• Bacon
• Caviar
• Any new and exciting food

We love all three, so of course we went gaga over “bacon and eggs” caviar—trout roe infused with applewood-smoked bacon.

We’ve been enjoying it as an hor d’oeuvre, as a general food garnish, on boiled potatoes, on blini, straight from the jar, and of course, with scrambled eggs and bacon.

Send as many ounces as you can afford, at $15.00/ounce. There’s also a $38.00 gift set that includes an ounce of the caviar, four ounces of smoked salmon, a caviar spoon and a package of bagel crisps. However we steer clear of eating delicate fish roe on hard, crunchy crackers. It’s not a good pairing.

Check out the bacon caviar at CaliforniaCaviar.com.

See more of our favorite gourmet gifts for Holiday 2010.

Learn all about caviar in our Caviar Section.

The “new” bacon and eggs. Photo courtesy
California Caviar.

Get creative and personalize your own
book for yourself or for a gift. Photo
courtesy Picaboo Books.

Do you want to create a memorable volume of recipes from different generations of your family?

Do you want to create a memorial to Grandma by publishing her recipes?

Do you have a special group of family members and friends who would treasure copies of a professionally bound, great-looking book of recipes, photos, memoirs and anything else you’d like to add?

Picaboo could be the answer! Picaboo is a fun and easy way to create a customized book of photos with captions, essays and more. You can create your own cookbook of family recipes, vacation journals, wedding albums, family photos for the grandparents—just about anything.

• To Enter This Gourmet Giveaway: Go to the box at the bottom of our 2010 Best Food & Drink Book Gifts Page and click to enter your email address for the prize drawing. This contest closes on Monday, November 29th at noon, Eastern Time. Good luck!
• For more information about Picaboo Books, visit Picaboo.com.

Nothing says Christmas like a lush, fresh and fragrant Christmas tree. Trade in the headache of finding the perfect Christmas tree for the real holiday fun—decorating the tree with loved ones.

• Green Valley Christmas Trees individually select its trees to meet premium standards for shape and size.
• Then they’re harvested, wrapped, packaged in a sturdy carton and sent via FedEx for delivery in 3-5 business days.
• All that will be left for you to do is set up your tree using the pre-drilled holes; personalize it with your favorite garlands, lights, tinsel and ornaments; and enjoy it throughout the holiday season.

One winner will receive a live, fresh-cut Christmas tree shipped the same day it’s harvested to ensure the maximum freshness and longevity.* Given proper tree care, the tree should last 4-6 weeks. All you’ll have to worry about is how to decorate it.

A 7-foot-tall tree will be delivered right to
your door! Photo courtesy Green Valley.

• Trees can be shipped only to those living in the continental United States.

Approximate retail value: $154.99.

• To Enter This Gourmet Giveaway: Go to the box at the bottom of our Sugar-Free And Low-Calorie Gift Ideas Page and click to enter your email address for the prize drawing. This contest closes on Monday, November 29th at noon, Eastern Time. Good luck!

If you aren’t the lucky winner notified on Nov. 29, you have until Dec. 3 to buy a tree at a 10% discount. Just enter the coupon code “NIBBLE” at checkout.

• For more information about Green Valley, visit GreenValleyChristmasTrees.com. 

Bake some pumpkin cupcakes. Photo
courtesy Stefani Pollack.

How about snazzy pumpkin cupcakes with pumpkin cheesecake (pumpkin cream cheese) frosting?

Created by Cupcake Project blogger Stefani Pollack, the cake is made with healthier graham flour and bits of graham crackers, which yields a far more rich, dense and muffin-like texture.

Is graham flour so healthy that it offsets the cream cheese frosting? The jury is out; we’ll let you know when it returns.

• Get the recipe and whip up a batch of pumpkin cupcakes. Your friends and family will thank you.
• Take a trip down food history lane: Learn who invented graham flour and graham crackers, and why.
• Find more of our favorite cupcake recipes.

Traditional advice is to avoid sulfites, which are added to many wines as a preservative (to prevent bacterial growth). People with sulfite sensitivity comprise perhaps .2% of the population.

Given this tiny number, if you develop symptoms from drinking wine, it may not be due to sulfites.

Leonard Phillips, owner of Ambassador Wines & Spirits in New York City, was a biochemist before he joined the family wine business. Given the minute percentage of sulfite-sensitive people, he believes that many allergic reactions are due to the tannins in the wood barrels that the wine is aged in.

Tannins give wines a “backbone“—required for a well-structured wine. Too many tannins create a “puckery,” dry or astringent sensation when drinking red wines.

While tannin exists in the skin and stems of grapes, which are crushed to create the juice that is fermented into wine, the bigger culprit, says Phillips, is the oak tannin in wine barrels.

Avoid wines fermented and/or aged in
wood. Libbey wine glasses.

If you have “wine allergy” symptoms, here’s how to test if you’re sensitive:

1. Consult with your wine store clerk and purchase a wine that “never touches wood.” A large number of wines are fermented and aged in steel tanks instead of wood barrels.
2. If you can enjoy that wine symptom-free, then try a wine that is fermented in steel and aged in used oak barrels. These are barrels that are 2-3 years old. The majority of the tannins leach into the wine the first year they were used. Try to find a European wine or a domestic one that uses French oak. French oak is milder than American oak. Without getting into advanced chemistry, you may be able to better tolerate French oak tannins.
3. If you have no reaction to used oak barrels, try a wine aged in new French oak.
4. Survived again? The last test is to try a wine aged in American oak (or oak from another country.)

This test will help you eliminate wood tannins you may be allergic to. An allergist can help you rule out sulfur allergies.