Need an afternoon pick-me-up? Fat Pig Chocolate can give you one in five to seven business days with their organic milk chocolate bars. Today it may seem unfortunate that Fat Pig isn't in the corner shop down the street from your office, but if order one today you'll will have forgotten about it by the time it arrives. And then, surprise! You've got a package and a delicious treat. While you’re pigging out, check out their website where you can upload an image of your own fat face about to eat some chocolate.

Tequila 5150 is a new American tequila, or rather an “eau de vie de agave,” and the first of its kind. Frank Leal, owner of Leal Vineyards in Hollister, CA is the first American to legally import blue agave into the U.S. He decided to apply wine making techniques to the tequila-making process, such as using wine barrels instead of old bourbon barrels. Crazy? Absolutely. While Frank was telling his good friend and local county sheriff about his California tequila making plans, the immediate response was "Frank, you are so 5150!" (5150 is the California police code for a mentally disturbed or insane person).

Tequila 5150 is currently available in California (BevMo) and Florida ... keep an eye out for the spirit coming your way soon.

CORRECTION: Turns out that while Frank Leal is the first to bring in blue agave plants, Tequila 5150 is currently bottled down at Frankie’s Mexican distillery. As soon as his agave plants mature (which, apparently takes eight years) you’ll have 100% U.S. of A. tequila. Hence the Hecho en Mexico sticker on the bottle.

Hope you don’t mind if I share something personal. I just got back from my honeymoon in Napa (no, I will not be posting photos), and of all of the tasting rooms, wine shops, and California cuisine restaurants, my best glass of juice was at Titus Vineyards. It wasn’t just the fact that I’d already blazed three dozen wineries up the Silverado Trail in my rented Mustang, like an oenophile Dr. Gonzo. This transcended my buzz (which, if you’re a CHiP officer, is pure hyperbole). This small label makes gigantic reds that are smooth but full of personality; a nice Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and a Zinfandel that will deftly remove your underwear and refuse to call the next day. I bought everything, including a Petite Verdot and Petite Sirah varietal you don’t see a lot of in the valley. If you don’t just drink, but actually enjoy wine, you won’t be disappointed.

Got milk? Chocolate Flavored Straws, recently released by The San Francisco Chocolate Company, are a great example of fun, functional packaging to bring out the kid in all of us (milk drinkers). Within a sealed, wider than normal straw, chocolate beads are encased. You simply put it into a glass and sip. We tried it with organic non-fat milk and soy milk. The straw is definitely for casual as well as hardcore chocolate milk enthusiasts. It's not overwhelming, but a healthy balance. I've been waiting for an accessible version of the overseas flavored milk straw product to make it to the U.S. – and it finally did! What do you think of the concept? Have you tried the Australian or European versions?

NYC has culinary gems like I have never seen. The best part is, there are the great classic restaurants, but there are also always new diamonds in the rough popping up to challenge the classics– keep em honest if you will. The art of creating a sublime cocktail is, in my book, a very culinary, focused, and difficult process to master– a truly astute cocktail is every bit as impressive as the plated delights. Mike Arauz has transferred his appreciation of finely crafted adult beverages into his newly launched site, The Lush Life: Guide to Manhattan’s Best Cocktail Bars. It looks like Mike is setting his site narrowly and with the utmost discretion, focusing on only his all star team of establishments, probably chosen through some sort of secret scientific method he’s concocted. But who knows, maybe he’ll add some others after we flood his inbox with tips of our own favorites. May I start with my own recommendation? The Randolph at Broome– most insane cocktails I encountered in the city.

The salt revolution is coming. I know, we all thought artisan salts were totally passé in the gourmet world, now that everyone and their mom has had Himalayan pink sea salt. It's time to put it on something else besides bread and meat. The latest drink accessory? Salt. My salty source tells me the master cocktail craftsman (he hates being called a mixologist) at Cyrus is paving the way with Alaea Hawaiian Sea Salt rimmed specialty cocktails ... we're not talking about your $5 happy hour Chevy's margarita. While this new concoction of Cyrus' famous Scott Beattie has been unconfirmed, ask for the Caprese Martini rimmed with Grey Sea Salt. If you are looking for a way to add salt to your non-alcoholic repertoire, try adding the buttery and rare Aguni Japanese Sea Salt to your morning espresso — it will remove any unwanted bitterness. Whether its Fleur de Sel, Grey Sea Salt or the Alaea Hawaiian — its totally in.

Luxury. Binary. Juice. Is there a limit on what people will pay to nourish themselves through the medium of fruit juice (and, um, nutritional gel)? It seems as though MonaVie has set out to answer that question — a little social experiment if you will. “Let’s pack 19 fruits into a wine bottle (including acaí — wooo!), chalk it up to the Balance-Variety-Moderation philosophy, and charge about $45 per bottle.” MonaVie has been around for a few years now, but I just heard about it. Given that it is sold through a MLM (multiple level marketing) system, that doesn’t surprise me … maybe those peddling it are too ashamed to announce the price to potential customers. At any rate, I (reluctantly) can’t wait to try the stuff. Hopefully it’s coming to a martini bar near me someday soon.

I have a couple of questions for our readers: (1) Have any of you tried the juice? (2) What are your thoughts about products sold this way (is it an automatic turn-off or do you let the quality of the product speak for itself)?

