For the past five or so years, I have had too much fun putting together gift guides for all the food-lovers. We’ve covered a lot of ground and haven’t repeated any gifts! In 2019, there were last-minute gifts. 2020 and 2021’s guides featured all women-owned businesses and gifts under $50. In 2022, all our recommended gifts were made by women of color. We took a little break in 2023 and then doubled-down on a 2024 semi-homemade gift guide. This year, in celebration of the holiday season, Maddie, Graham, and I teamed up and pulled inspiration from the previous gift guides to incorporate a little bit of all that magic. Below you’ll find brand-new affordable gifts made by women—with a focus on women of color—and a goal of supporting local small businesses. Wishing you a merry and super delicious holiday! xo, Maria

• Palestinian Za’atar — Olive Odyssey ($13.78) — Grown in the hills of Jerusalem, hand-picked, and blended with sesame, sumac, and sea salt by a local craftswoman, this extraordinary za’atar spice mix is a really special gift that any foodie friend would appreciate. For a cozy holiday meal, I’d sprinkle it on a plate of hummus and serve with marinated olives, feta, and a stack of warm pita. Olive Odyssey also sells gorgeous, gift-worthy olive oils. –Maria

• Salsa Set — La Fundidora ($23.55 for a set of 3) — The day that our shipment of small batch, all-natural salsas from La Fundidora arrived, my whole family demanded we open up the box and plan our dinner menu around the mild green Fresca salsa. Bean and rice burritos for everyone! Arthur and Lewis also love this salsa on scrambled eggs. Graham and I adore the more fiery (but not too hot) Fuego and Humo Salsas that come with Fresca in a lovely 3-pack set. Now I’m curious to taste some of La Fundidora’s cooking sauces like Pastor. All their salsas and cooking sauces are made by hand in Brooklyn using ethically sourced ingredients and absolutely no chemicals, preservatives, sweeteners, or acidifiers. The company also donates a portion of sales to charities that help women and children in both NYC and Mexico. –Maria

• A potted lemon (or any citrus!) tree — local plant nursery (priceless?) — One of the sweetest birthday gifts Graham gave me was a young kishu tree in a pretty terra cotta pot. (Side note: If you are unfamiliar with kishu, a tiny citrus fruit, go find some in a market, pronto!) This gift works best if you shop for the tree at a nursery that’s local to the lucky recipient, because the plants will be accustomed to that particular climate. A dear friend who lives in the Netherlands once sent me a living plant from my nearest and best nursery, Flowerland, and I cried happy tears at her thoughtfulness. Never underestimate the power of a plant gift by delivery! –Maria

  

• Gift Cards to Your Favorite Places to Eat and Drink — (price varies) — To me, this feels like such a chic way of gifting. You are supporting your favorite restaurants, bakeries, cafes, and bars by sponsoring your friend’s experience there! It is a cool way of introducing people to small businesses in your community that hold a special place in your heart, life, and routine. I will definitely be giving tacos and wine to a few people this year! If your loved ones live out of town, do some digging to find cool small businesses in their neighborhood that you have always wanted to try or you think they would like. My sister-in-law lives in Brooklyn, and I know she would be obsessed with a gift card from Radio Bakery. –Maddie

• Reusable bamboo dinner plates — Poketo ($48 for a set of 4) — For the outdoorsy person in your life, how about a set of colorful, reusable plates? These are compostable but also dishwasher-safe and you’ll surely want to clean them and bring with you on many an outdoor adventure. Our family really appreciates unbreakable plates and cups in this chapter of our lives, with a two-year-old and a four-year-old as dining companions. –Maria

• Felt ornament — Flowerland ($35) — If you know the gift recipient loves tinned fish (hey, Cullen and Arthur!), this adorable felt sardines ornament will surely make them smile. Not cheap, but the embroidery and stitching is done by hand and the merino-blended wool is sustainably harvested and fairly traded. Destined to become a family heirloom passed down for generations, from one tinned fish lover to the next. –Maria

• Locally Roasted Coffee — Grand Coffee ($20 for 12 ounces) — Giving the gift of fresh, locally roasted beans to the coffee lovers in my life is one of my go-to moves. Grand Coffee Roasters, based in SF, roasts a range of single-origin coffees and blends and focuses on up-and-coming producers, all while making sure that they source ethically. Their packaging is also stunning! We’re also big fans of Mother Tongue Coffee in Oakland. –Maddie

