We applaud Tom Mueller, author of Extra Virginity The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil ( W. W. Norton & Company 2011), for continuing the conversation about deceitful practices and mis-leading advertising claims regarding many of the branded olive oils that are being sold in supermarkets, discount food chains and food warehouses.

Much has been talked about over the past few years in this regard, but this book will finally bring this topic to national attention and to the awareness of the audience that most needs to be informed – consumers.

These branded olive oils are made to be sold cheaply and in huge quantities, and are blended by corporate food companies for their own sales or to be bottled and sold under another brand’s label. These oils are composed of various oils from many sources, and many of these products are not what they seem to be.

Most of these oils are not made exclusively from olive oil – some contain cheaper nut oils. Many of these olive oils, even when composed of olive oils, contain low, industrial grades of oil that do not test positively for purity when examined in a lab. What does this mean? Besides only offering fatty, musty flavors, these olive oils do not contain any of the healthful antioxidants that legitimate extra virgin olive oils are known to have.

The next time you wonder why cheap olive oil is well, cheap, think about why that is and what isn’t in the bottle. As is true for most cheaply made products, buyer beware. These shady olive oil practices by corporations and food packers have been exposed in the past and have been known to us for many years. This is the reason why we have never sold this type of olive oil.

For years, the Olive Center at the University of California at Davis has been leading the charge about deceptive practices in branded olive oil. In April of 2011 they released a study claiming that:

“ a great majority of US consumers are paying a premium for mislabeled oil which fails to meet recognized standards and is often rancid or adulterated.” 

According to their testing, they reported that  ” out of 134 samples of the five top-selling imported olive oils labeled as extra virgin, the Center reported that 73% failed to meet International Olive Council (IOC) sensory standards. The five brands are Filippo Berio, Bertolli, Pompeian, Colavita and Star ”.

At Cooks Shop Here we are vigilant about the provenance of the extra virgin olive oils that we sell and the people that we support.  Our customers can rest assured that all of our extra virgin olive oils are grown, pressed , and bottled by individual olive farmers or olive farmers belonging to the local co-operative from olives that are grown on their own olive farms in France, Greece, Italy, and Spain.

Our extra virgin olive oils are produced in limited quantities and these producers do not bring in ‘other’ oils to extend their yield. These small-scale artisan producers take pride in their craft and their products, and they do not adulterate their olive oils. These are proud family businesses, many of which have been in the olive oil business for generations.

Most of our producers have websites that explain their craft. They can also be reached via email or telephone, and their farms or olive oil pressing mills can often be visited when visiting their particular regions of Europe.

Many of our producers have earned the right to use the coveted DOP ( protected origin ) mark on their olive oils. Unlike the interest of corporate concerns, the goal of our olive producers is to press delicious, distinctive olive oil that delivers superior, luscious flavor that is indicative of the specific olive varieties used in the oil and the terroir where the olive trees grow.

We carefully & specifically select each extra virgin olive oil that we sell so that each brings to the table the excellent range of flavors that a particular region and country is known for.  These unique terroirs, coupled with the diversity of local varieties of olive trees and their fruit (olives ) add character to the distinctive cuisine of the Mediterranean, and will add delicious flavor and healthful benefits to your food.

For more information about our extra virgin olive oils, please visit our website: www.CooksShopHere.com

We were thrilled to discover that Imbibe Magazine (www.imbibemagazine.com) has featured our Admiral’s Rum and Brandy Punch recipe from our book Hot Drinks on their website. Thanks, Imbibe!

Our sure-fire, delicious punch is perfect to serve an apres-ski crowd or when gathering around the fire on a snowy winter day. The warm, sunny color is pleasing and inviting- we named this drink Admiral’s Rum and Brandy Punch after a West Indies-inspired combination of grapefruit, pineapple and rum.

