For adults in my generation, hostess gifts are not the norm. My mom, from a different generation, believed in hostess gifts and always brought something when she visited friends and family. And she loved it when her guests did the same.

I’m all for bringing back the hostess gift. They’re a wonderful way to bring civility back to our lives, and a small gesture that often means a great deal.

Today, when invited to dinner, a bottle of wine is the go-to gift for your friends. For a family gathering, you might bring Dim Sum or ice cream to share.

However, these days, many people are not drinking wine like they used to, or at least not drinking in abundance. Many of my friends stopped drinking altogether because they realized alcohol was a coping mechanism, a self-medication tool, and we know that’s probably not a good choice.

And then there are the calories! You could, I guess, stop eating and keep drinking. But I prefer crazy good food!

That’s why discovering the perfect hostess gift – an alternative to wine – is an excellent practice!

Knowing your host’s personal preferences might come into play. How much do they like to cook? Are they sweet, sour or savory? Subtle or explosive? Hot or mild? All important questions if you want to be spot on. And there are endless delicious and intriguing choices out there!

That’s where wonderful and unusual foods like Christine’s Black Sesame Toffee, Willow’s Heritage Shortbread and Souren’s Fastachi Cranberry Nutmix are the answer.

These simply gorgeous foods are a joy to eat and are of such superb quality that anyone who receives them as a gift will know you care, and that they appreciate good food.

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I’ve had a little extra free time recently, so I embarked upon cleaning our home. It was a massive job. There were copious amounts of dust, and tons of other stuff everywhere, as well. And the biggest issue was that the dining room was full of food.

To be more precise, it was full of food samples. We get samples all the time and they come from all over the world. Some we request and some just show up in the mail. We do enjoy getting them, but it can become overwhelming.

And the food samples have really piled up over the last six months or so. Lots of family stuff, the pandemic and the holidays ate up a lot of free time to eat food. Keep in mind we sample everything that comes in.

We taste and we test. If the food tastes good, and is a good fit, then we go into the process of short-term aging, such as sticking it in the pantry or in the refrigerator (if appropriate) and seeing how it does a week later. Does it taste the same, different? Do we still like it? We answer a lot of questions before we say yes or no.

When we are super busy, the samples pile up. The dining room hutch is covered, the chairs are covered, the floor is covered, and eventually the dining room table is covered. You carve out a little space where you’re going to put your plate of food and whilst you eat, you think about all the food that there is to taste because you’re surrounded!

I know it sounds pretty exciting, and I’m not saying it isn’t, but sometimes it’s a bit too much. Tasting new foods all the time is fun, but it’s never-ending.

This means that sometimes we don’t get to have some of our favorites as often as we’d like – Heritage shortbread, for example.

We met Willow and her husband many, many years ago at a food show. We had a fabulous conversation (and tasting), and we’ve been carrying their shortbread ever since. And to be perfectly honest, because it sells out so quickly we don’t get to enjoy it ourselves very often.

This week I noticed that the shortbread photos were a little dated and ready for a refresh. You need to see inside the box and see what the shortbread looks like! And because we can’t give away open product, I was forced to eat some – darn!

This is when all the memories came flooding back...remembering how spectacular Heritage Shortbread truly is. It’s the perfect crumble, it’s the crunch, it’s the flavor, it’s the feel of sugar granules. Everything about this shortbread makes it special, from the ribbon, to the box, to the bite, it is all absolute perfection!

A gift for you, a gift for your hostess.

Shop Now for Willow's Heritage Shortbread!

Toffee is so easy to make. Sugar, butter, water and toppings.

And even though it is so easy to make, I never want to. Toffee is such a super treat to eat, I love it when someone else makes it!

It's a gift of simplicity rewarded with a crunch, bite, and flavor!

And this toffee? It is not too sweet, it is a great refreshing treat, and it is not thick, like some. Instead it is thin and svelte. The break is the toffee and not your teeth!

In the package the view is shards of toffee. Each piece is different in shape and size. One side is flat chocolate, the flip side is topped with small white sesame seeds against the contrasting dark chocolate. And when you look closely you can see the black sesame seeds co-mingling with the chocolate and the other sesame seeds.

The first bite is joyous, with an easy crunch, an explosion of subtle flavor of chocolate, with the toasted sesame tingling the edges of the tongue. And there is a lot more sesame flavor than just what is on top, look closely at the edge and you will see the black sesame is in the toffee, too!

