EDGE Holiday Gift Guide: Kitchen & Comestibles

Woe, er, whoa - it's the holiday season, again. That most wonderful time of year when we head home for Yuletide cheer to witness: drama at the dinner table, breakdown in the bedroom, and mayhem at the mall. And this year promises to be even more exciting, thanks to the spasmodic economy.

Are we talking recipe for stress? Fear not. Fortunately, we're gay - and who better than us to arrive at home with just the right gift, perfectly wrapped (presentation, peeps - it's always about presentation...), so that peace and goodwill may reign amongst gaily-appareled people.

Herewith, our first EDGE Holiday Gift Guide for the merry and gay season: Kitchen & Comestibles ("comestibles" as in edibles, because the word "comestibles" gives everything a more Victorian ring...)

A carefully-edited selection of goodies designed to promote joy around the dinner table (and minimal guilt when the bills arrive). Make a toast to good cheer!

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The Cake Ball Company : Cake Balls

Were you the kind of kid who couldn't keep your fingers out of the mixing bowl? Did you lick the beaters? Do you crave cake batter? Do you still eat cookie dough ice cream by the pint? If you answered yes to any of the above questions, then Cake Balls were created for you.

About the size of a golf ball, these bite-size, handmade cakes are the confectionery dream of a Dallas, Texas woman, inspired by her mother's own family recipe. Each cake ball is a fully-baked, two-bite treat created over a two-day process, whereby cake is blended with icing to create a doughy consistency and then dipped in a creamy chocolate coating. Genius, right? Apparently, cake balls are a regional favorite - making Texas more palatable by the moment.

With flavors ranging from red velvet, chocolate toffee, and German chocolate, to seasonal specialties such as lime margarita and sea salt caramel, the Cake Ball Company also does holiday favorites such as pumpkin spice and chocolate peppermint - and currently, they're working on a Champagne Cake Ball.

Cakes balls are shipped in the Cake Ball Company's complimentary, signature chocolate brown linen-wrapped box, along with a matching satin ribbon and gift tag - making a box of Cake Balls the kind of gift that earns you major points: at the office, at the health club, with your doorman, with just about anyone. Well, maybe not your trainer - not unless you want to lick him all over.

Best of all, the Cake Ball Company ships anywhere - and Cake Balls can be stored for up to two weeks in your fridge (as if they'd ever last that long. We're betting one night for each half dozen Cake Balls). Cake Balls are sold by Neiman-Marcus as well - and you know how much Neiman's prides itself on holiday selections. Now - let's see, should we order a dozen chili chocolate or Irish cream...

PRICE: $18.00 / 6-piece gift box $29 / 12-piece gift box
LINK: The Cake Ball Company

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Carousel Cakes : Trio Mousse Cake

Okay, first of all, it's the holiday season, so you're entitled to a bit of excessive indulgence - and so are those on your gift list.

Located in Rockland County, New York, Carousel Cakes was established in 1975 - but the truth is, the man behind Carousel Cakes, Martin Lefkowitz, has been selling cakes to social clubs, restaurants, and dining halls since 1965.

Raised in a foster home, Lefkowitz learned his baking techniques during the heyday of the Catskills hotels, which led to the selling of his original recipes on America's first home shopping network.

Second generation owners Nancy and David Finkelstein, along with Howy Lefkowitz, sell over twenty different varieties of cake - including Oprah's Favorite Red Velvet Cake, which was featured in Oprah Winfrey's "O" list of her favorite things in February 2007.

Now who's going to argue with the O when it comes to sweets? But there's more than just Red Velvet Cake. Take the Trio Mousse Cake, for example - a decadent, four-layer chocolate cake, filled with three layers of dark, milk, and white chocolate mousse. (Are you still breathing? Sugar shock?) There's more: Carousel Cakes Trio Mousse Cake is topped with chocolate ganache, and finished with chocolate buds.

