Let the chestnuts roast and the eggnog flow, it's that time of year again! Here's our short list of unique food-centric gifts that will bring a smile to your favorite foodie's face.

1. Sushi Booties (For the Avant-Garde Baby)

Photo Credit: Sushi Booties (via Etsy)

You're never too young to develop a shoe fetish. These super soft fleece Sushi Booties ($24), fashioned to resemble your favorite piece of soosh, are the perfect gift for hip parents or the sushi-deprived mommy-to-be. Each set of booties is handmade to order and comes in a sushi bento box ready for gift-giving!

2. Booze-inspired jewelry (For the Life of the Party)

Photo Credit: Sora Designs

She's the life of the party. She's stylish. She's bold. She loves boozin' and she loves looking good while she's boozin'. This necklace was made for her. Local SF jewelry designer Yueh-Wen Chang (Wen) of Sora Designs has created the ultimate statement pieces with her Owl-t on the Town Bottle Opener Necklace ($35.50) and Fish Bottle Opener Necklace ($29.50). Gift your girl this necklace and she'll be the most popular person at the party…as if she weren't already.

3. Tell Tale Society CSA (For the Discerning Sweet Tooth)

Photo Credit: Tell Tale Preserve Company

Tell Tale Preserve Company is Pastry Chef William Werner's (formerly of Quince) latest project. The modern pâtisserie and delicatessen is slated to open Spring 2011 at 33 Maiden Lane. In the meantime, company's monthly CSA of heavenly confections is in full swing. Join the Tell Tale Society ($35/month) and receive a burlap bag full of inspired creations like Turrón of White Chocolate, Walnut and Yuzu; Hazelnut, Frankincense and Muscovado Toffee, and Pain D'épices Laced Caramels.

Customers can order one month at a time, or pre-purchase months in advance. Society bags can be shipped or picked up at the Ferry Building Farmers Market on Tuesdays (8:00 am - 2:00 pm) or at Coffee Bar. The bag of treats can also be purchased at the Ferry Building Farmers Market on Tuesdays and Saturdays (8:30 am – 2:30 pm) and at Big Daddy's Antique Trunk Show Monday to Saturday (9:00 am – 5:00 pm) starting 12/10. Come along, sugar plum fairies, come along.

4. Marianberry Confections Doggy Cookies (For the Furry)

Photo Credit: Marianberry Confections

Let's not forget your four-legged friend. He does put up with all your shenanigans. While Marianberry Confections focuses mainly on treats for people (like amazing chewy, crispy, thin Oatmeal Raisin cookies), they have baked up something just for that special pup in your life. Honey Crunch Dog Cookies nestled in a classic Black and White Bone Motif Bowl ($15). The all-natural cookies are made with whole wheat flour, steel cut oats, honey, milk & eggs.

5. Homegrown Mushrooms (For the Green)

Photo Credit: Back to the Roots

BTTR (pronounced better), which stands for "Back to the Roots," was started by Nikhil Arora and Alex Velez after they graduated from UC Berkeley last year. During their last semester, the two discovered that they could grow gourmet mushrooms entirely on recycled coffee grounds. And so, they created a 100% sustainable urban mushroom farm in Berkeley (which now diverts 10,000 lbs/wk of coffee grounds from Peet's Coffee & Tea, produces 500 lbs/wk of fresh oyster mushrooms, and sustains 10 urban school and community gardens by donating post-harvest grounds which have turned into nutrient-rich compost from the leftover mushroom roots).

BTTR now brings sustainable mushroom farming into your own kitchen with their Easy-to-Grow Mushroom Garden ($19.95). Just open the box, mist it twice a day, and watch your own science experiment grow. Harvest up to 1 pound of oyster mushrooms in as little as 10 days, and harvest as many as four crops.

This is the ultimate feel-good gift of the year. Support young entrepreneurs, recycle would-be waste, grow your own delicious , sustainable, as-local-as-it-gets mushrooms, and help raise money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation all at the same time (through December 5% of sales will be donated to support breast cancer research). This officially puts you on Santa's Nice List.

6. Breakfast in Bed (For the Sweetheart)

Kodiak Cakes Gift Bowl

Nothing says "I love you" like breakfast in bed. Especially when breakfast entails thick, fluffy flapjacks sweetened with a touch of honey. This pretty gift package from Kodiak Cakes ($29) includes their famous hearty and healthy Frontier Flapjack and Waffle Mix (comprised of only the finest American wheat and Canadian oats), all-natural handmade berry syrup, a soft dish towel, and a 10-inch wire whisk, all nestled in a jumbo 2-quart glass measuring bowl with a rubber lid.

