12 Days of Christmas Gifts: Day Nine—The Cook

It seems like saying "Buy Local" has become the in thing to do, but for small businesses in our area, there is nothing new about shopping locally. For the next 12 days, we're going to post an item each day showcasing some of the great businesses in Edgewater and Davidsonville.

Day Nine: Is there someone in your life who loves to cook? Someone who endlessly watches the cooking shows and has all of the good recipe websites bookmarked? We have a few ideas for gifts for the wannabe chef in your life.

in South River Colony Main Street is for the most part a furniture and accessories store. It would be nice to give a pie hutch or a new dining room table but, for most people, that is a pretty unusual gift to unwrap on Christmas morning.

Instead, walk all the way through the store and go to the sunny little area at the far end of the store. There, you'll find a number of fun ideas for the person who likes to play in the kitchen. Items include a colorful teapot ($49), unusual cookie-cutter shapes ($5) and themed salt and pepper shakers ($22 and up). Maybe you could pair those up with food items from the local supermarket and make a gift basket of goodies for the kitchen. 

If you've got someone who is into all things Maryland, Parkemoor offers a nice selection of herb blends to use with crab meat or steamed shrimp. They also have accessories, like blue crab colanders, blue crab enamelware bowls or blue crab ramekins.  

in Edgewater is another great place to shop for the cook in your life. There, you can purchase cooking utensils to use with your fireplace as well as grills and smokers. One of them, the Big Green Egg ($800 and up), is a ceramic grill and smoker that the manufacturer calls the "ultimate cooking experience."

Another unusual item for a chef is to give them a CSA (community sustained agriculture) subscription. For $240, they'll get a once-a-week box of organically grown, local vegetables. A good cook doesn't need to do a lot with a Maryland-grown summer tomato—just a dash of salt and pepper is all it really needs—but the boxes include veggies like asparagus, parsnips, greens and garlic scapes. One local farm is Ivy Neck Farm off of Muddy Creek Road. They are a family farm that not only runs a CSA, but also raises beef cattle to sell locally.

One thing is for sure—when your fabulous "cook" gift gets used, and you get a yummy meal out of the deal, that's when you'll know you got the right thing.