Unusual Gifts and Foods

Are you looking for just the right Chanukah gift for that special someone?  Are you looking for special ingredients to make sure everyone can celebrate the holiday?  Then check out these special places and items.
Visit The Golden Dreidle in Irvine for all your Chanukah needs this year.  Not only does this Judaica store have the most extensive selection of menorahs, decorations, gift wrap, games and kids’ books, but it has items that cannot be found anywhere else.  Choose from dripless Chanukah candles, latke platters and serving pieces, collectible and toy dreidles, Chanukah runners, and Chanukah cookies and gelt.  Check out the selection at www.GoldenDreidle.com.
America’s smallest, largest, and most award-winning Jewish (and now Sideshow Freak) beer company, Shmaltz Brewing celebrates its 15th year of brewing with three Limited-Edition Extreme Holiday Offerings, including Genesis 15:15® (13.4% ABV), the HE’BREW Holiday Gift Pack® that will feature eight prized Shmaltz creations, and Jewbelation 15® (15 malts, 15 hops, 15% ABV).  Shmaltz proprietor Jeremy Cowan’s debut small business memoir, Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah, is also now available at bookstores nationwide through boutique distributor Small Press United.  For more information, please visit www.shmaltzbrewing.com.
New lactose free, kosher options allow everyone to enjoy all the creaminess and great taste of real dairy without the tummy troubling lactose.  Holiday recipes made with kosher certified Green Valley Organics lactose free, gluten free sour cream, yogurt and kefir make it possible for the estimated 1 in 10 people who are lactose intolerant to indulge in delicious, low fat, gluten free, real dairy products without the unpleasant side effects.  “Holiday gatherings can be tricky both for guests who suffer from lactose intolerance and gluten sensitivities that don’t want anyone to ‘make a fuss’ and for hosts that want to create dishes that all of their guests can enjoy,” says celebrity dietitian Ashley Koff, R.D.  Visit GreenValleyLactoseFree.com for tips on living with lactose intolerance, great recipes and more information about the company’s wholesome products.
Hanukkah Stories: Thoughts of Family, Celebration & Joy is filled with more than 101 stories of personal memories, anecdotes, and tales from celebrities to people like you and me. Here you’ll find great reminiscences about Hanukkah experiences across the globe–from an RV camp in California, on the ice in Finland, even aboard Spaceship Hubble. There is also a chapter on latkes, including the new chocolate chip ones.  The 192-page book by Nancy Rips is available nationwide at bookstores, libraries, online and at
www.fellpub.com or www.indiebound.org.