7. Smocks (For the Stylish Hostess)

Photo Credit: Smocks (on the left: "Kelly"; on the right: "MacKenzie")

These sassy designer aprons ($34.95-$39.95) from Smocks are flirty, feisty, fun, and functional. Yeah, alliteration. They are inspired by contemporary designers and designed to fit and flatter a woman's body. Favorite picks include the flouncy Kelly, with deep pockets cleverly hidden on each side to avoid bulk on your hips, and the retro-chic MacKenzie with those sexy back ties.

8. Bacon iPad Case (For the Devotees)

Photo Credit: Media-Digest

This is for the die-hard bacon devotees. I know you're still out there. The Bacon Case ($59) from Antjes is the ultimate fantasy. Tasty fatty pork makes sweet love to sleek shiny iPad. There's something viscerally disturbing in that statement, but I stand by it.

9. Homemade Goodies (For the Crafty)

Homemade Christmas Cookie Jars

• Christmas Cookie Jars
• Homemade Granola (via Lick My Spoon)
• Cookies Galore (via Brown Eyed Baker)
• Candy Galore…and darling packaging ideas (via Martha Stewart)
• Flavored Salts (via Breakaway Cook)
• Homemade Vanilla Extract (via Use Real Butter)

10. Classes (For the Hands-On)

Photo Credit: Curiosity Atlas

If you’re a believer that things own you rather than the other way around, this could be your savior this holiday season. Curiosity Atlas is a Bay Area initiative that aspires to provide inspiration and access to unique, local and hands-on experiences that foster personal growth and cultivate community.

Today, Wednesday 12/8, Curiosity Atlas is hosting A Curious Affair, a unique experience gift market that will bring together a broad range of vendors who could very well hold the key to the perfect experiential gift for that special someone who is always impossible to buy for. Some food-centric experiences to look out for:

• Butchery classes from Avedano’s Meats
• Community dinner and food classes from 18 Reasons
• Cooking experiences from La Cocina
• Discovering the joys of preserving from Happy Girl Kitchen
• Workshops on topics like brewing Kombucha, baking bread, or urban gardening from Urban Kitchen SF
• Parties, classes and tastings from Slow Food SF

That's a wrap! Jingle bells, everyone!

For more foodie gift-giving ideas, check out last year's wishlist.

Fig chutney with cheese, crackers, and cashews.

Did you like your presents? Although I was hoping for cashmere socks, the funniest, etsy-est thing I got this year was a little poster from my sister, printed in block type, that read, "Today I will be happier than a bird with a French fry." Words to live by, my friends!

And what else do you have, in the holiday aftermath? The days after Christmas are often the best part, when the stress-inducing members of the family have gone up to the Wharf or down to Disneyland, and you're left with the fun sibs, the leftover booze, and a fridge full of leftover cold turkey and ham.

What's better than a stiff drink and a ham-and-turkey sandwich with people you never have to impress? I'll tell you: a ham-and-turkey sandwich dolloped with chutney, that's what. And not just any common-or-garden chutney, no sirree Bob, but McQuade's Celtic Chutney, made by red-headed Scotswoman Alison McQuade in small, aromatic batches, just like you would at home, if you were lucky enough to come from chutney-making people.

Hailing from Glasgow, McQuade comes by the Celtic appellation honestly, but her chutneys have a distinct California twist, thanks to the spark of heat and spice that zaps each one. Habanero and apple, fig and ginger (made with dried figs), and spiced apple are her mainstays, with other varieties rotated in depending on what's in season.

Walking through the darkened downtown San Francisco restaurant where McQuade rents kitchen space in the off hours, I could smell the sharp, sweet zip of spice and vinegar the moment I stepped in from the street. Back in the small, fluorescent-lit kitchen, McQuade and an assistant are stirring two pots on the stove, each half-full chopped figs, cider vinegar, brown sugar, raisins, apples, lemon zest and a plum pudding's worth of spices—nutmeg, ginger, allspice, cloves, cinnamon—all cooking down to a rich and fragrant gloss.

