Holidays 2008

We're all trying to "tighten our belts" this season. But some of us are also planning on loosening our (literal) belts a few notches! So if you and your friends are still indulging your palates, here are some holiday gift recommendations:

• Those who give home-baked gifts should peruse this extensive online cookie encyclopedia; Gourmet Magazine has made 50 years of Christmas cookie recipes available.

• If you have no time to bake, let Chuck "The Baker" Pierkarski bake for you! Every batch of his brownies helps benefit God's Love We Deliver.
  

• Your friend who wants to learn to cook will love a copy of Martha Stewart's Cooking School: Lessons and Recipes for the Home Cook.

• If you want to splurge on that special someone, Petrossian offers a mouthwatering brunch basket filled with caviar, smoked salmon, duck breast prosciutto, blini; toasts, creme fraiche, honey, cinnamon raisin bread, cranberry ginger cake, chestnut jam, coffee and tea. But even Petrossian is getting into the economizing act; there are several delicious gifts for $100 and under.

• Send a Murray's Cheese Greenwich Village Supper basket to a friend (and then slyly ask to be invited for dinner). (Alternatively, send over a Zabar's Deli Sampler.)
  

• Online retailer Norm Thompson offers adorable, inexpensive holiday sweets.

• Is your friend a restaurant-goer? Then s/he'll appreciate a gift certificate to Hill Country (buy a $25 gift certificate for only $10 at restaurant.com!) or the always-rewarding Picholine, which is now offering a special "menu d'economie."
  

If I think of anything else, I'll post it! Happy holidays.