Serving between six to ten people (or perhaps just one chocoholic...), Trio Mousse Cake is seven inches in diameter (and nearly as high) - and arrives by overnight delivery. Here's a tip (if you can postpone the decadence for a few hours): pop the entire cake into the freezer - and then, once the dinner plates have been cleared, serve the Trio Mousse Cake like a semi-freddo. Divinely delicious. Alas, there won't be any pieces left over for the next morning's breakfast - not unless you order a second Carousel Cake.

(And for those of you within vicinity of Ridgewood, New Jersey, Cupcakes by Carousel is soon to open, selling mini-versions of these delectable treats - as well as banana-wafer pudding and lemon and raspberry squares. Just remember diet is a four-letter word - and never to be used near Carousel Cakes.)

PRICE: $39.95
LINK: Carousel Cakes

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Almondina : Assorted Eight-Cookie Gift Box

You know those times when you need a nosh? A little something something between the hours of two and four in the afternoon? Something not too sweet (because you had ice cream for lunch - three scoops), but something with flavor and texture. Something that's going to satisfy your need to bite and chew...

That's when you reach for Almondina. This thin, crispy cookie, packed with roasted almonds, raisins, and a variety of nuts and spices, is a no added fat, no-cholesterol dessert treat that the French know as "petit gateau sec."

Almondina started with a secret recipe (don't the best things in life always have a secret?) from a woman known as Grandma Dina, whose grandson Yuval Zaliouk (a gourmet chef - as well as a world-renowned symphony conductor...) always had a soft spot in his stomach for his grandmother's homemade crispy almond wafer laden with sweet, plump raisins.

(Full disclosure, before we go on here: we're eating them right now, the cherry chocolate flavor, as well as the sesame. In fact, we've been eating them the whole time we've been writing this - and truth is, we've gone through an entire four-ounce pack. Okay, all right, so we're lying - TWO full, four-ounce packs. All of which we share in the interest of apprising you of Almondina's addictive quality).

A cookie for our diet-conscious times, Almondina is guilt-free - because there's no added fat or salt, and no cholesterol (Did we mention that already?), which makes Almondina one of those rare things in life: a delicious, crispy, healthy snack that is packed with roasted almonds. Four-time winner of Best Cookie by the National Fancy Food Show, as well as Rachael Ray's "Snack of the Day," Almondina makes a perfect gift, particularly the eight-pack gift assortment that comes packed in a gift box with ribbon. Choose from flavors like pumpkin spice, chocolate cherry, cinnaroma, choconut, and gingerspice.

Now, if you'll excuse us, we're going to rip into the chocolate dipped...

PRICE: $31.95 / Assorted eight-cookie gift box
LINK: Almondina

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Nudo : Sweet Chilli Jam

You want something sassy? Something to smack your taste buds clear into the new year? How about Nudo's Sweet Chilli Jam?

Created by Silvano Buccolini, the concoction-crazy Italian alchemist behind the re-introduction of Sapa, the sweetener used by the ancient Romans (think of balsamic vinegar, cooked down to a more caramel reduction - and then aged in wine barrels for a year), Nudo's Sweet Chilli Jam is a palate-pleasing confection of organic peppers, organic apples, and organic lemons.

Chunky and cheeky, this jam tastes delicious on cheese and cold meats. Serve it slathered on ciabatta or bruschetta, or better yet, serve it with breakfast in bed - and watch how Sweet Chilli Jam spices up your day.

PRICE: $10.99 / 220 g.
LINK: Nudo-Italia

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(Gift Guide continued on next page: Wine, Coffee, and Wipes...)

Oveja Negra Lost Barrel 2008

In recent years, Chile has become noted for producing good wines at affordable prices; the 2008 Oveja Negra Lost Barrel ups the ante with a seriously complex and well-balanced wine at a moderate price.

Produced in the San Rafael Vineyard in the Maule Valley of Chile, a region noted for its Mediterranean climate with well-defined seasons, the 2008 Oveja Negra Lost Barrel is a deeply-saturated, black purple blend of five varieties, including Syrah, Carignane Syrah, Carignane, Carmen�re, and Petit Verdot. Lush and full-bodied, this wine is the result of grapes hand-picked in the early morning hours in the fourth week of April - and this after leaves were pulled from the shoots exposed to the sun during the first weeks of December. Such attention to detail has earned Chile a reputation for producing a few truly excellent wines.