On the counter are boxes of fresh Fuyu persimmons, a backyard gift from the owners of the Hidden Vine wine bar nearby, a favorite hangout of McQuade's. They'll go into a new winter favorite, persimmon-habanero chutney. At the cozy Farm:Table cafe just a few blocks away (where McQuade often starts her day), jars of ruby cranberry-mandarin Christmas chutney are stacked up by the cash register. For McQuade, the chutney business is as much about building relationships and forging community as it is about filling jars.

Much of McQuade's ingredients are sourced locally, from farms like Torey's Farms, which she loves for their top-quality stone fruit and citrus. Cooking in small quantities (each batch usually fills about 30 7-oz jars) allows for a lot of flexibility. If something good turns up—fresh spring rhubarb, those backyard persimmons, a great deal on bananas or pineapple—she can adjust (or invent) a recipe on the spot, tossing the new variety into her ever-evolving product line.

Like many small-scale food artisans, McQuade had a long professional career first, working for the British Consulate and at law firms in both New York and Los Angeles. Missing the chutneys her grandmother had made while she was growing up in Scotland, she set to making a few jars for family and friends, bringing them to parties and giving it as gifts. Her hairdresser happened to try some, and a few days later called her from the salon. Get down here now with your chutney, she demanded. There's someone here who needs to try it. McQuade, mystified but intrigued, grabbed a few jars and headed over. The woman in question took a taste and asked for 60 cases on the spot.

She turned out to be Peggy Smith, one of the founders of Cowgirl Creamery, whose cheese shops have remained one of McQuade's best customers. That was 5 years ago, and now McQuade's chutneys are available in shops throughout the Bay Area, including Bi-Rite, Falletti's, Tomales Bay Foods, Whole Foods, Cheese Plus, and more. Restaurant and bars like Range, Hidden Vine, and the St. Francis Hotel's Clock Bar have found uses for her sweet-spicy-tangy spreads, adding it to cheese plates, even putting it into cocktails themselves.

Lately, she's been exploring more savory ways of using her chutneys, like shrimp stir-fry made with habanero chutney, or pork roast glazed with fig. Scrambled eggs, cheddar cheese, blue cheese, just about any kind of cold meat or sandwich: they're all the better for a smear of chutney to keep out the cold. Even peanut butter's better for a chutney hookup: the late (and much-loved) novelist and food writer Laurie Colwin often waxed rhapsodic about chutney, fondly recalling a tiny, perfect peanut butter-and-chutney sandwich she'd been served once at a cocktail party.

For next year, McQuade is working on a line of savory shortbreads flavored with fresh herbs like thyme and rosemary. Will they go with chutney? Did you even have to ask?

It's beginning to look a lot like Xmas!

All I want for Christmas is... not another pair of toe-socks (no offense, Mom) or body lotion/soap set.

The Bay Area is rife with unique eating experiences, culinary talent, and tasty goods made with lots of love. Why not support local businesses, while giving someone a gift they won't be re-gifting?

(Ahem, for the record, if you do want to re-gift any of these, I'd gladly accept items 1 through 10).

1. CSA subscription (for the Lazy)

Bay Area: Buy Fresh Buy Local

I love having my CSA box of fresh, organic, in-season fruits and veggies delivered right to my door every other week. Many are flexible, customizable, and available for convenient delivery to your home or nearby location. A few to get you started on your search:

• Eatwell Farm (includes option for pasture-raised eggs)
• Farm Fresh to You
• Frog Hollow Farm (all fruit; during the winter, supplemented with items from the farm kitchen like granola, dried fruit, and olive oil)
• Full Belly Farm
• Two Small Farms (Mariquita)
• Soul Food Farm (pastured poultry and eggs)
• Terra Firma Farms

2. Socola Chocolatier "Holiday Chocolate Truffle Collection {on a faux bear rug}," $25 (for the Cheeky)

Socola Chocolatier, holiday collection {on a faux bear rug}

This Oakland-based, sister-run chocolate company is modern, sassy, and full of delectable personality. The 12-piece holiday assortment includes the following flavors: Hazelnut Gianduja (a milk chocolate truffle blended with roasted hazelnuts "bundled up in a fashionable nutty parka"), Hot in Hia (a champagne truffle with notes of fruit and honey, named in honor of the bubbly personality of the girls' grandmother Hia), Le Frog Neat (a smoky confection made with 10-year-old Laphroaig Scotch whisky), and Pumpkin Burnt Caramel (a warm mix of pumpkin pie spices, burnt caramel, Hawaiian sea salt and a splash of brandy).

