Gifts From the Kitchen

Oh yes. You can go to Pier One Imports or a similiar type of store and get
great Spanish glass bottles and fill them with vinegar and put a few sprigs
of herbs in them. You can also use oil. Tie a ribbon around it and voila!
you have a useful and decorative gift. Not unique but fun.

One that takes a little longer is to take a jar that you can vacuum seal and
fill it part way with salt, (I have found that natural non iodized sea salt
works best) then fill it the rest way with a selection of herbs and spices
(i.e. tarragon, garlic, oregeno, etc.) and seal it, then let it sit for
about a year, shaking it once a week. (I do about ten jars each year.) After
the year is up strain the herbs and spices out of the salt and you have a
wonderful herb flavored salt. Put it back in the vacuum jar and decorate the
jar, there you go.

Biscotti are good and keep real well, those and a pound of coffee make a
great gift too.
I woke late one night and rose to look in the mirror, but did not recognize
the person I saw there. She spoke to me and said "Life is not unlike a rose
bush. Occasionally you will find things of fleeting beauty, but you will
always find thorns." Then she began to weep, and vanished, leaving me to
ponder her words.