Christmas season is upon us, and the obsessing about presents is underway. I’ve seen about 15 gift guides, some food-specific, some not, with ideas for the food lover, the wannabe foodie, the horrible cook, the cool-chef-dad, the apron-clad mom, and everyone in between.

This isn’t really a gift guide — it’s really just a haphazardly-compiled list of things I’d love to have. But all the same, here goes:

Cookbooks

Michael Symon’s Live to Cook

This is the first cookbook from Cleveland chef Michael Symon. I haven’t seen the book, but the one recipe I made from it — tomato blue cheese soup — was hands down the best tomato soup I’ve ever had. If the rest of the book has recipes like that one, I’m sold.

David Chang’s Momofuku

By now you’ve all heard me wax poetic about David Chang’s New York restaurant empire, Momofuku. The food at these restaurants — and I’ve been to three of them — is some of the best I’ve had in New York, and you know it’s good when, in a city with as cut-throat a restaurant culture as Manhattan, the man’s managed to open up five joints in no time, all of which frequently have lines at the door. This cookbook (which I’ve peeked at several times) brings Chang’s mastery of flavor into the home. His proportions are spot-on, and he makes deliciousness from such simple ingredients. I made his soba with scallion dressing, and what looks like a big pile of scallions with brown sauce all over them turns out to be a phenomenal bowl of noodles. I’m hungry for more.

Canal House Cooking, Vol. 1

This is the first in a series of what will be four cookbooks, one for each time of year. The books are written by Christopher Hirsheimer & Melissa Hamilton, who are as skilled in the art of food photography as they are at developing damn good recipes. I’ve peeked in these cookbooks at BN, and they’re just gorgeous. The book evokes that feeling I get toward the end of a lazy summer weekend afternoon, when the sun is setting over my neighborhood and the air is cooling off, and the most important thing I have to do is sip a good glass of wine.

(...)
Read the rest of My Hanukkah Wishlist

© rivka for Not Derby Pie, 2009. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

Imagine my surprise when, as I was leaving my parents’ house, I spotted a big, unmistakable box in their basement.

It most certainly wasn’t empty.

I knew my mom’s kitchenaid was upstairs (being used that very moment, in fact, to mix her challah dough), so this big box downstairs must contain…..another kitchenaid!

Indeed, after just one round of thinly-veiled pleading, my mom picked me up from the metro for a matinee performance, and insisted on driving me home afterward, new toy in tow. Needless to say, as soon as I got home, I popped this baby out of the box and took it for a test drive.

It’s everything I’ve ever dreamed a kitchenaid would be — like a second set of hands that’s better than my own. Ok, there are certain things my digits can do that a kitchenaid can’t.

If you think of any, let me know.

© rivka for Not Derby Pie, 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: