Gifts for food lovers - food/cooking stuff

[KateW]

It's a few days early for some holidays, but I am just curious what you all gave and received in relation to food and cooking this year. I celebrated Christmas last weekend at my dad's house. I got some really pretty Japanese bowls, 5 of them, each with a different pattern. I got a cookbook called La Bella Vita by the creator of Bella Cucina foods, Alisa Berry. And the grand finale was a 7-cup capacity Cuisinart that I was totally not expecting, because when I asked for a food processor, Dad kind of hemmed and hawwed about already having everything he planned on getting me.

I am giving my mom some heat-resistant cooking utensils that she asked for and I'm giving my aunt and uncle a little hand-held thing you can look wine up on and it will give you a brief review and some information.

[krisdata]

From the hubby:

I got a digital thermometer for the oven, with a timer and alarm setting for temperature fluctuations. This was very helpful, as I discovered my oven runs about 50 degrees hot. I also got some Crate & Barrel holiday plates.

From my boss:

A stainless steel food scale. And a olive oil decanter shaped like a chef (his hat is the stopper... it's too cute ) with dipping bowls.

I'm sure there's more to come when we visit the inlaws for the holiday. Kitchen-related items are my one "sure gift," the thing everyone can get me and know that I will love.

[Mayhaw Man]

I made and gave-

Pralines

Peanut Brittle

Small Peach Pound Cake Loaves

Green Tomato Relish

A very small amount (1 batch) of toffee because the humidity has been in the 90% range and it does not come out right when it is that high

I have recieved-

One of those mondo cool plunger type measuring cups which is extra handy when dealing with corn syrup and oils of various sorts.

[Cleo]

We had my family's Hanukkah get-together on Sunday. I just laughed when I realized how many of the gifts were food-related...

From my sister and brother-in-law, my husband and I got a gift certificate for a cooking class at Culinary Explorers.

My sister also gave me a Mario Batali cookbook that she got signed like 2 years ago, but forgot to give it to me then! And then she gave my husband the book of "Top Secret Recipes" (this was basically a joke).

And since my husband's birthday is in early December, my parents gave him his birthday gift on Sunday too, which was a 3-month cheese-of-the-month subscription from Artisanal. He loves cheese!

I picked out some fun, new cookbooks for my husband to buy for me. Haven't gotten those yet, though.

[laurel]

Stuff I made to give: almonds cooked in olive oil with crispy sage, sweet and spicy pecans (toasted pecans coated with brown sugar and spices), feta cheese marinated in herbed olive oil, lactic cheese (fresh, soft cow's milk cheese), cultured butter

[beans]

Kitchen Toys

Giving: (all to my lunchtime bistro owning father)

Set of four tongs

Mega package of kitchen/bar towels

Orca Mit

1 square silicone hot pad/pot holder

digital thermometer

a couple Rubbermaid commercial food storage containers

Got from Roomie:

one kick ass Kitchenaid 24 count silicone mini-muffin mold with a metal "sled" that helps keep it stable (watched me swearing while brandishing that mini torch last Thanksgiving in a vain attempt to unmold mini cheesecakes cleanly)

Homemade Food Goodies for the giving:

Salmonberry Jam

Tomato Jam

Roasted Onion, Shallot and Garlic Marmalade

Raspberry Vodka Infusion (picked the berries too)

jars of a goat cheese "salad" wherein cubes are rolled in newly dried herbs (parsley, basil, thyme, rosemary, oregano), chili pepper flakes, garlic and pepercorns steeping away in some delicious olive oil

Garlicy beef jerky (took longer than I thought to dry )

Cookies (flourentines yet to be determined, cranberry/pistachio biscotti, pine nut cookies, a peppermint thing from Jeff Smith's Christmas book)

Mini Sour Cream Chocolate Chip coffeecakes

Grand Marnier truffles

Chocolate covered pretzels

Chocolate cups to hold shots of Bailey's for Christmas coffee service

Food Goodies for the pets

2 cases of canned cat food for the "yard" cats that have adopted my parents

2 catnip plants

a few pieces of frozen shrimp and dead gold fish (pet shop gave me their floaties for free!!) for the fiddler crab they inherited from their renters when they recently moved away

A new cat food place mat

Home made doggy "bones" (cookies) for a friend's pooch

Food-Like Crafty

Cookie Dough and Espresso candles in various shapes, sizes and jars

Honey flavoured lip balm

I think I really out did it this year!

