Five Favorites*: Christmas Gifts

Fair game, because the Vatican doesn't take down their creche until this Sunday.

1) Ikea Pots and Pans

My mom got these for the Bean, and he is seriously loving them. The quality is great. It doesn't say so on the package, but I'm pretty sure you could actually cook tiny meals with these. One of these is in our near future, because we need a place to store our burgeoning food toy collection (except I think I'll get one with a drawer to look more like an oven, and put real knobs on. And gas, because who wants to cook on electric?)

Downside (sort of): I need to knit him some more food toys, because he keeps asking me for bacon and eggs to cook. These were in his stocking, because how else are you going to flip your imaginary bacon?

2) Revereware Tea Kettle

And a pot for me! Technically a belated birthday present, but definitely a favorite. I had the exact same one, but second- or third-hand, with a broken whistle. In consequence of said broken whistle, I'd boiled it dry a couple of times, and started ending up with weird (hard-water buildup?) flakes in the bottom of my cup. And then the lid broke off entirely. Suffice it to say it was time. I'd forgotten how great a working whistle is, and the Bean loves it, too, because it sounds like a train.

3) Our own Mini Golf Course

Come spring, this will be an outside toy, but for now, it's winning the cabin fever awards, big time.

4) Bringing It to the Table: On Farming and Food

I'll write a better review when I'm finished, but I've been gobbling up (pun intended) this collection of essays by Wendell Berry. In the introduction, Michael Pollan writes that Wendell Berry was the solution to his "Thoreau problem", i.e., a desire to respect the wild so much that we fail at cultivation. In other words, he strikes the right balance between dominion and stewardship. If you read this, take note of the dates on the essays. The ideas hit so precisely upon modern food concerns that you won't believe how long ago many of them were written. Berry is a man who manages to be well ahead of his time, by synthesizing the ideas of the past.

5) Meals!

Is there anything better you could give a nine-months-pregnant woman than restaurant gift cards? I say no.

*Peanut was the real favorite Christmas gift, of course, but it seems unfair to the rest of the list to include him. :-)