Opening with an almost extreme aromatic intensity, the cornucopia of aromas includes a number of black fruits such as blueberries and blackberries before slipping into coffee and chocolate. Admirably balanced with a full and luscious body, the Oveja Negra Lost Barrel finds a perfectly refined finish - no doubt a consequence of the full twelve months spent aging in French oak barrels.

This is a generous wine meant for holiday feasting; this is a wine that Dylan Thomas might have remembered while writing "A Child's Christmas in Wales." Take some to your family.

PRICE: $25.00 / bottle
LINK: Via Wines

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Viña Maquis Lien Red Wine 2006

As clean to the nose as it is deep mulberry in color, as resplendently dark as a painting by Caravaggio, the Chilean Maquis Lien 2006 is a complex and intense cornucopia of the darkest fruits, with notes of black chocolate and black pepper. It floats on the palate like soluble silk, leaving a whisper of its elegant tannins.

A terroir wine, Lien (meaning "silver metal" in Chile's native Mapuche language - and a reference to colonial Spanish coins) comes from Chile's Maquis region. In this case, the vineyards are located between two rivers, resulting in a locale with its own climate and soil. The resultant five-blend varietal is a sublime balance of Syrah, Carmenere, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec - sealed in 100% French oak.

Maquis Lien 2006 is a wine that belies the Colchagua Valley stereotype of bullish, bruising reds - offering instead a rich exotic with notes of cherry, prune, spice, black pepper, and mocha, and a finish as smooth as veneer.

With an alcohol percentage of 14.5, Maquis Lien scored 90 points at Tanzer's International Wine Cellar and 90 points with International Wine Review - scores that are particularly impressive for a wine retailing under twenty dollars.

And that silver lizard on the artful label? That's a reference to the fine jewelry once made from the melted colonial Spanish coins. There's the tip-off: throwing off the chains of colonialism to create something indigenously beautiful.

PRICE: under $20.00 / bottle
LINK: Vina Maquis

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Borracha : Wine Wipes

You've seen the look - the look of horror on your dental hygienist's face as she gazes into your mouth and asks, "Have you been drinking blood?"

"What are you talking about?" you reply, feigning ignorance. She's not your therapist; why should you tell about the bottle of red consumed nightly.

But there's no denying what red wine does to white teeth. What's good for the heart is not necessarily good for the pearlies. Tannin teeth, wine mouth - whatever you call it, it's not pretty. Which is so unfortunate, given how much you love those deep purple elixirs - which is exactly how the folks at Borracha felt, and which is why they created Wine Wipes.

Sold in a sleek compact (complete with mirror), Wine Wipes contain a proprietary blend of stain-removing, teeth-protecting ingredients including baking soda (which penetrates the surface of tooth enamel), salt (a natural cleanser that fights germs), hydrogen peroxide for mild bleaching, calcium for re-mineralization, glycerin (which coats teeth), and finally, orange blossom, which is a flavor naturally found in red wine, so as not to interfere with your next glass of red. With a compound like that, it's no wonder that you need only wipe one Wine Wipe over your teeth after a glass of red - and once again, you're ready for your close-up. New Facebook profile pic!

Wine Wipes were developed with a sommelier to insure that your palate and taste buds are not adversely affected - for your next glass, and the glass after that. Best of all, Wine Wipes are equivalent to cleaning your teeth - so you can drink and get a cleaning at the same time. How genius is that?

PRICE: $6.95 / 20-wipe compact
LINK: Borracha Wine Wipes

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BonJour : Ami-Matin Unbreakable French Press

Now that it's the new economy, we're no longer throwing down a fiver for our caffeine fix. But that doesn't mean we're jonesing for good coffee. Instead, we got wise and got ourselves a BonJour Unbreakable French Press. This svelte little French press features an unbreakable, heat-resistant carafe made of BPA-free Tritan, which is noted for its durability, lightness and shatterproof properties (which is particularly important when you recall that old glass French press that you left lying in shards at the bottom of your stainless steel sink? Never mind - it happened to us, too.).

