credit: 90+ cellars

90+ Cellars Wine Club
90+ Cellars is a limited collection of wine sourced from elite vineyards from all over the world with a history of producing wines with 90-point ratings, gold medals, and best buy awards. A bottle would be a pretty nice gift. A membership to the 90+ Cellars Wine Club is even better. Members receive a box of 6 or 12 different bottles four times a year. Click here to learn more.



BabbaCo Activity Box
Parents all over the world will be asking themselves this holiday break (and every break until the end of time), “what are we going to do with the kids today?” That’s why Jessica Kim created BabbaBox – an activity box for kids 3-7 delivered to your door once a month. It comes will ALL materials, easy-to-follow instructions and a book to go with that month’s theme. My boys were especially enamored with the Kitchen Science box. Check BabbaCo out here.

credit: fast company

Modernist Cuisine App
Most foodies know and bow to the Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking by Nathan Myhrvold, Chris Young, and Maxime Bilet. Dubbed the “cookbook to end all cookbooks,” this 6-volume tome has created a revolution in kitchens all over the world. But for $500 (eek!), most home cooks would be very happy with the more approachable and shorter version – Modernist Cuisine at Home. And now, food geeks are putting down their immersion circulators for the newly released app. Described as your personal sous chef, word is the app is even better than the book. And for $80 on iTunes, it seems like a better deal too. Click here to download a free sample.

Credit: Forbes

Tonx Coffee Subscription
Every coffee connoisseur knows that the secret to really great coffee is in the beans (and the grind too from what I’ve been told). Why not get them a membership to Tonx – a subscription service that delivers fresh, high-quality beans to your door about twice a month. Tonx carefully sources the finest coffees and roasts them hours before shipping to you. Your coffee addicts will thank you. Click here to send a subscription.



ChopChop Subscription
I’m a big fan of magazine subscriptions as holiday gifts. Want to get the kid on your list in the kitchen? Give them a subscription to ChopChop Magazine – the cooking magazine for kids 5-12. Full disclosure, I work for ChopChop. That said, I really believe this magazine is truly special. If you don’t believe me, how about from the folks that know a thing or two about great cooking publications - The James Beard Foundation named ChopChop the Publication of the Year. Boom. Click here to subscribe.

credit: Formaggio Kitchen

Formaggio Kitchen Cheese Share
There are farm shares, meat shares and even seafood shares. How about a cheese share? If your giftee lives in the Boston/Cambridge area and is into cheese (who isn’t really?), sign them up for a cheese share from Formaggio Kitchen. From local producers, each installment of a Local Cheese share will contain four varieties of cheese selected at the height of ripeness and flavor. I love that each cheese comes with information about the artisans and farms that produced it. A three-month share is $99. Click here to learn more.

credit: gear hungry

Mantry
Know someone with a Man-cave who would totally dig artisanal foods such as bison jerky from Montana to BBQ sauce from Alabama? Outfit the cave with some goodies from Mantry – the modern man’s pantry. Each themed box comes with 5-6 curated foods in wooden box handmade in Brooklyn. It doesn’t get more hipster (and admittedly) cooler than this. To order a gift card, click here.

credit: Heifer International

Give Different - Give a Goat
Last but not least, give a gift that really, truly keeps on giving. Help those in need by making a donation to Heifer International and help families become self-reliant. For example, you can purchase a full goat or a share of a goat to provide a family in need with a gift of a goat. A goat can provide milk, cheese and butter for nourishment, boosts income through sales of extra milk and encourages better crop yields through fertilization and clearing of land. Give a life-changing gift this season here.

Warmest holiday wishes from our family to yours!

Disclosure: I was provided samples of 90+ wines and a BabbaBox to try their products. I am an employee of ChopChop magazine. As always, all opinions are my own.

A month ago, I was invited to compete in the first-ever Lamb Pro-Am (as you probably already know thanks to all my tweets and facebook updates for votes - sorry!). I embraced the challenge and made lamb pot-stickers two ways. Unfortunately I did not advance to the finals. But I did get the opportunity to attend the Lamb Pro-Am Event last weekend at the Hotel Marlowe.


The Lamb Pro-Am featured four blogger/chef teams serving up samples of the final four lamb dishes to a horde of lamb-loving attendees. Each attendee was given a wooden coin to cast their vote for their favorite lamb dish. Samples of beer from Brooklyn Brewery, J. Lohr wines, the most delicious Pierre Ferrand cognac punch, and tasty bites from Bambara were also enjoyed. I was in foodie heaven.


Fan of the Lamb
This was the chance for the pro-am teams to show off their cooking chops (haha - couldn't resist). It was a true collaboration with chefs working with bloggers to refine their lamb dishes and offer it up to hundreds of hungry people.


I drooled reading the original blog posts and recipes. It truly was satisfying to actually get to taste my fellow competitors creations. I had an impossible time deciding who to vote for.

Congrats to the Team Doves & Figs/The Russell House Tavern for winning the first Lamb Pro-Am. Their lamb & apple sausage wrapped in lamb belly topped with apple pear cranberry conserve and cranberry mustard was out-of-this-world-good. A big thank you to BostonChefs.com, American Lamb Board, and all the sponsors of the Lamb Pro-Am. I can honestly say I'm now a fan of the Lamb. And thank you, thank you, thank you to all who voted for my lamb potstickers. You guys are the best!

One last word: If you're in Cambridge, check out Flavors of Fall fundraising event tonight. Great food, great chefs for a great cause. And all-star line-up that any foodie would swoon over. Tickets are still available!

Children of foodies, otherwise know as koodies, gastrokids or taster tots seem to be getting a lot of attention as of late. In addition to several new cookbooks focused on broadening your kid's palette, I recently read these mini gourmands will be featured in several new reality TV shows (check out the article on nypost.com). For example, Bravo is developing a junior version of Top Chef. I can see the quick fire challenge now... create an amuse bouche using go-gurt and lunchables.

And with any new trend (or craze), you come across some backlash.  Some see koodies as a product of self-absorbed, elitist adults. Others claim that these foodie parents are trying to make their kids grow up too fast.

I'm here to say that I'm not looking to create koodies with my own kids or claim to be an expert on how to make your kids *not* be picky eaters (I don't think that's even possible!). Like so many other families,  I'm really not interested in making two meals - one for the grown-ups and another for the boys. I'm not interested in only going to restaurants that offer crayons with their kids menu if we decide to go out to eat. My focus will be about finding good food that my whole family will enjoy - whether it be at a hidden restaurant or a must-try recipe - and to share those experiences. We may end up with our own home version of "Hell's Kitchen" now and then - and I'll be all too happy to share every second of it!