I like to give gifts but I always have a hard time figuring out what to get people. I guess I don’t pay close enough attention to the clues and far too often purchase the standard, banal gift that screams of last minute trip to the Mall. Every once in a while I get an idea for a gift that I think someone will really enjoy. Usually I buy the gift and give it to a friend for no special occasion. Recently I had an idea. Our friends from Texas have been experimenting with the local cuisine. She likes to cook and he likes to eat. I know the perfect cookbook.
We've had the Texans to dinner a few times and they really like my tomato sauce recipes I learned in Naples. In fact they recently asked me how to make some of my basic sauces. The cookbook Naples At Table by Arthur Schwartz has the most authentic recipes I ever seen and is a great reference for the history of classic Neapolitan favorites. I thought this would be a perfect gift and went ahead and ordered it from Amazon. I’m getting ready to wrap the book as a Christmas present when my wife mentions the fact that some people can be uncomfortable receiving a gift if they are not prepared to return the gesture. We don’t normally exchange gifts at Christmas and if I had thought of this six months ago I would have just given them the gift for no special reason.
So … what to do? Maybe I can wrap the book in plain paper and slip it in their mailbox without a card?
2 comments:
That's not exactly what I said -- that makes me seem like I expect a gift in return, which is so not the case. In fact, I am embarrassed at receiving gifts (even for my birthday) from anyone outside of my immediate family. I much rather give than receive. One of the most uncomfortable moments of my life was the facutly baby shower for Maddy when everyone in Naples was so completely generous to us.
Oh, I must tell you! I have this book CURRENTLY next to my bed. Yes, I read cookbooks before bed! So ridiculous. I love cookbooks you can actually read though. Actually, sometimes the recipes are distractions for me ;) By the way, I read on his site recently that he was in Naples working on a new book?? Something to be on the look out for. But don't you love the colors on the cover? Delicious!
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