It's holiday gift guide time once again, just in time for Black Friday. If you subscribe to my newsletter you’ve already received my holiday gift guide and probably gotten started on your shopping.
My 2021 holiday gift guide - as usual - focuses on food, wine and travel. Less items in this year's guide: the focus is on my very top picks of the year. Be sure to take a look at my holiday gift guide from last year because every single item in the guide makes a perfect gift and is still on my favorites list. It's a great supplement to this year's 2021 holiday gift guide.
Take, for example, these nesting bowls. I use them constantly, multiple times every day. I brought them back to Italy from the United States and what I love about them is they are super large and light weight.
Also on last year's guide that's a must for every kitchen is an immersion blender. We eat lots of soup all winter long and once your soup is done stick the immersion blender right in the soup pot and purée it to a creamy, velvety consistency. Or sometimes you might want to blend a little bit of the soup to thicken it up. The immersion blender is also perfect for homemade mayonnaise and wonderful smooth sauces.
Speaking of soup, beans and grains are a top ingredient in my soups. Sometimes you forget to soak beans overnight and it's the end of your great soup meal plan. Not the case if you have a pressure cooker or an instant pot and I can't praise them enough! How can you beat a pressure cooker when you put in your dried beans and broth and an hour later your soup is done! I have a basic garden-variety pressure cooker that I love, and I also gifted my daughter an instant pot and she's crazy about it.
Two of my favorite recipes that I make right in the pressure cooker are Pasta with Wild Boar Sauce and Pasta and Bean Sauce (Pasta Fagioli).
If you serve wine in a decanter then you know it's impossible to clean a decanter perfectly because you just can't get inside every nook and cranny. Problem solved with these decanter cleaning beads.
Cookbook gifts
If you've got friends and family members who love to cook then a cookbook is always a great choice. Here are the cookbooks I adore in this year's 2021 holiday gift guide, but you should also check out the cookbooks from last year’s gift guide.
A few of my top choices are the brand new cookbook Liguria by Laurel Evans,
the classic two volume Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking,
and any of the fabulous cookbooks by Yotam Ottolenghi: Simple, Jerusalem, Plenty, Plenty More to name a few.
Fanciful and fun are these two Italian cocktail beverage cookbooks: Spritz: Italy's Most Iconic Aperitivo Cocktail, with Recipes and Amaro: The Spirited World of Bittersweet, Herbal Liqueurs, with Cocktails, Recipes, and Formulas.
Tasty Gourmet Gifts
Everyone loves delicious gourmet goodies for a gift!
Try this Rougie Duck Fat and this Gourmet Bacon Jam.
KitchenAid stand mixer and attachments
The KitchenAid stand mixer and its attachments will be on my holiday gift guide for the rest of my life! It's my number one favorite item in my kitchen arsenal and KitchenAid is always creating new and amazing attachments. I’m a pie and quiche fanatic so a quick and easy way to throw a piecrust together is a winner for me. Check out this new and amazing pastry beater. (It's the third attachment in from the left, below.)
You may not think you'd use a grain mill but imagine grinding up popcorn to create wonderful corn flour for corn bread and muffins. If you like to play around with home baked bread use the grain mill to create your own farro, barley and other grain flours.
Last but not least....Wine!
Italy has more native grape varietals than any other country in the world by far which means the selection of wines in Italy is unlimited. If you're partial to Italian wine like I am then a fabulous holiday gift guide item this year is membership in the Roscioli Wine Club.
There are different levels that fit the budget and interest of everyone. Take a look and decide which one works best for you: Wine Club 1 is for every day wine lovers, Wine Club 2 is for wine enthusiasts, the Collector’s Club for wine collectors, and the Legend’s Club for anyone serious about fine wines.
Membership in the Roscioli Wine Club also gives you access to Roscioli's vast library of over 500 Italian wine producer videos so you can see where the grapes are grown and the wine is produced, and “meet” the producers.
My top choice travel camera for 2021
I learned a lesson many years ago that traveling light is the key to pleasurable travel. The tendency is to pack every single thing you might need on a trip but let's face it the joy of traveling light is unbeatable. And that goes for cameras and camera equipment which are heavy and take up lots of space. I use two cameras when I travel, my iPhone and my Canon PowerShot G7X Mark ii. It takes fabulous photos from city shots to great food pics, street photos and more. And it's super powerful, small and lightweight - at a great price.
Happy, Healthy Holidays to you all!
Happy holidays everyone! Enjoy my 2021 holiday gift guide ideas and when you shop remember: gift yourself something special this year!
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