By now, you’re likely within the throes of holiday shopping, attempting to balance the Amazon “Buy Now” clicks with gifts that provide a bit something more. Our annual holiday gift guide is a treasure trove of thoughtfully curated, locally-made gift ideas for those in your list who love food, drinks — there’s definitely a wine theme this 12 months — and adventure.
You’ll find the proper present to nurture the curious kid in your life, the best gift for dessert fiends and a cocktail book that uncovers the Bay Area’s best watering holes — and their drink recipes, too. Oh, and we totally support the “one for them, one for me” motto.
EAT: A DIY churro kit
Dessert fiends will relish the chance to make golden-fried, cinnamon sugar-coated churros at home with this everything-but-the-oil kit from Global Grub. The Walnut Creek-based company makes eight DIY food kits, from sushi and ravioli to next-level focaccia (yes, bread art continues to be thriving) and Iron Chef Morimoto-approved mochi doughnuts.
The DIY Churro Kit features a piping set, churro mix, cinnamon sugar, chocolate dipping mix and step-by-step instructions to get those ridged fritters excellent. All it’s essential add is water and a couple of/3 cup vegetable oil. A deep-fry thermometer is very really helpful to take care of the best churro-loving temperature of 375 degrees, but additionally they offer tips about the right way to achieve deep-fry bliss without one.
Details: DIY kits range from $32 to $43 — the churro kit is $40 — and may be shipped nationwide from Global Grub or Unusual Goods. https://globalgrub.com
PLAY: Atlas Obscura for teenagers
Know a child obsessive about awesomely weird facts, like how the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Texas (yes, they’ve one) has a cowboy hat on top? They’ll fall in love with “The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid” (Workman Publishing). The Latest York Times bestseller got here out in 2018 but this paperback edition is recent and far easier for budding globetrotters to tote around.
With gorgeous full-color illustrations by Joy Ang, authors Dylan Thuras and Rosemary Mosco brilliantly dive into 100 destinations across 47 countries, exploring every little thing from the world’s largest cave — it’s in Vietnam — to the Cambodian belief that the human head is sacred and may never be patted. And this mindbender: Until about 8,000 years ago, sea levels were so low you possibly can walk from England to France.
Make sure to indicate the handy packing list, world map and GPS coordinates to your future geography or anthropology major.
Details: For ages 8-12. $15 at https://books.atlasobscura.com or out of your favorite indie bookstore. (Indiebound.org can show you how to find one near you.)
DRINK: San Francisco cocktail book
Cocktail lovers who try to duplicate their favorite Bay Area bar’s creations will flip over SF Weekly author Trevor Felch’s recent cocktail book. Reading “San Francisco Cocktails: An Elegant Collection of Over 100 Recipes Inspired by the City by the Bay,” they’ll not only master the history of our region’s classic watering holes — think Trader Vic’s and its Mai Tai — but additionally the important thing players in the fashionable craft movement, from Foreign Cinema to Paper Plane and Bourbon & Branch, and the rising stars.
After Felch makes his way through The Mission (Elixir and its 2018 Cocktail of the Yr, Pamplemousse Au Poivre), SoMa (Burma Club’s Ananda Spritz) and Chinatown (Cold Drinks’ Sometimes Old Fashioned), he introduces readers to the perfect watering holes across the Bay. Selby’s in Redwood City has the proper martini cart. Oakland’s Viridian makes an umami-rich must-sip, the Tomato Beef. And at Palo Alto’s rum-centric La Bodeguita del Medio, it’s all about The Mario, an off-menu riff on the Hemingway.
Bravo to Felch for this comprehensive, discovery-filled collection. It’ll make you thirsty.
Details: $23. “San Francisco Cocktails: An Elegant Collection of Over 100 Recipes Inspired by the City by the Bay” is published by Cider Mill Press. Find it on the De Young Museum Store or your local book store.
DRINK + PLAY: Torch Flask
Warming one’s bones after a day within the mountains. Easing right into a night of sleeping on pine cones. Disinfecting wounds and, god forbid, splashing into the face of a charging bear. Booze has many practical applications within the backcountry.
For people who need to pack it in style, there’s the Torch pocket flask from San Rafael’s High Camp Flasks, whose motto is: “Simply because we’re outdoors doesn’t mean we want to drink like animals.”
The flask is small at 6 ounces but designed to deliver the proper sip. For those who like your drinks neat, just fill it up and rest assured the chrome steel interior won’t impart any weird metallic tastes. For a calming tipple, unscrew the bottom and insert ice – the double partitions will keep it cold. (That removable base also makes the flask easy to scrub.) And in case you’re dangling from a cliff and wish a lift of liquid adrenaline the sake cup-inspired shot cap is well popped open by one hand, because of its magnetic coupling.
Details: A Torch Flask is $99. Other sizes and styles (with laser-customization options) can be found at highcampflasks.com.
EAT + DRINK: Wine-stained aprons
Know any person who loves wine a lot they need to transcend drinking it? Then perhaps help them wear it, with a nifty chef’s apron that gets its fetching violet hue from cabernet sauvignon.
Heritage Aprons are the results of a partnership between Napa’s nearly century-old Louis M. Martini winery and San Francisco’s Lundy Way, a bespoke clothing operation founded by a culinary pro from Pacifica whose industry fans include Bryan Voltaggio of “Top Chef” fame.
