The past two days, our Good Life gift guides have hinted at presents for the hip and the healthy.
Today, we get a little thrifty with a grocer’s sack of culinary goods. While one or two may strain your budget, most won’t. Some could even serve as slightly upscale stocking stuffers.
The Good Life will continue with its gift guides on Thursday, providing hints for children’s gifts, before concluding Saturday with presents for the outdoorsmen and travellers.
For a look at past guides, visit www.heraldnet.com.
Ice Cream Cold Keeper ($10)
What: Sitting on the couch in your pajamas with a pint of ice cream just got easier — it wasn’t quite easy enough already — thanks to the Cold Keeper, an insulated sleeve for pints of ice cream.
Upside: The Cold Keeper acts like a drink cozy for ice cream fans. No longer will your loved one have frozen fingers when they indulge straight from the carton.
Downside: The true ice cream aficionado may prefer to buy ice cream by the gallon, but the Cold Keeper comes only in a pint size.
Recipe divider ($7)
What: The Recipe Divider by Crate and Barrel subtracts the math from converting recipe measurements. Using a two-disk system, a cook can rotate a wheel for help on how to halve, double or triple an ingredient.
Upside: With a magnetic back, the divider can be mounted on a refrigerator or appliance for quick-glance answers.
Downside: The recipe divider doesn’t tackle the trickier fractions. Put another way, the divider tells you how to triple one cup — pretty obvious, no? — but it doesn’t triple 2/3 or 3/4 of a cup.
Head Chefs ($10 each)
What: With bendable arms and legs, the Head Chefs from Fiesta Products are part kitchen utensil, part action figure and part countertop decoration. Each has suction-cupped feet, making it easy to display.
Upside: If you have budding chefs in the family, these bright tools are sure to spur their culinary concoctions. Plus, the utensils are made from 100 percent silicone, so they’re dishwasher-safe.
Downside: The odd shapes could provide style over substance. They’ll take up more space in a kitchen drawer than your average spatula or spoon, and could be trickier to maneuver in a mixing bowl.
Lumatong with grab light ($20)
What: Designed by the author of “The Barbecue Bible,” these tongs come mounted with two LED bulbs attached to the handle.
Upside: Along with helping illuminate your grilled goods, the lights are detachable, making them easier to clean.
Downside: Your grill master probably does most of his or her work in the summer, when the sun stays out until 10 p.m., so it’s hard to say how often these will come into use.
Large holiday hat box from ShopSucre.com, large ($129)
What: They may cost a lot more than a box of Whitman’s, but these primo candies are sure to be a hit with a candy connoisseur.
Upside: While Sucre, a New Orleans confectionery, offers smaller gift boxes, it’s hard to pass up the large holiday hat box, which comes with a bag of coffee, a bag of cookies, some macaroons, chocolate covered pecans and holiday bark — white and dark chocolate topped with candy canes.
Downside: If you don’t share — which hey, we totally understand — you could end up with spoiled treats. The candies are made using fresh cream and butter, and go bad in about three weeks.
Andy Rathbun, arathbun@heraldnet.com, 425-339-3455
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