I am kind of fed up with holiday consumerism for some reason this year. Buying a bunch of expensive things for grown adults bothers me.
So, I'm trying to be more creative this year.
FIL
He needs a new desktop computer. Our old one just needs a new chip, so we are giving him the computer and BIL is having it fixed.
In addition, he wanted a Thai cookbook. Instead, I am printing him my favorite Thai recipes and filling a basket with ingredients he'll need, but might have a hard time finding in his small town.
I also made him and his wife some homemade Kaluha and Irish Creme.
MIL
I've typed up a book of some recipes I enjoy, that I know she'd enjoy and that have ingredients she uses. She's been talking about how she checks out cookbooks from the library, so I thought this was a good idea.
I need to get her something else, but haven't decided yet.
My dad
He lives by himself, but stays with his GF a lot. They both work full time, and tend to eat the same things over and over. We are smoking a pork butt, shredding it, and vacuum sealing it in smaller servings for the freezer. We'll include homemade bbq sauce.
My oldest sister
In addition to some stuff from B&BW, I'm giving her my homemade pepper jelly with a super cute little spoon from World Market, some mascarpone cheese and fancy crackers.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
16 comments:
Good ideas all, Kim! What Thai ingredients are you including for FIL?
Also, lol - will you be my secret Santa?
Most people I give gifts to will be at my house this year, and I am giving them all theater tickets to two shows (both of my choice, ha!) I hope they like the shows - I spent damn near $400 on tickets.
Can I say damn in your blog?
You can say shitdamnmonkeyfuck if you want to, Swami. :-)
I'm including fish sauce, kafir lime leaves, tamarind, lemon grass and curry paste.
It's very kind of you do give people the tickets. I think that's awesome!
There's a David Sedaris show I'd like to attend. I will pretend to give you the ticket and we can pretend to go!
I should probably include a bottle of sweet chili sauce, too. At his small grocery store he'd probably pay $4 for a tiny bottle.
Oo - I love David Sedaris! Do we have good seats?
I really wanted to see Fat Man Crying too, but 3 group ticket buys is way beyond my budget.
See, in Fat Man Crying a morose, depressed and slightly drunken Santa has an existential meltdown in the living room of two young newlyweds who were just about to 'get it on' by the Christmas tree when Santa came.
And yes - I love farces.
Shitdamnmonkeymotherfuck
You HAD to go an add "mother" didn't you?
It's The Santaland Diaries and we have box seats all by ourselves like the critics from the Muppets.
You know what my first question is - how do you make homemade Kahlua and Irish Cream?
These are all great ideas. For some reason I smiled at pork butt. Teehee - pork butt - pork butt - pork butt.
Kaluha
1 Vanilla Bean, split lenthwise
4 c sugar
2 c boiling water
3 oz instant coffee granules
1 (750-milliliter) bottle of vodka
Mix sugar and coffee granules into saucepan of boiling water, reduce heat to medium. Stir until sugar and coffee are dissolved.
Allow mixture to cool, add vodka and pour into sterilized jug. Add vanilla bean (I also had about a tablespoon of vanilla extract).
Set aside in a cool, dark place for at least one month
The Bailey's recipe is in my original Top Secret Recipes book and it seems to get better reviews than the "new and improved" recipe Todd Wilbur has online. But alas, it's at home. I know it has sweetend condensed milk, whiskey, vanilla, chocolate syrup, light cream (half & half), and almond extract, just don't remember the exact proportions.
Oh, and we are making (ok, attempting to make) homemade mozzarella cheese for Christmas at FIL's. Chris's brewing magazine featured it this month, so we thought it would be fun to try.
Tom made cheese "professionally" for 2 summers while he was in high school. But the only recipes he knows make 200 lbs per batch.
Woah, that's a lot of cheese!
I saw someone make cheese on TV once. All he did was mix homo milk with vinegar over a low heat.
Once he got enough lumpies he strained and squeezed through cheesecloth.
Basically just soured the milk and then squeezed the curds.
Ew - I said curds.
Curd hater.
How do I miss these fun posts?
These all sound really good. I was going to make a cookbook for the Bunco Christmas party this year, but it didn't work out for lots of reasons. Now I have a new blog idea. :)
Post a Comment