3 Christmas gift ideas for the food lover in your life
19 Comments
Karen Hamilton
December 13, 2010
Our social circle is comprised of talented home cooks, industry professionals, extreme gourmands, and budding chefs. It’s a challenge every Christmas to get the food lovers in my life something that they’ve never tried before or something they cannot normally get in their home town.
Like last year, I’ve found a few more items to put under the Christmas tree for them. I also procured extras for you to give to someone you love this holiday season. You have till noon on Friday, December 17th to pick an item and tell us who you’d gift it to and why.
PS #1: In the spirit of Christmas, the recipient must be someone other than yourself.
PS #2: Thanks to Claudia Kwan for helping us figure out how this giveaway would work. She runs awesome Merry Mondays that you should also check out.
Vista D’oro “Cookies for Kids” holiday tin
As many of you know, our daughter was born nearly a year ago at BC Children’s Hospital. What you might not have known was that my uncomplicated pregnancy evolved into a scary and drawn out birth, resulting in a 40 hour labour (yikes!) and an unplanned C-section. While we were grateful for the care that we had received from the staff that looked after us, we never did get around to sending a donation to the hospital like we had planned.
Luckily, we were reminded that Lee & Patrick Murphy of Vista D’Oro Farms organizes a massive fundraiser each year for the hospital in memory of their loved ones. 200 holiday tins are put together, each containing a 200ml jar of Vista D’oro preserves and 2 dozen cookies baked by a variety of local purveyors. We donated $100 for 2 tins and hope you will consider getting some too. There’s 150 left to sell before the holiday season wraps up. This year’s tins contain:
- Spiced vanilla bean sugar cookie from Beyond @ The Century Plaza Hotel
- Coconut macaroons from Culinary Capers
- Strawberry cookies from Krause Berry Farm
- Triple chocolate cookies from Les Amis du Fromage
- Chocolate sparkles from Northwest Culinary Academy of Vancouver
- Chocolate and vanilla spirals from O’Doul’s, Listel Hotel
- Chocolate dipped shortbread & Melting Moments from Pane E Fromaggio
- Gingerbread stars from Pastry Training Centre of Vancouver
- Coconut Cranberry Almond Cookies from Pourhouse Restaurant
- Ginger Cookies from Terra Breads Bakery
- Oh La La Grand Marnier chocolate cookies from Toast of the Town Catering
- Brown sugar shortbread from Raincity Grill
- Rosemary butter cookies from Bishop’s Restaurant
Where to buy
Each tin can be purchased with a minimum donation of $50. 100% of your donation goes direct to BC Children’s Hospital. Cookies for Kids has raised $40,000 over the last 4 years.
- Vista D’Oro Farms: info@vistadoro.com or call 604-514-3539 to ensure tins are set aside for you
- Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts: bakery101@picachef.com or call 604-734-4488 to ensure tins are set aside for you
- Edible BC: info@edible-britishcolumbia.com or call 604-662-3606 to ensure tins are set aside for you
- Win a cookie tin for your loved one from Tiny Bites. Tell us who you’d give this cookie tin to if you won one from us. You can comment here, reply to us on Twitter, or let us know on our Facebook page.
Librandi organic extra virgin olive oil from The Olive Oil Merchant
A year had nearly passed since Buzz Bishop mentioned it to me, but I finally got to meet Teresa Kuhn of The Olive Oil Merchant, a new artisan olive oil retailer with roots in Kelowna and Vermezzo, Italy. One of her products blew my socks off: an organic olive oil made by the Librandi family in Calabria. In 2010, the Librandi was chosen as the Best Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Organic Farming by Flos Olei with a tasting score of 97/100. The recently published 2011 report boasts an even better accolade for the Librandi farm: Olive Oil Mill of the Year (organic or otherwise). Check out the tasting notes (PDF) for more detail.
I bought one of these as a Christmas present for one olive oil fan in my life, and had another one donated for one of you to gift to a loved one. Now I wish I had gotten a third for our own pantry!
