Michele StuevenWith more of us cooking at home this year, cookbooks have never been hotter. Pop a bottle of personalized champagne to go with your Forma cheese platter, light up some incense for your Michelle Obama Ritual Palo Santo Holder and get cooking with a little Aster Farms x Potli Cannabis Infused Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Nancy Silverton’s latest cookbook. Here are some holiday gift ideas that you can shop and ship while hunkered down.
Santa Monica restaurateur Yunnie Kim Morena has teamed up with Kym Gold of Style Union Home to create a new collection of ritual items, multipurpose plates, and an exclusive cloud nesting bowl launching December 1st on kimchiavocado.com. The collection ranges from $45 for the Ruth Ceramic Bowl to $185 for the Matilda 3 Piece Ceramic Cloud Spice Bowl Set. Morena chose pieces in colors of grey, white and light blush to reflect her California lifestyle, while also honoring her Korean roots.
That blend can best be seen in the Michelle Ceramic Ritual Palo Santo Holder (named after Michelle Obama, $65 retail) and Kamala Ceramic Tea Mug (named after Kamala Harris, $60 retail). Both items have become daily ritual pieces that have helped Morena herself stay grounded during Covid.
KimChi Avocado by Style Union Home ( Yu Tsai)
The Matilda Ceramic Cloud Spice bowls (named after Matilda Joslyn Gage, $185 retail) can be used for everything from charcuterie boards to holding your jewelry when cooking or even banchan (small side dishes in Korean cuisine).
The Coco Ceramic Blate (named after Coco Chanel, $70 retail) is a hybrid between a bowl and a plate, and the Stephanie Ceramic Utility Vase (named after Morena’s close friend Stephanie who is a cancer survivor, $85 retail) is the perfect vessel for holding utensils, toothbrushes and chopsticks.
Forma, with locations in Venice and Santa Monica, is known for one of the most extensive collections of domestic and imported cheeses, curated by chef Piero Topputo and co-owner Mario Sabatino and is offering cheese platters, an impressive and stress-free holiday gift. The menu features more than 70 varieties, including bloomy rind, washed-rind, blue veined, truffled, soft and hard cheeses. Each cheese ranges from $13 – $29 for a 4oz. takeout portion.
To make the cheese board process as simple as possible, all cheeses come with accompaniments including dry apricots, dry cranberries, almonds, walnuts, Tarallucci bread, pecan and fruit toasted baguette, honey and marmalade. If selecting cheeses feels a bit intimidating, the team at Forma can walk guests through the process of building a balanced board. Their recommended picks for the holidays include French Triple cream, Fourme D’Ambert, Moliterno with Truffle, Cabra Romero and Red Hawk.
Check out the “Cheese at Home” tab on their online menu to view the full selection. Guests can order online for pickup or delivery (also via Postmates, DoorDash and Caviar) or they can call their nearest Forma location to order for pick-up.
Aster Farms Potli EVOO (@thefutureisflower Lizi Trout)
Combining their famed sustainably farmed cannabis with a Tuscan olive blend from the family’s award-winning Campodonico organic farms, Aster Farms in Northern California has partnered with premium pantry goods company Potli for a special holiday drop: Aster Farms x Potli Cannabis Infused Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
Home to both Aster Farms cannabis and Campodonico olives, this limited edition EVOO is an ode to Lake County California’s unique terroir. At 1,300 feet in elevation, across nine-and-a-half acres of volcanic Lacustrine soils, every bottle was harvested with intention using an olive oil blend from Campodonico organic farm and other Lake County olive farms. The Tuscan variety olives, locally blended, are balanced with a single strain of Aster Farm’s sun-grown Watermelon OG. The oil — featuring bold, green and peppery notes — is perfect for promoting relaxation, increasing appetites and senses. Each 8.45 fl oz bottle contains 100mg THC, 8mg CBD, and has a suggested retail price of $35.
