Cook Culture Holiday Gift Guide - Good Life Vancouver

As every glance at the calendar reminds us, you-know-what is closer than ever. Luckily, we know one thing about everyone you need to buy gifts for: they eat. Since everything we sell is meant exclusively for those who eat, pretty much everything we sell would make a good gift.
In order to speed things up a bit, though, we have a few suggestions. One thing: as much as we love and delight in the latest kitchen knick knacks, they run a greater risk of being left in the drawer until rescued by re-gifting or the garage sale. So our list is focused on things we know eaters – and those who cook for them – will discover they can’t live without.

Let’s Cut to the Cutlery

We have some extremely beautiful new Miyabi 600D knives in stock (starting at $159) that bring together the best in Japanese and European knifemaking traditions, but it might be kind of hard to give one away unless you already own one. But by all means, please come in and try them. We warned you.

Much easier to give is one of our 7″ Global fluted veggie knives, at a special price of $99- (Reg $130-). The wide blade helps give you better control when chopping or slicing veggies, and the (non-musical) flutes help keep the slices from sticking to the wide blade.

The single most popular knife we carry is our Kyocera 5″ ceramic micro-serrated kitchen knife for $49.95. Why? It will stay sharp for about 10 times longer than steel, the micro serrations keep it from slipping off things like tomatoes, it’s very light and the white ceramic blade has a certain undeniable cool factor that never gets dull.

And to make sure they know exactly what to do with a sharp new
blade, consider giving what we call the Perfect Combo.
Until Christmas, we’re offering 2 knife-with-knife-skills-class
promotions:

Shun Classic 8″ Chef Knife with knife skills class $182.00
Global 7″ Santoku Knife with knife skills class $165.00

Drop by the store or call for more details.

Board Yet?

Of course, even the finest knives won’t last 5 rounds without their humble partner, the cutting board. People are pleasantly surprised at the range of cutting boards we carry, starting with our smallest Epicurean board at $11.99. If you don’t know Epicurean, they’re made in the U.S.A. from a blend of wood-based fibre and food safe resin that is very knife friendly, dishwasher safe, very resistant to warping, and heat safe to 350 degrees.

And if you want genuine wood, our John Boos boards and butcher blocks ($19.95 to $2,700)are beautiful eastern hard-rock maple that are naturally easy on knives, tough on bacteria, and loved by chefs and cooks everywhere.

The Old Peel and Grind

We have a huge number of different kinds of peelers in many shapes and sizes, but our single favourite is the Kyocera Ceramic peeler ($11.95). With all the aforementioned benefits of a ceramic blade, this peeler starts out crazy sharp and stays that way.

And while we’re praising ceramics in the kitchen, the Kyocera Everything Mill ($24.95) is one of our nominees for the They Didn’t Know They Needed It But Now They Love It Award. Think of it as an omnivorous pepper mill: you can grind all manner of spices and herbs, salts or even flax seed, from coarse to fine. The glass base is dishwasher safe, and the non-metallic grinder parts are unclogged and unharmed by even slightly moist things such as certain kinds of sea salt.

Is it Hot in Here?

The difference between cooking and burning, perfect and charred, or dough and baked? Time and temperature. Trust us: every kitchen can use more than one good timer and thermometer. Admittedly, these are not the sexiest presents, but if you want to give something that will actually be used regularly, and appreciated quietly over the years, look no further. Our delightfully analog every-oven-needs-one oven thermometer ($19.49) or equally analog Retro timer ($13.99) will both help you teach future generations that sometimes a dial is all you need. And from there we have everything in between up to our digital multi timer – featuring BIG NUMBERS ($38.99) – to our wireless probe thermometer ($76.99) which will allow man-chefs to monitor the meat in the bbq from the safety of their recliner.

