The Last Gasp of 2024
gift guides, book lists, recipe roundups
The holidays are happening whether we like it or not. Here, I’ve got ideas for gifts and recipes to keep things relatively merry & bright.
Thank you so much for reading But Wait, This More. There’s just one more (very book heavy) post before we put a bow on 2024, and I want every reader to know that I’m grateful that you’re here.
In my last post, I wrote about how I love writing gift guides — good news for me because I either wrote or updated dozens of them this year. But in the weeks since then, I’ve read several pieces critiquing the ubiquity, inanity, and downright sketchiness of gift guide culture, and it’s made me feel a lot of things. Kind of like googling heart disease after eating a quart of ice cream. The ice cream was great, but now you’ve got a stomach ache AND an acute sense of existential dread.
I thought, since there’s so much ambivalence around gift guides — we really love to hate (and love) them — I’d open up the comments to questions about the ones I’ve written. Are you curious how certain picks ended up on the list? How much influence do PR companies and affiliate revenue have on these guides? Ask me anything, and please enjoy the guides below!
You Know, For Kids!
18 Great Gifts for Foodie Kids - Booties that look like dumplings! A Cookie Monster apron! A shrimp cocktail hair claw!
The Best Stocking Stuffers for Kids, Starting at Just $1.25 - Small stuff for little people. I’m here to testify that the Sour Patch Kids Black Raspberry Coal is a DELIGHT.
20 Great Gifts for Kids Who Love YouTube - I wrote this guide because I was looking for something like it and couldn’t find one. Kids, whether we like it or not, love YouTube, and these gifts meet them where they are, ie. glued to their ipads.
18 Great Gifts for Kids Who Love to Play Outside - Don’t get too hung up on the whole YouTube thing; kids still like playing outside too.
17 Great Gifts for Kids Who Love to Draw - I can’t recommend the Light Box Drawing Pad strongly enough.
19 Great Gifts for Kids Who Love History - You’ve got little nerds at home? This is for them!
18 Great Gifts for Little Kids Who Love Music - What kid doesn’t need an Otamatone?!
18 Great Gifts for Kids Who Love to Craft - I snagged several items from this guide for my own kids, including the Woobles, Loomies, and Tempera Paint set.
For Eaters & Cooks
35 of the Best Gifts for Bread Bakers (Even Beginners!) - Get them the Danish dough whisk they never knew they needed.
The 34 Best Gifts for Bakers Who Practically Never Turn Off Their Ovens - Featuring THE KitchenAid Mixer of 2024.
The 36 Best Gifts You Can Buy from Williams Sonoma - Get thee to Stanley Tucci’s equally stylish and functional lasagna pan.
20 of the Very Best Little Luxuries to Gift Any Food Lover - Swanky things!
Updated: The 34 Best Gift Ideas for People Who Love (Like, *Really* Love) Cheese Note - Due to the mysterious inner workings of Apartment Therapy, sometimes my editors don’t include a gift I’ve selected for a guide, and in this case, it was this Cheese Grotto.
I’m doing something a little different for The Read this week. Instead of sharing an essay or book I’m enjoying ATM, I’m asking YOU, dear reader, to tell me what you’ve read that’s moved you this year. Next week, I’ll share some reader answers and my own list of 2024’s best reads.
We are barreling toward the holidays, and I’ve got a few recipes to help you through them. This year, Hanukkah starts in the evening on Christmas Day—a fun thing that only happens every 15 years or so. I’m not much for Christmakkuh, mostly because it sounds stupid but also because it feels a little disingenuous to me (but, obviously, cool for you if you’re into it).
I grew up celebrating Christmas every year with both my Christian mom and my agnostic/Jewish dad and my stepmom, a very southern, Christian woman who loved her holiday traditions. I sat on Santa’s lap (my favorite tradition to not do with my kids), hung stockings, decorated two trees (one at each parents’ house), and woke up on Christmas morning to demolish my pile of presents. Some years stand out more than others. In third grade I got a new bike and Rampage for NES, so that was a banner year.
But now that I’m a parent, I absolutely love not celebrating Christmas. “Why would we, we’re Jewish,“ my 13-year-old, Byrd, replied when I asked them if they missed out on what is such an inescapably dominant cultural holiday. Great, at least they won’t resent me for this. Other things, perhaps, but not this. Instead, on Christmas day, we always make tamales. It’s a passtime I learned from Dad & Ginger’s neighbors, the Mercados, and as much as I’d like to take a year off sometimes, that is one tradition that Byrd always holds me to.
Tamales
Recently, I had the chance to interview TikTok’s tamale queen, Jenny Martinez, for AllRecipes about her family’s epic tamale parties. Martinez’s cookbook, My Mexican Mesa, Y Listo, has a ton of great recipes and tips for making tamales. I also love Rick Martinez’s tamale recipe for Bon App, which I’ve used for several years.
Latkes
Once, my best friend’s mom told me my latkes were too crispy, and I’ve carried that unintended compliment with me through every year of Hanukkah since. If you like wispy, crunchy latkes with sour cream and never, ever applesauce, come sit by me (and also, try this recipe).
Eight nights is…a lot. So, we like to diversify the way in which we celebrate the miracle of the oil. Falafel latkes have been one of my favorite variations on the theme, but, since they’re fried in oil, you could just skip the latke part entirely and go full-afel (I am sorry I’m like this.)
Brisket
Inevitably, there will be brisket at some point during Hanukkah, and when that happens, I just can’t quit this recipe from Julia Kramer, formerly of Bon App. I love the headnotes almost as much as I love this old timey, fully comforting slab of slow-cooked beef.
Sufganiyot
Jelly-filled donuts make an appearance at least once during Hanukkah, and after we enjoy a few straight from the box, I like to turn the rest into this Sufganiyot Bread Pudding, topped with homemade gelt. (And while I was rustling up that gelt Reel, I came across this one for Peppermint Chocolate Truffles, so here you go!)
Until next time…
xox
SG
As of today, you remain the most clever of writers in my tiny world. Thank you for the chuckles, the insights--those of value, but especially the inane---All the best words!
My favorite reads lately have been "An Immense World" by Ed Yong and "The Shadow of the Sun" by Ryszard Kapuscinski.
Yong's book is a journey into the sensory world outside our tiny human bubble, providing eye opening tidbits on the special perceptive abilities of other species. It provides interesting fodder for exploring why, and how, some species (including our own) have adapted to the modern world in often strange ways.
Kapuscinski's book is graphic documentary, beautifully written, and gives a close up look at colonialism in Mother Africa and the earliest waves of its collapse from the 50s to mid 90s. It is highly personal, yet follows closely many of the major influencers of the independence movement and its impact on the continent.
Oh, and Merry Christmas! Don't want you to miss that haha! Best to Seth and the kids