Merry Christmas, kitchen!

As promised, here's the rundown of the great Christmas gifts I received this year -- nearly all to benefit my new kitchen! A beautiful candy/dessert bowl, french-style rolling pin (can FINALLY throw out that old wine bottle!!), various kitchen tools, new knives (and a knife technique course), and 8 bowls to match the plates my parents bought me for my birthday last year. I really do feel lucky to have such amazing friends and family to be supporting my cooking in 2010!! a BIG thank you to you all.

 

 

My grandmother also gave me some money for Christmas, and this is what I'm ordering once we get back to Washington:

A few notes on food-related gifts:

• Gifts for food people can generally be grouped into two categories: actual food-things, and cooking things. Some cooks might be picky about tools for his or her kitchen - though I'm still in the process of setting up my first kitchen, so I love all kinds of tools! Serious cooks, from what I can tell, tend to shy away from things that can only be used for one particular thing (garlic peelers, pineapple corers, etc) or things that are bulky to store (waffle makers, blenders, etc.)
• Another great gift is something that looks unique that can be used for serving: relish dishes, appetizer plates, bowls, serving spoons or tongs, sugar bowls, cream pitchers, salt/pepper shakers, etc. Places like Marshalls or Homegoods make these available at really great prices. They're also great because they don't necessarily have to match anything else at the table. 
• Actual food items are a great idea for folks cooking on a budget -- this can range from a simple grocery store gift card (maybe a place they might not usually be able to shop - cheese shops, Whole Foods, Kowalskis) to higher end ingredients your cook might not normally buy for him or herself: fancy olive oil (or other flavored oils: walnut, truffle, sunflower seed, etc), spreads and jams, peppercorns, dried mushrooms.
• And a great standby? Kitchen towels. I've received some fantastic dish towels from people -- a gift you use everyday, and rarely think to buy nice ones for yourself. Everywhere from Target to Williams Sonoma to Anthropologie sell a range of beautiful prints, patterns, and a variety of textures. 
  

Dreaming? of putting all of my new kitchen gear to use in the New Year!

#10in10 update: I started food journaling again - writing down everything that I eat, and the exercise I've done, each day as a strategy for the #10in10 challenge, hosted by Recipe Girl. Hopefully this will help me to think about everything that goes into my mouth throughout the day, and consider why I'm eating them!