Chocolate Dipped Gift Certificates

Some people feel sheepish about giving gift certificates, and we get that. No matter how you filet it, it’s delayed gratification. But just as chocolate heals all wounds, makes the world a better place, and could instantly solve the debt crisis if only governments were smart enough to tax it (kidding!), we think that it is also the cure for the common Gift Certificate. So we invite you to choose one of Chef David Mincey’s amazing range of chocolate bars from our new Ziggurat of Chocolate display when you get one of our gift certificates. We’ll even give you a nice envelope for both to keep them both safe until the big day. Warning: choosing which bar to buy won’t be easy – there are dozens – so we would invite you to come in and experience David’s next free tasting every Saturday until Christmas.

Class Spotlight, 4 Part Series: Pastry Basics with Chef Megan Hennis

Starting in January we are offering our first 4 Part Pastry Series: Pastry Basics with Chef Megan Hennis. This series will cover all the basic you’ll ever need. You will leave each class with a collection of goodies made with Megan and recipes to help you reproduce the results at home.

More details and on-line sign up

January 24th – Part 1: Quick-breads,cookies and squares

In this first of four pastry and baking intro courses, we will be exploring in detail measuring, mixing and preparing of the following:

muffins using a creamed and one-step method (blueberry and bran)
loaves (lemon loaf)
scones (candied ginger)
cookies using a creamed and one-stage method (chocolate chip and shortbread)
squares (raspberry frangipan)
We will be learning useful hints to help you to create tender products using the proper mixing techniques, how to be more efficient when baking and also valuable tips on cutting and finishing products.
Come and join this exciting class whether you are new to baking or a seasoned baker and be prepared to be inspired.

February 7th – Part 2: Yeast raised Products

In this second class we will go over the previous techniques we learned in the first class and incorporate them into the learning of Yeast Products. We will prepare and bake:

straight dough method (whole wheat bread)
sponge dough method (foccacia)
modified sweet dough method (cinnamon buns)
We will be going over the different types of flour, mixing and rising techniques and baking procedures. Come and get comfortable making yeast raised products.

February 21st – Part 3: Cakes and Icing

In this class we will be making both cakes and icings, and also the correct techniques and tips on putting together a complete decorated cake.

creamed method(vanilla cake)
egg-foam method (sponge cake)
butter-cream icing
ganache icing
simple soaking syrup
We will go over the skills needed to create a beautiful, delicious cake from start to finish, such as crumb layer, cutting even straight layers and important decorating tips.

March 6 – Part 4: Pies, Puddings and Custards:

In this class we will learn the techniques to make a perfect tender pie dough as well as well as pie fillings and stove top and oven baked custards.

Flaky pie dough (apple pie)
sweet dough (fruit tarts)
Pastry cream (fruit tarts)
creme caramel
creme brulee
Come to this delicious class and get ready to learn the techniques that could turn you into a Pastry Chef!

4 part series: $300.00

Please note:

• All Classes are 3 hours
• Technical sheets and recipes will be supplied
• Due to the technical nature of these classes they are mostly demonstration
• Food will be supplied in class but we recommend you eat something before you arrive
• This is the lineup for the entire series. Each class is also available individually.

More details and on-line sign up

Class Spotlight, 4 Part Series: Pastry Basics with Chef Megan HennisClick on the links below for remaining 2011 classes

Risotto and Polenta with Chef Cosmo Means Pasta 101 with Don Genova

The Magic of Mexico Series:Everyday Classic Dishes with Shelora Sheldan

Bread Basics with Chef Brad Williams

Soups and Stocks with Chef Cosmo Meens Knife Skills with Chef Cosmo Meens

EAT Magazine Presents: Make the recipes from the November/December Issue with Chef Jennifer Danter

Arabian Night at Cook Culture with Chef Dwane MacIsaac

Pizza 101: From Naples With Love with Chef Dwane MacIsaac Bread Basics with Chef Brad Williams

More classes

Come visit us at:

1317 Blanshard St,
The Atrium Building
Victoria, BC
250 590 8161