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Gifts for food lovers - food/cooking stuff


KateW

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It was a foodie holiday season around here, for friends and family :wub:

Made to give (from our own yard and garden):

back fence grape jelly

TX cherrry (wild persimmon) jam

red jalapeno jelly

tabasco sauce

tabasco sprinkle vinegar

salsas

canned eggplant mix w/hotpeppers & garlic

hot pickled okra

pickled sweet banana peppers w/lemon basil

bouquets of fresh and dried herbs

also made to give:

sourdough bread

cinnamon rolls

red wine/basalmic vinegar & olive oil dressing

mushrooms marinated in basalmic vinegar/olive oil/spices

and:

gigantic mixed stuffed olives

chocolates

a blender (for our dear friends who came to our house this holiday, and always need for us to bring ours to their house, hundreds of miles from home)

got from Santa:

Henckels tableware (wow what a deal and I got to be Santa on that one and mr b was thrilled!)

new Pyrex glass measuring cups

kitchen shears by OXO

knife sharpener (oh what joy :biggrin: )

small set of garden tools with tool belt (perfect size for my close herbs and peppers and potted bayleaf trees, etc.)

and we are redoing the kitchen, that's the biggie :wub::wub::wub:

from friends:

a beautiful old hand hammered copper platter

our visiting friends gave us nice assortment of cheeses and sausages

lucky us more Xmas to come, when the birth family gathers later this month :cool:

Judith Love

North of the 30th parallel

One woman very courteously approached me in a grocery store, saying, "Excuse me, but I must ask why you've brought your dog into the store." I told her that Grace is a service dog.... "Excuse me, but you told me that your dog is allowed in the store because she's a service dog. Is she Army or Navy?" Terry Thistlewaite

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Gave:

Truffles

Icebox cookies

Peanutbutter nobake cookies

rumballs

more truffles

Silicon potholder

tea towels

Got:

Tea!

Salt mill

pepper mill

Martha stewart cook book

some crock pot cook book thing

Dessert cook book

6 bottles of wine

subscription to Cook's Illustrated

Edited by nessa (log)
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I got a Cuisinart 14 cup food processor with the stainless steel base from my boyfriend. My dad gave me Grand Finales: The Art of the Plated Dessert. I bought myself a Le Creuset windsor pot. My boyfriend also bought a KtchenAid warming drawer and range hood for the new house we are building.

I gave a Le Creuset skillet.

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Gave: truffles from Maison Du Chocolat

for my MIL and my daughter's singing teacher, because they both deserve luxury chocolate for Christmas.

Received: Popover Pans, from my husband. I've been experiencing popopver problems, and I was just about to post on egullet, but I don't have any questions any longer. : :cool:

BUT: The biggest food gift came from "Captain Underpants": To the Grove Family, but mostly "O". (Our family gets a lot of gifts from fictional characters)

This was a S'mores kit from Bed,Bath and Beyond. It's basically a little range that you toast your marshmallow on. You use little cans of sterno, and have a little cookout. My 9 yr old is in heaven. He just made three actual s'mores, and toasted many more marshmallows, as we watched "Pirates of the Caribbean".

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BUT: The biggest food gift came from "Captain Underpants": To the Grove Family, but mostly "O". (Our family gets a lot of gifts from fictional characters)

This was a S'mores kit from Bed,Bath and Beyond. It's basically a little range that you toast your marshmallow on. You use little cans of sterno, and have a little cookout. My 9 yr old is in heaven. He just made three actual s'mores, and toasted many more marshmallows, as we watched "Pirates of the Caribbean".

I love it! :smile: It's the same reason I gave my son a popcorn maker :biggrin:

Marlene

Practice. Do it over. Get it right.

Mostly, I want people to be as happy eating my food as I am cooking it.

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Received from my daughter:

"The Indian Grocery Store Demystified" by Linda Bladholm

"Quick & Easy Indian Cooking" by Madhur Jaffrey

Received from a friend:

Goose Fat

Gave:

Liquor filled chocolates (made in the kitchen of a friend)

--------------

Bob Bowen

aka Huevos del Toro

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  • 1 year later...

gift from Hammacher Schlemmer

Pop-Up Hotdog Cooker

Operating much like a pop-up toaster, this unique kitchen appliance lets you easily prepare two hot dogs (complete with toasted buns) in minutes. To use, simply drop two wieners in the center basket and the buns in the two toasting baskets on either side. Its 660-watt electronic heating coil has four controllable heat settings so that you can cook the wieners and toast both buns to your taste preference.  $49.95

Who would buy this item for $50? I found it humorous to even consider this .. how difficult is it to prepare hotdogs? :hmmm: anyone else? :rolleyes:

So, what food-oriented gifts have you either given or received that made you laugh? Or, by the same token, were items you loved?

