A Big List of Terry's Tastes So That I Can Forestall The Idea That I Am Hard To Buy Things For

General Tastes

Colors: blacks, charcoal, greys, rich dark reds and burgundies, gold, ochre, burnt siena, copper, sunflower yellow, forest greens. Avoid blues and browns, especially navy blue anything. Primary colors are good but it depends on what. Not for clothing other than socks. Good for kitchen things. I like richly textured and patterned fabrics.

Flavours: generally not a fan of sweets; hot spices, jerks and curries; partial to Asian foods. Seafood anything. Smoked meats.

Scents: wood scents, sandalwood, cedar, cinnamon, patchouli, orange, pine. Definitely nothing sweet, overly fruity or too floral. Avoid lemony scents. Incense is good, especially the Japanese ones.

Cologne

Bulgari Black (eau de toilette) in the black hockey puck. Nothing else. Always an appreciated gift.

Bath

I like bubble baths therefore bubble bath is a good present. La Compagnie de Provence Blue Line Foam Bath: my current favorite is their Mandarin/Orange Foam Bath but the lavender and jasmine are nice too. Again, a bit hard to track down. L'Occitane en Provence: easier to find. I like many of their things so experimenting there is not a bad idea. I like the Green Tea Bath and Shower Gel, but the Magnolia, Vetyver and Vanilla products are interesting. Their incenses are great as well. Body Shop: have been off them recently but the Oceanus & Satsuma shower gels (their foaming baths are yuck) are okay. I am always willing to experiment with different bubble baths and fragrances in the bath. Nice bath salts also work.

In bath scents, my favorites include (in rough order of preference): spicy, cinnamon, orange, vanilla, tea, jasmine, lavender.

Clothing

In general, buying me clothing is a bad idea. I am ultra picky here. I only do natural fibres, generally cotton. I avoid anything with brand labels (I refuse to be a billboard for some company). Black sweaters are nice. Nice cotton cardigans (button downs) are also good (Harry Rosen has nice ones). Tend to like very good quality in sweaters and cardigans as they last much longer. But the potential for getting it wrong is much greater here.

Socks

I like funky men's socks. But these are hard to find in regular stores. The best place, short of going to London, seems to be online. Some higher end men's stores or import stores may have these as well. The Sock Shop (UK) has some of my favorites: flame scarlet or cyber yellow ankle socks,

The Joy of Socks has some designs that caught my eye. Some of these (in rough order of preference): vino, feel the beat flames, fish, fresh fish, sharks, frogs, black and lime check and stripe, leonardo, winery, music, mosaic, chilis, martini tease, tool time, money.

The red and yellow crew socks look nice.

I wear a size 41 shoe if sizing needs to be considered. Buying two duplicate pairs is a strategy I like. When a hole wears in one, I can always make another pair therefore making them last longer.

Home and Garden

I have most kitchen things but a few gaps still annoy me. I use Paderno cookware. Mom got me the Non-Stick Fry Pan for Xmas in 2004 - thanks. So the medium sized pot with a handle, such as 3.0 Litre Saucepan now has appeal. Other Paderno things that I would like: 3 Litre Steamer (covered), 2.0 Litre Sauté Pan, 4.0 Litre Casserole.

I am still missing a blender. I don't have a good blender and am tired of my hand Braun (which does not work for somethings like smoothies and margaritas). I have often thought of getting a food processor but I don't have the space for one right now. A blender I can make room for. One day maybe for something bigger. I avoid any non-essential kitchen things now since I really don't have space. There are no counter or cupboard spaces for anything substantive.

I do not need any dishes of any kind. I have more mugs, glasses, bowls, plates than I need. I do not need cutlery or knives as these are taken care of.

Utensils: I think I have everything I need for the kitchen including all the common knick-knacks.

Food stuffs: Nice, high quality olive oils are appreciated (unflavoured). I have a very good place to get hot sauces and always have lots of these around, so these should be avoided. Exceptional or hard to find unique sauces or spices are nice though. Cheeses: very blue blues, smelly cheeses, very old cheddars also work for me. Smoked salmon slices are nice too. Avoid jams and jellies as I don't use these. Ditto to cookies and cakes. Not really a dessert person as I have enough problems with weight.

Drink: Always appreciated; prefer red wine over white, port over scotch. Red wine (shiraz, zinfandel, syrah, merlot), white wine (fume blanc, chablis, cabarnet sauvignon); Port (anything good: the older Grahams are faves), Scotch (single malts only: the Macallan, odd barrel Glenmorangie, older is better, little known or oddball scotches, surprise me), Tea (bad: I have tons already), Coffee (bad: as I drink it sparingly and only outside the home).

Garden: avoid. I have everything I need and anything nice for outside will get stolen. Until I have a house, no gardening things make sense.

BBQ: I have everything at the moment. A new BBQ will be in my future in a couple of years as this one is getting heavily over-used.

Candles: I have lots at the moment. Large square candles in solid colors like red, black, or yellow are appreciated.

