buzz muddleheaded: Last Minute Gifts this Christmas

Alright, there are but 8 days to go before Christmas. It?s time to shift gears and really get moving on that naughty and nice list.

Gift Certificates
Firstly, there is honestly nothing wrong with gift certificates. ?Impersonal? be damned. If you?ve a giftee who enjoys shopping, more power to them! Only, we prefer gifting certificates to an entire mall. This way, giftees can shop at any store.

Kitchen Gear (Link Offsite)
If you would like a gift-giving guide for the foodie cook, the kind of foodie I aspire to be, check out something I put together for Candace Derickx (@Candace_Dx), parenting (and tourism) blogger and founder of Life in Pleasantville. In my plea to forget the Food Network and step away from the gimmicky kitchen store, I advocate determining what kind of foodie you?re shopping for and choosing gifts accordingly. If you?ve cooks to shop for, look for something to help them cook. If you?ve bakers to shop for, look for something to help them bake. A number of restaurant supply houses in Ottawa retail to the public. They?re your best bet!

Tickets to Food Events
Now, if your foodie likes to network with like-minded people in the community and meet honest-to-goodness chefs, the kind that don?t have restaurants in New York City?s Time Square district that get lambasted, tickets to the following Ottawa events would make great gifts.

Harmony House?s Red and White Event:
A fundraiser for Harmony House Women?s Shelter, Red and White features three culinary talents. Three chefs, Caroline Ishii of ZenKitchen (634 Somerset Street W.), Charlotte Langley of Toronto?s Hooked (formerly of the Whalesbone Oyster House), and Katie Brown of Beckta Dining and Wine (226 Nepean Street) will be on hand. They will demo dishes being served.
Red and White Event

There will be wine and beer from Eastern Ontario. Last year, Beau?s, Rosehall Run, Black Prince, Huff Estates, Sugarbush, Sandbanks and the Grange as well as Waupoos Cider and Barley Days Brewery participated.

This year, the event will take place at Ashbury College on January 16, 2013 from 7:30 pm until 10:00 pm.

Harmony House is Ottawa?s only second-stage shelter. It provides affordable transitional housing for women and children who are survivors of violence.

Tickets are $60/person (not including and online transaction fee).

Click here to purchase tickets.
Carefor?s 9th Annual Chocolate Competition:
The Carefor Brunch and Chocolate competition is a fundraiser for Carefor Health & Community Services, a non-profit charitable health care organization. For over 110 years, Carefor has provided services for people of all ages and all stages of life. It offers a wide variety of accessible home-care and community support services.
Each year, Carefor invites Ottawa?s chocolate artisans to come up with chocolate creations and compete against one another. This year, the confirmed competitors include Top of the Hill Bakery (last year?s winner), Brookstreet Hotel?s Perspectives Restaurant, Firestone Restaurant Group, Essence Catering, Chartwell Residences, Todrics Restaurant & Catering (a former winner), Hilton Airport Hotel and The Joy of Gluten Free.

The judging panel is spectacular this year:

The competition will be held March 2, 2013 from 10:00 am until 2:00 pm at the Centurion Conference & Event Centre (170 Colonnade Road)

Ticktes are $75/person (with $25 tax receipt), $40 for children aged 4-12), and free for children under 4.

Click here to purchase tickets.

And the reason for this blog post?

Gift Baskets
Yes, yes, gift baskets are the scourge of the holidays, along with fruit cake and eggnog.

The thing is, personalized baskets can make great gifts.

But, there is a fine line between gift basket and care package.

Case in point, consider the following is a care package:

Sobey?s ?Gift Basket? for Food Lovers

The incredibly utilitarian basket was couriered to us by Sobey?s.

This year, Sobey?s has completely retooled its marketing strategy, encouraging influential tweeps and bloggers to participate in their campaigns. Many are parenting bloggers. Some are notable food bloggers, including Mardi Michaels (@eatlivtravwrite) of Eat Live Travel Write.

We last followed Sobey?s ?Brunch Smackdown?, which had participating bloggers prepare creative brunch dishes with its ?gourmet all butter? croissants.

Entirely made up of products from Sobey?s ?Complements? line, our basket included a box of generic ?Shreddies? cereal, artificial flavoured cheddar crackers, peanut-laced granola bars (I?m allergic), canned tuna, and cleaning supplies.

?Gift Basket? Contents

Paired with a $25 gift certificate to Sobey?s, this care package actually made an ideal donation to to the local food bank. We re-packaged everything in an un-torn reusable shopping bag and placed it in a Christmas hamper, gift certificate included.

When it comes to gift baskets, my wife and I like to give the gift of thoughtfulness, so quality goods, crafted by local producers, are what we usually place in wicker baskets and secure with plastic wrap and ribbon.

Items we have gifted in the past include truffles from Koko Chocolates, coffee from Happy Goat, chutney from Major Craig?s, and pastries from Life of Pie.

Baskets can be supplemented with with cookies from Morsel, candy from The Candy Store, and wine from Blue Gypsy Wines.

Given we are closely approaching Christmas day, may I also suggest letting your fingers do the types? Besides, the artisan Christmas market season has come to a close.

Givopoly
Ever heard of givopoly?
Givopoly is an e-commerce solution that partners with local producers to ?shopify? artisan goods. Founder Susan Richards has partnered with many of the producers listed above.

You purchase to gift.

Best yet, Givopoly already has themed gift baskets organized to purchase and ship.

Consider a ?cranberry trio? that includes wine, chutney, and salsa!

Got a last minute gift suggestion? Do share in the comments below!

Aside: A copy of the Christmas edition of Sobey?s in-store magazine ?Inspired: For the Love of Good Food? was enclosed with our gift certificate. So, we dropped by a Sobey?s to determine if what was published could be made with grocery store buys.

Firstly, Sobey?s knows what goes into decent gift baskets. They sell them.

Sobey's Gift Basket for Retail Another Sobey's Gift Basket for Retail

Secondly, Sobey?s has reworked its product offer since last we visited. With a little effort, the recipes and beautifully photographed food can be made with groceries from the store.

Charcuterie Plate with Cheese Dry Cured Salami