gift buying

gift buying
                        

You’ve done it now, Larry Last Minute. I know how the December calendar can get away from you, so let me sound the alarm: In reality you only have about five days to get everything bought and wrapped and here you are without even a plan or list.

The online ordering door is closing rapidly, no matter how many business days you can count out on your fingers. You’re going to find most things marked “arrives after Christmas,” even if you pay eleventy hundred dollars for shipping. Because you see, shippers are dealing with mountains of parcels bought by smart and efficient people, and the system is too clogged to accommodate us foolish late shoppers.

I cannot help at all with the golfers or stampers on your list, but I might be able to offer some suggestions for smaller, rather easy-to-find items that any cook should appreciate, in a wide price range.

If you know your aunt has a big Kitchenaid (or other brand) stand mixer, there are numerous attachments available to accomplish everything from meat grinding to ice cream making.

If you get something they already have, they can easily swap it out in exchange later. They may already have the basics, so you might want to go for the unusual, like the one that grinds grain into flour. Prices vary greatly with some attachments under $30 and others costing a couple of hundred clams. Be sure to save the receipt, just in case.

At the cheap end for an office pal or a third cousin twice removed who loves to cook, look for a seriously big vegetable peeler, one with a blade 4 inches long or more. Most of us are always on the lookout for one because they become handy paper-thin slicers for fancy plating.

One step up from this is a mandolin, which is a table-top slicer designed to take off a bit of thumb each time you use it. Mine is in the hard-to-reach cupboard to make sure I forget it’s there.

Foodies like to make stocks and sauces, and for this you need good strainers. You can get shallow screen strainers just about anywhere, but one called a china cap will be an impressive gift that shows you put some thought into it.

You might find one at a “kitchen store,” but your best bet is Helbling’s in New Phila. From the same source, pick up some aluminum sheet pans in all but the largest size (the largest won’t fit in a home oven) and maybe a heavy-duty piping bag.

None of us can ever have enough robust wooden spoons or heat-resistant silicone spoons, spatulas and scrapers. Most fanatical cooks have fussy pans they won’t dare touch with a metal object, so an abundance of softer tools is generally needed.

I’m thinking you should avoid appliances that sit on the countertop, eating precious space. Nix the slow cooker, the fast cooker, the bread machine, the ten-slice toaster or heaven forbid the chicken roaster. If you’re inclined to something electric, perhaps a good burr coffee grinder, wine bottle opener or milk frother would be the thing.

The one large electric appliance you might consider is a wine chiller. It’s a little fridge that keeps several bottles at the right temperature. They can be pricey, but having seen one at a friend’s house this year, I can’t imagine anyone not being pleased to have one — unless they’re a teetotaler, in which case get them the automatic cat litter sifter.

Finally pop into Books & Things (New Philadelphia), Books in Stock (Wooster) or any other used bookstore for a fine, heavy, antique cookbook.

The clock is ticking, friend.


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