Here's the super condensed list for people who just want to get it out of the way. I have wrapping paper and I'll get someone to wrap them nicely for me.
Buy this pan, and any food safe mineral oil, eg this 500ml bottle, and this four foot fake Christmas tree, and this e-reader (or any colour KOBO MINI N705 (has to be this model please)), and this whetstone.
Don't buy everything on the lists! I'm giving you options so you can pick and chose. In the past some people have told me:
1) they just want to be told what to buy or
2) they want to pick an item from a list or
3) they like looking for things in shops and they just want some ideas
This is why my list ends up being so confusing. Sorry about that. Please don't stress though - I'm genuinely grateful for any gifts and I'm sure anything you buy will be lovely. If you have no idea what to buy, the first thing on the list would be lovely.
I've tried to include Amazon links if that makes it easier for you. But do shop around because I didn't spend a huge amount of time on Amazon looking for the best deal. Amazon is honestly a bit baffling to me so I'm not great at using it.
My phone number for delivery is 07729 255280. Here's my address:
Dan Beale-Cocks
Flat 2 C/O The Ruby Key
47 Winchcombe Street
CHELTENHAM
GL52 2NE
UNITED KINGDOM
If the delivery options offer a choice of drop off & collect locations please don't use my address, use this address, because it's more reliable than delivery to my address. It's open every single day (even Christmas Day).
Dan Beale-Cocks
C/O Winchcombe Food and Wine
46 Winchcombe Street
CHELTENHAM
GL52 2ND
I live in the UK. If possible please buy from the UK. Imports to the UK are a Brexit nightmare at the moment. Also, import duties became a bit more complicated after Brexit.
Kitchen equipment
A big, not-fine, plain-knit, pure wool, jumper
IKEA shelves to improve my tidiness
A fake Christmas tree
Computer storage
An e-reader
Bits and pieces
This honestly is not as complicated as I make it seem in this section!!! Basically, stainless steel or carbon steel, and definitely NOT non stick.
I am cooking from scratch a lot more, and some equipment would be lovely please.
(a) I want a small "carbon steel" or "black iron" frying pan. This is not a cast iron skillet. It is a thin-walled pan. I'd prefer 20 cm or 25 cm. (No larger than that though please). These pans are just examples, feel free to get any similar pan from any supplier. Cheap is fine! You can get very good pans of this type for less than £20. Example one is 25 cm black iron / carbon steel from Lockhart, and example two is 30 cm black iron / carbon steel from Lockhart. Please get the cheap industrial pans because they are just as good as the huge brand name pans. Something like this 10" pan, or the 8" version they sell (but not 12" or bigger) would be great. I did have a look on Amazon UK but crikey it's not easy to find stuff and I wasn't able to find anything.
(b) I want a flared saute pan, about 18cm to 24cm (30cm would be a bit too big). Here's a list. Any of these would be lovely.
So, I've given a list, and this next paragraph is just me going into excessive detail about the pans on the list just in case you want to buy a pan but can't get it from Russums. If you're not going to get the pan you don't need to read this next paragraph!
I already have a very good, very large, straight edged pan. I need something smaller and with sloped sides.) It has to be usable on an induction hob. I'd prefer plain stainless steel, please don't get non-stick. Do not buy a cast iron or carbon steel or black iron version of this pan because it will be too heavy for me to use. Here are some examples (but feel free to get them from anywhere). I've listed a big brand name here, but that's only because it's a clear example of what I want, I'm not attached to the big names and a no-name pan is fine. To get an idea of the size and shape have a look at this video - but he bought a carbon steel pan and I don't want this in carbon steel because it'll be too heavy (which fair play he admits later on in the video). Or see the two quart saucier in this video (I have no idea what a quart is, nor how to convert it into a real usable unit. But in the video it looks quite dinky and that's fine too. I don't need a massive ginormous pan). Some example links: Prepara 24 cm, Matfer Bourgeat 20 cm, and Matfer Bourgeat 24 cm. de Buyer have a bunch of pans that are about the right size, but these are v expensive and I'd strongly prefer something cheaper. small, a variety of sizes, posho version with a dumb handle (my word what were they thinking?). Reading it back this got very complicated! Here's a summary: induction-ready, smallish, sloped side, stainless steel or tri-ply, "saute" or "saucier" or "country pan". This is why I ask for stuff like this for Christmas, I get stuck when there are too many options. Whatever you pick is going to be great.
Food safe mineral oil / food safe chopping board oil. I have a lovely chopping board that I use often, and I'm taking good care of it, but I should start taking extra care of it. Some oil would be handy and for some reason I have this weird mental block that means I can't buy it for myself. (I think because often the cost of shipping is more than the oil. I dunno. I need to try to fix it.) Here's some Amazon UK links: 500 ml, 500 ml, and 250 ml.