Moët & Chandon’s Specially Yours program provides a simple way to personalize gift boxes online in just a few clicks. Upon purchasing a bottle of Impérial Brut or Rosé Impérial, visit moetpersonalization.com to begin the customization process. When customizing the front of the box, you have the option of choosing from a bank of suggested words, or you can choose your own message up to 16 characters. Wine offerings include Moët Impérial Brut (SRP $44,) the Champagne House’s flagship wine, with a golden straw yellow color and bright fruity aromas of apple, pear, white peach and citrus as well as the Moët Rosé Impérial (SRP $60), distinguished by its pink and amber color and bouquet of red fruits and juicy berries.
Courtesy Moet & Chandon
With more of us in the kitchen this year, it’s been a boon for cookbooks. CHI SPACCA: A New Approach to American Cooking ($30) is Mozzaplex Group Nancy Silverton’s 10thbook and is the perfect gift for this holiday season as more of us are cooking at home. The collection of recipes named after her restaurant, which translates to “he or she who cleaves,” includes rubs and spices as well as her grilled tomahawk pork chop with fennel pollen, braised brisket and porcini-rubbed double bone veal chops with roasted onions and brown butter jus. There are also plenty of sides and salads as well to lend comfort to the season.
And if meat’s not your beast, The VegNews Guide to Being a Fabulous Vegan: Look Good, Feel Good & Do Good in 30 Days (Hachette Go, 12/15/20, Paperback, $19.99) is an all-in-one, super practical guide to going vegan.
The number of people identifying as vegan has increased dramatically in the last three years, thanks to trends like Meatless Mondays and Veganuary and celebrities like Joaquin Phoenix and Mayim Bialik speaking out on the virtues of the plant-based life. Longtime VegNews editor Jasmin Singer shares everything you need to know about the myths and realities of adopting a plant-based life in 30 chapters, broken into daily topics covering everything from that inevitable where-do-you-get-your-protein question, to how not to be an a**hole vegan. Every chapter ends with a tasty recipe from the VegNews team.
Courtesy Alfred A. Knopf
As consumers aim to avoid shopping in stores and ship packages to friends and family they won’t be gathering with this year, shipping carriers will be strained with the surge in online shopping.
National Cookie Day is Friday, December 4th and to gear up for the holiday season, One Potato, the organic family focused meal kit delivery service, has three cookie-making kits to celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanza at home. Each box (priced at $35) includes four rolls of sugar cookie dough (each roll makes six cookies), two cookie cutters and one sprinkle container of sprinkles and ribbon. Additionally, One Potato will be offering latke kits during Hanukkah.
Drip is a spicy chili sauce made with imported Calabrian chili peppers and Southeast Asian chili peppers created by Chef Tony Nguyen from Crustacean Beverly Hills. Inspired by his love for Italian and Asian flavors, Drip was created by accident while Nguyen was experimenting in the kitchen, combining his favorite peppers together along with other ingredients to give the sauce a balance of heat and umami. It’s a perfect blend of heat and pepper flavor to top off breakfast, lunch and dinner. The mix of Calabrian chilis, Southeast Asian peppers, California heirloom garlic, organic raw honey, other secret spices, including imported black pepper from Vietnam, is good enough to put on ice cream. $20 per jar, order at OfficialDripSauce.com and use promocode laweekly for a 15% discount.
Courtesy Drip Sauce
As we approach winter and gardens are dormant, you can bring the scents of spring into your home for the holidays with Flamingo Estate’s three unique candles – Climbing Tuscan Rosemary, Roma Heirloom Tomato and Adriatic Muscatel Sage. L.A.’s secret garden, the estate is committed to radical honesty with no harmful chemicals, synthetic additives or preservatives. The 100% vegetable wax candles are hand-poured into sturdy, reusable containers and burn for over 60 hours ($45 each, or a set of three for $120). Available online here or at the pop-up store at Platform in Culver City which also carries Chrissy Tiegen’s orchard jams, limited edition panettone and natural beauty products.
Amazing Clubs is an easy and safe gift this holiday season that will keep on giving well into 2021, featuring dozens of top-rated gift of the month clubs. Not only will your loved ones have something to open during the holidays with a printable certificate, but also continue to receive gifts each month. With everything from beer, wine and coffee to bacon, peanut butter, ice cream and lobster, the customized Variety Club offers 7.8 billion different club combinations to help you create a perfect personalized gift.
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