Mai Tai Tracy’s (and Tom’s) Favorite Things

These Are A Few Of Our Favorite Things

Mai Tai Tracy’s (and Tom’s) Favorite Things

December 2024

If you are in need of some ideas for gifts or stocking stuffers, for whatever it is worth, here is a list of some of our favorite things … in the kitchen or garden. I will add to the list periodically and there are many items I didn’t have time to include this year but they will be here next year, so get gifting!
(Disclosure: We do not get any compensation for these recommendations, they are truly our favorite things. Although, Laura Ann’s Jams does extend a 15% discount to our readers. Thank you, Laura Ann!)

Laura Ann’s Jams: So happy we found these jams.  Amazing handmade preserves, and a recent addition of no-sugar added jams. You can get a 15% discount by typing MAITAITOM at checkout. While all the jams are amazing, our favorites are the Raspberry Habanero (hot!), Strawberry Vanilla (tons of vanilla), Hollywood Marmalade (Valencia orange with cinnamon & cardamon) and Holiday Marmalade (cranberry & orange with holiday spice) all of which are currently in our fridge. 

New to the MaiTaiTracy Kitchen this year (and I don’t WHY no one told me about this freaking delicious sauce) is Bachan Japanese BBQ Sauce (Original and Hot & Spicy). OMG I use this as a marinade or a sauce on everything from steak to eggs to rice and have to pick up a bottle every time I am at CostPlus World Market where I found it. PLUS, I love the back story… Bachan is Japanese for Grandma and this is her family recipe and is made in the small Northern California town of Sebastopol. Also available online at Target and Amazon. Get some now. It is that good. 

Penzeys, Penzeys, Penzeys: I love these spices so much I had to reconfigure my entire spice drawer because I spent $114.29 on my first visit to the brick-and-mortar store in Torrance, California. I mail order now to try to avoid buying so much BUT in the store you can smell (and in some instances taste) each spice! Purchase options range from small jars to big refill bags so you can buy only what you need and your spices will never go stale.

Tracy’s favorites: Penzeys’ Cinnamon which is a blend of China, Vietnamese, Korintje and Ceylon cinnamons (Wow!); pure vanilla extract; herbs de Provence; saffron from Spain; Indonesia Fine Ground White Pepper; Tellicherry Coarse Grind Black Pepper; Bold Taco Seasoning; Sunny Paris Seasoning (salt free, purple shallots, chives, green peppercorn, French basil, French tarragon, chervil, bay leaf and dill weed) … shall I go on? 

One of our old standbys is Lottie’s Traditional Barbados Yellow Hot Pepper Sauce which we mail order BY THE CASE. Tom uses it as the base of his amazing steak marinades (well, until I brought home the Bachan, but we won’t go there). This is great but has a “Mo Heat Level: 7” so probably not for small children or the spice impaired. We order it directly from MoHotta MoBetta but it is also available on Amazon. 

Krusteaz Honey Cornbread and Mike’s Hot Honey: I love my Skillet Hatch Chile Corn Bread , but sometimes you just NEED some cornbread in a hurry and Krusteaz is the one we serve at the Casa de Mai Tai Tom. I mix Mike’s Hot Honey (infused with chili peppers) with salted butter and a sprinkle of fleur de sel. Slathered on the corn bread, it is Tom’s new addiction. Mike’s comes in Extra Hot but we have not tried it yet.

LiteHouse Center Cut Blue Cheese: Don’t tell Tom, but I have actually eaten this with a fork right out of the container! From the website: “The Blue Cheese Center Cut is the premium selection of the blue cheese wheel, cored from the center and where the flavor is most rich and developed. Litehouse Simply Artisan Cheese is handcrafted and aged a minimum of 100 days.”  (Another disclosure: LiteHouse sent us some of their center cut blue cheese after Tom saw them at a work function … he still works … now and then! He gushed about how it is our favorite blue. Thank you, LiteHouse!)  Now it’s our go-to Blue Cheese we buy at the supermarket.

KerryGold Pure Irish Butter: Speaking of butter. Yum, yum, yum! I have both the salted and unsalted on hand at all times especially as I have been into compounding butter lately. 

Favorite apple: If you prefer a red, crispy, sweet apple, it is SugarBee hands down. First we fell in love with Honeycrisp, then had a long affair with Envy, but SugarBee is now the apple of our eyes.

Favorite rosemary plant: Barbeque Rosemary: This is a tall upright plant with straight sturdy branches perfect for skewers, and it has the added bonus of being a pollinator magnet with blue flowers in the spring. Be forewarned it can grow 4 to 6 feet but prunes easily, I keep mine around 3 feet.

Favorite lemon:  We are fortunate to have an almost never-ending supply of sweet, fragrant Meyer lemons courtesy of our neighbor’s tree (yes, she knows) that hangs into our garden and provides us with the sweetest, juiciest, most delicious lemons. A Meyer lemon is a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange and has a thin, smooth skin, perfect for zesting.

Be sure to check here periodically as we will be adding new favorites as we find them.