Clutch Decision

One-of-a-kind, custom handbags made of luxurious fabrics and trims keep Crystal White working through the night. It’s a busy sideline for White, who is hounded by appreciative customers for purses to match their outfits or to give to friends or business clients.

Her “day” business is fashioning custom window treatments for interior designers and homeowners. But two years ago she began stitching together purses at the urging of a fri/files/storyimages/— and the handbags were a hit. White specializes in elaborate purses made of upholstery and drapery fabrics — silk, satin, chenille, brocade and others — with sumptuous trims of ribbons, feathers, beads, etc. The purses, $45 to $65, range from playful to placid. Some make for dazzling evening accessories, while others are geared for fun. “The more outrageous, the better,” White says.

While some handbags are pre-made and ready for sale, the real draw is that most customers design their own at “purse parties” organized at someone’s home, where they meet White and see her large tubs of fabrics, linings, trims, handles and other items. “The outrageous guests encourage the calm ones,” she says. “It’s fun.”

White has a limited number of purses for sale at her home business. Appointments can be made at 551-0406 for a purse party or to stop by to place a custom order, with an approximate two-week turnaround.

— Marie Bradby

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Gifts to Kiln For

I’d never heard of Louisville Stoneware when I landed here three decades ago, but over the years I’ve become a devotee. I eat every day off the company’s pear plates, designed in the 1930s, and many on my gift lists have been the delighted recipients of casseroles, platters and pet dishes bearing that distinctive hand-and-brush trademark.

I’ve watched Louisville Stoneware’s downtown facility become transformed from dingy to brightly lit and organized into sections for museum pieces, brides-to-be selections and paint-it-yourself items. Once hidden from public view, the artists who do the pre-firing brushwork are now on display, too. The folksy fat cat and pig patterns of yesteryear have been supplanted as well by a variety of artistic styles and Kentucky-theme products. Among the more unusual: the My Old Kentucky Home windup music box, a facsimile of the Bardstown landmark ($90); pie plates with the recipe for Kentucky pie painted on them ($45); and “Coming At You” platters featuring mounted jockeys ($53).

But this year I’m seeing red. The 190-year-old company has introduced bright shades of this primary color for the first time. Find it on Santa and other “personalizable” holiday plates, on poinsettia pattern dinnerware and on contemporary holiday serving ware with a holly motif from artist David Mahoney. Louisville Stoneware is located at 731 Brent St. (582-1900, www.louisvillestoneware.com) or in the Mall St. Matthews, 895-9221.

— Donna Andrews Russell

Dipped in Tradition

Hand-dipped, rich chocolates, made daily right on East Market Street since 1921 — Muth’s candies remain as fresh as ever. During the holidays, lines of customers often stretch outside the store and down the street, conscious that the small batches at this downtown shop beat the bonbons out of any mass-produced national candy that must be prepared and packaged weeks ahead of time.

Notes store manager Martha Bennett Vories, “People say, ‘You could use a lesser chocolate,’ but I say, ‘No.’ We still use cream and butter, even though it’s sky high” in price.

Modjeskas — a delicate Muth’s creation featuring marshmallows dipped in light caramel — test the candy shop’s capacity. “At big holidays like Christmas, we might be out of Modjeskas some days and people are unhappy,” Vories says. “But I tell them, you can have fresh Modjeskas or have something that’s not the quality that you would want” if they’re mass-produced.

Even regular customers probably don’t know that at Muth’s, the cherry cordials are hand-dipped three times. First the cherries are drained and then they’re dipped in a white fondant. After that sets up, the chocolate dippers pick them up and put a chocolate bottom on them and set them down to dry. They are picked up again and the entire thing is dipped in chocolate. After the cherry cordial sits in that chocolate shell for a week or two, the acid in the cherry turns the fondant into a liquid. That’s the secret to their succulent sweetness.

Another perennial favorite, the bourbon balls, is made with 100-proof Kentucky bourbon and dipped in rich semi-sweet chocolate. All are available by the box. A one-pound box of assorted chocolates (about 32 pieces) starts around $11 and a 12-piece box (less than half a pound) starts around $5.25. You can purchase less or more — but never too much. Muth’s Candy Store, 630 East Market St., 585-2952, www.muthscandy.com.

— Marie Bradby

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Trappist Treats

For many a holiday, I've sent tins of fruitcake to the Stockholm flat of my old friends Ingeborg and Folke. I've mailed wedges of Port du Salut-style cheese as Hanukkah gifts to pals in New York City. This Christmas, I'm sending bourbon fudge to Tokyo to Hiro and Toshiko, a couple I met earlier this year.