One of the true joys of a French press is how the coffee is perfectly brewed - and hot. All you do is add coarsely ground coffee to the carafe - and fill with boiling water. Brew for four minutes - and then press down the plunger. Voila! Perfect coffee - without electricity (well, except for the boiled water...)

Due to the growing health concerns about BPA (bisphenol-A) in plastic containers used for food and beverage (can we just say cancer is not something we like drinking with our morning coffee?), BonJour took a leadership position in the industry - and produced two BPA-free products.

The Ami-Matin Unbreakable French Press comes in a range of stylish colors, including rouge, azure, peridot, and noir (C'est francais, mes enfants - d'accord?), and features BonJour's unique shut-off filter feature to stop the brewing and keep coffee at its optimum level. Also, the stainless steel filtering screen keeps any coffee sediments from ever touching your tongue.

Perfect for the home or office (or home office), BonJour's Unbreakable French Press also helps keep you from running to Starbucks every second hour. More money in your pocket for happy hour!

PRICE: $24.99 / BonJour Ami-Matin French Press Coffee Maker / 8-cup (33.8 oz. / 1 liter) capacity
LINK: BonJour French Press

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(Gift Guide continued on next page: Tea, Olive Oil, and - Umami...)

BonJour : Prosperity Teapot with BPA-Free Shut-Off Infuser

Tea salons are popping up all over town. The British have known it for years: tea time is a perfectly good reason to leave the office. And the Japanese have taught us about green tea's health benefits. Herbal teas take the edge off our manic moods. With so many tea choices now (have you wandered down the tea aisle in Whole Foods?), it's lovely to have a proper teapress - to steep the tea of your choice.

The new BonJour Prosperity Teapot works like a French press for coffee: place loose tea in the infuser - and fill with boiling water. Steep for five minutes and then press the plunger to filter the tea and stop the brewing. How simple is that?

One of the joys of a teapress is being able to buy loose teas - in small quantities, so that you can buy and try as much different types of tea as you need: one for your nerves, one for digestion, another for cramps, another for clarity. Tea: the new drug. Who would have imagined?

BonJour's Prosperity Teapot features a BPA-free plastic teapress and infuser - so that you're not freaking about health concerns while your tea steeps. (Breathe deeply; calm your mind.) As for the nicely-sized carafe (40 ounce / 1.2 liter), it's made of translucent, heat-resistant borosilicate glass - and framed by a sturdy, built-in coaster, lid, and handle, available in rouge, azure, or peridot. (BonJour = French, okay? Hence the color names.)

Say Bonjour every morning - and raise your pinkie with a hot cup of tea.

PRICE: $24.99 / BonJour Prosperity Teapot / 40 oz. capacity
LINK: BonJour Prosperity Teapot

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Nudo: Adopt-An-Olive-Tree w/Olive Oils

Want to do something for the environment - and get something in return? How about adopting an olive tree?

Nudo is a co-operative of nine local olive-farming artisans in a small hilltop village in the Marche region of Italy - and its Adopt-An-Olive-Tree program enables you to adopt a tree of your choice, in the region in your choice, in the grove of your choice (seriously: you get to pick the exact tree you want to adopt). Then, for an entire year, you receive all the produce from that tree. With each adoption, you'll receive an adoption certificate - and in the spring, a package containing all the extra virgin olive oil from your tree. Later, in the autumn, you'll receive a set of three flavored extra virgin olive oils. And also - an open invitation to come water (or hug) your olive tree whenever you want.

Best of all, by adopting a tree, you'll enable small farmers the certainty of knowing that their olive oil (and their efforts) will receive a fair price and reliable payment.

Okay, so you need a celebrity endorsement too? Fine. How about Gwyneth Paltrow, who wrote glowingly on Nudo's website about this family-run cooperative and how the adopt-a-tree program helps to save artisanal farmers' businesses.

