KITCHEN GIFTING, PART 2

Cooking for family and friends is from the heart, right? And the best gifts are from the heart, correct?

So, if you know your way around the kitchen, could you cook something for your loved ones as a holiday gift?

Yes and … a big maybe.

Finding time to cook and bake can be difficult during the holiday season. Plus, those you’d like to gift with something freshly made may already be overbooked and overstuffed, thanks to holiday dinners and other gatherings.

The solution — a coupon promising to prepare the recipient’s favorite dish, on request (with appropriate advance notice, of course). This way it can be used at a time of the year when it will be especially needed and appreciated.

This versatile, open-ended gift can be for anyone special in your life — elders, a busy family, work friends or a significant other. It’s an opportunity to spread your goodwill and love beyond the holidays.

Don’t worry if you’re not artistic. Cut out this coupon and fill it out. Or, a variety of free, customizable coupons can be found online (search for “printable gift certificate”).

— Dave Reardon, Star-Advertiser

5 BUCKS, 5 RECIPES, 1 WORTHY CAUSE

This is a friendly reminder that the deadline for ordering the “By Request” Top 5 recipes of 2019 fast approaches: Dec. 13.

To order, send checks made out to the Good Neighbor Fund to “By Request Top 5,” Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, Honolulu, HI 96813.

Cost is $5 for each set. For four sets, send $20. You can’t cherry pick one recipe for $1; it’s an all-for-one deal.

For each set, include a stamped, self-addressed, legal-sized envelope (4-by-9 inches). For four sets, send four envelopes. A standard 55-cent stamp per envelope is adequate.

No fax, phone or email orders.

All proceeds go to the Good Neighbor Fund, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser’s holiday charity. If you’d like to include a little extra donation, we’ll pass it on, just be clear about how many recipe sets you want.

The recipes: Easy Guava Bars, based on the version served at Guava Smoked; Curry Chicken Apple Salad, as made at Diamond Head Market & Grill, served in a papaya half; Butter-Biko Mochi, the merger of a Filipino sticky rice cake and Japanese mochi; Wailana Coffee House Pancakes, for all those who still miss the venerable Wailana; Napolitan Ketchup and Bacon Spaghetti, a tasty surprise that’s oh-so-economical and oh-so-easy.