Travel gear: I think I am swamped with travel things now. I have all the stuff needed for regular travel. BUT gift certificates to Mountain Equipment Co-op always have great utility. And I would like to get more camping type gear soon. A great light sleeping bag for instance.

IKEA gift certificates: there always seems to be something at IKEA that I like. But I just never know ahead of time what it will be.

Linens: always appreciate nice linens for the bed (queen size) but the colors should be dark reds or black. High thread counts are nice. Flannel equally so. I particularly like Lands End bedding. It does not have to be Lands End but this provides an indication of colors and styles I prefer. Love the Herringbone Paisley Bedding or Antique Blossom Bedding Ensemble. Another one is the 250-count Highland Paisley Bedding. The 250-ct Solid Sheet Set in graphite is a nice set. The Embrace Flannel Bedding is also nice (wine color). Would love a Polartec fleece blanket (light ceder or light tan). The deep cardinal colored Polartec Aircore-200 Blanket is lovely. Blankets should be queen sized.

Books

This is a favored gift and I have a monstrous list of books always under consideration. To make it easy, use my Amazon list: this is highly recommended as I keep track of lots of things there. If you see older and odd items, well those would be good surprises. It is a long list. Hardcovers are, of course, preferred editions for great books. It is a very big list with lots of things on it so it can take some time to work through and make choices.

I like older books that are a little trickier to get. I love Bookfinder.com for the ability to pull up editions from second-hand dealers around the world. Used is good as long as the quality is fine (no markings, dust jackets complete), preferably first edition, etc.

A few notable things that I have wanted but seemingly have avoided getting because of expense:

The "Times" Atlas of the World: Comprehensive Edition (2003). This is the atlas that I really want. It is a marvel. Available here in Canada and the UK but I am did not see the 2003 edition on Amazon. Pricey though: about $250-300 dollars.

Any Andy Goldsworthy books, in particular Wall or Wood or Hand to Earth or Midsummer Snowballs. I love his art. It is amazing and beautiful. Any books or movies about him and his work would be appreciated. Bookfinder.com is a good source for tracking the older stuff.

Subscriptions: A *great* present... I am a magazine junky. Subscriptions to any of my favorites like Manchester Guardian Weekly, Times Literary Supplement, New York Review of Books, New Yorker, Harpers Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, PRINT Magazine, Maisonneuve, would be more than welcomed.

Tango things: I have lots of tango music but have few movies relating to tango. There are a couple of tango DVDs on the Amazon list.

Cookbooks: In general, avoid cookbooks. I am out of space for new cookbooks and need to work through the ones I have. And there is nothing recently that really caught my eye. An excellent book on mushroom cookery is something I have been looking for,

Music

Unless it is specifically on my Amazon list, a bad idea. I have *lots* of music and tend to buy very particular things only, usually classical and opera that I am seeking. I get lots of my music online so buying anything that is current or hot is a bad idea as I may already have it.

Any of the Gergiev/Kirov operas listed on Amazon would be nice. I would *still* like Modest Moussorgsky: Khovanshchina because I saw this in Moscow. Any operas on my Amazon list are also appreciated.

Art

A bad idea: I have very particular tastes here. Posters or prints are a disaster as I will never put them up no matter how nice they are. Original works I like to pick for myself. Photos are generally avoided with few exceptions. Ditto for picture frames unless I have picked them out specifically.

Movies

DVDs are a great idea if they are on my list but again, I am pretty selective here. I am slowly collecting films from the Criterion Collection and KINO so these are good. Any recent collection interests are on my Amazon list. Any Japanese ones on the list are a good bet, Kurosawa especially as I am trying to get a comprehensive collection together of his work. Any of the old film noir or old-fashioned adventure comedies are also good bets. Musicals on the list are recommended.

Tickets to movies are a bad idea. When at home, I go to the theater on cheap days and do not often buy popcorn when I do. I tend to go alone, so passes for two are bad. I have been trying recently to use Amazon's priority feature in the list but have not done this for older items.

Knick-knacks

Actually, I am getting swamped with little things that add clutter. I like lots of things but really have to get a grip on this. Unless it is really useful or exceptionally cool, I can probably live without more dust collecting things for my shelves.

Electronics

I got the Terabyte drives and the new screen over the past year, so my basic technology needs have been met. But the color printer, digital camera and shortwave radio are still on my list. Printer and camera models change though from year to year and I am reluctant to keep pointing a new models. Ask me if you are inclined... nudge nudge to family members who might feel like splurging...

An Airport Express would be cool to have as well. But I need a new base station to go with it.

I like shortwave radio and no longer have access to one. Radio Shack now sells Grundig radios and the Grundig s350 and YB400PE shortwave radio are both nice. Ultimately I would like to get the monster Satellit 800 Millenium radio, but this is rather pricey.

Dreaming in Technicolor

A house would be good.

A car is not necessary. But if someone is giving me one, hey, what the heck. I will get my license.

Large amounts of cash has a certain appeal. Winning lottery tickets of obscene amounts are suitable.