What these gifts have in common is that they are all produced near the geographical heart of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, at the Abbey of Gethsemani, in Nelson County, not far from Bardstown. They are handmade foods prepared on-site by Trappist monks in the kitchens and cheese cellars of the monastery's mail-order business, known for more than 50 years as Gethsemani Farms.

I can't know for sure how bourbon-soaked fudge (inspired by a Bardstown, Ky., dentist’s recipe) will go over with my Japanese friends, whose idea of yummy candy is sweetened bean paste molded into the shapes of delicate flower buds. My best guess is that these tasty monk-made treats will go down quite well, thank you, with a chaser of hot sake.

Gethsemani’s home-spun foods (reviewed with raves in the New York Times, by the way) have long been one of my favorite gifts for out-of-towners. Why? The fruitcake is sweet and moist; the cheeses come in several varieties including mild, aged and smoked; the fudge, doused liberally with Kentucky bourbon, is nothing short of miraculously delicious. What’s more, these delectable gifts evoke a uniquely charming and peaceful place where silence and simplicity rule, even as they bear witness to the abbey's international reputation. After all, it was a contingent of French monks who founded the monastery in 1848, bringing their Breton recipes with them.

The perfect taste of Kentucky: an enticing bl/files/storyimages/of local and global.

If you are up for an hour’s drive to central Kentucky, you can buy these products (and more) at the abbey’s new gift shop. If you’re in a rush, order anytime, online at www.monks.org or toll-free at (800) 549-0912. They are also available at Burger’s Market and a couple of other selected Louisville locations. Note: While fruitcake and fudge can be sent anywhere around the world, cheeses cannot be sent out of the country.

— Dianne Aprile

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Words of Art

For lovers of literature, no gift says Kentucky more beautifully than a book or broadside printed by Larkspur Press. A Larkspur book is a double work of art: first, the author’s art of writing, and second, the printer’s labor-intensive craft of making a book by hand. Printer Gray Zeitz creates books the way Gutenberg did, pressing inked, handset letters into rich, creamy paper. He practices his craft on his farm near Monterey, Ky.

Larkspur focuses on books by Kentucky writers, from Wendell Berry to Bobbie Ann Mason to poets Susan Starr Richards and Maureen Morehead. For the bibliophile on your list, you can choose to purchase a broadside (an unbound sheet, usually of poetry) or a full-length book.

Larkspur’s most recent books include a third printing of Wendell Berry’s The Farm, a book-length poem in hardback ($18), and Tom’s Book, a diary of Thomas Merton’s first two years, by his mother, Ruth Merton ($45). Each Larkspur book is set in two runs — a standard printing of up to 1,000 copies as well as a handbound limited edition printed on decorative handmade or mold-made paper. Limited editions can cost up to $150.

Recent broadsides include Richard Taylor’s poem Photo of Unidentified Waders at the Falls of the Ohio, Circa 1900. The broadside, created in conjunction with Louisville’s Portland Museum, sells for $20 and is illustrated with a photograph.

Many Larkspur books are available at both Carmichael’s Bookstore locations. You can also order direct from Larkspur Press (340 Sawdridge Creek West, Monterey, Ky., 40359, 502-484-5390).

— Katy Yocum

Hand-woven couch throws by Churchill Weavers of Berea make decorating and keeping warm a work of art. These plush, elegant throws, especially the ones woven with a combination of fibers such as acrylic, wool, mohair and ribbon, work equally well draped over furnishings or hung on the wall. “They’re functional and beautiful,” says Beth Bondurant, assistant manager of the Kentucky Museum of Art and Design (715 W. Main St., 589-0102), which carries Churchill’s full line.

This nationally known crafts line was started in 1922 by D.C. and Eleanor Churchill in an effort to spur jobs and make use of hand skills in southern Madison County. “Each lady weaves several throws a day,” says Jim Mays, sales manager for Churchill, which employs nearly 60 people. “We have to finish it, inspect it and fringe it — a process that takes another couple of days.” Each throw has a label signed by the woman who wove it. Generous couch throws, made of rayon chenille, acrylic, cotton, alpaca, mohair and wool, range in price from $110 to $250 (or $700 for cashmere). They come in the au courant colors of bronze, copper, paprika, chili and cream.

Churchill Weavers also is known for its pastel-shaded line of heirloom baby blankets, which range in price from $40 to $98. In addition, the weavers produce personal accessories such as fringed scarves, swing wraps and ruanas. The company’s Web site is churchillweavers.com.

— Marie Bradby

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Going for Bust

If this gift idea wasn’t set in stone — or bronze — long ago, you won’t have the finished product by this year’s holidays. But what could be more lasting than a piece of statue art from Louisville’s most famous sculptor?