Melissa Goodman aka "Gifted Gourmet"

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A hot dog and bun cooker! What will they think of next, to separate humans from their money?

I think the sandwich press/grill, designed precisely for your average American sliced bread, with a convenient diagonal line running where you'll be cutting the bread later, comes close. OTOH, I hadn't heard of panini at that time. Maybe it could have been a good sandwich grill after all, but it sounded entirely too specialized. I headed that one off before it arrived at my house, so I didn't have to hem and haw politely.

Ahh, now that I think of it - the battery-operated cork-puller outdoes the sandwich press. I should note, though, that my cousin, a gadget freak of the first water, loves it for its entertainment value.

In fairness I must admit that I am certainly not lily-white with regard to gadgets. Give me a new type of thermometer, or some fancy scale or other measurement device, or a primitive clay pot or fancy metal alloy pot to play with, and I'm in heaven.

Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
HosteG Forumsnsmith@egstaff.org

Follow us on social media! Facebook; instagram.com/egulletx; twitter.com/egullet

"Every day should be filled with something delicious, because life is too short not to spoil yourself. " -- Ling (with permission)
"There comes a time in every project when you have to shoot the engineer and start production." -- author unknown

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I'm thinking this device is marketed towards the parents of latch-key kids, who want their young'uns to be able to cook a snack without burning down the house! (Or maybe it's for college freshmen? For dormitory restrictions?)

Food gifts that made me laugh...........hmmm. I'm recently married, but I don't thinkI was given any of those!

I'm a canning clean freak because there's no sorry large enough to cover the, "Oops! I gave you botulism" regrets.

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A hot dog and bun cooker!  What will they think of next, to separate humans from their money?

I think the sandwich press/grill, designed precisely for your average American sliced bread, with a convenient diagonal line running where you'll be cutting the bread later, comes close.  OTOH, I hadn't heard of panini at that time.  Maybe it could have been a good sandwich grill after all, but it sounded entirely too specialized.  I headed that one off before it arrived at my house, so I didn't have to hem and haw politely.

Actually, the sandwich press is pretty convenient for families with kids, or anyone who loves grilled sandwiches. Yeah, they're specialized, bu no more so than the reversible waffle iron/sandwich grill my mother had when I was growing up (40+ years ago) -- and the one I bought cost less than $10!

Gifts I've gotten that I've loved: Cookbooks, especially the food porn ones that are too extravagant to buy for myself. Silicone bakeware. A knife block in a really attractive design.

Gifts I haven't used: A pasta maker that someone picked up at a garage sale -- I could never clean it to my satisfaction before using it. Fancy cake decorations for holidays (sprinkles in the shape of shamrocks, anyone?). Fancy cake pans, ditto -- I don't need a baking mold for mini hearts or Christmas trees (cookie cutters make more sense).

SuzySushi

"She sells shiso by the seashore."

My eGullet Foodblog: A Tropical Christmas in the Suburbs

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A friend knows I like wine so she got me PLASTIC wine glasses. Not clear either, the color of baby poop, like a mustardy brown. God love her for the thought but the cups aren't good for anything really, certainly not wine. The thought was that they would go for picnicks. I'll drink out of a regular glass or the bottle first. I really don't like the taste of plastic much anyway. Really though, a sweet thought!

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What is really funny, at least in my opinion, is that this is not a NEW idea.

The original pop-up hot dog and bun toaster appeared way back in the 60s.

I had one made by Presto that also made a "Hot-Dogger" that cooked 6 hot dogs at a time but not the buns.

I occasionally see the pop up hot dog toaster on ebay, but more often see the "Hot-Dogger" as I believe more of them were sold.

Just another case of "What's old is new again"

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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A purse with handles made from wooden salad servers (the fabric was also food-related, in a kind of 50's vintage way).

A recipe card file with little holder for the recipe cards (which, since I don't use recipe cards anymore, is completely useless to me)

A chip/dip set in ceramic that looks like a pool (chip) and hot tub (dip), complete with people lounging in said hot tub. :unsure:

Dean & Deluca suede potholders - these I use all the time and love.

A selection of wines as a wedding present - great gift since the female half of the couple worked at a wine shop and knew what she was doing

"I just hate health food"--Julia Child

Jennifer Garner

buttercream pastries

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Someone gave me an old-fashioned ice cream maker (rock salt; turn by hand) for a wedding present. I used it when she came over, and that was it. It was not a terrible idea as I like quaint stuff, just too much of a mess for me to use often.

