ISO: Possibly food related--ISO hostess gift ideas

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shaun-in-to

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While we are in Italy in October, we have been invited to stay a few days with a woman I have worked closely with but who is not enough of a friend (yet) that I can guess her personal tastes. Usually when we travel or visit, our hostess gifts are food-related, but it seems absurd to take food or wine to a woman who operates an organic farm and who has written a cookbook and is starting a winery on the same property (not that you can travel with bottles now anyway). To complicate things, her husband is often back in Canada on business and can fetch whatever she needs. I obviously have zero ideas, and any would be appreciated. Thank you!

 
I wonder if she would enjoy wine toppers (caps) made out silver, that look like grapes, etc. or

bottle tags that hang wround the bottle necks.

 
Something food-related but distnctly American: i.e. Chocolate Chip Cookies,

Peanut Brittle, Chocolate-Pecan Turtles, Pepperidge Farm Cookies, a Collins Street Bakery Fruitcake, or Cajun Seasonings, New Mexico Chile Powder, Jalapeno Jelly, etc. What seems run-of-the-mill here might seem very exotic over there.

 
Reminds me of visiting Germany many moons ago. We always had to bring peanut butter and chewing gum

 
In the same situation and here's what I bring...

a book about the history of my area, it serves as an informal invitation to come visit, or for someone who loves to cook I bring a very current cookbook (local or regional) that I think may be of interest. I usually stick to previously-published, fairly influential writers... for my area that's often Alice Waters, Thomas Keller, Alice Medrich, if "TO" indicates Toronto than perhaps you might consider Susur Lee? Often, I'll bring along a set of stainless measuring cups & spoons (since the cookbooks I'm giving as a gift are typically in American measures without conversions) and I include any ingredients that may be difficult for them to procure. All can easily be packed in my luggage, tied with a beautiful fabric bow at the last minute, and presented as is.

For Italy, plants and vegetable products require a special certificate to get through customs, but I've not had any sealed items seized.

Enjoy... I'm planning to go back to Italy myself (next year),
R.

 
Retro Candy - Why not have some fun and bring some...

licorice, mallo cups, those silly elastic candy necklaces. I brought this stuff to an ADULT party once and they were a great hit. I have the greatest picture of the whole crowd with the men wearing the yucky black wax mustaches and the women wearing the ruby-red lips. So funny.

 
Shaun, where will you be in October?

We are also going to be in Italy in October....going from Milan airport to Florence, then Siena, then riding- south of Siena for a week, then Lake Trasameno(sp?), then Lucca and back to Milan to return home.
Are we crossing paths anywhere?

 
Shaun I assume TO is for Toronto, Ontario...I'd bring something Canadian like...

maple products. Maple syrup is a delicacy outside north America (or so I'm told) and I wouldn't worry too much about whether her husband visits Canada regularly. I often bring maple syrup as a gift to friends I visit in the US, usually one of those overpriced really fancy glass bottles shaped like a maple leaf. No matter that they can get it in a plastic jug at Costco, mine is so much prettier! Or sometimes I bring maple candies or maple sugar.

Or, there is probably some brand of organic, artisanal food products like mustard, jam, chutney, etc. that is produced locally in Ontario. She's sure to love something like that that comes from your home.

 
I recently gave copies of a cookbook that meets taneed of their changing households..

Since the households around here are now down to two each, I have been giving a copy of "Small Batch Baking". Sometimes it is nice to have home-baked goods, but making a full-sized cake, batch of cream puffs, or pan of brownies is just too much (for the waistline if not for the appetite).

 
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