Where to Buy
A 500ml bottle of Librandi olive oil is $27 and the 750ml is $31. The Olive Oil Merchant is the only retailer I’ve come across that carries the Librandi for Canadian shoppers. I’ve also seen online shops that sell to the UK and Italy.
- Purchase online through The Olive Oil Merchant: 500ml Librandi | 750ml Librandi
- Win a 500ml bottle of Librandi for your loved one from Tiny Bites. Tell us who you’d give this olive oil to if you won one from us. You can comment here, reply to us on Twitter, or let us know on our Facebook page.
Vegan holiday dinner from Whole Foods
One of the most entertaining media events I went to this year was a scavenger hunt at the Whole Foods on Cambie. They organized it in the style of Supermarket Sweep – remember that game show? We had 30 minutes to track down 10 items in our personalized shopping lists. It was delicious mayhem! After, we were treated to some samples from the catering division, who told us about their Whole Holiday Meals. I don’t normally put too much stock in product promos, but having friends and family that can get left out during holiday meal planning, I perked up when they mentioned an entire vegan option.
The Holiday Meals are meant to be ready-made dinner spreads to order in advance, pick up, and serve. They’re made with local and sustainable raw ingredients, which is hard to come by when choosing a meal-to-go. The vegan menu sounds just as delicious as the ones that come with turkey or ham. It’s something I’d pick up if we need to entertain a breadth of appetites during the frantic pace of the Christmas season.
Inside a Vegan Holiday Dinner (serves 4):
- Wild rice cranberry and fig “roast en croûte” (field roast), 900g. Rich grain meat stuffed with a sausage-style mixture of wild rice, quinoa, and dried figs, wrapped in a flaky vegan pastry
- Fresh green beens amandine, 680g
- Acorn squash with wild rice stuffing, 900g
- Olive oil smashed Yukon Gold potatoes, 900g
- Mushroom gravy, 500ml
- Classic cranberry relish, 500ml
- Dinner rolls, 6
- Poached saffron pears, 4
Where to Buy
You can order a Vegan Holiday Dinner, which serves 4, for $69.99 at pretty much any Whole Foods location. There’s a wider selection – choose from whole turkey dinners to just specific sides – but I thought it’d be nice to give out a Vegan option in homage to my vegetarian family members.
- Contact your nearest Whole Foods location at least a business day or two in advance.
- Win a Vegan Holiday Dinner for your loved one from Tiny Bites. Tell us who you’d give this dinner to if you won one from us. You can comment here, reply to us on Twitter, or let us know on our Facebook page.
Gift selection announced Friday, December 17, 2010
Are one of these gifts perfect for someone on your shopping list? Tell us which gift suits and who you’d give it to if you won one from us. You have till noon on December 17th to let us know, and we’ll tell you if you won it on the same day so that we can arrange a pick-up / meet-up before December 22nd.
The Fine Print*
There’s not a lot of conditions, but we thought you should know:
- The person you intend to give a gift to cannot be yourself, as tempting as that may be.
- This contest is open to anyone that can arrange to pick up their item within Greater Vancouver (ideally, downtown Vancouver). If we were to ship these items, you won’t get them in time for Christmas, anyhow.
- If you’re worried about disclosing the recipient’s name because they might read Tiny Bites too, send an extra email our way with the person’s name. We’ll be addressing the gifts to your recipient.
Categories: Food, Food Purveyors, Yummy Products
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19 Responses to “3 Christmas gift ideas for the food lover in your life”
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Tiny Bites is a food blog that explores all things edible and imbibable in Vancouver, British Columbia. More >
Articles by Karen Hamilton
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oh wow, I wish I had known about those cookie tins before we did all of our Christmas shopping. how great! my grandmother would love it.
The cookies sound incredible! I’d give them to my parents who appreciate the finer things in life! Not only that, but they’re true sweethearts.
