Just in time for Father’s Day, here is one of the Pirate’s recent discoveries, the Dollar Shave Club. If you haven’t picked a present for your dad this may just be what you were looking for and he will probably appreciate it more than you think. Seriously people have you seen the prices of razor blades??? Every time the Pirate had to purchase razor blades there was a conversation similar to the one below:
Pirate: “Can you believe I had to spend almost $30 bucks for a box of razor blades? Gillette is killing me! They know we need to shave on a daily basis and they still charge us lots of money for a BARE NECESSITY! I give up, I am growing a beard that would make Blue Beard proud!”
Serena: “Sweetie, but that would be so unfair! I married a Pirate not a porcupine! besides I am not dyeing your beard blue… that’s not There must be a solution, did you check the internet?”
And this is how the Pirate found the Dollar Shave Club. I thought I would feature the Dollar Shave Club on the website because it is a real no brainer: you can’t beat the price and most importantly it is a great service. You sign up and select your razor from the 3 options offered by the club. Pay a monthly fee and you will receive a free handle and blades to last you a month. Talk about stuff that make your life easier: you won’t have to think about stopping by Duane Reade to buy blades, they are delivered at your doorstep every month. You may be thinking this is a marketing gimmick… well, here is what the Chairman of DSC, Mike has to say about his blades.
Not convinced yet? The Pirate has been enjoying his blades and shave butter for about 2 months now and he is very pleased. Those who know the Pirate remember how picky he is, so the DSC must be doing something right.
Sign up your dad, husband, significant other for the Dollar Shave Club and don’t forget to tell them that the Pirate told you so!
Disclaimer: no consideration was paid for this post and the Pirate paid for his blades…. but if the DSC decides that they want to send him some freebies, the Pirate will gladly sacrifice!
It looks like last week’s post on Almond Milk was missing the video as some of you emailed me saying it wasn’t showing.
Sorry for the inconvenience and the delay (I has in Milan for work and couldn’t fix it from there). You can find the full post here, and the video below.
This new series is all about fashion and style. There are so many brands out there that you can buy clothes at every price point and for every budget. But will those clothes look good on you? Will they last more than a season? I know all the readers of this website are fashionable enough to know what to wear and when. So this series only serves as inspiration if and when you don’t know what to wear but you have a closet full of clothes. You can use this section as a mood board for tips to breath new life into your closet. Today we begin with the perfect spring staple: the trench coat. Proof that the most utilitarian piece of clothing can be comfortable and feminine, the trench coat is also the most versatile piece of clothing in your coat closet.
during my Dubai trip, my friend Franca, who is very health conscious, suggested that I go dairy free for a period of time. As my gastroenterologist Dr. Alfred Knapp says, the study of food allergies is still in its infancy: many people, like me and the Pirate for example, may have food allergies and not be able to identify them because the blood and patch tests are unable to zero in on the trigger. The Pirate has undergone countless patch tests to figure out what triggers his allergy. I have always thought I had no food intolerance while occasionally complain about oily skin and other minor discomforts, but I could never pinpoint what was the cause. When Franca suggested that I go dairy free for a month I thought it would be a nice experiment but nothing would come out of that. After all, I come from the country of buffalo mozzarella and parmigiano so giving up milk should be fairly difficult and have virtually no impact on my health, right? Over the past month and a half I realized that dairy is kind of addictive and not in a good way. First off, my morning espresso without milk was quite uninteresting. Secondly I LOVE cheese and the thought of not eating it for a month was quite unbearable. But I wanted to challenge myself and trust Franca implicitly with the knowledge of health and wellbeing so I decided to play along. As soon as we returned from Dubai I went grocery shopping and realized, much to my chagrin that nut milks are very heavily refined products and contain LOTS of sodium. My preference for healthy, unrefined food made store bought almond milk a big no-no. So I grabbed a bag of raw almonds and went home to search the web for a solution. I found many recipes for homemade almond milk but found them very wasteful as the almond meal should be discarded after filtering the milk. Why losing all the fiber and vitamin? I seemed a waste and the yield was very limited so I decided to start testing a recipe of my own instead.
Very often people ask me why an attorney would want to participate in a reality show. It sounds like a really unlikely career development and to me it all depends on the show. If the show is based on a skill, like cooking, then it is just another challenge. And like many other attorneys, I do love a good challenge. Since we are talking attorneys, challenges and reality TV, let me introduce you to a recent friend, Kevin Vendituloi.
To celebrate my friend Kevin’s participation to Animal Planet’s Top Hooker, he generously decided to share a recipe he and his wife Jillie love: Poole Barker’s Striper Chowder. But first I asked Kevin to share a bit of his wisdom on the main ingredient of this recipe, Striped Bass.
This year I celebrated my birthday a bit late due to a business trip to Dallas. While drinks and Texas BBQ with my fellow attorney Jane were fun, I was itching for a proper celebration. The Pirate travels a bunch for work and usually goes to Chicago about once a month. I had never been so I decided to join him for the weekend. It was a lot of fun. especially because we got together with our Austrian friends: now I know why they call them the Fun Version of Germans! And I know plenty of fun Germans already. The Pirate planned a great dinner at Spiaggia, Obama’s favorite restaurant. I was curious to see if the President and super fit Michelle have a refined palate, too. Oh yes they do!
Growing up I always had a bad relationship with beets. My mom would buy them, boil them and serve them as a salad. But I was never a fan of the deep purple color of the fact that they would stain my shirts. I was a messy eater back then and I guess that never changed, but what improved was my relationship with beets. When I moved to New York, I noticed them on many menus and ordered them as a shared appetizer. It was love at first bite: when cooked properly beets are fleshy and supple with a sweet and salty flavor that is best enhanced with a simple vinaigrette. Next step was learning how to cook them and for that I have to credit Martha.
travelling is great, you visit new places, learn about new cultures, taste amazing food…. but it usually wreaks havoc on my skin. I turn into an oily sensitive mess. I know, I know, no one ever accused me of being sensitive, usually it is the opposite. Well it looks like age is making me the owner of sensitive skin, especially when I travel. I would love to tell you that I landed in Dubai after 12+ hours on a plane with glowing skin perfect hair and smelling like a rose (that part was true thanks to a Tom Ford fragrance sample). In fact I NEVER take pictures of me landing anywhere because I am afraid you all would see how frightful I look… and it usually takes me a long shower and a couple of melatonin tablets to recover. But this time around the sensitized, dehydrated skin followed me to New York. So I turned to my beauty arsenal and decided to fight back because no amount of concealer can cover stressed out, over reactive skin.
this is not your average, boring, ” green stuff” vegetarian dish. I always have a bag of cauliflower or broccoli florets in the freezer because that is my last resort when I really have no time or patience to concoct a side dish or a vegetarian option. Since I started following #meatlessmonday I began to experiment with different techniques to cook vegetables. Oven Roasting vegetables has become by far my favorite technique: (i) it is easy to clean up because you use a baking sheet lined with parchment paper; (ii) it doesn’t take room on your stovetop because you dry roast in the oven; (iii) you can use frozen vegetables just off the freezer no thawing needed; (iv) you can season with a variety of herbs and spices.
Serena is a Food Network Star Finalist, Homecook, Traveler, Nerd, Workaholic and Avid Reader. This Italian Foodie became an expert in urban-style cooking when she moved to the Big Apple. LEARN MORE
Serena is a Food Network Star Finalist, Homecook, Traveler, Nerd, Workaholic and Avid Reader. This Italian Foodie became an expert in urban-style cooking when she moved to the Big Apple. 