Two different people have given me those corkscrews that look like bunny heads and some things to reseal wine bottles. Those are useful.

My evil sister is always giving me expensive foodstuffs like balsamic-mustard cherries, which I then become hooked on.

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I can't think of any crazy kitchen gifts that I have received, but I have been given a couple that I love - a marble mortar and pestle, cookbook stand, (measuring spoons that measure a pinch, a dash and something else!).

Since my sister bought her condo though, I think every gift I've given her has been kitchen related! blender, a boudin coffee and tea maker (one of each), IKEA tchochkes for the kitchen. I've also bought plenty of kitchen stuff for my mom.

Maybe I need to start thinking outside the kitchen :hmmm::unsure:

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Maybe not crazy but yesterday my daughter brought me a Magic Bullet. Told me if I didn't want it she would give it to her daughter.

After looking ir over I let her have it back.

Just too gimmicky for me and too many parts that I would never use that would have to be stored somewhere.

My Cuisinart and blender work for most of what I could use this for.

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An electric knife. A Salad Shooter. A glass cutting board. Who uses these things?

A friend and I used to buy each other those "As Seen on TV" gadgets as gag gifts; wrap them up in big fancy packages and present them on special occasions. Then, we'd use them to cook together and laughed our butts off. The favorites were the Egg Wave and that citrus sectioner thingie.

"Oh, tuna. Tuna, tuna, tuna." -Andy Bernard, The Office
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I second whoever mentioned cookbooks earlier. Whenever I use a "gift" cookbook I always remember the person who gave it, when it was given, and why they chose that/this book.

Example: When we were married in `83, one of the cookbooks we recieved was _Harmony in the Kitchen_ , from my wife's college choir director. Everytime I pick up this book I go back in time a bit. I mean, what a choice, I was a chef, she sat first soprano with him for four years(the guy was a drill instructor) and whenever I use this book it makes me remember him, my wife singing, those terrible evenings when she couldn't go out cause they had practice, and that summer when the choir went on a US tour, and then to Germany for the 500th aniversary(or was it 450) of something in Augsburg(I know I should really know what it was, but I don't). She was gone for almost 2 months, and it sucked. For me this happens with any gifted cookbook.

A island in a lake, on a island in a lake, is where my house would be if I won the lottery.

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You know, I was an always anti-food processer curmudgeon until my mom bought me one for Christmas and it has revolutionized the way I cook. She's always so thoughtful about gifts for our kitchen. We have a Christmas tradition of buying kitchen novelties for each other's stockings-some are useful, some are cheezy. I hate those wine corks with figurines on top.

One of my favorite gifts is simply a tea towel. Every time I dry dishes, I think of the person who gave it to me.

Zuke

"I used to be Snow White, but I drifted."

--Mae West

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I get hot sauces as gifts. Yes, I am a chilehead but enough with the sauces already! I literally have a cupboard overflowing with the jars and bottles I've received for birthdays, Christmas, etc. Out of desperation to get rid of them, I'm trying to think of some sort of "vat o' chili" recipe I can concoct using up all these hot sauces at one time.

On the other hand, my sister-in-law gives me a "goodie bag" every Christmas that I always look forward to opening. It usually contains food items from different places like Trader Joe's, (Cost Plus) World Market, etc, and will be things I don't ordinarily buy for myself like tapenades, pickled green beans, good chocolate and so on.

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

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One friend keeps giving me miniature graters. You've seen them - about an inch and a half high with such cheap, sharp edged punched out grater holes that I'm afraid to touch the darn thing. I just don't understand...

“"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?"

"What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?"

"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.

Pooh nodded thoughtfully.

"It's the same thing," he said.”

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I have a friend who recently registered for a "shrimp butler"!

how I lived so long without this I have no idea! :rolleyes:

What no garlic butter valet?? :laugh:

Until now, I'd always thought I was a gadget freak. I now realize that I'm a piker, a miser of space and money, on the continuum of kitchen consumers. :wacko:

I wonder whether I can make my husband believe it?! :laugh:

Nancy Smith, aka "Smithy"
HosteG Forumsnsmith@egstaff.org

Follow us on social media! Facebook; instagram.com/egulletx; twitter.com/egullet

"Every day should be filled with something delicious, because life is too short not to spoil yourself. " -- Ling (with permission)
"There comes a time in every project when you have to shoot the engineer and start production." -- author unknown

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