Chances are high most of you still need to snap up a few things for Mom and Dad to put under the Hanukah tree–heck, we still need to snap up all of them–and years of holiday procrastination has taught us some valuable last minute gifting skills. Here’s a few of our favorite go-to food gifts when time is tight:
1. Gift certificates for some really good stuff: We mean porkchops and pale ales, obviously. Who (other than a vegetarian) wouldn’t want some credit at Dickson’s Farmstand Meats in Chelsea Market or Heritage Meats in Essex Market? Along those lines, we’re fans of the plastic gift cards sold by the cool little East Village beer market/bar Good Beer NYC on East Ninth Street. They’re refillable by phone, to boot!
2. Cookbook apps. Have you seen the smart phone/tablet version of How to Cook Everything by Manhattan food writer par excellence Mark Bittman? We would never ever toss out our dog-eared copy of his fantastic flagship cookbook, but we’re almost glad when cooking away from home has us referencing the electronic version, which includes timers and updating checklists and (literal) bells and whistles.
3. Anything on the Edible Brooklyn last-minute gift list. That includes beautiful bottles of local booze; a case of Mason jars and a D.I.Y canning guides; locavore box sets stuffed with chocolates, pickles, chips and cheese; and of course, the brand-new Edible Brooklyn cookbook.
