The offer ends on November 16th or once 100,000 new fans are registered, so do it today! (At a retail value of $15 per box, that’s $1.5 million worth of fruit being given away!) There’s also a 10% holiday early-bird discount off the purchase price of any orders placed before December 1, 2009.

Edible Arrangements sculpted fruit baskets are our favorite healthy dessert and snack—beautiful to look at, perfect for parties and a terrific way to teach kids that cake and ice cream aren’t the only things worth looking forward to.

• Head to Edible Arrangement’s Facebook Fan page to sign up and get your coupon.
• Read our review of Edible Arrangements fruit baskets, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week.

Chocolate-dipped fruit: A heaven-sent combination.

In Morocco, father and son share a glass
of mint tea. THE DVD provides a beautiful
tea experience, available in DVD with
a companion book.

The film takes you through China, India, Japan and Taiwan. It also talks to tea-drinkers in far-away Morocco, England, France, Ireland and even Tea, South Dakota, who enjoy the tea that comes from half a world away. Unveiling tea’s mysteries, the film contrasts ancient rituals and bonds, such as that expressed by a tea planter who would “dishonor his ancestors” if he could not continue growing tea. Then, there are the youth to whom the cultural heritage is unimportant, expressed by Taiwanese teens who disparage their grandmothers’ tea-drinking but enjoy spitting the tapioca balls in bubble tea at each other, and young adult Japanese who prefer coffee because “it’s Western and cool.”

Contrasted against this sea change are the seriousness of purpose of people who have spent their lives working in the tea industry and consumer tea lovers. Two middle-aged brothers who sell Pashmina scarves in India remonstrate that they could survive without anything on a desert island including water, but not without tea. A Moroccan man describes the ritual and pleasure of searching in the market for the perfect bunch of fresh mint with which to make his tea, and the satisfaction of brewing the perfect pot of tea with it.

Experiencing the bonds that so many people have to tea is an emotional and cultural ride we’d like to take again. This handsomely-shot, wonderfully-edited 74-minute DVD includes 45 minutes of special features. There’s a companion book with 150 photos that explores tea through the words of tea growers, tasters, entrepreneurs, shopkeepers, scholars and experts from eight countries. Get the DVD and invite friends over for tea. It will be a memorable experience!

• For more information or to purchase, visit TheMeaningOfTea.com, telephone 1.212.691.8899 or email info@teadragonfilms.com. 

The recipe was created by Andrea Watman, Creative Director at Zabar’s in New York City. Another twist is the gingersnap cookie crust, which brings even more holiday flavor into the recipe.

• Try the pumpkin mousse cheesecake recipe.
• No mousse for you? Here’s a full-strength mocha pumpkin cheesecake (cheesecake with a coffee bean-graham cracker crust and a mocha glaze).
• Find more cheesecake recipes, including Burnt Caramel Cheesecake Brûlée, Cranberry Cheesecake, Irish Coffee cheesecake, Mango Cheesecake, Mascarpone Cheesecake, Rosemarie Brie Cheesecake and Sour Cream Topping Cheesecake.

Pumpkin mousse cheesecake is lighter than other recipes.

The difference between cocoa and hot chocolate: Cocoa is made from cocoa powder. Hot chocolate is made from bits of actual chocolate (it was originally invented in Switzerland by shaving chocolate bars). It’s also called “drinking chocolate.”

• Here are 24 more hot chocolate tricks.
• Take our hot chocolate trivia quiz.
• Read about some of our favorite cocoa and hot chocolate (we’ve reviewed more than 70), and the difference between dutched and non-dutched cocoa.

Get free shipping through October 31 plus
a new Bloody Mary recipe. Photo courtesy
of RicksPicksNYC.com.

Enter coupon code: octoberfree (all lower case) when you order at RicksPicksNYC.com to get the free shipping. We love all the products, but go batty for the Phat Beets (the top seller), the Green Tomato Condiment (formerly called GT 1000s, curried green tomato pickles), Windy City Wasabeans in a soy-wasabi brine, Smokra (pickled okra seasoned with smoked paprika) and … heck, we may as well list everything.

Enjoy the screaming good Bloody Mary recipe below for Halloween, which features Rick’s Picks’ Mean Beans, a spicy dilly bean (cayenne joins the traditional dill and garlic seasoning). Low in calories—just 20 per 7-bean serving—the brine is used in the Bloody Mary, and you can toss fresh string beans from the store into the remaining brine to make new pickles. As with all of Rick’s Picks, there’s no hidden sugar.

Ingredients:
– 1 ounce vodka
– 3 ounces tomato juice (see our review of the best)
– 2 dashes Worcestershire
– 1/2 teaspoon prepared horseradish
– 2 dashes Tabasco or to taste
– A dash of freshly-ground pepper
– 1 quarter lemon, squeezed
– Generous splash of Mean Beans brine (try other dilly bean or pickle brine if you don’t have Mean Beans—but it won’t be as good!)
– Mean Beans to garnish

Preparation:
1. Combine ingredients. Shake or stir.
2. Pour over ice. Garnish and serve.
3. Have extra Mean Beans on hand for demanding guests.