Travelore's Recommended Holiday Gifts for 2023-2024

Norman Love Confections® was founded by Norman and Mary Love, in Fort Myers, Florida in 2001, after a Norman leaving behind a 13 years sucessful career as executive pastry chef at The Ritz-Carlton. Norman Love Confections has been named the best premium chocolate company in the United States six times since 2006, and has been featured in USA Today, The TODAY Show, National Geographic, InStyle, Martha Stewart Living, O, the Oprah Magazine, Forbes, Huffington Post, The Daily Telegraph, Robb Report, and Dessert Professional, among others. Now you can order these wonderful chocolates at: https://www.normanloveconfections.com/

Treefrog™ Original Formula Developed in the rainforests of Costa Rica, Treefrog Topical Pain Relief Gel targets pain quickly and directly with its all natural formula. Plant-based. Absorbs quickly. Non-greasy. Clean scent. Vegan and Cruelty Free. To learn more and order, please visit: https://treefrogrelief.com/

A Bidet from BidetMate is an affordable way to elevate your bathroom experience.

Saves money on toilet paper and utility costs.

Promotes healthier, safer, and cleaner well being.

Preseves Earth’s natural resources like trees and water.

Relieves menustral periods, UTI, pregnancy, and hemorrhoids.

Soothes pre and postpartum pain and pressures.

To learn more about your options, please visit: https://bidetmate.com/

Core Trio Gift Set from VERIPHYY SKINCARE. Born out of a lucky science experiment gone wrong, Veriphy Skincare was founded by a group of women who saw the power in a vegan form of glycogen. They're built for professionals by professionals with the cleanest ingredients. They want to give people clear, radiant skin so they feel confident in every step of their life, career, and beyond.

Fight dryness with their ultra-hydrating Self Absorbed Facial Moisturizer. Banish dull skin with their Power Trip Facial Serum, a gentle, exfoliating and hydrating serum that will leave your skin looking smooth and radiant. Then top it all off with their award-winning 20/20 Eye Cream to dramatically reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

Includes: Self Absorbed Facial Moisturizer, 50 mL Power Trip Facial Serum, 30 mL 20/20 Eye Cream, 15 mL

For more details and how to order, please visit: https://veriphyskincare.com/

Where To Find The Best Chocolate In The World

Kate Weiser in Dallas

There is nothing conventional about Kate Weiser’s chocolate bars. They are painstakingly crafted, yes, but from there Weiser goes rogue, taking the grandest Venezuelan cocoa and adding acai berries, or, in the ultimate rebellious act, going blonde with a caramel and sesame seed brittle bar. Her riotous, Jackson-Pollack-splatter-painted candy bars and bonbons are beautiful the way a punk rock romance might be—exuberant and irreverent in style and taste.

Courtesy Kate Weiser

Compartés in Los Angeles

In 2005, when John Grahm took over this mid-century Los Angeles shop where Marilyn Monroe once purchased her sweets, he fashioned it into an edgy and modern version of Old Hollywood elegance. Partnering with designer Kelly Wearstler, Grahm created a line of stunning bars covered in edible crystal, filled with tortilla chips and cayenne pepper, and flavored with balsamic vinegar. But tradition still rules atCompartés, so everything is handmade and people (not machines) do the packaging.

Courtesy Compartés

Rozsavolgyi in Budapest

Katalin Csiszar and her husband, Zsolt Szabad, began the award-winning Rozsavolgyi in their home in Budapest in 2004. They source beans from Venezuela growers, and roast them very lightly to preserve their true flavors. Only organic cane sugar and a small amount of of cocoa butter goes in before they are formed into intricate patterns meant to mimic fireplace tiles, and wrapped by hand in paper that looks like your chic grandma’s vintage silk scarf. Purists rave about their Criollo and Trincheras bars, but those who like surprises go for inclusions like olives and bread, and flavors of Japanese matcha, and Indian masala spices.

Courtesy Rozsavolgyi

Original Beans in Amsterdam

Since 2008, Original Beans has taken the “bean to bar” idea full circle with their “bar to bean” commitment to plant a seedling for every chocolate bar sold. Details of their Grand Cru Blend No. 1 80 percent organic dark chocolate are kept secret, but they claim to use some of the rarest cacaos from South America and Africa. And with only raw cane sugar added, the bars are also vegan.

Courtesy Original Beans

Jacques Torres in New York

Because Jacques Torres is as serious about technique as he is about fun, it’s possible to walk out of one of his eight New York City stores without a pure, single origin bar of dark chocolate and a bag full of chocolate-covered Cheerios (the idea for which he had when a mother quieted her wailing baby with a handful of the cereal.) His 80 percent Porcelana cocoa bars are unusually sweet and silky for chocolate with such a high cocoa content, but Torres says the qualities of these rare, special beans allow him to ratchet up the cocoa without adding more sugar.

Courtesy Jacques Torres

Teuscher in Zurich

For over 80 years, this Swiss chocolate house has produced some of the finest sweets in the world. Its Champagne truffles are renown, and their handmade floral packaging is unparalleled, but when it comes to their bars Teuscher goes for pure unadulterated chocolate. Beginning with only the thin-shelled Criollo beans (surely the rarest, and some say the highest quality), the Teuscher chocolate-makers produce every bar by hand in Zurich, adding only cocoa butter and sugar (and sometimes very little, as in their 99 percent cocoa bar). While its headquarters are in Switzerland, lucky for us, Teuscher has shops all over the world—including in nine U.S. cities. For U.S. orders please visit www.TeuscherPhiladelphia.Com or call at 215-546-7600

Courtesy Teuscher

Mary in Brussels

The 97-year-old chocolatier known for it’s eye-popping displays of bon bons is a favorite of the Belgian royal family. But its high-class tablets, packaged in charming, pastel boxes, are worthy of a taste as well. Perhapsmost worthy is Mary's 72 percent dark chocolate bar made with beans from the equatorial (and volcanic) African island of São Tomé. All ten of its fanciful shops are in Belgium except one, which is in Oakwood, Ohio.

Courtesy Mary

À La Mère de Famille in Paris

At 255 years old, this candy shop on Rue du Faubourg-Montmatre is the oldest in Paris, and luck for everyone who visits, it’s precious façade is historically landmarked and it’s interior lovingly preserved. On the shelves at À La Mère de Famille sit sweets and treats of all kinds, including bars of 100 percent pure origin Venezuelan cocoa. Surprisingly melty and vibrantly aromatic, the plain chocolate is smooth, while the inclusion bars are beautifully strewn by hand with whole hazelnuts, almonds, and tidy little chunks of candied ginger.

Courtesy À La Mère de Famille

Bonnat in Lyon

There may be bars with frillier packaging and more envelope-pushing additions, but when it comes to pure, classic chocolate, Bonnat can lay claim to the crown. This family company began in 1884 and was beloved by Jackie Kennedy Onassis who gave bars to White House guests during the holidays. The Juliana bars are made from specially-grown Brazilian cacao beans, fermented, then dried in the sun slowly, over seven days. Back in France, the beans are painstakingly refined and tempered over five days. It’s an intricate process but, as Stephane Bonnat says, “In the Alps, we have time.”

Courtesy Bonnat

Written by Edna Ishayik
www.cntraveler.com