Of course, with every olive oil, the real truth is in the taste - and Nudo's artisanal oils come in tastefully-designed, black-and-green 250 ml. tins (because tin protects oil from light, which compromises the oil's flavor), which are 57% recycled. Choose from a variety of limited edition oils, including olive oil stone ground with mandarins, or garlic, or basil, or thyme, or oranges - or just plain extra virgin olive oil, and drizzle on everything. After tasting Nudo, you'll believe that it's possible to live on olive oil alone.

Still need convincing? Think about this historical fact: naked Spartans rubbed themselves with olive oil while exercising at the gym, thereby eroticizing the male form. Enough said. Order already.

PRICE: $11.99 / 250 ml.
$34.99 / Three Tenors Gift Box (trio of 250 ml. tins)
$109 / Nudo Adopt-A-Tree Program
LINK: Nudo-Italia

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Taste # 5 : Umami Paste

Hard to believe, what with all the foods in the world, but it's generally recognized that our palate can only discern four primary tastes: sweet, sour, salty, and bitter (as well as any combination therein).

Ah, but not so fast. More than a hundred years ago, the Japanese (leave it to them - those culinary masters) discovered a fifth taste that they refer to as "umami." The Japanese word for "deliciousness," umami is what chefs seek to replicate in the brain: a sense of delight that overwhelms the palate.

Nearly a decade ago, a researcher discovered the umami receptor on the tongue, hidden within the receptor for sweetness. Want to know what umami tastes like? Think of Parmesan cheese, or kombu seaweed, or Worcestershire sauce - or if you can remember that far back, your mother's breast milk. That's right: delicious, no?

For years, the sense of umami was replicated by the much-reviled monosodium glutamate (MSG), but umami is also found naturally in meats, cheeses, and - get this - mushrooms. Cookbook author and food writer, Laura Santtini dedicated an entire section of her cookbook Easy Tasty Italian to umami - and so it was perhaps inevitable that Santtini would create Taste #5 Umami Paste by combining some of the most umami-rich, Italian ingredients into one paste, squeezable from a tube. The heady combination of tomato puree, garlic, Parmesan cheese, black olive, anchovy paste, and porcini mushrooms makes for an addictive addition to nearly everything (well, maybe not ice cream...), including pastas, soups, stews - or simply slathered on crostini and panini.

Bite into Taste #5 and watch your face break into a smile; that's what we call umami.

PRICE: approx. $5.00 / 60 gram tube
LINK: Taste # 5 : Umami Paste

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(Gift Guide continued on next page: Cookbooks and...Knife Sharpeners...)

Wüsthof 2-Stage Knife Sharpener

Years ago, we had a friend who gave us a knife for Christmas. Yes, a glinting, razor-sharp kitchen knife. We hardly knew how to respond. What exactly was the sentiment behind that gift? Did she think we were Sweeney Todd?

Then, as if that indignity weren't enough, the next year her sister gave us a pair of long-handled scissors. It was enough to make us think - about a lot of things.

One thing we decided was that sharp objects might not be the best gift ideas for the holidays. But how about a knife sharpener? Given the Great Recession that seems to be dragging on, it's likely that more of us are using what we have, rather than buying brand-new. And given that knives dull over time - why not a knife sharpener? There might still be a subliminal message, but at least it's less obvious.

And we'll definitely attest to the virtues of the W�sthof 2-Stage Knife Sharpener. Safe and easy to use, this two-stage knife sharpener requires nothing but a few easy strokes to keep blades sharp. Leave it on your kitchen counter for those days when you want to sharpen your talons - er, your blades.

Get this: we ran that Christmas gift knife (of course we still have it - and use it) along the W�sthof 2-Stage Knife Sharpener - and after only four strokes through the sharpener, that knife cut through a beefsteak tomato like butter. Razor-thin slices. Suddenly, we loved that knife anew. No more lacerated tomatoes; hello, insalata caprese.

Since 1814, W�sthof has been providing knives to chefs, cooks, and butchers (and not only those who live on Fleet Street, above Mrs. Lovett's pie shop). W�sthof's famous Trident logo stands for form, function, and uncompromising quality - all of which hold true for the W�sthof 2-Stage Knife Sharpener.

