I received a beautiful box of 6 local cheeses, olives, jam, crackers, chutney, local chocolate and pecans from Gunn’s Hill in Woodstock, Ontario. https://gunns-hill-artisan-cheese.myshopify.com/
My friends received the Li-Lac chocolates I sent, on time for Hannukah .
I found a cute Maruchan ramen bowl set that came with a chopstick holder, ceramic spoon, and chopsticks for my brother. I just mailed him that along with an assortment of instant noodles from the Chinese market (everything from Shin black ramen to instant pho and mee goreng). To go with, a jar of chili crisp, cans of Thai iced tea and Taiwanese milk coffee, assorted Japanese fruit gummies, latté candies, spicy rice crisp snacks, and shrimp chips. I hope he likes it (he eats a lot of ramen and likes spicy food). I also sent a couple pairs of jeans he’d asked for.
I forgot to take a photo, but for my son’s teacher and his teaching assistant we made “nice dinner” gift bags with: 1.5 lbs homemade fresh pappardelle, a tub of mascarpone cheese, a tub of grated Parm Regg, a shallot, a head of garlic, a stick of butter, 6 oz dried porcini mushrooms, a small jar of toasted hazelnuts, a jar of TJ’s Umami powder, pre-cooked bacon, a small bag of TJ’s chocolate-covered toffee, a recipe card, and a bottle of Puglian red:
Plus a $25 Target gift card each. His teacher loved it!
Wow! 1.5lbs of fresh pappardelle! That’s a lot of effort, and your son’s teacher is one lucky dude.
Not too bad with the Philips machine. I have hacked the process so the pasta has a nicer texture/finish, so it’s a little more time-consuming than the regular 3-min process, but not by a lot. 
I’d love to learn your hack: the one I gifted my sib may be coming back to me (though I’m not sure that’s real — sil offered it to me, but it may have been without his knowledge, bec she never wanted him to get it and the birthday gift was the workaround 
)
I run the dough knead process three times (just turn the machine off before extrusion) and let it rest around 10-15 min more before extruding. I also help toss the dough into the extruder if it’s getting caught/not scooping up.
@Lambchop i was reading the holiday bakes and treats thread and wondering if you still do your big baklava and cookie sessions to send out this time of year?
Thank you!
Have bookmarked for when I’m next in the same zip code as the pasta machine… might be a while given kids’ school travel schedules (when did that become a thing???)
We’re trying to decide this year on the pastry selections. We might mix it up, and exclude the baklava, but make paxemadia, which is a Greek biscotti like cookie, and then maybe some nut filled, honey soaked cookies. (Which I don’t have a name for.) 
Stuffed Melomakarona (literally honey macaron- see the word macaron has a long lineage ), or Finikia. On the mainland, Finikia refers to the stuffed kind. On some islands, Finikia are the same as Melomakarona. In some places, Finikia are fried and Melomakarona are baked.
Melomakarona/ Finikia have been around for thousands of years.
WHOA!
Blasphemy!
Considering pink grapefruit for my mom and lobster tails for my sister from a place we patronized in FL last week
For the etymology afficionadi / afficionados
I always send Asian snack boxes to my nephews
Just finished up packing mine for my Secret Santee - a selection of hot sauces, 2 ginormous stuffed cookies from a popular local baker, and lemon shrub from a local farm, which I hope will go well with her beloved vodka
FYI, UPS had a 50% discount with the code DELIVER, but I don’t know if it’s still valid. Here’s hoping bc I’m sending my stuff off mañana
