Gourmet Picnic Baskets – The New Style in Al Fresco Dining
Imagine savoring your favorite dish, a glass of wine in hand, a platter of gourmet cheeses before you, dabbing your mouth with a designer-print cloth napkin as you enjoy the company of a loved one. No, you're not in that expensive restaurant downtown – you're enjoying the open air, sitting beneath the stars on a romantic overlook. Perhaps you're at the beach, a secluded hilltop in wine country, or a rooftop garden in the big city. Wherever you are, you're relaxed, happy and relishing the finer things in life.
This is the kind of experience that the new generation of gourmet picnic baskets can provide – baskets with fine quality tableware, custom accents, brass detailing and all the accoutrements of fine dining. Picnics are no longer about gingham cotton, paper plates and simple finger foods. You can now have a four-star dining experience anywhere you wish – from a boat to a rose garden to a busy town square in an exotic locale.
Today's gourmet picnic basket is an impressive display of craftsmanship, aesthetics and attention to detail. Not only do they contain full sets of plates, glasses, utensils, cloth napkins and tablecloths, and waterproof insulated coolers; in these high quality picnic baskets you'll also find extras such as salt and pepper shakers, detachable wine bottle coolers, mini cheese boards and knives, corkscrews and decorative wine bottle stoppers. They're ideal for special occasions such as honeymoons, anniversaries, dates, and holidays as well as any time you want to enjoy a delicious meal 'al fresco'. To own a gourmet picnic basket is to always have a veritable celebration-to-go; just pack some food and beverages and you can have an impromptu outdoor party any time.
Some of these remarkable gourmet baskets even go so far as to include real crystal, Wedgwood fine bone china, and contents decorated with stunning patterns created by renowned designers. Although some of these picnic baskets are certainly luxurious, having a gourmet picnic basket is by no means out of reach of the average person – pricing starts around $50. Picnic baskets are available for any style or budget. Designs inspired by the Scottish highlands, the French Riviera, African safaris, and Tuscan vineyards are just a sampling of the types of baskets available. You can also choose between sets for different numbers of people, baskets that focus on a wine and cheese or coffee and tea picnic, and various themes such as sports, baby, wedding, and seasonal.
With all the different designs and price points available, you can find a gourmet picnic basket that's perfect for your needs and will always be ready for a fun, delectable meal in the great outdoors – whether it's a special event, a surprise for a loved one or a spur-of-the-moment chance to enjoy a great outdoor location in style.
Golf tournaments - an insight
Once upon a time, the world's best golfers were all British – usually Scottish. Since the early twentieth century, though, most of the leading golfers have been American.
For this reason, the biggest golf tournament in the world is the PGA (Professional Golf Association) Tour, a series of events held on many different American golf courses. This is where the world's best golfers play, for a top prize of almost a million dollars, along with hundreds of smaller prizes ('purses', in the golf jargon). There are very few golfers in the world who play golf full-time, but the top players can make millions, and the top few hundred can all at least make a modest living, thanks to the way golf prize money is divided up.
As the PGA Tour is held mostly in America, the European Tour has been gaining ground with non-American golfers in recent years, and is now widely considered to be the number two tournament.
The other important tournaments are the Opens, including the US Open and the British Open. While Tours are only open to professional golfers, Opens can be entered by anyone who pays the entrance fee, which means that thousands of people can try their luck every year, and the next generation of golfers can easily get their start. The winners of the Opens each year will be invited into the Tours, to compete at the next level, but there is nothing stopping the Tour pros from entering the Opens, and most do.
These are only the most famous of the golf tournaments: there is no shortage of smaller, independent tournaments, and each of the big golf playing countries has its own. Golfers who are not American or British will often progress by first playing in their home country's smaller Open tournament, and then moving on to the bigger Opens, before hopefully being accepted into one of the big Tours.
John Gibb is the owner of
Going to the gym has its benefits
For most people, it simply isn't practical to get gym equipment for their home. The equipment is expensive, and you probably don't have anywhere to put it, and it's certainly impractical to buy and store the wide variety of machines that are necessary for a properly balanced workout.
For this reason, most people choose to join a gym. For either a per-visit fee or a monthly subscription fee, you get to share the equipment with other people, paying a fraction of the price of what it's worth. You also get to exercise in a specially-designed, luxurious air conditioned environment, with qualified trainers on hand to help you get the most out of the equipment and make sure you don't hurt yourself.
However, gyms also have a bit of a reputation for being scammers: the big chains are very sales-driven, trying to sign people up for far more expensive monthly memberships than they need, and relying on people's guilt about not going to the gym to stop them from cancelling the expensive commitment.
For this reason, you really need to know what you're getting into before you join a gym. Avoid offers that seem too good to be true, and always pay the per-visit fee to go in and try out a gym first before you commit to anything. If there is no way to pay per visit, you're dealing with shady types and should probably just go to another gym.
Even legitimate gyms will generally often cheaper and more expensive levels of membership, however, so it is also important to know what you can expect. Generally, the higher membership levels offer more one-to-one training from qualified gym instructors. However, it is worth considering whether you will really use this and whether it's worth paying for, as when it comes down to it, there is little a gym trainer could tell you one-to-one that you couldn't just as easily learn from books or the Internet.
John Gibb is the owner of