• Fermented Hot Sauce — Burns Blossom Farm ($27 for a set of 3) — This hot sauce was recommended to us by the staff at our favorite fish store, Monterey Fish Market. It makes sense that they stock it, because it would be great with oysters, but we use it on all kinds of things: fried eggs, grilled chicken, roasted vegetables. I’m always looking for hot sauces that have the minimum number of ingredients, and this one fits the bill. –Graham

• Date Snacks — Date Better ($36 for 6 boxes) — The holidays are the best time of year for sweet treats. Like a box of chocolates (but better), these Medjool dates are stuffed with natural peanut butter and crunchy cacao nibs and then dipped in dark chocolate. They bring a dose of Christmas in California vibes and would be an excellent stocking stuffer. –Maria

• Baking and the Meaning of Life by Helen Goh — Bookshop ($40) — This book is for all the bakers out there who share their creations with people they love. Each and every single recipe is interesting and delicious (we worked with Helen and tested all of them, so we can attest!), drawing on Helen’s upbringing in Malaysia and Australia, as well as her extensive work with Ottolenghi. With each chapter, she gives insights based on her active psycho-therapy practice on how baking is good for the soul, adds meaning to life, and brings people together. –Maddie

• The Hostess Handbook — Bookshop ($30) — Shameless self-promotion, I know, but I really do believe that my newest cookbook makes for a lovely gift! This time of year, many of us are hosting parties and looking for reliable recipes and tips for success. You can find tons of great ideas in this beautiful book. –Maria

• Recipe of the Month Subscription — ($5 per month or $50 per year) — Okay, one more, but this time I can brag about how amazing Maddie’s work is on this little newsletter of ours. An original recipe delivered to your inbox every month, plus access to paid subscriber only perks like city Food Guides? That’s a priceless gift! (Coming later this month is a special gift cookie recipe exclusively for paid subscribers, and trust me, you’re going to want this one!) Other newsletters I wholeheartedly endorse are: Frances Abrantes Baca’s Headnotes (on cookbook design) and Family Friend by Lukas Volger. For a limited time only, we’re offering a special 20% discount on Recipe of the Month annual subscriptions. Happy holidays and thank you so much for your support! –Maria

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• A Merry Bottle of Wine — (price varies) — Donkey and Goat, Hammerling Wines, Broc Cellars, and Tessier Winery make up what is known as the Berkeley Wine Block. Each winery has their own unique style and take, and I’m sure you would find something to love at any of them. Lily’s Pet Nat from Donkey & Goat is soooo easy to drink, and my parents really enjoy Love Red from Broc Cellars. –Maddie

• Tiny bowls — East Fork ($48 for a set of 4) — As somebody who cooks and hosts often, I can find a million uses for tiny bowls. They’re perfect as a vessel for olive pits on a charcuterie board. (Everyone always forgets to put a small, empty bowl for guests to deposit pits!) A tiny bowl can hold a blend of spices before they get mixed into cake batter. A tiny bowl can also be filled with flaky sea salt and placed next to the stovetop or on a beautifully set table. Vitamins! Treasures! You name it. –Maria

Hello, Recipe of the Month subscribers! Maddie here. I can hardly believe that we have somehow stumbled well into fall and directly into the holiday season … how crazy time is! A lot has happened since we last chatted, especially this fall! Cullen and I got married in October (woohoo!) and we celebrated our wedding at one of our favorite restaurants, Pizzaiolo. We drank, we danced, and we shared the most beautiful salads, braised beef, and creamy polenta with our friends and family. It was the best day ever! Since then, I’ve successfully consumed pumpkin in pancake, muffin, and cake form; Fuyu persimmons have become my personality; and I have decided that I am now in my gin cocktail era.

Also this month, Maria turned in all the work we have done together for a project we have been working on for the past year and a half. We have been testing and editing recipes from Masala y Maíz, a Michelin-star restaurant in Mexico City run by Norma Listman and Saqib Keval. It has been such an honor to cook through their recipes. Through them, I have learned so much about the art of cooking, and about Mexican and Indian cuisine and their similarities and differences. I have been inspired by the power of the chile and its versatility, and by the beauty of toasting and mixing so many different spices to create unique building blocks of flavor.

Barbacoa was the final recipe we tested for the book, and the experience will inspire me for years to come. When we first took a look at the recipe, I’m not going to lie, Maria and I felt a bit daunted. It was going to be a three-day process, and of course Berkeley bowl was out of lamb shank! We were to season the lamb, marinate it in the rich barbacoa sauce, wrap it in fresh banana leaves, and roast it until it fell off the bone. Norma encouraged us to charge forward, full steam ahead. It was important, she said, to cook the entire twelve pounds of lamb shanks the recipe called for. The purpose of barbacoa is for it to be cooked in community and to be shared with the people who surround you. With that as our guiding light, we did, indeed, charge forward.