The heavyweight organic cotton garments are wine-stained to create washes of purple that could have your dinner guests experiencing phantom smells of oak and cassis. (If you should go crazy, Martini’s website also offers exclusive tie-died versions with bottles of fancy cab for $750.) Handy lap and chest pockets keep pens and recipe books in quick reach. Better of all, spill some wine, and it’ll mix into the clothing just fantastic – you may view it as refreshing the apron’s signature hue.
Details: The $85 double-stitched aprons measure 31 inches long and 33 inches wide, with adjustable straps, and can be found in limited quantity at lundyway.com.
EAT: Chocolate made with wine pomace
What happens to wine grapes after their juices have been pressed to make vino? Some vintners distill this pomace, because it’s called, into grappa or use it to make flavored oils. For those who occur to own a spa, too, you possibly can whip it up into quite the scrub treatment. But by and enormous, these leftover solids make their way into animal feed, compost or waste. A number of waste.
One Santa Rosa-based company discovered the right way to dry and mill the pomace into an antioxidant-packed byproduct called WellVine Chardonnay Marc — and put it in wealthy, premium chocolate.
Jackson Family Wines’ aptly-named Vine to Bar upcycled dark chocolate accommodates no alcohol but pairs very well with wine, especially the Tart Cherry with Cocoa Nibs bar. Get yourself — er, your chocolate-loving boo — the library box which comes with 4 bars. Sustainable and scrumptious.
Details: The box ($34.50) includes Dark Chocolate, Almond with Pink Himalayan Salt, Chardonnay Smoked Salt and Cocoa Nibs and the tart cherry. Available at www.vinetobar.com.
PLAY: Bejeweled dog collars
Buster needs something special under the tree this 12 months. For him or the dog lover in your life, look no further than Paco Collars. The tiny, four-person, Berkeley-based business focuses on beautiful handcrafted Latigo leather collars often studded with silver hardware or, say, aqua gemocites or fuchsia moonstones. Latigo is similar leather utilized in horse tack, and it’s specially treated to last.
Owner-founder Ana Poe, a lifetime craftsperson and dog skilled, began Paco Collars in 2002 after they couldn’t find Paco, their pit bull, a high-quality leather collar that didn’t make him look intimidating. Poe and their crew make matching leashes and bracelets — yes, bracelets — and take custom orders, too, if Boomer is on the lookout for a specific gem to bring out the gold in his fur.
Details: Collars are available three sizes and begin at $60. Bracelets are $50. Order online at https://pacocollars.com or make an appointment to go to the shop at 2245 Fifth St. in Berkeley.
DRINK: L’Apero les Trois
Food author Georgeanne Brennan — who occasionally writes for these pages — literally wrote the book on French-style aperitifs, each the brilliant, light sip and the convivial pre-dinner practice of relaxing with friends over a palate teaser. Think Lillet, Pastis, and locally made L’Apero les Trois. C’est bon!
Brennan teamed up with partners Corinne Martinez, co-owner of Berryessa Gap Vineyards and winemaker Nicole Salengo, to launch an aperitif tasting room in downtown Winters last spring. Available in six tempting flavors, their low-alcohol, small batch L’Apero les Trois is made by infusing wine with fresh fruit from nearby orchards. Think sauvignon blanc-based Meyer lemon, chardonnay-meets-quince or dry rosé with Blenheim apricots or rosemary-orange.
A 24-ounce bottle ($40) makes a stunning hostess gift. A trio of les Trois makes an announcement, especially in case you add a bottle of bubbly to make sparkling cocktails.
Details: $110 for a set of three at laperolestrois.com or on the L’Apero les Trois Tasting Room at 22 Most important St. in Winters.
PLAY: Park and forest passes
“Big things are available small packages” – did you recognize that applies to hundreds of thousands of acres of parkland? For the outdoorsy person in your social circle, slip them an envelope with a pass for California’s state or regional parks. It’s practical, yes, but additionally an important excuse to explore parts unknown while supporting the worthy reason behind wilderness preservation.
A Southern California Annual Forest Adventure Pass ($29.99) gets a automotive in free to 4 great national forests, including San Bernardino and Los Padres. A Sacramento County Annual Park Pass ($59.99) grants a 12 months’s access to the American River Parkway, while a Sonoma County Regional Parks Annual Pass ($68.99) opens up 50-plus locations within the Russian River and Sonoma Valley with camping and boat-launching perks. And a family membership to the most important urban regional-parks district within the country – that will be the East Bay ($59.99) – includes unlimited parking, trailer permits, camping discounts, concessionaire deals and free swimming when the weather’s warm.
Details: Available through REI within the “park passes” section
EAT + PLAY: Sidewalk Food Tours
For those who’re walking blocks between bites, the calories don’t count, right? These San Francisco food tours take you — er, your gift recipient (but perhaps also you) — into the streets of North Beach to sample the delights at five Italian establishments, from a contemporary burrata and mozzarella bar to an Italian deli that dates back to 1896. Or the alleys of Chinatown for dim sum and buttery buns full of cha siu pork. Or the Mission district, where you get to skip the queue at Tartine.
It’s a sociable walking tour that’s as much about history and culture because it is about delicious bites.
Details: Walking tours, which start at $75, are offered Friday-Sunday. Gift cards can be found, too. https://sidewalkfoodtours.com
Staff author Brittany Delay contributed to this story.