HOME | RECIPES | COCKTAIL RECIPES Photo by Marshall Gordon                                                                                                 Admiral’s Rum and Brandy PunchTangy flavors of apricot, pineapple and grapefruit mingle with the subtle spices of rum and brandy in this warming winter punch.1 cup apricot puree 2 cups pineapple juice 1/2 cup white grapefruit juice 1/2 cup light rum 1/4 cup brandy Tools: saucepan Glass: heatproof punch cups or glasses Garnish: lime wedges Combine the apricot puree and juices in a saucepan                             over medium heat and bring to a low simmer. Lower                                the heat and simmer gently for two minutes more,                                then add the rum and brandy.                                                                 Place a lime wedge in four heatproof glasses and                                divide the warm punch evenly. Serves four. Mary Lou Heiss and Robert J. Heiss, Hot Drinks                                      (Ten Speed Press, 2007)

We have been admirers of hand-crafted Japanese Tokoname teapots for years. In fact, we featured a stylish black Tokoname teapot on the cover of our book, The Story of Tea. We had so many queries about that teapot after our book came out that we contacted the tea maker and ordered a quantity of these gorgeous vessels to sell.

Now, four years later, that teapot is no longer being made. So we  re-kindled contacts we made in Tokoname during a brief visit there a few years back and placed an order for a special selection of stunning hand-made teapots. We asked to be sent photographs of works by master Tokoname potters and boy, did our man in Japan deliver! It was difficult for us to decide on which teapots to purchase, but we settled on a selection of stunning choices.

All of these teapots are unique, beautiful and desireable. Each vessel represents the vison of the clay artist, and we decided to mix it up in our selection of color, shape, texture and technique. We are thrilled to offer these functional works of art to our tea enthusiast customers and teawares collectors.

Tokoname has been a center of ceramic production since the 12th century and is, along with the kilns at Seto, Shigaraki, Echizen, Tanba,and Bizen, one of the oldest pottery production sites in Japan. Fortunately for those of us who are clay collectors, many pottery artisans in Tokoname have been honing their skills from a young age, and are now the clay masters. Their teapots are sought after worldwide for many desirable features, such as balance in pouring; skillfully tailored, pleasing shapes; thin-walled sides; highly polished, fine, smooth surfaces or lightly textured, matte finishes; elegant aesthetics, and complete, precise functionality.

Tokoname teapots are made in a variety of shapes and utilize many techniques that are the result of both hand skills and tool work. These teapots are categorized as yakishime – high-fired unglazed stoneware. Tokoname teapots are made from an iron-rich clay, and are very fine in texture. The clay allows the teapot and the tea to interact in a positive way. Many tea connoisseurs believe that unglazed clay sweetens the tea or adds a little minerality or backbone to the flavor of the tea – and those who use these teapots (and Yixing teapots for Chinese oolongs and Pu-erh, and hand-crafted Korean teapots, too ) know what I mean.

In Japan, these stylish teapots are used to steep Japanese green teas, which are long in length and have characteristic thin, needle-like leaves. Japanese green teas are quite different in size and appearance from Chinese green teas, and the best ones are steeped and drunk in small quantities. Accordingly, these teapots may be smaller than what many black tea drinkers may be accustomed to, but they are perfectly sized for steeping Japanese ( or Chinese or Korean ) green teas.

Most Tokoname teapots are kyusu-style teapots, which means that they are constructed with one handle on the side of the teapot. Occasionally western-style handles are placed on these teapots, and these are referred to as ushirode-kyusu-style. If the handle is placed so that it arcs above the opening of the teapot then that is a dobin-style teapot.

Unlike lifeless factory made teapots, these little hand-made teapots are works of art with personality. Each teapot reflects the vision of the artist who made it, and each is as functional as it is beautiful. Any one of these teapots will enhance your tea steeping and tea drinking pleasure.

We requested that all of our teapots have a clay infuser ( not stainless steel or mesh ) built into the spout of the teapot to catch the tea leaves before they exit the teapot. These infusers come in two styles: a flattish sasame strainer or ball-strainer, depending on the preference of the potter.

Please visit our website: www.teatrekker.com for more teapots and more details about these fantastic Tokoname teapots.

The most amazing packaging of all time !

All of our teapots arrived in perfect condition. The person who packed our order did a meticulous job and was  extraordinary careful. As we unpacked the boxes, we discovered that custom-fit cardboard ‘chests’ had been constructed for each grouping of 4-6 teapots. Each ‘chest’ was custom-sized and also lined with bubble wrap. All in all, the outer boxes contained 6 of these ‘chests.’  And each teapot was packed in a cardboard box of paulowina wood box. (This is in direct opposition to  shipments of Chinese ceramics, in which each piece is wrapped in bubble wrap and all are tossed into a previously used box.  I am sure a dose of ‘hope for the best’ goes in there, too!).

