Yeah, I Have Oil on the Brain

In case you haven't noticed, I'm a proponent of using sprayed oil instead of poured oil wherever possible in cooking. Less oil used equals less fat calories consumed. For Chanukah this year I decided to get everybody into the spray oil mode but with a difference: I bought for the couples who would be in my home for Chanukah and for the singles living on their own stainless steel spray bottles made for spraying oil. It's funny how many didn't know that such bottles were available or who were meaning to buy such a bottle but never got around to it.

Sure, Chanukah has passed, but there are still many gift giving occasions during the year where this type of bottle would be a great gift. And if you need a more expensive gift, buy that person a couple of bottles. Some of us use more than one kind of oil in our cooking. And then there is Pesach, where such a bottle comes in handy as well. I bought extras to use as hostess gifts. Unlike a bottle of wine that is here today gone tomorrow, these bottles are the gifts that keep on giving.

Note: these bottles work equally as well in spraying the various types of vinegars people might use. To find the bottles, head on over to Amazon.com

A Creative Gift for Kids

A local discount card shop had a small table of gift items for kids and I found one I really like. Yes, a lot of kids like to color pictures and there are some interesting coloring books. But, those coloring books don't require much imagination beyond choosing the colors. I found a book called Beautiful Doodles, by Nellie Ryan. The book has over 100 full-sized pages with part of a drawing on each page as a basic background. Each page has a suggested idea of how the child can complete the drawing. For example, one page shows a shopping cart in front of shelves and suggests to the child "Fill your cart and stock your shelves." The child gets to use her/his imagination.

The book is published by Running Press. They have a website at runningpress.com. If you type "Beautiful Doodles" into the search box you'll find the book on the first page shown. There are also another 5-6 books of this type on that same page, including a Hello Kitty Doodle Book and a Farm Animal Doodle book. Barnes and Noble online also has the book at less than the publisher is selling it for. I'm sure other stores also sell the doodle books.

Not only do the minimalist drawings in the books encourage a child to be creative and let the imagination soar, but they are adaptive to other types of arts and crafts. If your child has some stickers and sparkles they could also be used in completing the pictures--the sky's the limit as to what could be used to be creative.

The Best Present

With Chanukah coming out early this year a lot of people are already busy shopping for presents. Toy stores are overflowing with wares. Shopping carts are being piled sky high. But I'd like to recommend a different type of gift, one that is great for both the giver and the receiver--books. Why? Let me repeat a posting from a few years ago for the answer to that.



On True Wealth for Children


You may have tangible wealth untold;

Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.

Richer than I you can never be—

I had a mother who read to me.



—Strickland Gillilan