The gift of friendship

When we came home from dinner on Sunday night, my doorman surprised me with a beautifully wrapped gift which he said my friend Shivani had just dropped off. I gently opened the box when I got to the apartment though I was dying to tear it apart and see what was inside. To my complete delight and ecstasy, I found lots of yummy homemade treats and a heap of Hershey's kisses thrown in. I didn't know which one would be the first best bite as all the goodies smelt heavenly and looked utterly ready to melt in my mouth. I reached for a piece of what looked like a lemon curd treat and dug in with my eyes closed. Yummmm...what followed was pure lemony creamy bliss that lingered well after the first bite. I called Shivani immediately to thank her and to also get the exact names of everything she had personally baked for me - lemon squares, carrot cake with cream cheese, chocolate chip cookies, magic cookie bars (graham crackers crumbs, chocolate chips, walnuts, coconut flakes and condensed milk), sugar cookies and mint chocolate surprises. Shivani and her sister spent all day Saturday (11 plus hours) baking goodies for their friends and family. What a special gift! Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Shivani.

For those of you contemplating homemade food gifts, you can also consider foods like candied nuts, spiced olives, fruit jellies and mulled wine spice mixes to name a few. Drop into a beautiful jar, tie a nice bow and your gift is ready to be parted with this season of giving.