I so appreciate it when special items are carefully wrapped, and when the person packing and handling them treats them with the respect that they deserve.

Merry Christmas 2011 to all our Cooks Shop Here family of friends and customers.

Please watch as Monkey, a knitted woollen doll and the brand-mascot of PG Tips tea, dressed in regal attire, gets properly sozzled in a tongue-in-cheek take on the Queen’s Christmas speech. Watch was happens as ‘she’ reflects on the highlights of the ‘year gone by.’  This video features only Monkey – sidekick Al is mentioned at the end only, but appears in the portrait at the beginning of the video.  We watch this video whenever we need a lift (we drink tea, too, when we need a lift) and always break out in peels of laughter each and every time. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

This now iconic PG Tips ad scooped 2 Gold Awards for Unilever Brands at the British Television Advertising Awards in 2008.

The PG Tips chimps are among the most beloved ad icons in the UK, with campaigns running 20 years deep, give or take a little.

Why Chimps ?

In 1956 PG Tips debuted television commercials featuring live chimpanzees  dressed up in clothes and wigs to look like humans and carrying on in various humorous sketches. But the activity was ultimately about delighting in the satisfying taste of PG Tips tea. The first of these commercials aired on the UK’s newly launched commercial TV station on Christmas Day 1956.

The ads, inspired by the chimps’ tea parties held at London Zoo in the 1950s, propelled PG Tips to become the most loved tea in Britain.

In the space of only two years since the first advert was aired PG Tips moved from fourth in the ratings to top of the heap in tea popularity.

But after animal welfare campaigners successfully lobbied against the ads, the ads stopped in 2002 and have not been aired since. ( If you squander enough time on You Tube you can find several of them. The ad showing the chimps moving a piano downstairs has been shown on British television more times than any other advertisement over 2,000 screenings).

Why Monkey?

Since 2008, a new series of ads with a sock monkey – Monkey ( mon-keh) – and his sidekick Al ( comedian Johnny Vegas ) have replaced the old chimp ads.

Monkey is an adorable lad and Al is, well, Al. By far, my favorite ad is the message of Christmas Cheer.

About PG Tips Tea

Arthur Brooke founded Brooke Bond Tea Company in 1869, starting with a single tea shop. He was the son of a tea dealer, Charles Brooke, and as a child was allowed to clamber up and ride in the wheelbarrow along with packets of tea that were being delivered to homes in Ashton-under-Lyme, England.

By the 1890′s, Arthur Brooke has several tea shops in various locations. He expanded into the wholesale tea market and gained more notice for his brand by delivered his tea all over England in distinctive black vans. The Brooke Bond brand became synonymous with tea throughout the United Kingdom and his company introduced a second brand in 1930 — PG Tips.

I wish that PG Tips would include sock monkeys in special packs of the tea in the USA!

To see what Monkey is up to these days, please visit the PR Tips website: http://www.pgtips.co.uk/

My needle always settles between west and southwest. The future lies that way to me, and the earth seems more unexhausted and richer on that side. – Henry David Thoreau

I discovered this line in a Thoreau essay titled Walking. It expresses how I feel about the Southwest more eloquently than I could do myself.

A fanciful decanter vividly painted and shaped like a duck

What is it that inspires me  to return again and again to this rugged, sometimes lonely place ? I think just about everything – the wide open, un-blemished spaces; the soft, pale colors of ancient mesas, sprawling desert and deeply cut canyons that define the landscape; the clear, pure light; the shifting weather and dramatic skies; the high elevation and dry air; the tumultuous history of this place and the blended cultures of today; the museums and galleries (equally educational); and Native American art and artists.

While there are fine art painters of all stripes in the Santa Fe and Taos areas, and galleries that specialize in Spanish Colonial art, Cowboy art or Western art, Native American textiles, sculpture and jewelery, my special weakness is for polychrome Pueblo pottery. Although I admire the diverse work of many talented Native American potters, my favorite pieces are made by Zuni potter Anderson Peynetsa.

Anderson holding one of his little painted pots

When I finalized my plans to attend Indian Market this year (Indian Market is a once a year juried show of Native American art held in the streets of downtown Santa Fe on the 3rd weekend of August and produced by SWAIA). I quickly scanned the exhibitor listing for Anderson’s name. YES,  he would be there and I was thrilled that I would be able to meet him and see some of his new work.

