Repurposed restaurant ware

These artful plates, bowl and cups first caught my eye on Pinterest. I bought them as a Christmas gift for my husband (we're weird like that), but they were far too cool to keep under wraps, and they've since been put into everyday rotation. Ceramic artist Meredith Host takes sturdy restaurant-style dishes and screen prints and overglazes images of human hearts, brains (bearing the slogan "i love you more than zombies love brains"), skulls, rib cages, bugs and other bone-chilling delights. -- Folded Pigs ($16-$24)

Perfect cocktail glass

These glasses are neither fancy nor schmancy, but they're a classically simple shape and a modest six ounces, compared to the tankards and fishbowls I'm often (over)served in bars. Legendary bartender Harry Craddock wrote that a cocktail should be imbibed, "quickly, while it's laughing at you." The little gems will ensure fresh giggles until the evening staggers to an end. -- Fish's Eddy ($3.50)

- Gifts for eating -

Sweet potato habanero sauce

Like a little sweet with your heat? This New Orleans-made condiment packs plenty of both, along with a heaping helping of savory. It's a perfect accompaniment to smoked meats, soups, stews, your arm... -- Cochon Butcher ($8.50)

Virginia oysters

Yes, Virginia oysters. Under the stewardship of cousins Ryan and Travis Croxton, Rappahannock River Oyster is making a comeback selling the same Chesapeake Bay oysters (Crassostrea virginica) that their great-grandfather did in 1899. They're sweet, salty, full-bodied, and shipped live in the shell for optimum freshness. Don't forget the gloves and oyster knives! -- Rappahannock River oysters (25 for $25)

Bonbons

Chocolate is chocolate is chocolate right? Nope. This isn't one of those weird, sour, bitter artisanal bars that you have to pretend to like while listening to NPR and making kale chips in the oven. They're knee-weakeningly creamy and robust bonbons that'll make you slump to the floor in joy, then crawl back up for another piece. The fact that it's all raw, fair trade, sustainable and organic is just the cherry on top. -- Fine and Raw (8-piece box $28)

Onion jam

The Fabulous Beekman Boys aren't just my friends and neighbors and the winners of the most recent installment of "The Amazing Race," they also sell some darned good onion jam. John Kilmer-Purcell and Brent Ridge raise goats on their upstate New York farm and are constantly on the lookout for ideal accompaniments to their signature Blaak cheese. This combo of local onion, maple syrup and balsamic vinegar brings a wallop of savory umami flavor to any dish, and it's pretty much going to be the lucky recipient's new favorite condiment. -- Beekman 1802 ($12)

Homemade burrata

If you have had burrata before - this one is probably better. If you haven't had burrata before, DiPalo's website says it can be described as "Mozzarella stuffed with cream and strips of 'stracciatella' (stretched curd) giving it an unusually soft texture." It is described by me as gazing directly into the face of the cheese gods and living to tell the tale. -- DiPalo ($8.99)

Seven-layer caramel cake

Yeah, sure, you could make a pretty good cake at home. But would it have seven (7) layers of moist yellow cake slathered in sumptuous caramel icing and shipped in a lovely red tin by a family that's been selling them for 31 years?

The cake serves 14-20 people and can be frozen and re-frozen repeatedly in case it's just for one person. Who might like to enjoy a slice while she's watching "Law & Order" reruns late at night in her cold, dark New York City apartment while she dreams of leaving it all behind and apprenticing to an incredible Southern cake maker. Or something. -- Caroline's Cakes ($58)

Salted caramels

Beer and pretzel caramels. Sweet potato black pepper caramels. Apple cider caramels. These are not the chalky, cloying bulk-bin caramels of our youth. These soft, luscious, handmade candies are to those as a can of spray cheese is to that burrata we just talked about, and they're the finest I have ever had. Liddabit also offers a "slurtle" - Brooklyn Brewery beer caramel poured over crunchy Martin's Pretzels or crispy Route 11 potato chips in a shell of dark chocolate. God bless America. -- Liddabit Sweets (12 for $6, 24 for $11, 48 for $20)

Boozy brownies

Allison and Matt Robicelli didn't let a little (okay, massive) hurricane get in the way of their baking the most mind-bending brownies in all of browniedom. Instead, they marshaled their community and social media resources to feed hundreds and even thousands of meals a day to people affected by Superstorm Sandy. Once their own facility was up and running again, the married chefs once again started baking up the beer, Scotch, cajeta and salt-bashed brownies that have made them an obsession of sweets fiends along the Eastern seaboard. -- Robicelli's (4 for $13-$14, 12 for $39)

Serious American ham

America has long been high on the hog when it comes to country hams, but with this smoked, aged, pasture-raised Berkshire offering from Virginia's Surry Farms, we're trotting on Italy and Spain's turf, too. The third-generation curemasters of the Edwards family have perfected their technique (developed more than 400 years ago by Native Americans and influenced by the aforementioned ham strongholds) to create the "Surryano" ham that's become a cult favorite among chefs around the U.S. Don't forget the stand for easier carving. -- Surry Farms ($199.95 for a whole ham, $64 for a stand)

Salumi of the Month Club