[Marlene]

I haven't received anything yet. Hubby's actually making me wait until Christmas!

I've bought him (foodie related)

A book on wines

a computer program for tracking his wine cellar

Wine chiller

I've asked for:

a set of Wustof or MAC knives

a kick ass wood meat cutting board

new martini and double old fashioned glasses

a non stick caphalon broiling pan

I got my son a gift basket of various popcorns and an old fashioned popcorn cart machine

The rest are all non food stuff

[bloviatrix]

Beans, everything you're giving sounds so good. Can I be on your recipient list?

Thus far, Blovie has given me 2 cookbooks for Chanukah. There are four nights left, so I figure I'll yield 2 more.

[prasantrin]

Being relatively poor this year, I gave baskets of:

florentine cookies (the bar kind)

ginger cookies

chocolate chip cookies

biscotti

hazelnut linzer thumbprint cookies

vinaterta

So far, I've received:

cookies

popcorn maker--the stove-top kind which I was wary of, but it actually works very well!

a restaurant journal from a friend who thinks I'm obsessed with eating

I'm hoping for a Tilia FoodSaver...

[Cusina]

I'm really hoping for the kitchen aid pasta maker accessory under the tree, fingers crossed.

I'm giving a digital oven thermometer to my mom and some measuring shot glasses (stocking stuffers)

A rabbit style wine opener to my dad.

$50 Williams Sonoma gift certificate, a red scoop rubber scraper and a molten chocolate cake kit to my bestest girlfriend.

Also gave my MIL a fish pattern salad bowl set with some lovely silver utensils.

Giving the book Culinary Artistry to another good friend who loves to cook.

[bloviatrix]

popcorn maker--the stove-top kind which I was wary of, but it actually works very well!

Did you get a Whirly-pop?

If so, I gave Blovie one for Chanukah two years ago. He loves it and uses it all the time. Stove-top popped popcorn tastes so much better than air-popped. Just one caveat - don't use a high flame as the bottom will scorch if you're not careful.

[fifi]

Is sent the Spiegelau wine glasses to my daughter when the Amazon offer popped up on eGullet. (Awesome deal. 12 glasses for 24.95 and FREE shipping. Woo Hoo.) That is her "happy". (Uh... I bought them for me too. Arrived yesterday. They are awesome.)

On Sunday, my sister and I made 4 batches of my dad's recipe for Scotch Raisin Bread. We do this every Christmas as a tribute to him. He baked these every Christmas since 1946. We even have his pans. We give these out to family and friends.

[Louisa Chu]

So far I've received two huge Brittany blue lobsters and a giant chunk of foie gras terrine from ADPA. And the most delicious chocolates and hippest chocolates I've ever seen from a very dear friend from Delicabar.

I'm giving an open house on Christmas day with red and white vin chaud and fondue.

[tryska]

hmmm..mines basically been Fox creek Vixen sparkling shiraz and peppermint bark.

my rommate made a bunch of cookies that she's been forcing me to give out, but they aren't tasting so good, 3 or 4 days later. (i sampled them all fresh from the oven)

Edited December 23, 2003 by tryska (log)

[LaurieA-B]

Matthew and I put in each others' stockings the fleur de sel chocolate caramels from Fran's that we read about on this thread. They are delicious. Matthew also gave me a great t-shirt from Beecher's Handmade Cheeses. He is very happy with the Kitchenaid coffee grinder that he received, for grinding spices. Other food-related gifts included an immersion blender (esp. for frothing hot chocolate) and Silpat. We got some nice cookbooks too--though my favorite, Bittersweet by Alice Medrich, was received a few weeks ago and I've been enjoying it throughout December.

[woodford]

It was a kitchen-themed Christmas for me this year. I am just starting out and still equipping my kitchen, so most of this stuff is basic, but here is my list:

a loaf pan, a rasp/zester, a meat thermometer, a potato ricer, a George Foreman grill, a stand mixer, a chinese cleaver, a salad spinner, dishtowels and cloths, a cast iron skillet, a french press, and a cookbook. ("Barefoot Contessa Family Style")

My New Year's resolution? To use it all.