Housed for more than three decades in his dusty studio at 543 S. Shelby St. (587-7709), Ed Hamilton has given life to athletes, politicians and pioneers, among others, by starting with sketches, continuing with clay models and finishing with dynamic large-scale sculptures. Now special orders can be made for some of the artist’s most recognized achievements. Limited-edition bronzes of some of his most valued works (priced from $5,000-$10,000 each) are available from Hamilton — including a series cast from the original working model of his “Spirit of Freedom,” the nation’s first monument honoring African-American soldiers in the Civil War; 19-inch-high replicas of “York,” a rendering of the slave who accompanied Lewis and Clark on their famous expedition; and, released this year, a series of 100 copies of his vision of abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass.

Or suppose your special someone has been very, very nice this year and a more singular piece of art is in the plans. Hamilton can be commissioned to sculpt personal busts starting from $15,000. Just don’t expect the finished product this holiday season.

— John Nation

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Top of the Barrel

What master distiller Elmer T. Lee begat in 1984 with the release of Blanton’s may be fermenting into a tr/files/storyimages/that’ll become the toast of whiskey lovers: Single-barrel bourbons are gaining currency among upscale imbibers who appreciate Lee’s strategy of bottling the unmixed contents of a single cask rather than dumping barrels together before packaging, as is the custom in small-batch and everyday bourbon brands.

Each barrel produces only about 300 bottles, and the subtle variations among barrels place a premium on the distillers’ expertise in selecting those that are tapped solo and those that go into the mixing vat. They’re the best of the batch — released under special labels — and they’re becoming the darlings of American whiskey fanciers. Smooth, sweet Blanton’s now has company — including an Elijah Craig 18-year-old favored for its taste transformations after such a long aging process and Wild Turkey “Kentucky Spirit,” sure to gain followers for its powerful flavors and front-of-the-hearth heartiness. But the one that currently tops my list is Evan Williams Vintage 1995 Single Barrel.

Bottled at 86.6 proof while others in the category routinely top 90 proof and some even reach 100, Evan Williams gains smoothness and loses after-burn at its lower alcohol level. More importantly, the 10 years of aging in an oak cask seem to take all of the edges off: The Evan Williams, made by Bardstown’s Heaven Hill Distilleries, enlivens the palate without assaulting it and achieves a perfect balance that lingers pleasantly in the mouth. The 1995 Vintage wows not with its strength, but with its subtlety.

The ’95 bottles, priced at approximately $25 for 750 milliliters, are available through year’s /files/storyimages/at Louisville’s better liquor stores.

— Bruce Allar

As a history and geography buff, I feel as giddy as a kid in a candy store whenever I visit La Belle Gallery & Map Center, 741 E. Chestnut St. (589-0621). Operated for three decades by Louisville’s “Mr. Maps,” Frank Longaker, before his death this past March, La Belle has a mind-boggling array of cartographic wares: a railway map of India, Vincenzo Marie Coronelli’s 1695 map of the world, George Colton’s 1857 map of North America, Albert Ruger’s 1876 Bird’s Eye View of Louisville, U.S. Geological Survey topographical maps, drainage maps, fishing maps, plastic relief maps with mountains that stand three-quarters of an inch above the surface.

On my last visit I discovered a few new treasures, including a vivid-almost-beyond-belief Bedrock Geologic Map of Kentucky measuring 41 by 58 inches (dry-mounted on foamcore, braced and laminated for $240). Also catching my eye were three much-smaller historical maps of Louisville available by special order — one from 1892 ($60), another from 1920 ($40) and a third, inked in deep yellow, from 1943 ($60).

— Jack Welch

As the gift-giving season approaches remember that some of the best presents don’t decorate shelves or nestle in jewelry boxes — they’re real-life experiences that become treasured memories. Here are a few ideas for giving someone on your list an experience he or she will always cherish.

Brush With Greatness

Encourage your loved one’s inner Rembrandt with a session of oil painting classes at Shrodt Art Studio. Working with owner-instructor Judy Warren, your novice artist will learn to identify satisfying composition, maintain consistent perspective, employ unusual color-mixing techniques and master other tricks of the trade. Shrodt students are as diverse as the colors available on a painter’s palette— some, like Frank Weisberg, a professional artist, have been painting at Shrodt for over 20 years; others are as green as a Monet water lily. “I specialize in beginners,” Warren says. “We have a step-by-step, practical approach to painting here.”

Classes are available weekly from 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday and on Tuesday evenings from 5-8 p.m. The cost is $336 for one three-month session. Call 893-2842 or visit Shrodt Art Studio at 4014 Dutchmans Lane for details.

