Gift ideas for a food-lover close to Mountain View?

[twinkienic]

One of my good friends has recently moved to Mountain View and her birthday is coming up. I would love to come up with a culinary-oriented gift that can also help her discover and enjoy her new city. I was thinking maybe along the lines of a market tour - I hear Mountain View has a great farmer's market... are there any tours or other events happening there? Otherwise, any suggestions for individual cooking classes (or maybe knife skills classes)... or anything else that might be interesting would be appreciated. I was hoping there would be a Silicon Valley area equivalent of Vancouver's Edible BC (http://www.edible-britishcolumbia.com/) but so far I haven't found anything in my searches. Thanks!

[twinkienic]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions! I think we're going to go with a gift certificate at Sur la Table because they have a pretty good selection of classes. Manresa sounds fantastic... but a bit out of my budget at this time. Perhaps I'll save it as a wedding present possibility.

Thanks for the offer, karma bites... I'll pass on your email to her and see if she's interested!

[emi50]

Draegers looks like a good choice. Also: http://www.culinary-events.com/produc...

[Cicely]

Chez TJ, another Michelin two-star, is right in Mountain View. Manresa is in Los Gatos... not far far, but not around the corner.

[lgphil]

There have been a couple recent threads about which of these two is a better choice. No one here, or at least almost no one, thought Chez TJ was in the same league. Yes, it's a 20 minute drive, but for good chow...

[Robert Lauriston]

A gift certificate to Draeger's wouldn't be bad. In addition to classes, they have a lot of hard-to-find delicacies such as truffle preserves and real balsamic.

[Ruth Lafler]

Draeger's also offers classes -- some are hands-on skill classes, and some are more hang-out while someone does a demonstration and then eat type gatherings.

My sister moved to that area 18 months ago and I ended up getting her a goodie bag of stuff I'd bought at local specialty markets: Crossroads, Dittmer's, Piazza's, Rick's Rather Rich ice cream (and a couple of gift cards from the last two), to give her an intorduction to what was out there.

[lgphil]

Sur la Table in Los Gatos has classes like you descrive.

http://surlatable.turnstilesystems.co...

LG is about 20 minutes away from MV.

If she is a REALLY good friend, a gift cert to Manresa in LG would be appreciated. One of the top restaurants in the Bay Area. Some say the top.

another option is to find 5 or restos recommended here, or other activities (theaters, sports, movies whatever), and get her a sampler pack of gift certificates. It makes a nice welcome to your new neighborhood gift.

[jsaimd]

There is a Sur La Table now in Palo Alto and Santa Clara too and they might have classes.

How much are you wanting to spend?