gift basket items for visitors
hello serious eaters! my in-laws are coming to the city next month, and i wanted to greet them with a basket of new york goodies! some ideas i had were: chocolate from mast brothers, baked goods from amy's/blue ribbon, cheese from bedford cheese shop/murray's, pickles from the pickle guys, charcuterie from...somewhere...any other suggestions? FIL is diabetic, so not too many sweets, but other than that, they are pretty good eaters :) thanks in advance!
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8 Comments:
Where are they coming in from? Might give you an idea of what they might be missing out on... New York bagels perhaps? What about some nice spices, sauces or rubs? Do they cook or bake?
thinkingincrayons at 12:26AM on 06/18/09
Don't overdo the basket, that way you can change it up everytime you see them. Pick one thing/theme per basket. Do a bagel basket one time, the next time cheese, the next time italian theme, the next time something else.
Huge baskets mollify people and often they do not focus on the items as much as you would like.
I hate when we get Harry and David the humongous basket. It is too much stuff. The smaller ones are nicer.
JerzeeTomato at 5:50AM on 06/18/09
Coffees
Teas
CJ McD at 12:49PM on 06/18/09
i like the idea of having a theme (@jerzee tomato). also, i agree you shouldnt make too big a basket, especially if there are perishable items.
specific suggestions:
- for chocolates, try bespoke chocolates above houston st.
- for my family for easter i put together a union square farmers market basket - they have delicious honey, jam, cheese, bread, wine, and there's a stand there (i forget what it's called) that has interesting pickled stuff like okra and spicy corn. this would save you time because you would only need to go to one place.
- similarly, you could go to essex st. market for saxelby cheese, roni-sue chocolates, etc.
kristin314 at 1:43PM on 06/18/09
Won't it be hard to transport too many perishables like baked goods back home? (That is, if they are traveling by plane--by car might not be so bad).
If your FIL is diabetic, I would look for diabetic-friendly foods, since often they have many more options available in NYC and big cities than in smaller towns. Babycakes Bakery I think has low-sugar options, and the bar cookies and brownies might be transportable.
Bagels and chocolates would be tougher for a diabetic (unless someone knows some good, sugar free chocolate stores--I only know the bakery)--ditto jams, wine. Cheese and oils and vinegars might be more 'doable' for a diabetic, as would pickes.
HeartofGlass at 6:54PM on 06/18/09
I find Godiva's dark sugar free chocolate bars to be like reaL chocolate and good. Of course no candy it totally sugar free, but as a diabetic myself, I have read that even with sugar one inch square of 70%+ cocoa (a day) is actually acceptable and recommended. Diabetes Forecast ,not sure which one.) The problem is this candy can only be gotten online or at actual Godiva stores. I stock up. It is helpful to know what medication the person is actually on and how much sugar they can have. But that might be too complicated. Most loose candy shops have decent sugar free including the candy section of FAO Schwartz.
nelbrewster at 12:37PM on 06/21/09
and as f9or bagels, whole wheat and pumpernickel are supposed to be okay...minis also work for diabetics. It depends on what meds one is on and what else people eat.
nelbrewster at 9:05PM on 06/21/09
Scharffen Berger chocolate is pretty good - high cacao % is ok for diabetics in small doses...Scharffen Berger has up to 82% so it's pretty pure also...
They have a store on the Upper West Side - 473 Amsterdam (hope it's still there, I went last fall so not sure) Between 82nd and 83rd
YummyInTheCity at 11:48PM on 06/21/09