3. Recchiuti Confections "Creativity Explored III: Toys," $21 (for the Philanthropic Art-lover)

Recchiuti Confections, Creativity Explored III: Toys

These art-adorned chocolates combine Michael Recchiuti's signature Burnt Caramel chocolate confections, with the work of Vincent Jackson, SF native and long-time artist at the Creativity Explored studio. Creativity Explored is a Bay Area nonprofit visual arts center where artists with developmental disabilities create, exhibit, and sell their art. $2 from each sale goes to support Creativity Explored.

4. Jimmyjane Milk Chocolate AFTERGLOW Massage Oil Candle, $28 (for After Hours)

Jimmyjane, Milk Chocolate AFTERGLOW

If it's a different kind of chocolate experience you're after, look no further. When heated, this candle liquefies into high-slip massage oil made with jojoba, shea butter, vitamin E, soy, aloe, and other botanical extracts. Bonus: it comes with a body brush to assist in painting the warm oil onto the skin. Extra Bonus: it smells delicious.

5. Boccalone Large Gift Box, $52 (for the Carnivore)

Chris Cosentino, Boccalone

Nothing says Happy Holidays like Tasty Salted Pig Parts. This homage to salumi contains two 8-ounce Boccalone salami (chosen from available flavors like Orange & Wild Fennel Salame, Soppressata di Calabria, Brown Sugar and Fennel Salame, and Salame Pepato), a t-shirt, and one 9-ounce jar of Whole-Grain Mustard. If the whole gift box thing isn't your style, take your pick of hand-crafted porcine delights from the Boccalone meat locker. I, for one, may or may not be maxing out my luggage weight limit this Christmas flight home on Nduja ("en-DOO-ya")...so much velvety, spicy Nduja.

6. Jessie Steele Aprons, $30.95-$33.95 (for the Lovely Hostess)

Photo by Jessie Steele, from left to right: Bib Ava Cabbage Rose Apron, Half Audrey Cherry Cupcakes Apron, Bib Gigi French Toil Apron with Terry Towel

These vintage 1940's and 50's-inspired hostess aprons are so cute and fabu, they just make me want to put on my pearls, bake a cake and drink a martini at the same time.

7. Cookbooks from Bay Area Culinary Greats (for Those Who Can Take the Heat)

Ad hoc at Home

These cookbooks will be sure to inspire some magic in your home kitchen:

• Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller
• Demolition Desserts: Recipes from Citizen Cake by Elizabeth Falkner
• Fields of Greens by Annie Somerville
• Mustards Grill Napa Valley Cookbook by Cindy Pawlcyn
• Super Natural Cooking by Heidi Swanson
• Into the Vietnamese Kitchen by Andrea Nguyen
• The Zuni Café Cookbook by Judy Rodgers.

Note: you may want to pair this gift with a laminating machine, drool.

8. La Cocina Artisan Gift Box, The Half-Pint, $35 (for the Snack-Happy Do-Gooder)

La Cocina Gift Box, The Half-Pint

These gift boxes are filled with an assortment of hand-made, sweet and salty snacks from local small food businesses enrolled in La Cocina's incubator program. Snack to your heart's content and feel good about supporting local food entrepreneurs.

9. Cooking Classes (for the Ambitious)

Group Cook

Because if you send someone you love to a cooking class, chances are good it will come back ten-fold! There are many options in SF alone, ranging in price, time commitment, and topic. For a more formal school setting, there is the highly regarded Tante Marie's Cooking School. Urban Kitchen SF hosts affordable, skill/project specific classes and workshops themed around the DIY Slow Food concept (e.g. brewing Kombucha, baking bread, composting), as does CUESA at the Ferry Building. And butchery is hot as ever, as Ryan Farr of 4505 Meats or Tia Harrison of Avedano's Holly Park Market can tell you. SF Station also has a comprehensive of culinary schools and social cooking classes in the city.

10. Unique Dining Experiences (for the Hungry)

Photo by Outstanding in the Field

And finally, you can't go wrong with a fantastic meal. There is no shortage of phenomenal restaurants in the Bay Area, but if you dig a little, you can also find some interesting out-of-the-box options. Outstanding in the Field offers gift certificates (although, be sure to stay on top of the 2010 schedule once it's announced because these stunning dinners book up quickly). For something more stealth and mysterious, check out the underground supperclub scene at The Ghetto Gourmet.

So what are you waiting for? Now Dasher! Now, Dancer! Now, Prancer and Vixen...

Happy holidays, happy gift-giving, and happy eating to all.