What a week last week, and, by all appear­ances, this week is as jam-packed as not only are Tyler Flo­rence and Bobby Flay in town, but one of my part­ners in crime, SL, is set to take Philly by storm on Fri­day while he vis­its from Orlando. Due to my rush­ing to the New York City Wine & Food Fes­ti­val, I real­ized that I needed to move the usual “Fab Fri­day” to a “Fab Mon­day”… Here are a few lit­tle things that had me either clutch­ing my pearls or try­ing to find a way to sell plasma to obtain…

1. Pour La Victoire’s Beca Bootie. This makes me rem­i­nisce about when I lived in West­ern Mass as a young­ster.  It was my I believe 12th or 13th birth­day and all I wanted was the KISS album that had my favorite track, “Tears Are Falling”.  What can I say, liv­ing in a town that loved their heavy metal took a toll on a gal.  How­ever, this boot looks like a more mod­ern take on the 80s slouch that will make you shake all night long.

2. All-Clad’s Food Mill.  Now, before you balk at the price, hear me out. Sure, you can buy a cheap food mill but I have to tell you – I went that route and it ended badly – soooo very badly. I am start­ing to real­ize that I’m going to have approach var­i­ous kitchen­ware with the same logic that I apply to fash­ion – a CPU ratio­nal­iza­tion or, in basic terms, cost per use. See, when I buy those pricey stilet­tos, I wear the liv­ing day­lights out of them and they can tran­si­tion through sea­sons. If they were just trendy, heck, I’d pick up the cheap stuff – that way I get the most bang for my buck, right? Same with this – the more expen­sive items I use often and they LAST! Heck, I’ve had my Global knives for what – 5 years or so now – and they are as sharp as the day I bought them. My Le Creuset has stood the test of time and don’t even get me started re: some of my other kitchen faves. Now I just have to decide “New Le Creuset or Food Mill“… Hmmm…

3. Jacques Tor­res Choco­late - First of all, can I say that this place is all that and then some! I went to their Chelsea Mar­ket loca­tion on Sat­ur­day to see what the hype was all about. Let’s just say on Sun­day, I went back. Their Wicked Hot Choco­late is def­i­nitely wicked and all it needed was a nice shot of tequila and I would have been a very happy gal. Sec­ondly, their choco­lates make the per­fect gift. I picked up a box for fam­ily and also a few nib­bles for my train ride home. Utter decadence!

4. Tyler Flo­rence Fam­ily Meal: Bring­ing Peo­ple Together Never Tasted Bet­ter. I dropped by Sur La Table today to see the one and only Tyler Flo­rence. As I was super swamped at the NYCWFF, I didn’t have a chance to check out his demo nor attend his book-signing.  So, since he’s in my city today, it would only be right if I dropped by and said hello.  I have to tell you, he’s absolutely charm­ing and is pas­sion­ate about food!  While leaf­ing through this cook­book, I made a men­tal note of a host of recipes that will be get­ting my atten­tion this fall such as the bread and but­ter pick­les, Tolan’s Glazed Turkey Meat­loaf, Meyer Lemon Cup­cakes and, of course, the Ulti­mate Beef Welling­ton. It takes a lot for a cook­book to impress me and this one hits the spot – love!

5. The return of PRIVATE CHEFS OF BEVERLY HILLSon the Food Net­work start­ing Tues­day, Oct. 12 at 9 p.m. You know I adore the crew from PCoBH, espe­cially one of my fave stiletto divas, Manouschka, and from what I heard about this upcom­ing sea­son, Sea­son 2 is promis­ing to be waybet­ter than the first. We’re talk­ing demand­ing clients, fab celebs, as always, drama and the real star - the food that will have you chan­nel­ing your inner Bev­erly Hills diva and toss­ing a soiree that will have the town talk­ing. For some more info regard­ing the sea­son, check out Manouschka’s blog at SingleServingBytes.com.  I know my DVR is set!