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Not every home cook is content with working with the usual tools of the home kitchen, especially not if they follow the ideas and techniques of molecular gastronomists like Grant Achatz or Ferran Adria (or Steven and Marcel from Top Chef, for that matter). Wired has come up with a gift list for cooks interested in practicing nanogastronomy in their own home.

The first, and most obvious, gift that they suggest is a trip to one of the havens of molecular gastronomy, like El Bulli in Spain, Alinea or Moto in Chicago, WD-50 in New York, or The Fat Duck in England. Heston Blumenthal's Kitchen Chemistry includes a cd with video clips to help provide visuals for the technical information included in the book. Once the basics are in place, all the would-be chef needs are tools. Try an insulated whipped cream maker for experimenting with hot and cold mousses, a vacuum sealer for sous vide cooking or a dehydrator (also useful for raw foodists who need gifts) for turning otherwise wet foods into powders and garnishes.

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I am assuming that if you're reading this, then you have very wisely chosen to stay in today and either 1) keep digesting all the food you ate last night (I am, too!), or 2) start your holiday shopping from the comfort of your own home. That is, of course, unless you are surfing the Internet from your Sidekick 3, in which case, good for you for reading Slashfood everywhere!

In order to help you with your shopping, I am poking around the web for great places to find gifts for your food-ish friends, family, and of course, for yourself. Personal Shopper is a website that has put together quite a comprehensive list of gift guides . Rather than simply listing gifts "For Him," "For Her," and "For Kids," they have narrowed the lists down by fairly specific "types." Personal Shopper is not a store; rather it points you to online stores where you can find their gift selections. For us here at Slashfood, we like gifts for The Chef at Heart.

Today is Black Friday. It's the biggest shopping day of the year, and if you're smart, you'll stay home to avoid the traffic, the crowds, and the high levels of effort for marginal gains on your shopping list. Perhaps the best thing to do is to stay home, turn on the tv, and get your shopping done online.

Perhaps one of the easiest gifts to give is a book, and for your favorite food-obsessed friend or family member, a book about food, rather than a cookbook, is a welcome change. Sean Timberlake (of Hedonia, and whom we love here at Slashfood) has put together a short list of books that would be a fabulous place to star for your holiday shopping. Most of them we've seen before here, but it's nice to have them all in one neat little list.

In a feature in the business section of the Oregonian today about the popularity of high-end spirits, the writer of the story suggested that one's Christmas list might include "A bottle of Bushmills 16-year Single Malt for the boss." Other gifts so popular they've been stripped from the shelves in OLCC stores: Kahlua coffee liqueur, McCarthy's Oregon Single Malt whiskey and Hennessey VS cognac. For the lush in cash as well as liquor, Hardy Perfection Cognac Air or Courvoisier L'Esprit sell for around $5 or $6K each (in Oregon, one bottle of the Hardy and 15 of the Courvoisier have been sold in the past year).

While I've never given a gift of spirits, I can see the appeal. It's luxurious, it's thoughtful, and a gift of good liqueur can really show off your expensive tastes. Problematic, though, is the commodity characteristic: there's one price for liquor in most states, so everyone will know exactly what you spent. Local bartenders suggest Shakers Rye vodka, William LaRue Weller uncut, unfiltered bourbon and Hangar One Fraster River Raspberry vodka. My husband's buddy, who's in a pirate band (??), recommends the Sailor Jerry's rum pictured. What do you recommend for spirited gifts this year?

[photo Sarah Gilbert]