We found twelve pounds of lamb shanks at a small halal butcher shop, and we dug Maria and Graham’s turkey roasting pan (a wedding gift!) out of the cupboard. We stocked up on tortillas, chopped cilantro, and diced white onions, wondering which friends and neighbors we could share the bounty with. When we finally peeled back the banana leaves enveloping the simmering meat, we were awestruck. How magical to see something transform so fully in the oven. I pulled the meat off the bones and ladled the unctuous roasting juices back over top, sneaking several bites (for seasoning purposes, of course) and marveling at the layers of flavor built into the dish. Maria, champion of making things look darling, divided the meat into containers, poured the salsas we recipe-tested earlier in the week into little to-go cups, and the cilantro and onions into baggies. Later, Cullen and I wrapped the barbacoa in hot tortillas for dinner, and I felt as though I was eating tacos with all of the other families we shared the meal with.

When life gets busy, I often make scrambled eggs for lunch and pull something together for dinner using up whatever is left in the crisper drawer. But the meals that fill me up, like Norma so wisely put it, are the ones that I make “in community.” It’s the roasted chicken and Caesar salad Maria makes for her friends who just had a baby, and it’s the cake my mom made for our wedding shared with all our besties. This is the food that really satiates our bellies and our souls.

This sharing is what makes holidays special. Turkeys are brined, roasted, basted, deep-fried, spatchcocked. Potatoes are mashed and scalloped. Rolls rise and stuffing bakes. Wine is poured for your neighbor and mine. But the reason it all tastes so good, I think, is that we get to sit down with the people we love and share it all with them.

This holiday, I have been inspired by Norma and Saqib. I want to try to incorporate more chiles, more herbs, and more spices into the meal my family and I make together every year. We will rub our turkey with a limey achiote paste, and right next to my mom’s spicy cranberry chutney will be a few new salsas. I want to make a fresh green salsa inspired by Masala y Maíz along with the Chile Sauce and the Pounded Herb Sauce from This Is Camino, a cookbook that Maria co-authored. Maybe we will even eat the leftovers the next day in hot tortillas … a new tradition!

Chile Sauce

{Recipe from This is Camino by Russell Moore and Allison Hopelain with Chris Colin and Maria Zizka}

Makes about ½ cup

In cooking with more varieties of dried chiles this year than ever before, I really think it is worth experimenting to see which ones appeal to you. I’ve realized I love guajillos, with their mild heat and sweet and fruity flavor. Anchos always bring something special, with their slight smokiness and dried fruit notes, and espelette chiles, from Basque country, are mild, versatile, and seem to work in everything. I’m curious what combination will call to you!

4 or 5 dried chiles (a single variety or a mix)

2 cloves garlic

Salt

5 tablespoons (75 ml) extra-virgin olive oil

½ cup (55 g) very thinly sliced scallions or snipped chives

Break up the chiles into manageable pieces, discarding the stems but keeping all the seeds and inner ribs. I’d rather include all the seeds in the sauce because they add complex bitterness and spiciness. That way you can use fewer chiles to deliver the heat and, if the sauce turns out to be too spicy, just use less of it. Grind the chile pieces in a coffee or spice grinder until coarse. It’s good if they have a little texture, so don’t grind them all the way to a powder. Put the ground chiles into a bowl and rehydrate them with a couple tablespoons of boiling water to make a dense paste—you don’t want them to be swimming.

Using a mortar and pestle, pound the garlic with a pinch of salt. Scrape it into the bowl with the chiles. Add the olive oil, scallions, and another pinch of salt. Stir well to combine, then taste a small amount for seasoning.

This will last a couple of days in the refrigerator, but the garlic flavor will get stronger.

Variations

To create depth of flavor: Substitute any vegetable stock or bean cooking broth for the boiling water.

To add freshness: Add a handful of finely chopped fresh mint, oregano, or parsley, or combine with the Pounded Herb Sauce.

For nuttiness: Add a couple tablespoons of toasted and lightly crushed sesame seeds and pepitas.

Pounded Herb Sauce

{Recipe from This is Camino by Russell Moore and Allison Hopelain with Chris Colin and Maria Zizka}

Makes about ⅔ cup

This herb sauce is perfect on its own, but really does add something special when combined with the smoky Chile Sauce above. I think a dollop of this sandwiched between a bite of Thanksgiving turkey and a creamy swoop of mashed potatoes will be phenomenal.

