The Art of Regifting

My father was a very generous man and a bargain hunter to the core. He believed that the greatest joy in the holidays was derived from watching his children open multiple presents, often choosing quantity over quality, notoriously hitting the discount bins just to find items to wrap. On Christmas I often found myself the new owner of multiple packages of purple pens, geriatric pink slippers, thematic candles, babushka scarves, luridly coloured cosmetics, and cheesy CDs (Stompin’ Tom Christmas tunes anyone?). The majority of these items would simply be banished to storage in a dresser drawer, but in some instances I also found other owners who appreciated the items that I re-gifted to them.

I come from the school of thought that gifts should be given without strings. Once a gift is given, the recipient can do with as they wish: use it, return it, or re-gift it. I believe that almost any gift can be re-gifted depending on

a) how you do it and
b) who you are doing it for.

Admittedly, re-gifting can be somewhat dangerous. If you’re feeling a little wobbly about how to safely navigate this practice, here are a few guidelines to help you in your re-gifting endeavors:

Match The Gift to the Recipient: If you're simply looking to unload something, you'll seem cheap and it may come back to bite you. Remember: nobody really wants a Sponge Bob Chia Pet.

Tell The Truth: There will be times that it will be appropriate to inform the recipient that it is a re-gift – for example, small items like toiletries or something that you have had in your closet for years unused. If you're re-gifting the chocolate fondue pot to your friend who has been dying for one, fine. But don't wrap it up and pass it off as a gift you purchased.

Keep Your Mouth Shut: In other cases, it is not necessary to spoil the moment and inform the recipient that it is a re-gift. If you tell someone that you are giving them the present since you don’t have a use for it, even if they like the item themselves they will likely feel like an afterthought. Use your judgment.

Check and Rewrap: Make sure you check the item over for any personal inscriptions and always rewrap the gift in a new presentation. You will definitely lose points with your landlady when she reads the inscription “Happy Birthday Uncle Crunchy!” in the Dr. Phil book you gave her for Christmas.

Be Organized: Keep track of who gave you the original gift. Taping the original card or a post-it-note to the item will prevent embarrassing moments in the future.

Booze Is Always Welcome: Alcohol is almost always an appropriate re-gift. Except Dad’s gift of a bottle of blackberry brandy in 2003. The 20 pairs of socks he gave me that lasted 3 years, however, more than made up for it.

Mardi Gras 2010 - Week 1

I was recently invited to join a group of my friends for a culinary adventure that takes place each Tuesday, and has been coined "Mardi Gras" (Fat Tuesday). There are 6 of us total (Patrick, Dan, Jude, Julie, Toffer, and myself) and each week, on a rotational basis, each person cooks a 2 or 3 course meal. Not all courses need to be from scratch, but the idea is to generate excitement in cooking and eating and share new recipes. Being the gourmand in my family, I am almost always the one to prepare the meals, and stretch culinary boundaries. Although I do enjoy my own cooking, up until now, my most memorable meals have been those eaten in restaurants. Well, up until last Tuesday that is. Patrick cooked one of the *best* meals that I have had for a very long time. The pork was perfectly cooked, and divinely tender, and the coleslaw had me up for seconds. We laughed, talked, and watched ironically watched "The Biggest Loser" as we gorged on this amazing meal. Here was this weeks menu, along with the recipes as graciously provided by Patrick. I can't wait to see what is being made next week! Cheers.

Menu:

Coleslaw with Old Bay Seasoning
Roast Pork Loin with Potatoes and Sage
Apple Upside Down Cake

Recipes

Coleslaw with Old Bay Seasoning – Serves 8

Ingredients:

1 head green cabbage (about 2 lbs.)
2 large carrots, peeled
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 large red bell pepper, seeded and cut into very narrow strips (capsicum)
4 green onions, finely chopped including green tops
1 tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning
1 cup mayonnaise

Directions:

Cut the cabbage into wedges. Cut out and discard the hard core from each wedge. Using a food processor fitted with the slicing disk cut the cabbage into fine shreds. (The cabbage can also be thinly sliced by hand). Transfer to a large bowl. Fit the processor with a shredding disk and shred the carrots. (The carrots can also be shredded by hand using the largest holes of a box grater-shredder). Add the carrots to the bowl with the cabbage. Sprinkle the cabbage and carrots with the vinegar and mix well. Stir in the bell pepper strips and green onion.
Add the mayonnaise and Old Bay Seasoning and mix well. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours. Serve cold.

Roast Pork Loin – Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

Roast:

1 boneless blade-end pork loin roast (about 2 ½ lbs), tied at even intervals along the length with 5 pieces of kitchen twine and patted dry with paper towels (I used a Boneless Pork Rib Roast and it was already tied for me)
Salt & ground black pepper
1 Tbsp vegetable oil

Jus:

Vegetable oil (if needed)
2 small Shallots, minced
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs fresh thyme
¼ tsp sugar
2 tsps juice from 1 lemon

Directions:

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 300 degrees. Sprinkle roast evenly with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until smoking. Add the roast, fat-side up, and brown on all sides (fat side last), 8 to 10 minutes, lowering the heat to medium if necessary to prevent the roast from burning. Transfer the roast to a V-rack set inside a roasting pan, but do not wash the skillet

2. Transfer the roasting pan to oven and cook until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the roast registers 135 degrees, 45 to 55 minutes. (If cooking a larger roast, increase the time to 65 to 75 minutes.) Remove the roast from the oven and transfer it to a cutting board. Tent lightly with foil and let rest 15 to 20 minutes (the center of the roast should register 145 to 150 degrees).

3. While the roast is resting, make the jus. Either pour off fat or add oil to the skillet so that there is about 1 tablespoon of fat in the pan. Heat the skillet over medium heat until the oil is shimmering. Add the shallots and cook, scraping the browned bits from the bottom, until softened, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the broth, bay leaves, thyme, and sugar and simmer until reduced by half, about 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the lemon juice. Discard the bay leaves and thyme and adjust the seasonings with salt and pepper to taste.

4. Snip the twine off the roast and cut the pork crosswise into thin slices. Serve immediately with the jus.

Variation: Roast Pork Loin with Potatoes and Sage.

Toss 3 pounds large red potatoes, cut into 1-inch wedges, with 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper in a large roasting pan (I added paprika and oregano leaves to mine). Place a V-rack in the pan over the potatoes. Follow the recipe for Roast Pork Loin, placing the seared roast on the rack in the pan with the potatoes. After the roast is removed from the oven, add 2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage leaves to the potatoes, increase the oven temperature to 500 degrees, and roast the potatoes, stirring occasionally, until browned and crisp, 15 to 20 minutes. Serve the roasted potatoes with the pork.

Apple Upside Down Cake

Purchase the President’s Choice Apple Upside Down Cake and follow the directions on the box. Serve with Vanilla Ice Cream!