It's getting to be that time of year when we're encouraged to buy, buy, buy. But when you're thinking about gifts this year, why not shop local? We've got a round-up of local Twin Cities and Minnesota gift suggestions from our writers. There's something for everyone on your list, from hand-crafted goods like pottery and knitwear to experiences like a tour of local inns to a gift that keeps on giving like a flower CSA share. You can also check out gift guides from 2012 and 2011 for some perennial local gift suggestions.
As always, thank you for reading and sharing our work. Please take just a second to thank one of our writers who work tirelessly to bring you in-depth, interesting, and important information. Happy Holidays from all of us at Simple, Good, and Tasty!
Kitty Baker:
A last-minute day trip leads to holiday spirit and unique gift shopping.
The Lanesboro Christmas Inn Tour is Sunday, December 8 from 2 to 6 pm. This is a once-a-year
chance to tour eight of Lanesboro’s Bed and Breakfast Inns. Eahc inn is
charmingly decorated for the Christmas season, each offers tour guests a
delicious sampling of holiday refreshments. Tickets are limited – advance sale
$20; day-of ticket is $25. You can purchase tickets online
or call (800) 944-2670. There are also half
price tickets for guests staying at participating inns on tour weekend. See
more details here.
While in
Lanesboro, save shopping time to check out fun holiday attire and great
gifts at Bittersweet, a
women’s wear store on par with the best in Edina’s Galleria — but Bittersweet’s
prices are amazingly modest. Lately
when I compliment a friend on a really unusual and stylish outfit, the reply is
often, “Thank you, I got it at Bittersweet.’” Also,
check out Bittersweet’s Facebook
page here.
Jillian Tholen:
As anyone who knows me well
can tell you, I adore butter. I have certainly eaten my fair share of it thus
far in my life, but something I’ve just come to realize in the past few years
is that fresh, locally-made butter is (like everything else fresh and local)
AMAZING. Rochdale Farms, which is a brand that actually represents a co-op of
local farms, makes butter that is just fantastic. It looks a little out-of-the-ordinary
at first glance, since it’s actually hand-rolled, and not packaged into perfect
4oz. sticks like the butter so many of us are used to. I’d say that’s part of
the charm, though, and it really lets you know the butter was made with care
and intention. And the taste! It is so pure and rich—definitely some of the
best butter I’ve ever had. It’s delicious just spread on a slice of good
sourdough, and can elevate your cooking and baking to a whole new level. I just
can’t say enough about it!
As a final note, I’m also a
pretty big fan of yogurt, and Rochdale makes some wonderful whole milk and
Greek yogurts as well. They use non-homogenized milk that has been very gently
pasteurized, so the flavor and texture are exceptional. Both the butter and the
yogurt from Rochdale would be great to use for holiday cooking/baking, and
would make great gifts as well—I know I’d certainly be excited to receive a
basket full of local dairy products!
Amy Sippl:
If I'm putting local goodies in a stocking or bringing a quick-and-easy
hostess gift, I almost always go for sweet treats. Thankfully we have great
choices in Minnesota for custom candies, chocolates and guilty pleasures. If I
have time for homemade, I will often package up a batch of the Star Tribune's
winning holiday cookie of the year with a printed copy of the recipe. It's
usually a brand-new taste and many of them end up in my friend's cookie
collections in upcoming years.
For the people on my list who like spending time
in the kitchen, I'll wrap a quart jar of golden maple syrup from our family's
sugarbush with a sack of Whole Grain Milling pancake mix. If I'm
looking for extra "ooh's and aahs" when the wrapping paper comes off,
I'll go for a box of truffles from Just Truffles in St. Paul. It's hard to compete
with flavors like pumpkin pleasure, lemon cheesecake, and tenor's temptation.
Finally, for the most serious of my chocolate-loving friends and family, I go
with Minneapolis' own B.T. McElrath's
chocolate bar bundle. The bundle has one of each of their seven custom
chocolate bars, including my favorite prairie dog bar with buttered toffee and
sea salt. It's enough chocolate to satisfy any sweet tooth and it's local, too!
