Gourmet Gift Basket - A Truly Special Present

The gourmet gift basket is a really special and wonderful present that you can give to someone you care about at any time of year and not just during the holidays. Certainly the most popular of all gourmet gift baskets that are available today are those which either contain food or wine (or even both). There are literally thousands of gift basket companies online, some of which are better than others and below we look at just a few of the more reliable and reputable ones that can offer you good quality gourmet gift baskets at a price to suit your budget.

1. Delightful Deliveries

This site offers a wide variety of gourmet gift baskets from ones made up of Bakery items to ones that either contain fruit, gourmet foods or gourmet wines. Really with this site you are spoilt for choice and the service they provide to their customers is very good also.

2. Fill-r-Up

This is a company which can offer you a customized gourmet gift basket and they have a retail store which is located in Manhattan (New York). The team at this company can offer you a brilliant collection of both creative and unique gift baskets and all of which are very reasonably priced.

3. Prime Wine

This is the site where you look for a gourmet gift basket that is ideal for the true wine aficionado. They can provide you with a selection of the most beautiful quality wines as well as gourmet foods such as cheese, smoked salmon and chocolates to complement the particular wines in the basket. Each basket that this company produces is made to order and so you can either choose the wines yourself or let one of their experts make the choices for you.

4. Zingerman's

This is one of the best places you will find to purchase a good quality gourmet gift basket from. They can produce a gift basket made up with some of the most fantastic foods that you are ever likely to find from Artisan cheeses, through to rare oils and vinegars and much much more.

The only problem you will have when looking to choose a gourmet gift basket to present to someone is which one you should choose. The best thing you can do is write down a list of the gourmet gift baskets that are available and then select the one which is best suited to the recipient of the gourmet gift basket that you will be sending.

Weekend Getaway and Bacchanalian Feast With Friends in Ireland

Imagine a progressive bacchanalian feast of traditional cuisine and festive merriment. The setting was Dublin, Ireland and the weekend was coming to a close. It was our last night on our impromptu weekend getaway.

On that night the four of us in my group of weekend explorers could not decide on where we wanted to eat dinner. That was when we hatched our idea, a delicious and perhaps slightly hedonistic solution.

"Let's restaurant hop!" one of us suggested.

In a cooperative spirit of eager anticipation, we selected a different restaurant for each course of our dinner. Our inspiration was a take-off from an entertaining idea that had been popular back at home before we had shipped off for our semester in London, England. Glossy American gourmet-type books and magazines had been showcasing intriguing feature stories on how their readers could create progressive dinner parties.

Succinctly put, that last night in Dublin could best be described as 'progressive dinner meets pub-hopping without the stout.' We were drunk, but not on intoxicating and forbidden ale, but rather on the great joy of traveling with friends and experiencing life's serendipitous and unforgettable moments.

Among the foods that we sampled that evening was one of the rustic entrees that Ireland is famous for.

"You must sample me Irish Stew!" the lad with the slurred Gaelic dialect told us. "Ai let me bring you out a sample. 'Tis the best in all of Ireland." The waiter promised before scuttling off to the kitchen.

Within minutes our Irish waiter returned to our linen covered table with a warm from the oven fragrant loaf of Irish soda bread, and shortly thereafter with four small steamy bowls of rich and earthy Irish lamb stew that we all later confirmed as simply divine.

An authentic Irish stew is made with large chunks of vegetables. However, in my version of the recipe, the chunks are prepared a tad bit smaller so that each person's portion of the stew can easily be ladled into individual round crusty loaves of homemade bread. These shepherd style loaves when hollowed out, brushed with flavor spiked garlic and herb melted butter and filled with mouthwatering lamb stew create a most delightful smile-popping presentation.

Add a crisp green salad, a basket of Irish soda bread, an impressive dessert, a carafe of Irish coffee, some fun Irish folk ballads and perhaps a small wrapped token of friendship at each place setting for a gracious Irish themed get together perfect for a St. Patrick's Celebration with friends in the comfort of your own home. Before you know it, your dinner companions will be singing ballads of joy and appreciation for blessing them with a wonderful and memorable moment in time.

My recipe for Old Fashioned Irish Stew is posted at www.letsentertain.blogspot.com

(c) 2007 Kathi Dameron, Kathi Dameron and Associates

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