Holiday gifts. What food/drink related gifts did you get?

[Tri2Cook]

No food/drink related gifts this year. My only gift was seeing happy faces on the girls and grandsons. That's plenty gift enough for me. The older girl and her husband work hard to pay the bills and take care of their two boys, it doesn't leave a lot of extra. I insisted they just spend on the boys, there's nothing I might want that I would tell them about because I wouldn't want them to spend it on me. The younger girl is still in school. She works but doesn't make a lot, I told her not to spend it on me. In case it sounds like it, this is not complaining or bemoaning the Ghost of Christmas Disappointment. Entirely the opposite, in fact... I'm thankful for all that I have. The only thing that could make it better is if Ann was still here. Happy Holidays to all of my eGullet friends.

[blue_dolphin]

I hesitate to post such trivia after reading @Tri2Cook's thoughtful words above but I went ahead and took a photo earlier so I'm going to share anyway.   From the sublime to the ridiculous...

Most of these seem to fall into the drink-related category:

Two cocktail recipe bar towels, a dark chocolate orange, French cookies in an Eiffel tower tin (I love these!), wine and Santa hat glass markers and in the middle, a gift certificate to an area importer/warehouse shop (link) that I can wait to use. 

 

[Tri2Cook]

3 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

I hesitate to post such trivia after reading @Tri2Cook's thoughtful words above

Don't hesitate, that wasn't my intention at all. The girls don't always listen when I tell them not to spend money on me. Younger young'un went on a trip a couple months ago to visit a friend and she brought me a couple nice food-related gifts from a craft fair she attended while there. They just weren't given as holiday gifts or I would have posted it here. I enjoy the posts in this thread, seeing people happy about what they received is part of the joy of the season.

[heidih]

Do tea towels count? This one is gorgeous - from sis. . UPS showed up in the pitch dark yesterday honking!!! Scared me. Apparently they do not have back up beepers and are directed to honk.No street lights or outdoor lighting allowed so very dark.  Delivered a heavy box of See's candy from stepmom's banker. She is out of town and told me to tuck in freezer so no idea what type. 

[IowaDee]

Is that the Time-Life cookbook on Germany I see?  I have the entire series but still can't resist buying copies when I find them for sale.  I really need to find new homes for them.  

[Anna N]

 

Just the food/drink related gifts. 

[heidih]

3 hours ago, IowaDee said:

Is that the Time-Life cookbook on Germany I see?  I have the entire series but still can't resist buying copies when I find them for sale.  I really need to find new homes for them.  

 

Yes - I couldn't reach my ceramic gingerbread house so I kept the Time Life Germany on the counter for a note of the season.  An exceptional series. Mine all from used book stores over the years.

[liamsaunt]

I already put everything away so no pictures, but I did receive some food gifts again this year.

 

From my niece, a tin of homemade cookies (this is an annual thing)

 

From my brother, a Joule, a carrying case for the Joule, a Victorinox bread knife, a Vitamix, and a Star Wars cookbook which was more of a joke than a serious gift

 

From my parents, a gift card to the same cheese shop as last year, and a gift card for dinner and drinks for two at one of our favorite restaurants on an island in the Caribbean that we visit each year. 

[suzilightning]

gift cards for Quattro's in Pleasant Valley, NY from two brother-in-laws.  useful as I need some duck breasts and bones for stock.

[Maison Rustique]

I got a Romertopf--so excited!!

[johnnyd]

Every year involves a quest to find something different.  My wife clearly won this round with this stuff - Banana sauce.

When tomato shipments evaporated in WWII, an enterprising Philipina started tinkering with bananas to find an alternative to catsup. It's still popular apparently.  Can't wait to try it!

 

 

[heidih]

27 minutes ago, johnnyd said:

Every year involves a quest to find something different.  My wife clearly won this round with this stuff - Banana sauce.

When tomato shipments evaporated in WWII, an enterprising Philipina started tinkering with bananas to find an alternative to catsup. It's still popular apparently.  Can't wait to try it!

 

 

 

I have used it for many many years. Fun inexpensive ingredient. There are other brands but I prefer the one you show. 

[ElsieD]

What does this taste like and what do you put it on?

[blue_dolphin]

16 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

What does this taste like and what do you put it on?

 

I'll let the experts weigh in on taste, but @Dante used it not long ago here in the dinner thread as a dipping sauce for pan-fried pork tenderloin and provided a recipe here. 

Much before that, @andiesenji shared a recipe here.

 

And here's a nice article about María Orosa that appeared on Food52 a couple of months ago: She Invented Banana Ketchup & Saved Thousands of Lives. Why Have We Never Heard of Her?

[ElsieD]

@blue_dolphin  Looks interesting. Thank you.

[haresfur]

On 12/26/2019 at 4:40 PM, heidih said:

Do tea towels count? This one is gorgeous - from sis. . UPS showed up in the pitch dark yesterday honking!!! Scared me. Apparently they do not have back up beepers and are directed to honk.No street lights or outdoor lighting allowed so very dark.  Delivered a heavy box of See's candy from stepmom's banker. She is out of town and told me to tuck in freezer so no idea what type. 