2 cloves garlic

Salt

Leaves from 1 small bunch mint

Leaves from ½ bunch oregano

1 small bunch chives, sliced

½ cup (120 ml) extra-virgin olive oil

Using a mortar and pestle, pound the garlic with a pinch of salt. Roughly (but quickly) slice the mint leaves, then immediately add them to the mortar. As soon as you cut the mint it will start to turn black, so to preserve the bright green color, quickly pound it into the garlic paste.

Add the oregano and chives, and then pound everything together. The herbs don’t need to be perfect and smooth, but they should be pounded enough that the juices come out. Stir in the olive oil and a little more salt, then taste for seasoning.

This will last a couple days covered in the refrigerator, but the garlic flavor will get stronger.

Variations

For acidity: Add the finely chopped peel of ¼ to ½ of a preserved lemon, or the finely grated zest of 1 fresh lemon.

For nuttiness: Finely chop a few tablespoons of toasted almonds or hazelnuts and mix them in.

I absolutely love to host parties. (I even wrote a whole book about it.) I love looking around at a house packed full of people, elbows brushing as someone squeezes to get by. I love the sound of my friends’ laughter. I love when you see two people who didn’t know each other prior to the party exchanging numbers. My home glows when there’s a party. I always think, “this is what a home is for” when little kids are racing down the hallway, when the table is laden with platters of food, when I hear the pop of a cork being pulled from a wine bottle.

I know this might sound a little out there, but one of my favorite party sights is actually the detritus left behind after everyone has gone home. The crushed juice boxes on the ground. The wax candle nubs burned all the way down. The dessert plate that’s been scraped clean of chocolate frosting, with maybe a couple of green strawberry tops to the side. I adore a crumpled napkin. I think I like these things so much because they are signs of humanity. You can’t fake them. Even the best AI could never come close.

When I’m hosting a party, I feel connected to my community. I feel real and alive. Most of all, I feel loved. Every year, my husband, Graham, and I host two big parties (big as in more than fifty people) in our little house: Friendsgiving and Hot Dog Party. I’ve written about Friendsgiving before, but let me tell you about our new-ish tradition of Hot Dog Party. Picture your ideal hot dog. Does it have yellow mustard? Relish? Chopped raw onion? Maybe all three? We grill a combination of all-beef dogs, bratwurst, spicy Italian sausages, frankfurters, and hot links, and then we set out all the toppings for each guest to assemble their own perfect hot dog. The invitees under the age of five seem to prefer a simple toasted bun with an unreasonable amount of ketchup. But there’s zero judgement—everyone is free to make and enjoy their own hot dog. Bottomless prosecco and apple juice boxes for all.

If I’m being honest, we don’t really have the space for such a large party. That doesn’t stop me! I want to invite our whole neighborhood, and I want to establish traditions far bigger than the walls of this house. My greatest hope is that our home becomes a gathering place, where everyone feels welcome and cared for. I’ve told my son Arthur countless times that he needs to share, but I don’t think the message gets through to him from my words alone. After Hot Dog Party this year, he asked me, “When that friend was leaving, why did you give her a piece of dessert to take home even though she already ate some?” Because that’s what we do in our family. And the love returns to us tenfold.

Instead of a recipe this month, I have two party menus to share with you. These are low-lift parties, tried and true, eminently doable for busy parents of young kids:

Hot Dog Party

Prosecco and apple juice boxes

Grilled hot dogs and all the toppings

Pasta Salad with Sungold tomatoes, mozzarella balls, and olives

Watermelon and fresh berries

Apple tart

Pre Trick-or-Treating Dinner

Pitcher of corpse reviver cocktails

Spaghetti bolognese

Whole loaf cheesy garlic bread

Speaking of trick-or-treating, happy Halloween to you! My family is dressing up as Tour de France. (I’m the green jersey winner. Graham is going as King of the Mountain. IYKYK.) In past years, we’ve celebrated with Spiderweb Cake and Black Tahini Buckwheat Cookies, if you’re looking for some spooky recipes. We’ll also be honoring loved ones who have passed on Día de Muertos and I’m sending extra love to everyone who is remembering the lives of their family and friends.

See you in November,

Maria xo

P.S. You may have seen that tens of millions of people are set to lose federal food and nutrition benefits next month. The people who will be affected most by these cuts are families with children, seniors, and people with disabilities. I feel horrified and depressed this is happening. For every new or upgraded subscription to Recipe of the Month, I will match in cash donations to No Kid Hungry. Thank you so much for all the support from this loving community.