You’ve just spent a pile of money on Christmas. Do you have to spend a mini-pile on Champagne for a crowd on New Year’s Eve?

Nope. For starters you can head to Costco and pick up Kirkland Signature Brut Champagne for $19.99 a bottle, compared to a minimum of $27.99 or more for our favorite nonvintage Champagnes, Pol Roger and $32.99 (prices from Wine.com).

Made in Champagne for Costco, Kirkland Champagne lacks the toasty complexity of a big-name Champagne, but unless they travel in connoisseur circles, most guests won’t notice the difference.

There are other more affordable sparklers that also deserve attention—if not a place in a lineup for a New Year’s Eve bubbling tasting. Head to your wine store and check out the options in:

Cava, Spain’s alternative to Champagne. Photo courtesy WS Wine Club.

One of our favorite sparklers, Yellow Tail Sparkling Bubbles Rosé from Australia, can often be found for $10.

You can also serve red bubblies such as Italian Brachetto and Lambrusco or sparkling Shiraz. For us, a fun New Year’s Eve involves tasting the different options.

 
THE LARGEST CHAMPAGNE BRANDS

According to a ranking compiled by industry publication The Drinks Business, the world’s largest Champagne brands in 2013 were:

1. Moet & Chandon
2. Veuve Clicquot
3. Nicolas Feuillatte
4. G.H. Mumm
5. Laurent-Perrier
6. Taittinger
7. Piper-Heidsieck
8. Pommery
9. Lanson
10.Canard-Duchene

There are many smaller vintners who make beautiful Champagnes; you just don’t hear of them in the media. Instead, rely on recommendations from store personnel and friends.

Head there now. The closer you get to New Year’s Eve, the longer the lines!

 
 
 
 
ALL OF US AT THE NIBBLE

WISH YOU A JOYOUS DAY

Here’s the scoop, from Dictionary.com.

Language is not a linear: Words come into every language from a variety of sources, over many centuries. And their meanings change nor expand over time. Think of “decadent,” now used for “self-indulgent,” instead of its traditional meaning of being in a state of decline or decay.

GIFT

The word “gift” had multiple meanings before arriving at its current common meaning: something given voluntarily without being earned, to show favor, honor an occasion, or provide assistance.

PRESENT

The noun “present” as a synonym for gift came onto the English language from Old Norman (Old French). Like the adjective “present,” it originally meant “being present” and was used in the phrase mettre en present, “to offer in the presence of.”

By the early 1300s, the word became synonymous with the thing being offered. Another meaning of “present,” in sense of “the present time,” did not enter common use until the 1500s.
  

[2] If you don’t have light brown sugar (in photo) and need to substitute dark brown sugar, the final product will have a more robust taste and a darker color. It might slightly affect the texture (photo © Webstaurant Store).

[3] If you don’t have the three spices listed, you can substitute pumpkin pie spice. In addition to cinnamon, cloves, and ginger, it has allspice, nutmeg, and mace. The latter three will add a bit more spiciness (photo © Silk Road Spices).

Here’s a nice surprise for the long Christmas weekend: gingerbread waffles. Prep time is just 15 minutes, plus 15 minutes to cook.

Imported fresh blueberries are pricey in the winter, so feel free to use frozen berries or other, more affordable berries.

To make pancakes instead of waffles, follow the recipe below and reduce the milk to 1/4 cup.
 
 
RECIPE: GINGERBREAD WAFFLES WITH
BLUEBERRY-ORANGE SAUCE

Ingredients For 8 Servings

For The Waffles

 
For The Blueberry-Orange Sauce

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the sauce: Combine the blueberries, juice, sugar, and cornstarch in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat; boil 1 minute, stirring constantly.

2. REMOVE from the heat or keep warm until ready to serve. If you use a small (1-quart size) saucepan, the sauce will thicken without overcooking.

3. STIR together the flour, sugar, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt in a medium bowl until combined. Whisk in the eggs, milk, and butter until smooth. Stir in the blueberries.

4. POUR one cup batter onto the center of a greased, heated waffle maker. Bake for about 5 minutes or until the steaming stops. Remove carefully.

You can serve the waffles hot from the iron, or keep them warm by placing them on a rack over a baking sheet in a 200°F oven while preparing the remaining waffles.

5. SERVE with warm blueberry-orange sauce.

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

If you’re finished with shopping for nice-but-not-life-changing gifts for the people you care about, how about helping a family you don’t know, who will be grateful to you forever?

Perhaps the most important Heifer International, which provides indigent families worldwide with a cow or other livestock: a reliable source of food for the children and a reliable source of income for the household. Extra milk from a cow, goat or sheep, or eggs from a poultry gift, can be sold at the local market.

You can give the gift in the name of someone else: a double gift, as it were, giving the person who has everything the donation of a food animal to a family that has nothing. This truly meaningful gift will change the lives of a third-world family in need.

Income from the milk or eggs, coupled with the training in sustainable practices that the family receives, allows them to clothe their families, obtain medical care and send the children to school.

It’s not a major commitment: While you can give a goat or sheep, a beehive, chickens, ducks or geese, you can give a “share” in a cow, sheep or other animal for just $10.

Take a look at the options.

It doesn’t have to be a Christmas gift. You can gift through Heifer International year-round. Remember that at Father’s Day, when you’re looking at another tie or set of golf balls.

Check out the options.