Useful christmas stocking gifts

[templeton]

Over the years the relatives' offerings have been hit and miss - but this year I scored a copy of "The Drunken Botanist" by Amy Stewart
Dang! Why was I in such a hurry to return the still last week?
T

[jondear]

My girlfriend scored some pepper seeds for my stocking stuffers this year. They may or may not be useful. The Moruga Scorpion, Trinidad Butch T Scorpion, and Jay's Red Ghost Scorpion may be a little over the top.

I much more am looking forward to growing the Sweet Apple, Romanian Sweet, and Urfa Biber.

I had originally thought I would cut back on the varieties of peppers I'd grow this year, and concentrate on my selections of aconcaqua and poblanos, but I'll get some of these in to keep peace. ( and make salsa)

[blueadzuki]

I got a copy of that book a few years ago. I'd actually give it a try. Not exactly an item to put on the reference shelf, but a decent "bathroom reader"

My "stocking stuffers" (or since I'm Jewish "dreidel drek") . Were similarly hit and miss. It isn't that they don't know me, it's that they know me well enough to just give me a check and let me put it to something. But my mom still insists I get some sort of physical present each night, and there are only so many "handovers" (I find, I buy she take she reimburses me for, and then gives back to me on the holiday) I can pull off.

This years offerings included

1. A make your own pickle kit. Not a terrible gift but it's really designed for making things like sauerkraut and other fermented type pickles, which I don't normally eat. Also, while in theory it could be used to save any extra vegetables at years end. My tiny garden means I usually don't HAVE any extra vegetables. Since everything has to go for seed the only "vegetables" I ever wind up with are those that aren't mature enough to be viable when the frost actually comes, and there usually aren't enough of those to make preservation worthwhile (going through all the trouble of making dilly beans when you only have four or five pods is sort of wasted effort).

2. A Cheese making kit. Again possibly fun, but most of the arguments for the pickle set apply here as well. I wonder what would happen if instead of following the instructions as is, I tried some of them with goat milk. I'd probably like the resultant cheeses a lot better. (pity I live suburb and actual raw milk is not something feasible for me to get here affordably. I'd LOVE to try and make my OWN version of Cayuga Blue!

3. A sampling flight of honeys from the four main beekeeping areas of New York City. May or May not be good. At least any I don't like become fodder for the next batch of mead (I don't drink, but I have a cousin who has more or less railroaded me into making a batch of mead for next thanksgiving. Now I just have to make sure he doesn't force me to drink it! (for some reason he finds the fact I don't drink deeply offensive.)

4. Assorted actually useful things, like a new winter hat, new keyring watch (very important as I can't wear a wristwatch), emergency light and so on.

[steev]

Pocket watch works for me; wristwatches get too banged up, whether worn in or out; key-ring watch would also suffer; my problem is that what I really want is a "hunter-case", railroad-face (large numerals), stainless steel watch; very hard to find! They only want to sell "covered" pocket watches with embossed flying ducks, leaping fish, or pole-dancers (kidding; that might be cool; certainly a potential conversation/confrontation starter). I used to have what I wish I still could have (not talking about youthful beauty or beauties); it was very useful; when a potential client was over-drawing his time-allowance, I could take it out, open it, look, and SNAP it shut; non-verbal, but so eloquent. I have a stainless, railroad-face, pocket watch, but it has no cover, so it's just not so emphatic.