It seems like the last thing the world needs now is a new brand of spring water. But if it’s being sold by a puppet dancing to Snap’s “Rhythm is A Dancer,” the folks at Drench spring water have me convinced otherwise. Their minute-and-a-half-long masterwork of a commercial, created by the U.K.’s Chi Advertising, is so exhilaratingly funny that it makes us thirsty for more. The ad features a hydrated hipster (aka Brains from Thunderbirds) who could just as easily serve you some Drench or serve you on the dance floor. We’d go with the former … that puppet’s pretty talented.

via Brand New

So many energy drinks, so little bladder control. For most health conscious people out there, the biggest problem with the plethora of Gator, Power, Sobe, and other prefixed aides and waters is that we all want to believe that they’re doing a bit of good to our addled bodies. If you’re going to reach for a bottle of vitamin infused H20, shouldn’t you be able to quantify the goodness? The team at Activate Drinks realized that for the average one-a-day pill consumer, you need to be able to see the proof in the neon colored liquid. As you turn the cap of the bottle, a packet of essential vitamins and minerals is released into the drink — the thought being that you store your vitamins in a cool, dry place, why shouldn’t the same logic be applied to your vitamin drink? The flavor options come in low-calorie concoctions such as: Vitamin, Antioxidant, and Immunity. We’re sure there are scientists that could tell us all about the effectiveness of this technique, but honestly, after this weekend, we’re just looking for something to make our kidneys usable again.

Warm weather means more than shorts, t-shirts, and flip flops…it also means it’s time to brush off that grill and start bbq-ing. Whether you’re a carnivore, herbivore, or omnivore, you’re going to need more than just fire and coal to make your flame broiled fantasies a reality. Every grill master needs some quality utensils — and we’ve got just what the doctor (or chef) ordered. This set of stainless steel folding grill tools from Sur La Table includes a brush, a pair of tongs, and a spatula with eco-friendly pakkawood handles that allow these cooking tools to become compact providing a sleek space saving solution to your searing situation. Also, they might be useful in fending off a mugging providing you can convince your would be attacker that the folding spatula is also a switchblade.

Related: Meat = Mine

Not since Frank Perdue and his poultry-looking family sold us on his “all natural” birds have we been so taken with an advertisement for chicken. Foster Farms has taken Dove’s “Campaign for Real Beauty” ads (the he ones where models of all shapes, sizes, and skin conditions teach us about the trickery of Photoshop), and applied it to tasty all-white meat. The ad is cute, but to be honest, we’re not sure which we’d go for: the untouched sock puppet chicken, or the unappetizing brand logo at the end. Ah, what the hell…it doesn’t really matter as long as it goes in the deep fryer.

Via swissmiss

I remember walking into A Salt and Battery the first year I lived in New York, and having heart palpitations when I discovered that at Easter, they do deep fried Cadbury Créme Eggs. As disgusting as that sounds, you shouldn’t knock it till you’ve tried it. I was transported back to that memory just now, when I was mucking around on the Goo-ology website, and watching a series of disturbed Creme Eggs seeking help for their mental problems and suicidal tendencies. Those eggs managed to escape vats of hot oil, though. Go give Eggs & Ladders a play, watch the brilliant UK ad spots under the ‘Fantasties’ section, and when you can’t stand it anymore, rest assured any Duane Reade or Rite Aid will have at least half a million of them in stock already.

I’m in Chicago right now, and it’s cold. Really, really cold. That means two things around the JS headquarters: lots of hooded sweatshirts, and warm drinks. Thanks to the folks at Two Leaves and a Bud Tea, we’ve been enjoying a fantastic blend of quality teas, like this one here, African Sunset. Only teas that are grown in single geographic regions using traditional growing methods are used — that means lots of time picking, testing, and tasting. It also means they never blend with less expensive “filler teas,” which is party of the reason these teas taste so delicious.

The company is based just down the road from Aspen, Colorado in a little place called Roaring Fork Valley. It was originally started because founder Richard Rosenfeld was frustrated with the US selection and couldn’t find the high qualities he so much enjoyed during his travels through Asia and India. We’re glad you brought some new and unique teas back with you. Thanks Richard!

Paper just got a little more obsolete. A week after Orange and UK ad agency The Alternative debuted a much buzzed about no touch interactive phone menu in the window of its Carnaby Street store, NYC's legendary St. Regis Hotel has taken the new-age menu up a notch.

The St. Regis is home to celebrated chef Alain Ducasse's Adour Restaurant and, despite the opulent old-skool feel of the sheepskin covered gold wine bar, ordering a drink is decidedly high tech. Created by Potion Design, an electronic touch sensitive menu is displayed onto the bar from a built-in projection system in the ceiling. Foodies can check out Adour's extensive wine list just by tapping their hands on the interactive menu before them. Once you've narrowed it down to a specific wine, a flower icon appears displaying info about the bottle on each of its petals; country, vineyard, grape varietals, and all that fancy sommelier stuff is displayed, literally, right at your fingertips.

Mary Poppins had it right. A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. Even better, what if the sugar is the medicine.

Designed in Barcelona by studio m, Happy Pills is a modern day collision between confectionary and apothecary. The store, literally wedged between two large buildings, might go unnoticed if not for the acid-pink Red Cross logo above it's door. Inside, the pharmaceutical design bend is consistent: jellybean filled pill bottles and fully-stocked "first aid kits" line the shelves, or you can self-medicate by filling up bottles with your candy of choice.

My personal fave are the handy "morning-afternoon-night" pill holders, just to make sure your sugar-toothing stays on schedule.