Their talents have been much sought after by many companies in the world and their masterpieces decorate many of the stately homes and royal palaces in quite a few countries around the globe, the most common of which being the bar stools and designer chairs.

The design of French furniture has been dated to some points in French history. These include during the reigns of Louis XV, Louis XVI, and Louis Philippe in the 18th and 19th centuries. The main design criteria to designing bar stools of this quality is comfort, well sanded and varnished edges style and most of all, the art work that’s carved into the wood. This quality of craftsmanship still exists with many of the French bar stool manufacturers.

The style of these barstools works far better when the décor of the room is of a plain design, this includes the walls, ceiling, floors the lot. The idea behind this type of bar stool or chair design is to try and recreate that comfortable welcoming feeling of homes in the French wine region.

Having the right bar stool for the room can really set of the décor and complete the design. If you choose neutral colors, you can brighten things up with the addition French paintings or prints of your choice, but nature paintings always work best for setting a calming mood.
These styles of bar stools are quite function as they’re shorter than most other bar stools; this makes them quite versatile for many locations such as medium size counters or writing desks.

The benefits of preparing and enjoying food as a family are clear. You save money and eat healthier meals. You create opportunities to connect and communicate with your children and spouse. And most importantly, you show love for your family when you spend time cooking and eating with them. Children of all ages need your attention and your time. By working together to create a meal or bake a batch of cookies, you spend valuable time together.

So, here are 10 steps to get your family cooking up memories.

Step 1 : Teach small children the fun of cooking by helping them bake cookies and cakes. If you’re short on time, you can use a boxed cookie mix and spend more time decorating.

Step 2 :  Encourage the littlest ones to play pretend cooking. Kids love to play with real mixing bowls, strainers and wooden spoons. These make harmless toys and can be easily thrown in the dishwasher for quick cleanup.

Step 3 :  If you live by your day-timer, schedule in baking cookies with your kids. Our schedules can be so hectic that something as simple as baking a batch of chocolate chip cookies can get passed over. Write it down and do it.

Step 4 : If you’ve teenagers, let them play their favorite music while they wash the lettuce and set the table.

Step 5 :  Work together with your spouse to prepare the dinner and use the time to catch up on one another day.

Step 6 :  Even if you’re in a rush preparing dinner, remember to reduce your stress and center on creating a fun atmosphere that naturally encourages the whole family to participate.

Step 7 :  When spending time preparing food with your children, include lessons about healthy eating choices. Keep the conversation positive and avoid listing foods they can’t have.

Step 8 :  On days where you anticipate time will be tight, consider taking a crosscut by using a frozen stir-fry mix or pasta with a jar of pre-made sauce. Your family will appreciate your relaxed mood much more than a made-from-scratch dinner.

Step 9 :  Share the job of grocery shopping. One week have mom take among the children as a helper, the next week dad can go with another child. Always work from a shopping list and let your children help you retrieve items and cross them off the list.

Step 10 : Have big family meals where you share about your day. Keep the conversation fun and avoid negative lectures over dinner. Remember to laugh.

Take these steps today and make your kitchen a fun and memorable place for your whole family.

Every barbecue is always a good fun family event. Here are 5 ways to make your routine evening barbecue a more unique experience:

1)  Who said you’ve to only barbecue meat? There has quite a lot that can be through with bread or fruit and veg over a naked grill. One way to make barbecues and grilling more fun to the all family is to use pastry cutters for whatsoever it’s you’re grilling. It’s up to you or your kids what design and type of food you use.

2)  Try some of those foil packed recipes which cook in to a lesser degree 20 minutes which are very handy and clean and kids will also love the surprise element. Combos can be great fun as you can mix it up anyhow you want and it makes a great game for the kids mixing different items of breadfruit tree and veg.

3)  They say variety is the spice of life so if you only ever cook the same old sausages and steaks why not try something different like a nice bit of cod or a juicy bit of venison. Similarly, try to mix it up with condiments and seasoning.

4)  Barbecues shouldn’t be rushed, they’re supposed to be fun, many of the die hard barbecue fans out there will state that broiling is an insult to the barbecuing criteria. Barbecues should represent a process of slow cooking on low to high heat and while you wait for the food to grill its a great opportunity to have a good laugh with whosoever is in your party be it friends and family.

