The Marilyn Denis Show and the "Girlfriends in Tuscany Gift Basket"
When Leanne Teixeira, a Bell Media Marketing Associate for the Marilyn Denis Show, gave HAZELTON’S a call looking for us to design a special Tuscan-Themed Gift Basket for the Season Premiere of the Sixth Season of the Marilyn Denis Show, we were excited and ready for the challenge.
After all, the Marilyn Denis Show has been the #1 Canadian daytime lifestyle series for five straight years. We knew we had to design something special for the Season Premiere.
According to reports by CTV, in Season Six Marilyn Denis and “THE MARILYN DENIS SHOW is set to take viewers on a special travel adventure, delivering a series of lifestyle segments from across Canada and around the world all season long. For the first time ever, the #1 Canadian lifestyle series goes international as Marilyn teams up with famed interior designer and TV personality Debbie Travis to travel to Debbie’s historic Italian villa and farm in the heart of Southern Tuscany.
The Sept. 7 episode features Travis co-hosting THE MARILYN DENIS SHOW live in-studio, as the duo takes viewers on their Tuscan adventure, showing highlights of the region, and sharing personal anecdotes, authentic recipes, and more.” It is also the official unveiling of a new Gift Basket by HAZELTON’S.
Our job was to design a Gift Basket that captures the essence and tastes of Tuscany. After a wonderful discussion with Ms. Teixeira, it was agreed that the Gift Basket would be called “Girlfriends in Tuscany Gift Basket”. The Basket was to contain olive oils, pasta, pasta sauces, Tuscan serving ware, and everything that you would taste and enjoy when eating and cooking in Southern Tuscany. It was important that everything be made in Italy.
The first things we chose for the Gift Basket were products from Saclà, a company established in Asti, Italy in 1923; the Company’s aim is to capture the bounty of the fertile region of Piedmont, North West Italy. It offers a range of products such as pesto and pasta sauces, antipasti in oil, pickled vegetables and a wide range of olives which are in demand, not only in its domestic market, but the world over. The products are made in Italy using the finest, freshly picked vegetables and traditional recipes, and there is an uncompromising regard for quality. In seventy five years, Saclà has earned a reputation for being at the forefront of authentic Italian fine food. We love it for the many reasons including the whole cherry tomatoes it includes in its Puttanesca Pasta Sauce!
We also included a soft drink from Baladin in Lombardy Italy, a dark carbonated type beverage (chinotto) made from water, cane sugar, lemon juice, rhubarb, orange rind and natural vanilla extract. Baladin beverages was founded by the famous owner of the Baladin microbrewery, Teo Musso. Baladin attempts to reproduce the taste of beverages once found in Italian cafés in the 50's and 60's that used to enchant children and adults alike.
Several pastas have been included in Girlfriends in Tuscany Gift Basket. PASTAMANCINI produces top-quality pasta from wheat that they grow in 10 hectares of their own fields in Le Marche, central Italy. They’ve worked this land for three generations in the unspoiled countryside of this beautiful hilly area. The pasta tastes wonderful and comes in a contemporary, minimalist container.
RUMMO pasta from Benevento, Italy also makes exceptional pasta. To make their excellent pasta, RUMMO selects only the best durum wheat, the only ones able to ensure the right protein content in the pasta and use only the purest water of the Sannio Valley. Thanks to the Lenta Lavorazione method and the care taken by their pasta makers, RUMMO pasta is now certified for holding its shape when cooked and for the quality of the flours used.
In addition to great Italian pastas, sauces and sodas, we have included many other wonderful ingredients and products in this Gift Basket including
- IL BOSCHETTO INFUSED OILS FROM Tuscany, Italy
- BELLEI Balsamic Vinegar from Modena, Italy
- TENTAZIONI PUGLIESI Taralli, a traditional specialty from the region of Puglia in Italy. The Taralli is a crunchy appetizer cookie made from flour and extra virgin olive oil.
- Espresso Italiano from CAFFÈ DEL FARO in Marche, Italy
- CANTUCCINO WITH MILK CHOCOLATE AND ALMONDS from DESEO in Prato, Italy; this new version of classic cantuccini, prepared with roasted almonds and flakes of fine milk chocolate.To complete the Gift Basket we included an Italian serving platter, olive oil bottle, salt and pepper shaker, Italian napkins, a panni maker, a pasta measurer, and a baguette bag for Italian breads. Everything was placed in a reusable, six-bottle wine box filled with excelsior. We wrapped the gift basket in cellophane and a rustic hand-made jute bow and ribbon.
With our creation complete, we sat back and wondered if Marilyn Denis and Debbie Travis would be proud of our masterpiece. We wondered if it reflected their experiences in Tuscany…
The feedback from the Marilyn Denis Show:
‘The taping went really well, and the Hazelton’s feature and giveaway was awesome!
Success! What a relief!
See the complete episode of the Unveiling of the “Girlfriends in Tuscany Gift Basket” visit this blog after September 7th and we will post the video!
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2 Responses
Peggy Lagasse
i really would love to win the gift baskets from Girlfriend in Tuscany gift basket, this has been my dream to go to Tuscany my whole life congrat, I love Debbie Travis and the Marilyn live show
janice eppler
December 29, 2015
Great show. I have Marilyn Dennis and Debbie Travis for ever and their shows are the best