The Book of Wine

Two artists conspired on a gift book set with which a wine lover can record tasting notes. Nancy Mims handmade the blank book, and Sarah Chamberlin designed the label of the bottle of Il Podere Dell’Olivos wine that accompanies it--and could be the first entry.

Il Podere wine tasting book, $90, from Freehand, Los Angeles.

Turducken: It’s the Bomb

For those for whom a roast turkey is just not enough of a holiday feast, New Orleans chef Paul Prudhomme invented the turducken. This immense protein bomb consists of a boneless turkey stuffed with a boneless duck stuffed with a boneless chicken, all with Cajun-style sausage stuffing. It makes a memorable meal, and you can skip most of the work by buying a frozen turducken (imported from Louisiana) at Bristol Farms Markets. Allow seven hours for thawing in cold water (or two to three days in the refrigerator) and about five to six hours for cooking.

Turducken (16 pounds), $89.95, Bristol Farms Markets.

Celebration Plates

Barbara de Maria uses a unique collage technique to create these colorful Hanukkah plates. The serving side is perfectly smooth, giving the illusion that the pattern is seamless; only when you turn the plate on its back do you feel the layers--and sense the amount of work--that went into the making of each plate.

Menorah platter, $110; small dreidel plate, $55, at Skirball Cultural Center gift shop, Los Angeles.

A Cutting Tail

The Farmer’s Wife in “Three Blind Mice� would appreciate this hand-forged stainless steel knife with Swiss cheese-type holes in it. The handle (by way of a mouse tail) is a gold-plated mouse. Designed by American metalware designer Michael Aram, it’s sort of practical but basically in the cute-beyond-words category.

Mouse and Cheese Knife, $60 plus $5 shipping from Food Stuffs, 245 8th Ave., Suite 133, New York, NY 10011; (888) F-STUFFS.

Places, Please

You don’t need a formal holiday event to break out the place cards. Sometimes it’s fun to dress up the table even when the people sitting down to eat are wearing jeans and snowflake sweaters. And menu cards on which you handwrite details of the meals you’ve prepared are fun to collect and keep in family scrapbooks. We like these food-themed menu and place cards from Studio Z Mendocino; they’re sold in shops all over Southern California.

$6.50 for eight place cards or $8 for eight menus at Brenda Himmel Stationery in Santa Monica, Christie in Manhattan Beach, Oggetti on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, Upstairs at Diamond on La Brea Avenue in Los Angeles, Write Impressions in Long Beach and other stores.