Edited December 26, 2003 by woodford (log)

[tammylc]

Surprisingly, I didn't get much in the way of foodie stuff for Christmas this year. But the one thing I did get was awesome - an 8 inch cook's knife from Global! It cuts through whole russet potatoes like it's going through butter. Now I just have to manage to _keep_ it that sharp...

(edited - it's actually an 8" knife, not 10" as I originally miswrote)

Edited December 26, 2003 by tammylc (log)

[KateW]

My goodness, where do I start?

A toaster oven from my fiance's parents

A gift card to Kitchen Etc. from my teenage cousin

Jacques Pepin Celebrates from my other teenage cousin (he had no idea what to get me but came up with this. Someone taught him well!)

A Return to Cooking from my aunt (drool. I don't even remember asking her for this)

Stainless steel pans, a couple cooking magazines, a heat resistant spatula, dish towels, weights and measures magnets, maple syrup and pancake mix, from my mom. Also some figs and anchovy paste as stocking stuffers.

Good gravy, now I have to go find room for it all

Oh, and candy from my fiance--I mean, Santa. After all, that's what it said on the label Even our cats got foodie treats. They got kitty treats and one of those water bowls that circulates the water. They seem a little apprehensive, but they're intrigued.

I had a leftover unopened smoked salmon package from last night but left it out all night in our exhaustion, so I ditched it

[Susan in FL]

Several of my gifts to my husband were really cooking/food stuff for us both, and several of his gifts to me were really techie/electronics stuff for us both, LOL. I can make a case for the flat computer monitor, wireless mouse and keyboard, and digital camera he gave me being food-related. I'll be giving food photographing a try, and of course using the computer stuff for eGulleting, etc. He also gave us cutting boards and wine.

I gave him wine, wine glasses, martini glasses, raclette grill, pizza stone set, and creme brulee torch.

We ordered specialty foods from Di Bruno Brothers and Marky's Caviar... great cheeses, duck foie gras, truffle in a jar, caviars, all kinds of wonderful goodies.

Others gave us wine, chocolates, wine, butter warmers and lobster cracker things, and wine.

[Mayhaw Man]

A whole bunch of small items from BBand B. All of which I already had (it's the thought that counts ), so I will be heading there to make returns and get the kitchen aid mixer attachements that I really want but am too cheap to buy for myself.

I did get tons of silpat though. WOOHOO. I love that stuff but can never bring myself to buy enough to make it useful.

I did get a paperback of J. Steingarten's new book. I started it last night and really like it.

[fresco]

Got:

The complete Monsieur Pamplemousse Omnibus, in three volumes.

Cookbook by Nigel Slater.

Extremely neat looking Swiss made pizza cutter.

Wusthof chef's knife, with steel.

Three (!) sets of brandy glasses, from three different people.

Bottle of 2000 vintage port.

Gave:

The new Alford-Duguid baking book.

A tagine.

A large hunk of Parmesan (to an impoverished college student friend of son, who was moaning that he couldn't afford things like that.)

[Mayhaw Man]

A large hunk of Parmesan (to an impoverished college student friend of son, who was moaning that he couldn't afford things like that.)

Apparently my college experience was a bit different than his. I used to moan about not being able to afford decent scotch. No parents of any friends ever filled that need however.

[fresco]

A large hunk of Parmesan (to an impoverished college student friend of son, who was moaning that he couldn't afford things like that.)

Apparently my college experience was a bit different than his. I used to moan about not being able to afford decent scotch. No parents of any friends ever filled that need however.

Funny thing. I have noticed that no matter how broke my son and his friends say they are, there is always money for beer and pot. And on the rare occasions when there is beer in our fridge, they root it out like pigs after truffles.

[slkinsey]

My mother and father got Willie Gluckstern's "The Wine Avenger" and a box of Maldon sea salt, respectively, as stocking stuffers. Gave copies of Bourdain's and Steingarten's best books as gifts. Um... got an interesting pair of wood salad tongs, plus The Art of Eating by M. F. K. Fisher.

[Alex]

Give (to various friends and relatives):

Wine Atlas of France

Unicorn pepper mill

Microplane

wine thermometer

various cookbooks

Panera Bread gift cert

a very nice 1999 Auslese

Buller Muscat

kolacki (Polish pastry)

Anna's Cookies

Solis Maestro Plus (to myself)

Get:

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters coffee

Carolan's gift box (with glasses)

Screwpull champagne set

biscotti

popcorn