I’d love to have the bottle of olive oil for my sweetie, Dave. In 2009, to celebrate my 40th birthday, he took me to Greece. We spent two weeks hanging out on beaches in the Greek Islands and exploring Athens. My favorite meal there was when I bought a greek salad from a roadside vendor at a remote beach on Naxos called Kastraki we decided to take a lengthy bus trip to. I had no fork, so I ate it straight from the container with my fingers. Dave bought a mask and snorkel that day, and we swam around looking at tiny, brightly-couloured fishes. Amazing day.
I’d give the olive oil to Carol and John who cook me amazing Sunday dinners.
Amazing giveaway! I’d love to give the bottle of olive oil to my mom (Nahida). She’s an amazing cook and can recreate almost anything after tasting it once.
My sisters and I grew up in Rome so my mom got used to the variety and quality of foods readily available there. People seldom shop at grocery stores there; you go to the butcher for fresh meet, pick up freshly made pasta, cheese, & bread, and buy fruits & veggies from open air markets. Organic and local is a way of life there. My mom has been missing all that since we moved to North America back in 1994. She’s always complaining about how expensive it is to buy stuff imported from Italy at specialty stores.
I would love the Vegan Holiday Dinner from Whole Foods for my boyfriend’s parents. Every time I go over to their place, they always cook delicious food for me. As they are very health-conscious, this meal would be perfect for them to enjoy and share with their friends.
Thank you for thinking of BC Children’s Hospital! It’s wonderful to hear how much of a positive impact the staff, doctors and nurses had during your experience. Now time to check out these very yummy links you’ve shared!
I hate to admit I’m in a bowling league. Our cap’n/cheerleader, a super energetic vegetarian, is working 2 jobs, 7 days/wk and will only get Xmas day off. Sometimes her budget is so tight she goes w/o eating. I try to bring her food, but it’s tough (everything I have ‘contain traces of bacon).
To top it off, she may have to look for a new place/roommate in 2011. Will find a veggie gift for our exchange, but adding the vegan dinner would be amazing.
The vegan dinner would be an absolute savior! I always host Christmas dinner and with catering for all of the carnivores, I can’t spoil my vegan guests and so they often have to bring their own main course. I know; what a disappointing host! It seems to be safest for them though, as one year my mashed potatoes with cream and butter had dire consequences for them – ooops!
Thanks for the shout out Ms Tiny Bites! It’s all about spreading the love ; )
I’d give the olive oil to my boyfriend to encourage him to cook more! He’s a great cook but he’s been so busy lately.
I’m entering to win the Whole Holiday Vegan Meal for my co-worker Gary Gottselig! Gary is a fun-loving vegan and generous spirit who loves to entertain and loves and appreciates great organic food. Known as Gary the Green around the production office, Gary lifts our spirits and helps everyone in our busy office on a daily basis. It would be great to give back to him since he gives so much to us. Gary makes me laugh every day and I just love him to bits! He is truly fabulous! Thanks Tiny Bites! Love, Jude M. (aka @heckofamom)
My sister would love the olive oil – huge fan of their products!
I give it all to the downtown eastside woman’s center there’s quite a few Vegan’s , the oil would be great for the kitchen to use in salad dressing Audrey likes to make this daily,cookies well never enough sweets but I’m sure the Elders would love a little extra!
If I won either gifts, I would give them to my best friend. It has been such a rough year for me and she has been there to support me and encourage me. I think that she would really appreciate this.
My older brother just became a vegan. I would adore the vegan package for him! He has done so much for me and the vegan Christmas dinner would just blow his mind. Thank you!
I would love to give the cookie tin to my husband. I have made several batches of Christmas cookies this year and given them all away to friends and co-workers, leaving him with only a few to sample.
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[...] that caught my eye was the Vista D’oro “Cookies for Kids” holiday tin in the post by Tiny Bites about her 2010 Christmas [...]