International Home and Housewares Show - Day One, Saturday Afternoon and Evening

What a day this has been!  Kristina and I are back at the hotel now, exhausted but still giggly with events since this morning.  Saturday at the show is a shortened day, but we still managed to squeeze in a lot of fascinating products and people.  We wandered around a bit at first just taking the massive amount of products to see and made notes of things we didn't want to miss in the next few days.  Before we knew it, it was time for Kristina's interview with celebrity chef Curtis Stone.

There was quite an impressive display behind that wall.  Curtis's new line of products are beautiful, and one new product will leave you thinking - why didn't someone think of this before?  But I'm afraid you will have to wait on this, because tomorrow night we are attending Curtis's late night party, and I want to post all the Curtis photos at once, plus I have a special giveaway!  Stay tuned...

Right across from Curtis's display was the Lenox/Gorham/Dansk display, which has beautiful tableware from Emeril, Dr. Andrew Weil, and Mario Batali. 

There is also a new line called "Arzberg" from Germany, which is so beautiful, you must see the items up close.  There are dishes just for coffee and tea, dinnerware, giftware; gorgeous bright dishes called Spring Meadow, and Crazy Day dinnerware.  My favorite was one called Cult/Graphic, which is so elegant, I wanted to take home every piece.  Below is another favorite, the Stars Collection, which I would love to grace my Christmas table this year. 

The very nice woman, Connie, who is the International sales rep for the company, invited us to attend the private cocktail party with Mario Batali, only a few hours away.  Of course, we said yes!

Mario's party was so much fun, and the food served was from his new cookbook, "Simple Family Meals."  The food was incredible and abundant - all kinds of pasta dishes (our favorites being a penne with jalapeno, and fettucine with braised cabbage and prosciutto), seafood, a huge selection of breads and cheese, salads, and a variety of hot nibbles, my favorite being the tiny rice croquettes.   I have a copy of  the cookbook, but I want to wait until after I get home to talk about the book, which is wonderful, but also tell you about the funny thing he wrote inside. 

We then wandered over to Nordic Ware, which we seek out every year.  There is always something new, and we weren't disappointed.  Nordic Ware is coming out with items for grilling, and I think everyone will love them all, but a few stood out to us.

I predict the chicken leg griller is going to be very popular.  Chicken legs, or even jalapeno poppers, are inserted into the holes and stand up in the pan to be grilled, or used in the oven.  With the popularity of meatballs at the moment, the meatball griller will also be popular.  Just form the meatballs and place in the pan to grill or bake.  Another one was a stuffed burger pan.  No more oozing out the sides!

For all of you bakers out there, the macaron craze is in full swing, so wait until you see this pan.  This is just the prototype, but it will be offered on the market soon.

A couple other displays:

It's Rachael!

And Paula!

Sunday is going to be a very long day, starting with Kristina speaking on a panel about Social Media, to meetings she has with Vitamix, Kitchen Aid, Cuisinart, and others.  While she is in meetings, I will be watching a huge line-up of celebrity chefs doing cooking demos!  Hmmm... who is going to have  more fun?  Come back later and find out!