 

Nice. An Australian icon.

[IowaDee]

Ooooh, you stirred up a wonderful memory of going to the See's candy store with my nana.  The lady behind the counter held the empty box and we got to pick exactly what she put in it.   I just checked prices on Amazon and I will be living with my memories not the real thing until I win the lottery.

[heidih]

19 minutes ago, IowaDee said:

Ooooh, you stirred up a wonderful memory of going to the See's candy store with my nana.  The lady behind the counter held the empty box and we got to pick exactly what she put in it.   I just checked prices on Amazon and I will be living with my memories not the real thing until I win the lottery.

 

Oh and they sample generously Full size pieces. and fun facts from wiki: 

In 1952, Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance spent a half day at the See's Candies store on La Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles, learning to dip chocolates and work the production line, in preparation for the "Job Switching" episode of I Love Lucy. The episode, which featured Lucy and Ethel getting jobs in a chocolate factory, became one of the most popular in the show's history.^[26]

Singer Cher was working at See's in 1962, when she met Sonny Bono; she quit her job to become his housekeeper.^[27]

[suzilightning]

3 hours ago, johnnyd said:

Every year involves a quest to find something different.  My wife clearly won this round with this stuff - Banana sauce.

When tomato shipments evaporated in WWII, an enterprising Philipina started tinkering with bananas to find an alternative to catsup. It's still popular apparently.  Can't wait to try it!

 

 

Ohhhhh……….  love your wife's choice.  Can I give her my husband's email so she can counsel him on choices?

[kayb]

For the first year in a long time, no food/kitchen related gifts,save a pair of silicone mitten-type potholders, and a metric s***-ton of candy that I assuredly did not need.

 

 

[lindag]

16 hours ago, IowaDee said:

Ooooh, you stirred up a wonderful memory of going to the See's candy store with my nana.  The lady behind the counter held the empty box and we got to pick exactly what she put in it.   I just checked prices on Amazon and I will be living with my memories not the real thing until I win the lottery.

I order directly from See's at prices much lower than Amazon's.

Not cheap still, but quality stuff.  With bigger orders shipping is free.

(I don't order in Summer months though because it requires insulated packages for which shipping in not free).

Edited December 30, 2019 by lindag (log)

[Dante]

On 12/29/2019 at 6:05 PM, blue_dolphin said:

 

I'll let the experts weigh in on taste, but @Dante used it not long ago here in the dinner thread as a dipping sauce for pan-fried pork tenderloin and provided a recipe here. 

Much before that, @andiesenji shared a recipe here.

 

And here's a nice article about María Orosa that appeared on Food52 a couple of months ago: She Invented Banana Ketchup & Saved Thousands of Lives. Why Have We Never Heard of Her?

 

Thanks for the shoutout, @blue_dolphin!

 

I find it kind of difficult to describe- it has the sweetness from the bananas but with the savoury notes of the tomato paste as well, with a good balance between them and the spices, soy sauce and vinegar rounding it out.  It works very well on meats of any kind, from burgers and hot dogs to chicken and pork. It would probably work well with fried fish too but I haven't tried it that way yet.    

 

I love the stuff, it's become one of my favourite condiments.

[MetsFan5]

I can get See’s at a good price when I got to SF, which I do between 2-8 times a year. Just let me know. 
 

  I got a 6 qt Instapot with two accessory packages, an air fryer, a comfort mat for standing at the sink to do dishes, and probably a few things I don’t remember. 

[suzilightning]

John and I do our Christmas celebration on NYE.  I got a tea towel as well - a black cat sitting in a small garden, two coasters with a tabby's face on it that came from the Cotswolds, a half peck basket from Vermont Country Store and a jar of Stokes red onion marmalade.

[Kim Shook]

Lots of food/candy this year:

 

As always, my stocking was way too full of candy:

Pretty much all of the actual candy was from Santa/Mr. Kim.  I’ve asked that we back off from so much candy, but it doesn’t seem to do much good, bless his heart.  I blame his mother.  Every stocking and Easter basket he ever had was chockful of nothing but candy bars.  No little toys or nuts or even a tangerine to fill the toe of the stocking.  There were three little sugar-addicted monsters in his house and they only got candy on holidays, so he can’t seem to help himself🥰. 

 

Other food items things:

Including an IP orzo mix which I will have to give away because it is flavored with truffles, the odor of which I find nauseating.  The honey is local. 

 

This luscious pound cake is from Stocks in Philadelphia.  To my mind, it is the best pound cake in the world.  At least I’ve never tasted a better one.  A dear friend who grew up in Philly got his mom to procure one for us (they are hard to get during the holidays).  The most amazing texture and crumb I’ve ever seen:

 

Non-food, but related:

 

I just love the casserole and holder.  Not sure if you can tell, but it is a very soft blue and the metal is a little dull – almost brushed.  I love the fact that it is square and smaller.  I think this will see a LOT of use.