Friday Almost September Edition cook­book that’s due for release on Oct. 4th – I might just start a count­down NOW!  Thank god for pre-order.

What’s got you obsessed this week?

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Filed Under: Cookbook, Emile Henry, Fab Friday, Fashion, Kitchen Organization, Shopping In Stilettos Tagged With: , , , ,
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