Blood Harmony Volume 31: Holidaze 2023
Hello all,
Somehow in the midst of everything, it is gift giving season. I won’t pretend to have any novel insights into geopolitics or effective strategies to combat climate change. I can offer gift suggestions for your loved ones and hope that you are able to gather together and find comfort in each other’s company this holiday season.
Kitchen Sundries
I am very into two products from The Mala Market (a very cool mother/daughter owned business): this green Sichuan pepper oil and this dark soy sauce. The Sichuan oil has an incredible vegetal burn and the soy sauce is complex and full of umami. But honestly, everything in this shop looks fantastic and you could also just give the cook in your life a gift certificate and call it good.
I finally got on the hot honey bandwagon and in unsurprising news, it is delicious! Get it for the spice lover in your life to put on their pizza/eggs/fried chicken. I wouldn’t be upset to find a jar of the Best Peanut Butter ever in my stocking (evaluated by me, confirmed by my sibling and one of my best friends). Because it’s the peanut butter spread, it does not separate. This is important to me. Fun facts about Ikea: their jam is totally delicious and you can order it from Amazon! The lingonberry jam is super tart and the raspberry/blueberry combo is fantastic. I don’t recommend the frozen meatballs (however tasty) as stocking stuffers though from a practical standpoint.
Does someone in your life like to grill? Put this three pack of grill seasonings from Spicewalla in their arsenal! Does someone else like cookbooks? This one is awesome and the design is excellent! Warning: this is a substantially sized cookbook. I also love this one which is full of recipes with one additional interesting thing (a topping, a sauce, something fermented, etc.) that really makes it sing.
For the sober or sober curious folks in your life, I love this non-alcoholic aperitivo. It looks beautiful and the taste is complex. My favorite way to drink it is to add it to tonic water over ice.
I found this cast iron cleaner at a shop near my house and I use it all the time now. It really works to clean and condition your pans. I was gifted this wonderful stove top grill pan this year and it’s awesome! It turns your stove top into a grill but you can also put it in the oven.
A few months back, I finally made it to an East Fork Pottery seconds sale here in town. I’m not lying when I say that it makes me happy every time I use one of my bowls. The colors are beautiful and the shapes are very satisfying to hold/look at. They also have some really cool cooking accoutrements like these recycled Moroccan glasses.
Paper
Yes, I am a philatelist. But also, don’t sleep on USPS for gifts! Does your dog need a mail carrier costume? Do you enjoy the art of Roy Lichtenstein? Do you want to celebrate the life and work of John Lewis? Do you love posters of old train stations rendered in Art Deco style? The postal service has you covered!
Looking for the best pens to write notes with? True pen lovers like myself know there is only one place to indulge: Jetpens. These are my favorites. Jetpens is a dangerous and incredible place. Maybe you need some washi tape stickers that look like sliced fruits and vegetables? Or a pencil case about the best concert ever? Or a beautiful notebook to write all of your hopes and dreams in? I’m also VERY into notepads from this company. The weight of the paper is heaven.
Bras
I recently went and got an official bra fitting for the first time in…a decade? Maybe two? Shocking no one, it turns out that I have been wearing the wrong size. I went to a lovely shop called The Perky Lady (ha!) and they charged a fitting fee that was then applied to any bras that I bought. I highly recommend a gift certificate to a local version of The Perky Lady for the bra-wearers in your life. It’s one of those small things you can do to tend to yourself that ends up feeling very satisfying.
T-Shirts for The Pop Culture Obsessed Gen Xers/Elder Millennials In Your Life
Pedro Pascal showed up on SNL wearing this t-shirt recently send me down a Built by Wendy rabbit hole. I used to have her sewing books back in the day and they were so cool! These t-shirts contain very specific references for a very specific demographic. You’re welcome.
Media
I recently got a Sunday-only subscription to the New York Times (it also gives you access to all of their online content including Cooking). Recommend! The pictures look beautiful, you get the book review and you have all week to read through the sections. Subscriptions are currently 50% off!
I’m just going to keep going with the fairly pretentious media recommendations! I gifted myself a subscription to The Criterion Channel for my birthday this year. It’s wonderfully curated (no surprise!) and points me in the direction of things I might never have watched otherwise.
I was going to suggest some books but I mainly read a combination of romance novels and books about grief this year and I’m not sure if any of them would make great gifts (just in case though my favorite in the former category was The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen which was a fantasy romance that did involve a fair bit of grief and my favorite in the latter category was A Heart That Works by Rob Delaney which is one of the most beautiful, funny and moving books I’ve ever read). But for the reader in your life I’m going to sign off on this neck reading light that is aces!
Cheers and good luck to you!