Here at the Stimuli offices we have taken some inspiration from our MoBros (see our Publisher’s blog) and have been doing some digging on Canadian Whisky – or is that Rye or Scotch? Whatever your poison, the sound of ice tinkling against a crystal glass brings back memories of Grandfathers and Uncles and amber coloured liquid sitting on the sideboard in a decanter. While the thought of tipping back a dram or two may put hair on your chest, some purists would say “no way” to adding ice to their favourite spirit and others would debate differently.

For designer Andrew Hellman of Teroforma, the answer to the age old debate came from a bag of stones he found in his grandfather’s liquor cabinet. Milled from Vermont Soapstone, Whisky Rocks are the perfect way to chill your favourite libation without watering it down.  A fantastic gift idea (ahem – Christmas is only 46 days away), Whiskey Rocks come in a set of nine stones along with a muslin storage bag and retail for $24.99. We discovered these while wandering the new releases at Chapters.

Brown sugar is one of the staple ingredients for baking. It's something you always want to have in your pantry, however, if you're not a frequent baker, the brown sugar can turn hard as a rock, rendering it useless. So frustrating.

A Brown Sugar Disc™ will fix the problem. Simply soak the disc in water for 15 minutes, place it in your brown sugar container and the disc restores your brown sugar overnight. The discs are re-usable and require re-soaking on periodically.

We found the Brown Sugar Disc™ at Kitchen Therapy in South Surrey for only $3.00.

What's for dinner? Doesn't that question just fill you with dread? Whether you're feeding a family of five or cooking for yourself, figuring out what to prepare and ensuring that the proper ingredients are in your kitchen can be such a chore. We've learned that organization is the key to managing this task.

The Organized Family Menu Planner from Glow Baby helps you plan delicious and healthy meals on a weekly basis. Created by Canadian entrepreneur, Tanya Harris, the undated, 52 week planner allows you to organize each day's meal plan and compose your shopping list on a perforated tear-off sheet to take to the store with you.

To make life even easier, the planner comes with a food preferences chart, a favourite meal list, an envelop to store recipes and special occasion planning pages. The cover is wipeable and the book is printed on acid free, mixed sources FSC paper.

Not only will the menu planner reduce your daily food stress, it will also assist in tracking your food budget. The Organized Family Menu Planner is available online from glowbaby.ca for only $20.

We're giving away an Organized Family Menu Planner to one lucky Stimuli reader. To enter, post a comment on this entry telling us about your menu planning struggles.
The winner will be announced on Tuesday, September 6th.

Maybe it’s because us folks around the Stimuli offices have been feeling starved of summer, but we are feeling especially inspired after reading the H’appy Hour column from our contributor Angie Quaale. We thought we would dig out a few of our favourite articles with great entertainment ideas that will make creating and serving Angie’s inspired treats a breeze.

Our article from last November was all about Measuring For the Right Pour. The Measure Pour spouts from Lee Valley are still at the top of our list, especially for the precise one ounce measure of your favourite libation.  Any patio-side entertaining usually means a snack or two which is why we have a stash of these side plates – perfect with a slot to hold your wine glass to keep your hands free.

Leave us a note, we would love to hear about your favourite summertime beverage or must have item for easy entertaining.

Photo Credit: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=1970

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream! With Father's Day coming up on Sunday, we were pondering the ideas of what do get the Dad in your life and then it came to us…what guy doesn't like a big bowl of ice cream? We know that store-bought ice cream contains some questionable ingredients and can be on the expensive side.

Give him the gift of unlimited frozen treats with the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker. The large capacity bowl holds 1.5 quarts of ice cream, frozen yogurt or sorbet. It's so simple to use, just add your ingredients and press the ON button. The new patent-pending mixing paddle will have your frozen treats ready in 20 minutes or less.

The Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker is available at Canadian Tire for $79.99.