A Christmas gift list for the procrastinator

It is such a bad habit, but every year I make the mistake f procrastinating on my Christmas shopping until the last minute. So it is no surprise that I find myself in the same predicament of not knowing what to buy for family and friends. And I don’t want them to think that I put in no thought whatsoever in my well-meaning presents.

If, like me, you have made a tradition of late Christmas shopping, then I may have just discovered a solution to our woes. Here are great and unique gift suggestions.

Treats for my sweet

If your sweet has a sweet tooth, you can’t go wrong by giving him or her delectable , mouth-watering pastries from Kat Malvar and Baba Ibazeta’s home-baked Classic Confections.

Kat and Baba started out in 1999 when they graduated from Craving’s Culinary Center in Manila and California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, respectively. The creative and entrepreneurial team set out to bake goodies and sell them in Christmas bazaars. When they continued receiving orders even after the holidays, Baba and Kat decided to go full-time and established a commissary in Pasig City where they receive orders and bake all their pastries to perfection. Today, they cater to both private and commercial clients.

For a minimum of P1,000, Classic Confections delivers. Call 746-2773.

Sugar for my honey!

When Mara dela Rama graduated from the French Culinary Institute in Manhattan in 1997, she trained in one of New York’s finest restaurants, Picholine, located in Central Park West area. She came home to Manila and worked as pasty chef for Soleil and Aqua from 1998 until early this year, when she decided to establish her own dessert du jour, home-baked pastries in time for the holidays.

The Opera cake, an original recipe made of hazelnut sponge, bittersweet chocolate ganache and espresso butter cream, is one of dessert du jour’s bestsellers. A small order goes for P600, while a large order is P800. A relatively small price to pay for a taste of "heaven," so to speak, or if you want to impress your boss or your sweetheart – the easy way.

Because of the Christmas rush, orders must be placed at least two days in advance. Call Mara dela Rama at 0917-8116272 or fax orders to 635-3327.

Just looks good enough to eat

If you feel that your boss, sweetheart or members of the family need a bit of help watching their diet during the holidays, then skip the sweets. How about giving a bar of soap for Christmas that looks good enough to eat?

I was wondering where the luscious smell was emanating from as I wandered through Rockwell Power Plant Mall’s new lifestyle department. And there it was, the London-based Lush, a fresh food deli-like shop that sells not food but natural beauty delicacies like soaps, masks and beauty treats, all nourishment for the skin and body but not the intestines – so everything sold is definitely non-fat!

Lush boutiques are located at The Power Plant Mall in Rockwell and Glorietta 4 in Makati.

The gift of music

Everybody wants to feel Christmas-y, even these days when times are tough. Nothing can brighten spirits and give that festive feeling more than Christmas tunes. So why not the "gift of music"?

If only for the tracks My Hearts Song and Can’t Stop Christmas, I would get Martin Nievera’s latest CD "More Souvenirs." Both are original compositions – the former dedicated to the September 11 victims in New York and Washington and the latter a conviction to keeping the spirit of Christmas alive in our hearts.

Joey Rhythms 92.3 FM has compiled "Joey Christmas Rhythms 2," after a successful Christmas CD launch last year. I’m not really a fan of jazz music, but when I listened to Lee Ritenour’s rendition of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, David Benoit’s The First Noel and Al Jarreau’s Silent night over a cup of tea and English scones last weekend, I could not help but realize that Christmas is barely two weeks away.

That ‘s when panic struck me. Oh no, I’ve fallen into that delinquent Christmas shopper’s syndrome" again! Hence, this is my Christmas cart this year – just in time and I can’t even be accused of not giving any thought to my gifts. Here’s proof.