5)  When we were all small children are moms told us never to play are food, well there has an except to every rule isn’t there? Barbecue games are a great way to have really good fun while cooking. In the game Glutton, every player gets either mashed potatoes, turnip or mac cheese, then they must pick at random a utensil from the kitchen and eat and the first person to eat all of their dish wins

As other firms is tidying up their plants, the iron-clad, black-painted Wild Turkey sits teetering on the brink of a gorge, steam rattling out of various chimneys. It’s among those places which feels alive, as if the plant is humming with the measured rhythm of the staff. And, overseeing it all, is the avuncular Jimmy.

Take a walk with Jimmy through his distillery – it mayhap owned by Pernod-Ricard, but this is Jimmy’s place – and it comes alive. The swirl and changing colours of the ferment; the wheeze, hiss and whistle of the still – these is not inanimate functions, but part and parcel of a originative, living process.

No surprise, then, that he’s a firm believer in the human touch. ‘People is among the most important things in making bourbon,’ he says. ‘It’s people who is doing the work here, people with generations of experience. All these proud people feel that Wild Turkey is part of them’.

He talks about understanding the meaning in the weird music of the still. ‘You’ve to have a stillman there, watching and listening to that. The sound tells him what is going on. We can hear a funny noise and know what’s happening. You can’t have that hands-on control with machines’.

Jimmy is no technocrat. His pride in his distillery and his whiskey springs from the heart. ‘There is things which you cannot prove scientifically. You can’t prove why copper works better than stainless steel, but you sure can taste the difference. So, for me, making whiskey is a craftsman’s process, an artistic process if you like. That artistic element is coming back as bourbon’s image improves, and small batch and single barrel brands appear. People is coming back to an old-fashioned way of making whiskey and old-fashioned flavours’.

This belief in flavour is a crucial factor in making Jimmy’s the daintiest bourbon of all. “Old-fashioned’ is often used in a derogative sense, but when distillers such as Jimmy Russell use the term, they’re talking about a style of bourbon made before the ‘light is right’ brigade began to throttle the industry to death. These days, people like him have been vindicated, as the whisky-drinking world (re)discovers flavour and complexity. They wanted us to go lighter and lighter, but we never did change,’ he smiles. ‘You’ll see more and more flavoursome, top-end bourbons in the future: but we didn’t have to change anything, we were already there!’

Everything in the production of Wild Turkey is done to maximize flavour. The mashbill is heavy on rye and barley malt, it’s distilled to a lower proof than any other bourbon and aged for longer than average. Jimmy also insists on using ‘the old, natural ageing process’, by rotating the barrels in the warehouses – taking the barrels from the hot top floors and replacing them with those that have started on the cool lower floors. It gives a more even maturation profile for the Wild Turkey brands, though it’s the middle floors which provide the whiskeys that go into the small batch Rare Breed and single barrel Kentucky Spirit.

Superb though they’re, it’s Wild Turkey 101° proof, 8-year-old which defines top-end bourbon. Uncompromising yet charming (like Jimmy himself), the fact that Hunter S. Thompson rates it as his favourite bourbon is no surprise, and speaks volumes about what to expect.

TASTING NOTES

Wild Turkey
80°proof Big nose, mixing geranium orange rind and dark fruit. Some smoke on the palate, which is rich with light cinnamon/perfumed notes, then a crisp vanilla/toasty finish. Solid stuff. ***

Wild Turkey 8-year-old
lOTproof Wonderfully rich and complex nose of acacia honey, caramelized fruits/creme brulee, faded roses and dried spices. Starts sweetly then sits heavily in the mouth. Hugely rich, mixing tingling sweet spices, honeyed fruits, vanilla and some red fruit. Succulent, and a meal in a glass. * * * * *

Wild Turkey Rare Breed
108.6°proof Slightly sweeter than the 8-year-old 101 °: more barley sugar/candy notes. Big and honeyed, with a light floral lift. Lovely mix of roses, fragrant spice, plum, nectarine and cigar box. A slow, soft start in the mouth, then a lift of charred wood, honeyed wood and a mix of chocolate and lemon on the finish