More pressies for foodies fooeveryone

Darina Allen was sitting around her kitchen table with a young family member and her friends. They were all in a panic – still so many presents to organise, no time, no money… With some time and wine, they came up with these ideas:

Five "brillie" ideas that cost nothing

^Gift voucher for washing-up

^Gift voucher for ironing

^Gift voucher to wash and clean the car

^Gift voucher to do the food shopping

^Gift voucher to babysit for your adorable nieces and nephews

Five "brillie" ideas that cost nothing now

^Gift voucher to dig a piece of the garden in March and sow four different vegetables

^Gift voucher for a pancake party, could be postponed until Shrove Tuesday

^Gift voucher for breakfast in bed: champagne and freshly squeezed orange juice, a fry or softly scrambled egg with smoked salmon, or eggs Benedict, freshly toasted Arbutus bread, homemade jams, a chunky dark marmalade and some local honey. A big cafetiere of coffee or a pot of Barry's tea and don't forget a little bunch of flowers on the tray.

^Gift voucher for a posh dinner party for eight – includes all food, laying table, funky flowers and washing up. Two or three siblings or pals could cooperate

^A gift voucher for a cooking class – teach your pals how to make three or four dishes.

Remember – Christmas presents don't have to be predictable

^Busy people will be thrilled to have some homemade soup – could be in single or double portions or in litres – use recycled milk cartons and get creative with the packaging: colour, glitter, baubles, bows.

^Fish cakes – with tartare sauce or anchovy and parsley butter.

^A hamper of comfort food – macaroni cheese soup, Irish stew, shepherds pie, fish cakes, bread and butter pudding, individual sticky toffee puddings with toffee sauce.

^Mini Christmas cakes – make the recipe for a Christmas cake and divide into 10-15 tins – even recycled bean cans will do, but make sure to line them well with greaseproof paper and tie a band of brown paper around the sides to protect the 'little dotes' from direct heat.

^Ingredients for a terrific Irish breakfast – one packet of Ummera or Gubbeen rashers, a dozen free range organic eggs, best local sausages and puddings – look out for the winners of the National Butchers Sausage and Pudding Competition. Full list of winners in all categories on www.craftbutchers.ie /competitions

^Cook a nice piece of spiced beef and accompany it with a pot of Ballymaloe Tomato Relish.

Presents for the foodies who have everything

^For the foodie library – One of the McKennas' Bridgestone Irish Food Guides, or Georgina Campbell's Jameson Irish Food Guide.

^A subscription to Food and Wine Magazine – a "must have" for every Irish foodie or Wine Ireland, Delicious, Olive, BBC Good Food, Vogue Entertaining Gourmet Traveller, or the "thinking foodie's" magazine Saveur.

^A massage to ease the stress after Christmas.

^A weekend away – doesn't have to be far. Café Paradiso in Cork (021 4277939) has rooms, as does The Tannery in Dungarvan (058 45420) and Ahernes in Youghal, (024 92424) Ballyknocken House in Co Wicklow (0404 44627) or Richmond House in Cappoquin, Co Waterford (058 54278) are other hideaways.

^A voucher for any Blue Book House or Restaurant – from €100 upwards – use for accommodation or a meal in any one of these properties countrywide – 01 6769914. www.irelandsbluebook.com

^A luxurious afternoon tea at The Four Seasons in Dublin, 01 6654805.

For foodies with green fingers

^Promise to plant a herb garden in March, to include flat parsley, thyme, chives, mint, tarragon, rosemary, sage and annuals like sweet marjoram and coriander.

^Search your local garden centre for a lemon grass plant, a lemon tree, a kaffir lime tree, a chilli bush, a banana tree, a grape vine – Muscat de Alexandria or Black Hamburg do particularly well in our climate, best in a greenhouse though.

^Apple trees from Irish Seedsavers – and a promise to plant them (061 921866)

^A donation to Bóthar to buy a cow, goat, rabbit, hens or bees for a poor family

Some gourmet treats

^A home-made salami from Frank Krawczyk (028 28579) or a voucher of one his "Pig Out Day" courses.

^A Vacherin Mont d'or cheese with maybe a chunk of Membrillo.

^A dozen of quail eggs from Coturnix Quail (087 2065067) with some home-made Dukkah.

^A gorgeous Pannetone wrapped in gold paper with a big red bow, Panforte de Siena, Figgy pudding

^A little hamper of Christmas goodies – Cranberry sauce or chutney, Brandy butter, Mulled wine spices tied up in muslin with a bottle of wine.

For wine buffs

^Some Reidel glasses (a "must have" for serious wine lovers)

^A Screwpull corkscrew

^A mixed case of organic wine from Mary Pawle (064 41443)

^A bottle of bubbly or Prosecca from Bubble Brothers, (021 4552252) or Febvre (01 2959030)

^The "ultimate wine book" – the Wine Report 2006, edited by Tom Stevenson (Dorling Kindersley)

This Christmas the hottest cookbooks in our shops are

^Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries (Fourth Estate)

^Paul Flynn's Second Helpings (Collins Press)

^Dough by Richard Bertinet (Kyle Cathie), for aspiring bread bakers, a brilliant new book comes complete with cd to take the mystery out of bread baking.

^The Accidental Foodie by Neale Whitaker (Murdoch Books)

^The Silver Spoon (Phaidon) – an Italian classic, translated into English. A massive tome with over 2,000 recipes collected from regions all over Italy – a favourite wedding present in Italy for over 50 years.

^Arabesque by Claudia Roden (Penguin/ Michael Joseph) – a taste of Morocco, Turkey and Lebanon. Claudia revisits these countries with a book full of history, anecdote and travel, the food she explores is both familiar and strange.

^Real Flavours – the handbook of gourmet and deli ingredients by Glynn Christian (Grub Street)

^Potato by Lyndsay and Patrick Mikanowski – (Grub Street)

^Eggs by Michel Roux – (Four Square)

^The ultimate present for a dedicated foodie and a big surprise – five or six hens so your best pals can "go to work on an egg". You may need to provide a little henhouse or collaborate with another pal. There's a great little book you could include called Small Scale Poultry-keeping by R Feltwell, published by Faber & Faber. For a dinky little henhouse for two hens – contact Omlet – Tel 0044 845 450 2056 www.omlet.co.uk