Cookbooks
Milk Bar, run by Christina Tosi, is the bakery portion of David Chang's Momofuku empire. This book gives away all of Christina's secrets and recipes for cereal milk, compost cookies, crack pie, and the inventive layer cakes and soft serve ice cream for which she's known. The book is a fun read, and a great gift for the sugar addict in your life.
This book literally changed my life. After a single disastrous attempt at baking bread at home, I was terrified to try again. But one batch of successful bread later, I was a convert to Hertzberg and Francois' wet-dough, no knead method. Now I'm a baking fool, and you can be too. Reminds me...I should make up a batch of brioche dough this week.... They also have a healthy bread book, if you're into baking with multiple grains.
Other Stuff
Yeah, this is kind of an old-fashioned gadget, but it really makes the drudgery of peeling and coring apples go much faster. And it's fun! I was introduced to this thingy a friend who was a Pampered Chef rep. We spent an afternoon disemboweling dozens of apples for a slew of pies and it took no time at all. And no backache (which I can get from peeling only 2 or 3 apples at a time). There are versions with screw clamps and suction cups; I prefer the latter. Oh, and it works on potatoes, too.
My mom had a hammer-style meat tenderizer with two sizes of teeth. It was terrible for making chicken cutlets because it tore the meat rather than flatten it. It also ripped up the sheet of plastic wrap used between the meat and the hammer and embedded little bits of plastic in the chicken. Not good. When Mr Minx and I got married, he brought with him a plastic version of the same which eventually cracked in half after I took out my frustrations on a pork chop. So I got smart and bought myself a flat pounder. Not only does it produce super-thin meat for quick frying or roulades, it's also good for smashing nuts, crackers, and kosher salt. A cave-man food processor, if you will. Just don't drop it on your foot.
Speaking of food processors, I got my first Cuisinart well over 20 years ago and used it incessantly until I cracked the bowl and burned out the motor. I could do everything with it - from puréeing vegetables, to grinding nuts, to shredding cabbage for the world's fastest cole slaw. This year, I want an upgrade to this professional model, which offers a dough blade in addition to the cutting blade, plus three shredding/slicing disks.
Food bloggers need a good camera, something small that can be tucked into a pocket and whipped out when a photo op presents itself. We got a Canon PowerShot a couple of years back and love it. While it's small and relatively no-frills, and certainly not professional-grade, it takes nice clear photos, with or without flash, and is perfect for our use. Removing photos from camera to computer is a snap with the accompanying USB cord, and recharging the battery only involves popping it into a DC charger for a couple of hours.
Plain white dinnerware makes for a nice backdrop for the photo-taking food blogger because it doesn't detract from the beauty of the food. I love this set of rounded square plates by 10 Strawberry Street, and especially the elongated bowl. I also love that the set is both durable for everyday use and dishwasher safe.
If only I had a dishwasher....
Last, and certainly not least, the SousVide Supreme™ may just be the perfect gift for the ultimate foodie! (I have one.) Click the banner below to find out more and to purchase directly from the manufacturer.
2 comments:
I can't believe you don't have a dishwasher!!! Queen Ginger has 2: and American-made automatic model from KitchenAid and a Mexican-maid manual model named Celia- and the Queen would be lost without either! Your poor manicure!
I think a dishwasher is a luxury for people who lots of storage space, dishes, and kids. We have none of the above, so hand-washing is more than adequate.
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