Q: Any local businesses doing special gifts for the holidays?
Kristen: Lots of them! Some fun things I saw recently include advent calendars from Sweet Spot Studio and Twenty Degrees Chocolate. We’ll be coming back with our old-fashioned sampler kits around Christmas, likely our final run of them. If you’re looking for food and beverage related gifts from small businesses, Zia Pia was recently included on Oprah’s Favorite Things list. The Cocktailery, now open in South End, is a great stop for a cocktail lover. If you want to put together a sampling of things from local businesses, you can build your own gift basket with things like Sweet Lew’s barbecue sauce, Jimmy Pearls’ Pearl Spice, The Hot Box NC’s Dust, Chef Alyssa’s Kitchen jam, and JF Chocolat truffles. Whenever I need a gift for someone I don’t know that well, I head to Reid’s for one of their baskets. I think we’ll see a lot of gift card specials, too.

Q: We’re looking to cater a small after work gathering (5-7 people.) Vibe is more cocktail hour than full sit down meal. Know anybody who does that type of work?
Kristen: Yes, that seems to be a popular option this year! I’d reach out to Sam Diminich of Your Farms, Your Table, Patrick Garrivier of Patrick’s Gourmet, or Hannah Riley/The Alternative Chef.

Q: I’m looking for a piemaker for Thanksgiving. Know someone good?
Kristen: Sure do! A lot of folks just opened up their Thanksgiving preorders. Some businesses to check out are Milk Glass Pie, The Batch House, and Wentworth & Fenn. The Stanley is also selling pies for Thanksgiving, and Community Matters Café will offer their pumpkin roll.

Q: Any info on places open for Thanksgiving and taking reservations?
Kristen: We just posted our list this week! You can check it out here. We’ll be adding more restaurants as we know of them, but it seems like this year, like last, fewer places than usual will be open.

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