Tuesday, December 11th, 2012

Holiday Gifty List: Part Deux (almost all completely frivolous items)

1. Anything from Chronicle Books

This San Francisco-based lifestyle publisher is one of my favorites, not only for their beautifully designed cookbook-like Plenty from London’s Ottolenghi restaurants, and Tartine Bread from the beloved SF bakery—but also for their line of stationary and paper notions…

Including stencils, journals, T-shirt iron-ons, wall decals, floral stickie notes, DIY garlands, and a notepad that’s wrapped like a fancy chocolate bar. Perfect gifts for the girl/boy who loves pretty little somethings. (Click links above for shopping on Chronicle’s website, but you can also find a lot of their products at Anthropologie).

 

2. The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook

This debut cookbook is already getting tons of attention for the lush photographs, must-make-now recipes, and the homecook-next door voice of the author, Deb Perelman. But that doesn’t mean I can’t recommend it too–it’s a great and useful gift for any fun-loving cook in your life.

3. Unessential Ice Luge Mold

I saw this make your own ice luge kit in a kitchen store and immediately thought, “I wish I had an irresponsible brother with a party habit to give this to.” For those of you who don’t know what this item is: You pour a shot of, say, vodka at the top of the luge while your friend (victim) waits at the bottom of the course, mouth agape, awaiting a now-slightly chilled beverage to pour down their gullet. Everyone cheers. Repeat. You can order one on-line HERE. Please drink responsibly.

4. Swedish Dish Towels

I saw these in a “green” gift shop filled with pricey felt plush toys from Japan and eco-cotton underpants, and at first I thought they were pretty Christmas prints for the wall. But then I realized they were Swedish dishtowels, which are more like sponges, because they can absorb a ton of water to clean up or wipe down a counter. Good for the neatnik in your life with a design streak.  You can find them HERE.

5. Bug Ice Pop Molds

This is sort of the junior companion to the ice luge above (who says mom and dad get to have all the fun?). I myself have the rocket pop molds, which seemed like a bit of a novelty item when I first bought them, but we honestly pull them out every summer and fill with homemade fruit purees like peach and strawberry for cool all-natural treats (why is there so much junk in store-bought popsicles?). This version is great for the kid who’d dig the idea of eating a frozen beetle.

6. The Epicurious Cookbook

For the person who prefers to get all of their recipes on the interweb, but still has a soft spot for old-fashioned books, this cookbook marries the two concepts well: The best of the best from the Epicurious site (which includes past-recipes from Bon Appetit and Gourmet magazines) in one spot, with all of the benefits of crowd-sourcing and digital fork ratings.

7. Fairytale Bundt Pan

I have to start off this recommendation by saying I’ve never actually used one of these elaborate cake pans (and I do wonder how much Pam you’d have to spray into all of the nooks and crannies to get the sucker out without losing a cake turret), but I love the idea of this item. Made by Nordicware (which manufacturers everything in the U.S.A.), it is one in a line of similar fantasy pans for things like gingerbread house, cathedral, and bee hive shaped cakes. Good for the slightly OCD baker in your life, no?

8. Meat Eater by Steve Rinella

Even if you’re carnivore-light, this is a memoir/engaging treatise that winningly argues the side of the (responsible) hunter. Read it and then give it as a gift for that meat eater in your life.

9. The Thermo Pot

Tim recently expressed an interest in packing a lunch for work (which may be in response to the crazy amounts of leftovers testing a cookbook generates, or possibly a frugal streak kicking in). So I’ve been looking into lunch “boxes” which are macho enough for the office (sorry Hello Kitty), eco-minded, and do the job of keeping everything hot/cold/fresh. The Thermo Pot is my fave so far. I like the cork lid, the metal rather than plastic storage, and the magnetic spoon that sticks to the side. I like THIS ONE as well.

10. Blurb Book

During the past year, I’ve become slightly addicted to the photo app Instagram (some in my family may argue that it’s not “slightly”). It is basically my idea of social networking perfection: Cool photos of friends and famous people/tastemakers you can pretend you’re friends with, groovy photo-enhancing filters, no blah-blah-blah or political POVs. It’s frivolous and instant gratification (you can follow me at “devilandegg” if you’d like!). But the one drawback to taking so many photos on my phone and putting them on Instagram is that there was a danger they’d go down the electronic rabbit hole, never to be seen again. But a clever company called Blurb has made it super easy to make prints and books from your Instagram (or Facebook) pics. I’ve already made a couple of Blurb softcover books as Christmas gifts, but my next project is making themed-books like “summer”, “random things I see on the street” and “food”, which will be an assembly of all of the artsy cooking and eating photos I’ve taken over the last year…the ones that make me an official dork whenever I lean over someone’s plate to take a picture of their lunch.

Happy Shopping!!