Gourmet Gift of the Day Blog

For a frighteningly delicious Halloween treat, I highly recommend these jumbo buttercreme cookies offered by Gourmet Cookie Bouquets.  The monsters are all hand-decorated and taste just as good as they look!

This bouquet would make a great centerpiece at an office party, a home Halloween gathering, or as a gift to faraway trick-or-treaters!  With sizes ranging from 3 to 12 cookies (priced from $29 to $82), make sure you send enough for each recipient to enjoy.  The buttercreme flavor is very similar to a sugar cookie, but with more of a butter taste.  The bright and colorful icing is not only a beautiful decoration, but tastes great too!

Considered a delicacy in many parts of the world, the magic of the internet has made gourmet foods such as frog legs available to those who don’t live near a 5 star restaurant!  My girlfriend recently threw a going-away party for her sister, who was moving to New York for graduate school.  Her sister is a bit eccentric so my friend wanted to highlight her sister’s style with a memorable dinner party.  She ordered 5 lbs of frog legs from Linton’s Seafood, and prepared them by first searing them in olive oil then baking them for 45 minutes.  They were served with a wild rice and mushroom pilaf, steamed asparagus and poached pears.  The guests raved about the flavorful taste of the frog legs, many claimed they were similar to the dark meat of a chicken, with a slightly stronger taste.

My girlfriend was very pleased with the results of her dinner party, she is already planning a coming home party for her sister with octopus as the main course!  She said Linton’s Seafood  website was very user-friendly, and the price of $54.99 for 5 lbs of frog legs was the best she found.

My dad turned 60 this summer and we threw a big party for him.  Months of planning went into it, and over 100 guests were invited.  On a tight budget, we wanted an inexpensive but thoughtful favor for everyone.  After tossing around a few ideas my sister suggested mints.  I like the custom mint tins that Wedding Favors Unlimited offers, but we were looking for something a bit less expensive.  While browsing I found these Personalized Mint Rolls, and immediately knew that was the favor for us!  We purchased 100 mint rolls with a personalized caption on the back, and were very happy with the price of $200 (including shipping).

For approximately $2 per person, we were able to send each guest home with a useful and tasty memory of the day.  Not only were the mints a hit with the guests, but we were able to stay within our budget as well.  Dad was so happy with the taste of the mints that he wanted me to order some for mom’s birthday this fall!

When I was younger, my friend’s mother once served us pierogi for an after-school snack.  Ever since, I have tried to find a recipe to make this myself.  I’m not the world’s greatest cook so I haven’t been able to duplicate the taste, but these pierogi I found from A Pierogi Lady are nearly identical to the homemade goodness of many years ago!

Polish Pierogi are a type of dumpling, and this site offers 5 different flavors – saurkraut, potato and cheese, potato, bacon and cheese, farmer’s cheese, or potato and onion.  After conferring with my family we opted for the Potato, Cheese and Bacon variety.  36 piergi cost $27 plus $28 shipping.  Even with the seemingly high shipping cost, my whole family loved these appetizers and we will be ordering more!

We boiled the frozen pierogi in salt water for about 8 minutes until they rose to the surface.  After letting them sit for a minute to cool, we cut into them to discover a hot, cheesy, savory treat!  This ended up being dinner for us one night because the boys asked me to cook another helping of pierogi rather than making a main dish!

My mom is always sad that we don’t live close enough for the boys to go trick-or-treating at her house, so every year she sends them a special Halloween gift.  This year she is sending them a plastic Jack O’ Lantern gift filled with a huge variety of candy.  I recommended All About Gifts & Baskets to mom because I have had such great experiences with them, making them one of my favorite online retailers!

Mom is not very internet-savvy, so she was very happy that she was able to call in and order this gift for her grandsons.  She told me the customer service representative was courteous and helpful, and together they created a cute gift message for the boys.  Mom wanted to order this gift immediately but not have it deliver until closer to Halloween, and was told that wasn’t a problem.  She was also very happy with the price of $36 plus a very reasonable shipping charge of $8.95.

The impressive variety of candy means that I may even get to sneak a few pieces without the boys noticing!  Candy includes:  Hershey’s Marshmallow Cream Pumpkin, Skittles, Nerds Candies, Plain M&M’s, Peanut M&M’s, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Kit Kat Bar, Starburst, 6 Hershey Assorted Miniatures, Twizzlers Licorice Whips, 2 Twix Candy Bars, Payday Candy Bar, Reese’s pieces, 2 Tootsie Rolls Miniatures boxes, Hershey’s Special Dark Candy Bar and a bag of Goldfish crackers.

There are two distinguished types of French Escargot available – Helix and Achatines.  Escargots Achatines are usually served in a garlic butter sauce, and are a larger species so there is more meat in each shell.  Contrary to what may people think, Escargot is a high-protein dish with a very low fat content and a taste similar to albacore.

For my first experience with Escargot Achatines, I chose the 3.5 ounce container from Terroirs D’Antan, France. The snails were already cleaned and prepped, so all I had to do was slide the pan into a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes.  The garlic-flavored appetizers were delicious, with a light flavor and smooth texture.

Overnight shipping was spendy for this item, but overall this was an excellent experience and I look forward to having them again!

When you can’t be there in person to nurse someone back to good health, send the next best thing – candy!!  This adorable stuffed Nurse Bee is surrounded by delicious candy treats arranged in a bouquet.  The impressive display is available at Cookie Gift Baskets for $43 plus a minimal $9.95 for shipping.

Perfect for a patient of any age – the 8″ Nurse Bee became my nephew’s favorite after I sent him this gift when he was recovering from minor surgery.  He carried it with him everywhere for many weeks, so luckily it is machine washable!

Whether you’re hosting an elegant dinner party, an upcoming holiday meal or a plain old Saturday night, add these gourmet roasts to your table and watch everyone’s reaction!  Offering only the best Kansas corn-fed beef, Kansas City Steaks has long been a favorite of my extended family.  We have enjoyed this Prime Rib Roast and Chateaubriand for a number of get-togethers.  The site also gives tips to prepare each roast perfectly, and suggests a wine that will compliment the flavor of the meat.  For $139.95 plus shipping, you will receive a 4.5 lb Prime Rib Roast and two 2 lb Chateaubriand roasts (which is filet mignon in roast form), along with Kansas City Steaks prime rib rub and steak seasoning.

Don’t forget Sweetest Day on October 20th!  Send the sweetest person you know a lovely and delicious arrangement of cookies from Holiday Gifts & Gift Baskets.  The colorful ceramic pot holds a dozen chocolate chip cookies, which are also available sugar-free (if your sweetie doesn’t need the extra sugar).  Tucked within the cookies is a bag of Skittles and a cute card announcing Happy Sweetest Day – all for only $37.  For those who tend to forget holidays, register as a returning customer on this site and create Event Reminders, so you will get an email “nudge” when an important date is nearing!

This snack combines two of my favorite indulgences – coffee and chocolate!  The roasted Costa Rican espresso beans are slightly crunchy, with a heavenly aroma – especially when combined with the deep dark chocolate coating.  I hid this bag from the boys so I could indulge in them all my myself.

Just a few of these beans are enough to perk me up from the mid-afternoon doldrums – especially if I’m having a long day at work.   And don’t forget that dark chocolate is good for you!  The 8 oz bag of dark chocolate covered beans are available from Cafe’ Britt for $8.95.