Finally, as your mother always told you: it's dull knives that cause home accidents - so sharpen your knives with the W�sthof 2-Stage Knife Sharpener. The best twenty dollars you've ever spent.

PRICE: $19.95
LINK: W�sthof 2-Stage Knife Sharpener

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Southern Living : 1001 Ways to Cook Southern

We once had a friend from the deep South who swore that it was easy to cook Southern: all you needed was a pound of butter and some fatback.

There might be something to that, although the editors of Southern Living might argue that the recent resurgence in Southern cuisine owes more to the big-name chefs across the airwaves who proudly tout Southern food for its numerous cultural references and indigenous ingredients.

Launched in 1966, Southern Living is read by more than 16 million people each month and is, currently, the fifth-largest consumer magazine in the United States - so when the editors ofSouthern Living launch a cookbook about Southern cooking, you know that it's going to be a doozy.

Weighing nearly five pounds, and coming in at almost a thousand pages, Southern Living 1001 Ways to Cook Southern is to Southern cuisine what Gibbons is to the Roman Empire. This compendium immerses you in Southern culture, with more than a thousand recipes for Southern classics like Buttermilk Fried Corn, Fried Pecan Okra, Pot Likker Soup, Warm Turnip Green Dip, Pink Lemonade Cocktail, Tennessee Caviar, Beer Batter Fried Pickles, Hurricane Punch, Tomato Biscuits, Spoonbread, Buckeye Balls, and... Wait, you haven't had a Buckeye Ball? Oh, honey, you haven't lived until you've had a Buckeye Ball.

Best of all, there are over a hundred full-color pages of these mouth-watering dishes, as well as the stories behind the recipes. Just why, for example, is chess pie called chess pie? There are also features on local restaurants all over the South, from down-home BBQ joints to the finest, high-falutin' white-clothed eateries to be found behind the kudzu. And commentary about what it is that makes a recipe Southern. (Did we mention butter already?) And articles about what every Southern cook needs in his/her kitchen. (Mason jars, for one - and an iron skillet for another.)

From the New South to the region's beloved classics (Hoppin' John, ChowChow), this definitive Southern cookbook is anthropological in its scope. Make yourself a Mint Julep and curl up with a copy of Southern Living 1001 Ways to Cook Southern. Face it, Southern food feeds the soul; you'll be cookin' before you know it.

Shipping Weight: 4.8 pounds

PRICE: $34.95
LINK: Southern Living : 1001 Ways to Cook Southern

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Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival Cookbook

While the beach on South Beach is often associated with circuit celebrations such as Winter Party's Beach Party and White Party's Muscle Beach, there's also the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival that celebrates...gluttony.

Over the past ten years, the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival has raised more than $10 million for Florida International University's School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, while the New York version benefits the Food Bank for New York City, as well as Share Our Strength.

The orgiastic culinary festival is now in its tenth year - and in honor of its birthday, Lee Schrager, the founder of one of the world's most beloved food festivals (and one of Miami's top tourist attractions) has authored a cookbook filled with tempting recipes and, even more important, all the tantalizing behind-the-scenes food fights between big-name chefs.

This is foodie pornography - and with over 100 mouth-watering recipes and more than 150 full-color photographs, the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival Cookbook is precisely the kind of gift you could offer last summer's house mother on the Island - or your own mother, for that matter.

With an all-star cast of chefs, including Bobby Flay, Alice Waters, Thomas Keller and Tom Colicchio, as well as Jean-Georges and Jamie Oliver, this cookbook is the culinary equivalent of the Academy Awards - but instead of merely showing up in couture, these people can cook. We're talking Paula Deen's Double Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake and Nigella Lawson's Caramel Croissant Pudding. And Drunken Mojito Rum Cake. Oh, come on - who could resist?

As if all that weren't enough, there's an introduction by bad boy Anthony Bourdain - and you know the pots are going to fly when Bourdain starts talking.

PRICE: $35.00
LINK: Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival Cookbook

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