Katie Willis:
If I had to farm without
flowers, I would probably abandon the profession. After a blustery, seemingly
endless winter followed by a spring riddled with torrential downpours, I would
have fallen off the butt dragger while transplanting kale and remained in the
fields if the sight of flowers pushing against and persevering through the
elements hadn’t reminded me of the beauty that blooms while farming. Thanks to
Jennifer, Mike, and squealing, stumbling, scooting baby Earl at Humble Pie
Farm (an incubator at Gardens
of Eagan), my fix for flowers was
met. And if you or one of your loved ones, too, fall into the gloom of
Minnesota winters, bruise easily from slip sliding on sidewalks’ black ice,
shove your head in the snow and feel it will never melt, you would definitely
enjoy a flower CSA share, (8 or 16 weeks of organic, local, lovingly arranged
bouquets) from Humble Pie, or what I like to think of as the light at the end of
a very snowy tunnel.
I am a fiend for baked goods
and sweet treats – ice cream, cookies, pie, and cake (in that order), bring me
more joy than a raw kale salad or even a slab of locally pastured bacon. But
after a summer of persistent stomach irritation, I felt I might need to give up
my addiction to flour. Lucky for me, I’ve got connections with a master baker
of gluten-free delicacies, from a Viennese almond tart to toffee squares to
buttermilk buscuits. Molly Schaus, who suffers from Celiacs disease and runs
Early Riser Bakery from her home in South Minneapolis. If you know someone
whose stomach can no longer accommodate gluten, email Molly and she’ll be happy
to help you get your fix (earlyriserbakery@gmail.com).
Peter Groynom:
I'm excited to gift friends bottles of Gamle Ode Dill Aquavit this year. Gamle
Ode is a Minneapolis-based company that distills its products at 45th Parallel
Spirits, in New Richmond, Wisconsin. They have a variety of aquavits, but the
Dill is my favorite: bright and herbal and clean, it's great served cold, sipped
as a shot after a large holiday meal. It's also excellent as the base for a
martini shaken with an extra amount of dry vermouth and garnished with lemon.
Gamle Ode Dill Aquavit is available at Surdyk's, Zipp's, Haskell's, Fance
44, and more locations throughout the Twin Cities.
I'm also a huge fan of Parka, a restaurant/coffee shop in Longfellow.
The cafe serves food all day long, and also sells some of the best coffee
(Dogwood) and pastries (Rustica) in town. A pound of their Neon Espresso, a
pack of Rustica's Bittersweet Chocolate cookies (so rich, so addictive,) and a
gift card to Parka itself would make a fantastic gift basket.
Lawrence Black:
I insist on being redundant in my perennial promotion of my wife's business, Sassy Knitwear. Located on 48th and Chicago, this is an all-in-one clothing store for women and children. By all-in-one, I mean that they design, dye fabric, cut, sew and finish all in that one space. It is a great picture of sustainability, when most of the textile world is anything but.
I also love going to Fire on the Greenway, a local pottery studio/gallery/co-op that houses some amazing talent (including SGT contributor Ben Krikava, whose pottery is pictured at the top of this post). They are only open for a few hours on Saturdays (and by appointment), but don't miss a super fun open house coming up on the 6th, 7th and 8th of December.
Once you have the pottery, it is easy to pair the food/drink. Some of my all-time favorite packages: a mug and some locally roasted coffee, a bowl and some local granola, a nice platter with charcuterie, or all manner of drinking vessels to be paired with our fine local craft beers and craft liquors.
Claire Stanford:
I love cookbooks of all
kinds, and I think they make lovely gifts — many people are hesitant to
buy a cookbook for themselves, but are always excited to receive them. I've
been rounding up cookbooks all year — which you can read here, here, here, and here — but I want to
focus on a few local cookbooks here. Lawrence reviewed local writer Beth
Dooley's simple and elegant book Minnesota's Bounty: The Farmer's
Market Cookbook back in June. Locals Jeff
Hertzberg and Zoë François released the latest installment in their
anyone-can-bake-bread series, The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day,
this year. And, of course, there's Minnesotan and Food Network star Amy
Thielen, whose book The New Midwestern Table is garnering widespread
attention and praise, and re-elevating the profile of Midwestern food.
Lastly, since this is a local gift guide, I'm
not including any links to buy these books online; instead, please consider buying
a book at your local independent bookseller. We're so lucky to have so many
independent bookstores here in the Twin Cities, and we want to help them keep
fighting the good fight!