Best Christmas Kitchen Gifts

I tend to pick a theme when suggesting gift ideas, and apparently this year's was food. Or, food-related stuffs. I unwrapped books, a carving set, glassware, and tons of chocolates. Here are a few of my favorite things.

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. While Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma certainly carried a message, it attempted to present evidence rather than forcefully argue a point. 48 pages in, In Defense of Food proves to actually be quite the manifesto -- less research-heavy journalism, more crowd-rallying call to arms (or maybe a call to asparagus) against the vast western conspiracy of processed food-like products. It's a short book, and engaging, fairly repetitive and predictable, but still researched, informative, and convincing. In summary (right there on the cover): "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." Words to live by.

A small covered casserole dish, perfect for side dishes. I used it right away, for a crispy, buttery potatoes on Christmas night -- look for this in another post.

Giant glass canisters for flour, sugar, and ... ? I put these on my wish list, without quite realizing how huge they are. But they're perfect. One enormous tub of flour, one of sugar, and a third currently full of dog biscuits -- while this looks cute, I've discovered that sealed glass jars of meat-flavored treats get smelly when sitting in the sun. The contents may need to change.

Lots of Starbucks. While the 'bucks may not be my favorite coffee ever, I like the Christmas blend well enough. Very fortunate, since we've had about four pounds of it this season. Brian's mom threw in some instant, just in case. :)

Mysterious spinning vegetable chopper. I've never seen this item before, but Brian's mom labeled the gift tag one of her "most-used kitchen gadgets." It works with some kind of pulley, and as long as I don't sent the metal blades flying helicopter-style through the kitchen, the promise of fresh salsa is very exciting.

Stemless wine glasses. Sometimes it pays to ask for exactly what you want. The set my mom picked out are big (17 ounces), which makes them good for things other than wine. Water. Or eggnog. Or maybe something with coffee -- who wants Christmas blend? I've got four pounds!