Herbed Olive Oil
A few years ago one of the hottest food gifts was extra-virgin olive oil, bottled attractively and filled with sprigs of herbs. Extra-virgin olive oil, of which there are very many brands, is the first oil that comes from the olives when pressed without added heat. It comes in varying shades of pale green and has a highly distinctive, somewhat peppery taste. Stems of fresh thyme, rosemary, bay, and oregano are jammed into the bottle, along with garlic, a few black and green peppercorns, and dried red peppers. This becomes impressive to look at and-- after a week or so of marination--delicious on a salad or even on bread as a substitute for butter. (Indeed, olive oil fanatics wind up pouring it on almost everything.)
The brand of olive oil I like for this is Saica, not only because of its wonderful flavor and aroma but also because it's a particularly beautiful shade of green. It's available at Dorignac's, Nor-Joe Imports, and a few other places. Buy empty cork-stoppered bottles at a place like Pier One and gallon cans of the oil to fill them with.
By the way, I don't recommend you use fresh garlic for this. There is the off-chance that botulism can result, and that tastes really bad.
