Bearing Gifts

Going home means bringing goodies. I abhor tchotchkes. And the only thing worse than spending money to buy a tchotchke must to be gift one to somebody else. Instead, I like bringing food items. As my grandmother used to say, nothing better than something for the stomach. So, in my suitcase:

• two boxes of Cruesli
• one liter of milk
  
• 3 jars of Dame Besson Sauce Créoline
• 5 250g bags of ground Café Chaulet coffee beans
• 1 bottle of Père Labat ginger rum
• 1 box of Caoba Petit Cigarillos (from a trip to the Dominican Republic)
  

Okay, that last item isn't a food item, but its not a tchotke. The sauce, coffee, and rum are all Made in Guadeloupe. The Cruesli and milk is French. I would have included a few more things, but the strike made provisioning difficult.

I imagine that all of these items are available in New York. Surely not all in the same place. And not likely at the local bodega. But, the wonder of New York places anything and everthing - including obscure products from a small French state in the Caribbean - at one's fingertips. Still, I always travel bearing gifts. Its a particular joy to travel with a suitcase full of gifts, in anticipation of the loved ones who will receive them.