Holiday culinary gifts

I think a tradition here to list some things one got or gave. I gave Betsy the new Kenji "Wok" book, someone gave me a great BBQ book that unfortunately assumes I have a smoker. Stocking including wild boar sausage. We also received spiced nuts, cheese straws, enough cookies/bark/biscotti to start a confectionary shop, 2 sets of spices (one of 4 African spices from a place in Portland ME, the other 4 Pensey combination), and the usual (eh) flavored vinegars and oils.
We mostly gave out bags with homemade bread and gravlax, with a few bottles of wine added, and one gift of a Thermoworks probe set to someone who didn't have a kitchen thermometer.
Whatcha get?

A neighbor brought over a sample plate of all the sweets she baked this year with instructions to let her know my faves and she would bring me more. Another neighbor brought over a 2 lb. box of Sees candy. We have agreements with our kids for no gifts, unless it is an unusual food item that one can use. So eldest son and wife gave me a bottle of Truffle hot sauce. Very pretty bottle and unusual name of Truff! My yard is void of flowers this time of year, except for two miniature rose plants which bloom all year. So they brought 2 huge bunches of flowers so I could make my beloved bouquets for the house. In turn, I gave them a check and a bag of Stonehouse Lemon Olive oil, a bottle of a good balsamic, a bag of Sierra Nevada Peanut Brittle made with pale ale and Jalapeño Peppers. The other son got two 6 packs of a good IPA beer from Sierra Nevada, Spicy Brown Mustard, a coarse mustard and the Jalapeño Peanut Brittle. I bought myself three bags of the Jalapeño Peanut Brittle. That being said, my jeans are a bit tight this morning so all the sweets, including a pumpkin pie are going over to the neighbors next door, both bachelors that can afford the calories!! Everything but the jalapeño peanut brittle that is. That stuff is addicting and I am already hooked, so it will take a while to go through my rehab... Our daughter in Ohio and I decided not to ship anything as shipping is outrageous now . So, when she comes to CA in the summer, we will have a small bag of goodies for each other. She usually brings her delicious pickled things, a hot spice she makes from all her leftover peppers at the end of summer which she dries, and is called Dragon Fire

Locally, I have been giving certain folks boxes of navel orange and lemons from our trees. My next project is to start juicing the lemons so I have enough for next spring and summer. Depending on how much I have, I sell to a small, local grocery store not far from here.

[Jenise]

Love this kind of thread.

I asked for but didn't get Kenji's Wok book; I commented on it when we turned on the TV and there was Kenji on some local morning show (he moved to Seattle last year) and Bob said he had considered it. It may show up yet, or I'll just buy it myself. Btw, I'm a latecomer to Kenji fandom. Only recently started using Instagram, and where I'm not a follower of famous people somehow I managed to get onto his page and have really grown to respect the guy. Not just his cooking, or his wide-ranging palate but his politics. He speaks up on issues I care about and tells those who criticize him for it where to shove it. He's a good, good man.

Got lots of cookies and stuff from friends, also our annual Jeff Smith fruitcake. Not much else in the way of commercially available products; my brother used to be a good source of such things but he's getting religious and not celebrating Christmas anymore so there went that. This is a very recent change so in fact I have to absorb things I bought for him as Xmas gifts back into my own pantry. Sigh.

On the wine front, I bought Bob (and therefore myself) another Durand. Ours went missing last December and Bob already lost it's replacement (by, most likely, putting it in the back pouch of our winebag with the bottom unzipped. Can't you picture the Uber driver or hotel maid going, "What in the hell is this?")

Locally, I have been giving certain folks boxes of navel orange and lemons from our trees. My next project is to start juicing the lemons so I have enough for next spring and summer. Depending on how much I have, I sell to a small, local grocery store not far from here.

That is the glory of CA!

Gastronomically-speaking, I gave my wife some very nice matcha. I gave my mother some mole paste. Gave some Rebholz Weissburgunder to the in-laws in Germany.

I probably also gave myself a few bottles of wine along the past weeks/months, but who knows which ones qualified!

Rahsaan, yes that is the glory of CA. However, where we live is in Northern CA, surrounded on three sides by two mountain ranges. So, we can get into the 20's in winter. I raised the lemon tree surrounded in frost cloth many times. It is huge now, and I have to put a large all weather construction light into a stable area within it's branches. It provides enough heat to keep it safe. My orange tree is fine with the winter here. Now, I am raising a baby lime, frost cloth is it's friend, but it tolerates the cold better than the lemon did. This is my third attempt with a lime tree, and this one is growing like crazy. My only regret is that I put in a Navel Orange tree and now wish I had put in a Satsuma Mandarin. Those are fabulous. Maybe in my next life.

Rahsaan, yes that is the glory of CA. However, where we live is in Northern CA, surrounded on three sides by two mountain ranges. So, we can get into the 20's in winter...

Aha. I guess mountainous Northern CA is not the prime citrus zone of CA. But, it seems like you have fought the good fight and are winning nonetheless!

I lived for 7 years (off and on) in Berkeley and it was still pretty fertile to my Nyc-born sensibilities! Even forgetting the surrounding regions that varied climate zones in all sorts of ways, making the farmers market offerings glorious. But fennel would grow through the cracks in the Berkeley sidewalks. That blew my mind!

Gave my coffee buddy a Dutch oven for Xmas. One of the dozen people at his Xmas dinner asked, "What's a Dutch oven." I was stunned.

I received a replacement spoon rest!

Also some candy: pistachio torrone, starlight mints, and chocolate caramels.

A very sweet, helpful neighbor dropped off a present yesterday. They know I like wine, so a bottle of KJ Vintners Reserve Chardonnay and a bottle of Josh Cabernet Sauvignon. It's the thought that counts!

... a bottle of Josh Cabernet Sauvignon.

I have a Cousin Josh who uses that for his everyday tipple.

if he's in my neighborhood....

[Jenise]

Dale, that IS sweet. Speaking of KJ though, the newer iterations aren't as sweet and oaky as we remember. I took one to an all-chardonnay tasting with my dork group, and it passed, very successfully, for something better. That was of course partly the wine and partly the group's impression of the kind of wine I'd bring, but at the same time this group is mostly ITB guys and they're not easily fooled. You might not hate it. The Josh, however....

will try to keep an open mind on the KJ! Thanks

We usually don't save anything we think we need for presents, we just decide nd get them, so Christmas is a time for small gifts.

I got for SWMBO: a Nana Hat as seen on Shark Tank in the shape of a pink octopus that you put on the end of your bananas to slow their ripening, plus an assortment of teas from out local tea shop.

https://nanahats.com/products/octopus

[Jenise]

I got for SWMBO: a Nana Hat as seen on Shark Tank in the shape of a pink octopus that you put on the end of your bananas to slow their ripening, plus an assortment of teas from out local tea shop.

https://nanahats.com/products/octopus

In the U.S., most banana bunches now come with the the stem ends taped to slow ripening. We each eat a banana first thing every morning, and we like our bananas on the green side, so I essentially don't buy untaped bananas. The color of the skin can be very misleading.

[David M. Bueker]

We received a gift certificate for "Traveling Spoon" online cooking classes. Have to see what's available.

I got a gift card to Total Wine.