On the first day of Indian Market, I arrived in downtown Santa Fe around 6 AM and made several passes by his booth hoping that he would be there. Towards 7 AM he was at his table and had just finished unloading his precious cargo from his car. His wife and children were busy  un-wrapping some large, exceptionally gorgeous pieces, and I scanned the table quickly to take in all that they had brought.

He told me that he had made these large pieces to sell at Indian Market, and I was thrilled to see them. I knew that these pieces would certainly be snapped up before the weekend was over, and I was envious of the lucky collector (s) who would take these pieces home with them.

I have been a fan of Anderson’s work and Zuni pottery for a long time, and have admired many of his pots in galleries in the Santa Fe area over the years. Honestly, these stunning pots (he let me hold them!) were among the best pieces of his work that I have seen. They simply took my breath away.

Anderson’s pots are built the way Zuni potters before him have made their pots – from hand-rolled, thin coils of clay. The shapes of his pieces are pleasing to the eye and are impeccably gracious in aesthetic and even in shape. His painting has matured into a fluid, rhythmic style. Like most pueblo potters, he makes his paints from earth and plant pigments. He paints with black and reddish-brown pigments on either pure white or dark, earthy red highly polished backgrounds.

Working as a team, Avelia sands and polishes the pottery. Anderson told me that she has the touch for that – he breaks the pots when he tries to polish. Pots are made in the morning and painted at night. Small pots dry in one afternoon; large ollas dry for several days. He applies his white slip evenly and rather liberally – the color of clay body of the pot does not show through. Some artists let the clay show through a thin coating of slip and I find it distracting from otherwise nice work. He also has a very steady hand with the paintbrush and is very good at loading his brushes to deliver an even application of pigment over the surface of the pot (no thin spots in the color).

Someone else's pot with a thin application of white slip

Anderson's trademark heart-line deer motif painted on a large water jug ( olla). Notice how differently the deer is rendered in this pot versus the pot above

The Peynetsa family is well known in collector circles. Anderson’s sister Agnes makes smaller pieces, most of which are adorned with lizards and frogs, animal symbols that are very esteemed by the Zuni. In fact, it is one of her frog pots that brought her family to my attention. Avelia is more than happy to let the spotlight shine on her husband, but she did tell me that she, too, makes pots.

Frog pot by Agnes Peynetsa

Anderson and Avelia learned their craft at Zuni High School from Jennie Laate ( an accomplished Acoma potter who taught at Zuni), and he has been a potter ever since. Working as potters is how this family makes their living – this is not a part-time occupation. I would say that Anderson is close to being middle-aged, and, from the pieces that I saw, in the prime of his craft.  I look forward to watching his work change in the years to come as he grows as an artist.

I could not help but notice Anderson’s hands – they so clearly look like the hands of someone who works with a wet medium. Clay is very drying as it sucks the oils from the surface of skin. And, preparing clay from rock sherds is a laborious, hands-on job. He told me that he, like other Zuni potters and his ancestors, dig their own clay on the pueblo lands in a sacred place where only the potters are allowed to go.

After digging the clay from the earth, the clay is hauled to their home and soaked in water for 2-3 days to soften. Sometimes small, broken pieces of  pottery sherds are added to the clay for suppleness if needed. Excess water is drained away, and the clay in put in pillow cases outside to rest.

By Sunday afternoon, all of Anderson’s big pots, including the exotic duck canteen, had sold. They were very happy with that, and I was pleased for them. I imagined that one lucky buyer purchased all three pieces, but I will never know. Perhaps one or more pieces will go into a museum collection, or to a gallery overseas, or to the home of someone rich and famous living in the Santa Fe foothills.

For those visiting the Santa Fe area, the Zuni pueblo is located far in the western edge of New Mexico about 2 hours driving distance from Albuquerque. There are several crafts shops on the pueblo who sell Anderson’s work. In addition to pottery,  Zuni is famous for little carved fetish animals, and inlaid turquoise jewelry. For those who drive this route, be sure to leave several hours in your schedule and visit the Acoma Pueblo along the way, too. Beautiful polychrome pottery can be purchased here as well.