Pink Blog

This is pink champagne, and it also happens to be called Pink. It’s an Australian sparkling wine from Yellowglen, which also makes a standard-color champagne called Yellow. We had the Pink version at my in-laws house not too long ago and I was immediately tickled by the name and I knew I had to post it on Pink Blog even though the bottle isn’t completely pink. (I did see a pink bottle in a liquor store recently; I don’t remember what the product was but I don’t think it was anything blush or rose that would have actually been pink inside too.)

It’s Independence Day in the United States, which frequently means cookouts and fun times. So I thought I’d bring you a tasty American invention: cotton candy. It’s known as candy floss in the UK and fairy floss in Australia, but it’s nothing more magical than sugar and some food coloring. Cotton candy is fat-free, too! Normally you can only get it at fairs and circuses and so forth, but this cotton candy machine enables you to pour in sugar and make your own cotton candy! It’s on the pricey side, at $400, and refills are $20, but it might be fun to set up a cotton candy table the way kids set up a lemonade stand.

It seems to me that putting leather in the same place as a spillable drink is not a good idea, but this engraved pink leather flask doesn’t seem to mind. Plain flasks can be had pretty cheaply, in the $10-20 range, but the addition of pink leather brings this one up to $35 (engraving included). Personally, I think it’s worth it just for the laugh factor of swigging booze out of a girly flask, but it might also be suitable for smuggling your own alcohol into a pricey club. As for the ad copy saying it makes a great bachelorette party favor, I think it is way too expensive for that, but I do think it would make a cute bridal shower gift.

The beautiful people over at J-List (and J-Box, their worksafe site) have picked the best Japanese products to share with the rest of the world. There are a lot of online shops that sell things that are only available in Japan, but J-List tends to get the really good stuff, like this cute little bento box set. Bento actually has a long and storied history, but it’s best known today as an easy way to take your lunch on the go – you can see examples at Vegan Lunch Box.

The set comes split across two products. The two-tier bento has an elastic strap to hold it together and pink chopsticks in their own little case, while the mini bento comes with just the elastic strap (but really is also two tiers). The design is called Sakura, which means cherry blossoms.

The company Think Products makes granola bars. At least I think that’s what they are…they might be energy bars instead. Anyway, their original creation was the thinkOrganic bar, and then came thinkThin, a high-protein bar “for an active lifestyle.” (Notice this is not a weight loss product.) Their thinkGreen bar is made from the same “superfood” stuff as those green health drinks you see in the store. And now they have come out with…thinkThin Pink. Nutritionally, it appears to be the same as the original thinkThin bar, but it comes in fewer flavors – two for the Pink versus nine for the regular. When I first heard about this I assumed it was an actual pink bar, but apparently just the wrapping is pink. The motivation behind this “new” product is that they are donating a portion of the proceeds from each purchase to breast cancer researchers at Cedars-Sinai and the Women’s Cancer Institute.

Because this is just what we needed. The world would not have survived without:

• Vodka infused with caffeine and guarana
• Vodka that costs $38 for a 750mL bottle, almost twice the cost of other flavored vodkas
• An alcoholic beverage named for a color that symbolizes cuteness, youth, etc.

If you are interested in this product, you can check out P.I.N.K. Vodka. But don’t say I didn’t warn you when you mix it with Red Bull and have to be peeled down from the ceiling.

It’s hard to say who loves each other more – are Americans more in love with Japan than the Japanese are in love with America? Just as Americans can buy Pocky in many convenience stores and grocery stores, Japanese people can buy American snacks in their local stores. But then there’s the marriage of Japanese and American products, such as the cherry blossom-flavored Sakura KitKat bar. It turns out KitKat is even bigger in Japan than in the United States, and there is an astonishing variety of KitKat flavors sold worldwide. Unfortunately the U.S. has no pink KitKat flavors for now, so you have to turn to online ordering to get this limited-edition treat. (See also the Strawberry KitKat bar.)