A knife sharpening whetstone. I'd like one side to be about 2000 grit, and the other to be about 600 to 1000 grit please. Here's one example, but any make would be lovely, thank you.
A load of cheap, budget, cotton or linen tea towels. Here's one example Cotton tea towels for £1.56 When I say "a load", I mean about ten to twenty.
A probe meat thermometer. Any cheap thermometer is fine, I don't need anything too fancy.
This Norlender jumper would be nice please. Either Navy/White or Charcoal/Grey would be nice. Don't get ecru/charcoal. You MUST buy the largest size - XXL. Please do not buy XL because it will not fit me and I will be sad that I have a jumper that I cannot wear. I'm serious about this.
This is for the people who enjoy a shopping challenge. I'm struggling to find anything suitable, so I don't have examples to show you. I would like a v-neck, very big, pure wool, robust, jumper. I don't want "textured" knits so no cable knit or similar. I really don't want fine knits or merino. I might be able to cope with a round neck, but absolutely not a polo or turtle neck which would make me feel like I'm dying. I'm not fussed about colour, but I'd prefer one single solid block rather than patterns, and I'd prefer not green or green/brown. Jo might have some photos of me in Tahoe (possibly I'm up to my waist in snow) and I'm wearing a big red wool robust jumper. That was from REI and over a decade ago. I want VERY LARGE, so at least 48" chest. (I know I normally use cm and you might be thinking "oho has Dan got that conversion wrong because my word that's a jumbo jumper surely he means something more reasonable and smaller" but NO, I've triple checked and I do mean 48" is the minimum, but bigger if possible).
Well, okay, I found the picture of me wearing the jumper up to my waist in snow in Tahoe. Unfortunately in the photo I am also wearing a coat. You'll just have to take my word for it that under the coat there's an amazing jumper and that I am nice and toasty warm.
Please buy two uprights, one cross brace, and 7 or 8 or so of these short shelves as you can.
Or
I could really use long shelves. I only need the planks, I have the uprights. These IVAR shelf-planks are £9 each. I need as many of these as you want to buy. (I mean, within reason. Don't go bonkers and get 30 or anything silly.) IKEA may as well be on the moon for me - it's not possible for me to get to an IKEA so I'm never going to be able to buy these for myself. They would come in really handy. I know a plank isn't the most glamorous gift, but I'd get so much use out of them. The shelves I already have are at least 20 years old and I expect them to last for another 50 so any planks you buy are going to have a long life of use. The shelves do not need to be new, I'd be happy to take second hand IVAR planks from anywhere. Delivery is about £10 I think.
I'd like a sort of nice but not too swizzy fake xmas tree. Something about 1.2 m to 1.5 m (er, 4 foot? to 5 foot?) would be a good height. 1.75 m is about the tallest that'd fit in my flat. I'd like it to look mostly like a tree, but white or green or tinsel or whatever is fine. Plastic is absolutely fine - I'm keeping this thing forever. Don't spend extra to get a tree made from recycled plastic. Some Amazon UK links: a 4 foot tree, same tree but 5 foot, same tree but six foot.
Some indoor, LED, mains-powered lights would be nice too. Plain or coloured would be great.
Some hard drives. Anything 750gb and over, 2.5" external, USB3 preferred but not essential. Second hand is fine!.
Any MicroSD cards that are 4gb or larger. They don't have to be large, or fast, or new.
I got out of the habit of reading and I'd like to start reading a bit more. A cheap, second-hand, ereader would be handy. Kobo or Nook are preferred, but Kindle is fine too. Nothing too fancy in case I stop reading again.
Here's a list of bits and bobs if you wanted to buy a selection of smaller items if you wanted to. This section isn't in any order.
Fairtrade plain or milk chocolate is always lovely. I prefer unflavoured, or with nuts. Tony Chocoloney is nice.
Winter warmers / winter mix. These are the sweets / hard candy that are flavoured with clove, cinnamon, wintergreen, menthol, liquorice, aniseed etc.
I'd like some good quality, steel, metric only, rulers. Vogel make a really nice left handed ruler which would be amazing. Shinwa also make great rulers. (The site I link to has quite large shipping costs so watch out for those.) I'd also love some good quality Pozidriv screwdrivers. (Bahco or FACOM are very good.) or cheap precision screwdrivers. I'm happy for a mix of brands. I'd like a metric only tape measure.
I'm not joking about the Brexit nightmare for queues. Here's one image, but there are loads.