Recipe for Success

Serve up the opportunity for your favorite cook to learn some chops from a master. The “Chef for a Day” program at the Seelbach Hotel’s Oakroom is designed to give everyday soup-stirrers the chance to mix up their repertoires with tips from one of Louisville’s best kitchens. The apprentice cooks arrive downtown at 2 p.m. to meet Chef Todd Richards and the entire Oakroom staff. Then they don their very own chef jackets decorated with the Seelbach crest and report to the kitchen. There they learn from the pros such things as why certain pasta sauces are mixed at different times of the day for best results and where to shop for the top ingredients in the city. One-on-one instruction is provided as each apprentice slices, dices and sautes through dinner-menu preparations. The table really turns at 6 p.m. when guests of each chef for a day arrive at the Oakroom, where they’re treated to a five-course dinner with wine pairings and a suddenly more food savvy host. The cost is $175 for the chef and $75 for each guest at the dinner. For more information call 585-3200.

Hoop Dreams

Home is where the sellouts are when it comes to U of L and UK basketball, so why not put your favorite fan on the road? Champion Sports Tours offer all-inclusive packages to s/files/storyimages/hoops fans all over the U.S. with their team of choice. Packages include transportation, lodging, tickets to the game and occasionally a few extras. Here are two suggestions:

S/files/storyimages/your Louisville Cardinal zealot to the Big East Tournament in New York City on March 8-12. The package includes four nights at the Marriot New York Marquis, located in the heart of Times Square, upper-level tickets for the entire Big East Tournament, pre-game rallies with other Louisville fans and other services. The price of $1,500 per person is based on double-occupancy.

The delayed gratification will be worth it for Kentucky Wildcats fan traveling to the 2006 EA Sports Maui Invitational, Nov. 17-24, 2006. Fans will stay seven nights in the Westin Maui Resort and Spa, tickets to each UK game during in this preseason tournament filled with top teams, a ticket to the hotel’s Thanksgiving buffet diner and other services. The charge is $2,225 per person based on double occupancy before airfare, which will be based on the best rate at the time of purchase. ????????

For more information visit www.championsports.com or call (812) 206-5282.

First Resorts

Give your stressed out loved ones a chance to wake up and smell the great outdoors at the Kentucky State Parks. The Parks offer several unique natural experiences that can be complemented with a night or two in a lodge to for memorable mini-holiday. Three of our favorites are:

Elk-Sighting Tours: Listen to the boisterous bugling among the 5,000 wild elk at the Jenny Wiley State Resort Park. A herd this large is impressive, since the Kentucky elk population numbered only seven when its reintroduction started eight years ago. Hikes guided by bugle-savvy rangers are available. Upcoming dates included Jan. 14, 21 and 28; Feb. 11 and 25; and March 24.

Eagle Weekend: See our national bird in its natural habitat. Lectures cover the majestic bird’s life cycle, diet and mating rituals, followed by hikes with eagle-watching. Offered at Kentucky Dam Village on Jan. 20-22, Lake Barkley on Jan. 27-29, Dale Hollow Lake on Jan. 14-15 and Jan. 21-22, and Kenlake on Feb. 3-5. Prices to be determined.

Moonbow Weekend: Cumberland Falls, a resort park dubbed “the Niagara of the South” for its gigantic waterfall measuring 60 feet high and 125 feet wide, offers week/files/storyimages/packages to see its famous moonbow. A rare natural phenomenon that occurs nowhere else on the Western hemisphere, this romantic display features a classic arch of diffracted moonlight curving up from underneath the falls. On Feb. 13-14 the park is offering guided nightly tours to the falls in hopes of clear evenings for seeing this full-moon phenomenon. Prices are $85 per person for two nights, $55 for one night.

For more information on these and other state park activities visit www.parks.ky.gov.

Books on Stage

The book lover on your list can sit at the “Bees” knees with a ticket to the April 6 Author’s Forum and dinner. Sue Monk Kidd, author of the wildly popular The Secret Life of Bees and the current New York Times Bestseller The Mermaid’s Chair, will have a public gab session with a yet-to-be-named celebrity interviewer for a $17 ticket. But a closer Kidd encounter can be had at a $100-a-plate post-forum dinner. Past authors and interviewers include Margaret Atwood, Hillary Clinton, Dr. Jane Goodall, John Updike, Elie Wiesel, Ted Koppel and, most recently, R.W. Apple Jr., who was interviewed by Tom Brokaw. For more information, contact the Author’s Forum at 589-2884 or visit kaf.louisville.edu.

— Kelly Blewett