Some of the pieces are bigger than a mouthful and need to be snapped into smaller, enjoyable bite-size pieces. Don't be afraid though, the dark chocolate won't melt (unless you have hot hands) when you lightly hold to make the break. It snaps so easily (and is strangely rewarding) that you start breaking with abandon!

The enjoyment factor with a small piece is so much better because a large piece gives you a mouthful which you consume because you are forced to chew and swallow. With a small, thumb-size piece you can taste the chocolate, enjoy the crunch of the sugar which blends with the dark chocolate and get the sesame on the edge of your tongue.

You finish with clean molars, and a lovely dark chocolate flavor that makes you want to suck in your cheeks and the sesame.

When you are done with a piece or more, the joy of the bite is still with you to enjoy for quite some time. How good is that! Leaving a good taste in your mouth (instead of a bad one like the news does) is a wonderful thing!

Shop now for Black Sesame Seed Toffee Brittle!

Handful ready, Valencia almonds from Spain are some of the sweetest almonds in the world, and when you top them with a sweet sugary coating you have one of the best treats to eat, one by one or by the handful!

As you know, wild almonds are bitter, even toxic, and when consumed in even small quantities can be fatal! “Domesticated” almonds however, are not. Even before “grafting”, domesticated almonds could be as old as the Early Bronze Age (3000-2000 BC). Even King Tut had a few in his tomb.

The natural process of selection of almond trees by the human species unintentionally and then intentionally in almond orchards brings us the sweet almond of today.

Valencia almonds, with their flatter, more pointy tip, make them one of the distinct shapes in the almond world. And when specifically from Spain, these are some of the sweetest grown. Out of the top ten largest producers of almonds in the world, second behind California, Spain produces about 9% of the world’s total.

These candied Valencia almonds have crunch from the sugar and bite from the almond to blend perfectly in the mouth. Not too sweet at all, the sugar instead complements the slight bitterness and the “milky” almond flavor, blending into the perfect chomp. And the best part is that the sugar is not “heavy” or “hard” like some sugared almonds.

Instead it breaks away cleanly without any fear of tooth fragmentation. In fact, if you place just one almond in your mouth, the sugar melts away in a wonderful dissolution leaving the almond to be minced up and swallowed.

Combined variables of Valencia almonds and sugar make each nut crazy good and not just good tasting, but fun to eat. Try a jar of these sugar coated almonds!

Shop now for Candied Valencia Almonds!

We add new products rapidly, often because they fit a chef's needs, or more importantly our own personal needs - read cravings - and they don't make it to the newsletter to announce.

This flavor-filled white chocolate bar is one of them. It’s gorgeous to look at; each cube is beautiful in its own right. You might feel compelled to put this bar in a shrine to chocolate art mastery...but resist, it’s meant to be eaten!

Of course, this only lasts for a day or two before you break off three squares to try. And then, well it is just a bar and it needs to be eaten.

Click here to see the Chocolat Moderne Passion Fruit and Cardamom Caramel White Chocolate Bar!

This recipe is from Maria's cookbook, Embellish with Relish, and utilizes Hawkshead Relish Hot Garlic Pickle to make a delicious and flavorful chicken recipe.

"Once you master the art of cutting a pinhole into a chicken breast and stuffing it, you can experiment with lots of different ideas. I love this one with the garlic and spices; it's fragrant but the garlic doesn't linger too long afterwards."

See the Spiced Garlic Kiev Recipe here!

These are good! Like hazelnuts from Piedmont and Sicilian pistachios, Marcona almonds from Spain are prized the world over. Some even say Marcona almonds are the finest in the world.

Almost round and very flat, Marcona almonds look different from California garden-variety almonds, and they have a richer, more intensely nutty flavor.

Our Spanish Marcona almonds are toasted in sunflower oil and lightly salted, and the result is a crisp, tender and super-flavorful almond. If you haven't had them, try them at least once...and you might be hooked for life!

You might think that almonds in olive would be better, and they might be, when freshly-oiled and eaten soon after. But we discovered that by the time they arrive from Spain, they taste – well, oily – and we find we prefer the almonds in heart-healthy sunflower oil.

Shop now for Spanish Marcona Almonds!

Traditional farfalle (bowtie) pasta - drawn through bronze, so that the surface is rough, and ready to take whatever sauce you throw at it. Just like when you were a kid - but way way better. Made only with locally grown, certified Italian Durum wheat.

Shop now for Sgambaro Farfalle Bowtie Pasta!