Holiday Entertaining Made Easy with Chadwick Boyd

Looking for a great holiday gift for the wine lover on your list? Check out the Bubbly Pack or the Rhone Valley Pack that Laurie chose for $80 with FREE shipping if you use code FORSTERCOACH Order your Wine Packs at TheWineCoachClub.com

Laurie Forster sits down with culinary tastemaker Chadwick Boyd for a festive chat about holiday entertaining that’s joyful, budget-friendly, and blissfully simple. Chadwick shares his journey from farm kid to celebrated food influencer, then walks listeners through standout recipes from his holiday guide—think holiday jam and cheese windows, Gruyère date–prosciutto bites, and his irresistible chocolate biscuit bark. Laurie adds wine pairings and gift ideas to round out the celebration, making this episode your go-to guide for cooking, sipping, and savoring the season with the people you love. 

Takeaways

 • Chadwick’s culinary roots began in a family that celebrated life through food
 • Great cooking comes from simple moments and quality ingredients
 • Holiday entertaining can be easy, fun, and accessible
 • Wine and non-alcoholic options both elevate the celebration
 • Thoughtful food-centric gifts make the season special
 • Memorable, unfussy dishes delight guests
 • Sharing food with your community enriches the experience 

Chadwick's Holiday Guide with Recipes: CLICK HERE

To get the Effie's Biscuits the recipes call for go to EffiesHomemade.com. Use code FreeShipCB to get free shipping. 

Chadwick's Gifts for the Food Lovers in Your Life: CLICK HERE

Wines Tasted

Dr Loosen Dry Riesling

Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau

Banfi Rosa Regale Brachetto d'Acqui

Transcript

Laurie Forster (00:27)
Are you having a holiday gathering or maybe you're invited to a holiday gathering and you need to bring something delicious? Well, this week we're getting you ready for that because we're gonna introduce you to three easy, delicious bites to make for the holidays. And then I'm gonna pair them with three affordable wines that you absolutely want to have at your holiday gatherings.

I'm gonna be joined in a minute by Chadwick Boyd. He's one of the most influential voices in American food culture. Known for bringing smart, and refreshingly clever insight to home cooks for more than three decades, his work spans top outlets like Better Homes and Gardens, Food and Wine, Southern Living, and The Kitchen. He's been a familiar face on Hallmark Channel's Home and Family, Christmas Cookie Match-Up, and on the CNN Airport Network.

He's written or collaborated on 15 food and lifestyle books, serves as a James Beard Foundation journalism judge, and travels the world with chef Carla Hall, teaching their beloved biscuit recipes. let's go ahead and bring Chadwick into the show.

Laurie Forster (01:35)
Chadwick, welcome to The Sipping Point.

Chadwick Boyd (01:38)
Hey, Laurie, how are you doing? Happy holidays.

Laurie Forster (01:41)
I know, happy holidays and thanks for wearing red. We are so festive. We are, we're 10 days into December and I'm so thankful you're here to help us get ready for holiday entertaining, but you're make it fun, affordable and simple, which is what I need. ⁓ I'm married to a chef, so I'm a little bit handicapped on the culinary skills.

Chadwick Boyd (01:44)
I know. We are the Red Club.

Laurie Forster (02:05)
So I'm thrilled to have you with me. And we met years ago through various food and wine events. And so it's great to have you on the show. I would love for my listeners to learn bit about your background How did this love of food start for you?

Chadwick Boyd (02:21)
I love this question because it's so complex and deep. I wish I had the simplest answer, but the truth is I come from a pure line of farmers all the way back to the 1600s. And I'm the first non-practicing farmer in my family. So I was always around a lot of food. my grandfathers, my uncles, ⁓

Laurie Forster (02:40)
Wow.

Chadwick Boyd (02:46)
My grandmothers all contributed to feeding the community in which in southeastern Pennsylvania where we grew up. And my grandfather always said that we are rich in food and poor in money. And through that, that meant that there was always a celebration that brought us to the table. And it was, it could be something simple like, you graduated from kindergarten or you got straight A's on your, you know, your report card, whatever.

My family was always creating moments together at the table and we always had food from the garden or ⁓ dairy or ⁓ meat that was really good eating. And so that was part, it's always been part of my DNA. And at seven years old, I discovered my mother's Betty Crocker cookbook for boys and girls, the 1957 edition. And I was obsessed with it. I taught myself.

every single recipe in that spiral bound cookbook. And by 10 years old, I graduated to the big Betty Crocker cookbook that I still have behind me in my library. And I've been cooking ever since.

Laurie Forster (03:51)
I have one too, but I don't think I've ever made anything in it, but I do have one. I know the one you're talking about. Well, that is amazing. And I think here in our household, we agree, food and wine, I'll add in, given my love, is if you can find a reason to celebrate and sometimes it's just that it's a Tuesday. But that is what brings people together in my mind, definitely in our family and the things that we do. So I love that for you.

Chadwick Boyd (03:55)
Hahaha!

Laurie Forster (04:20)
I can't believe 10 years old, you were already on this track. you know, given that you grow up and had that love from the beginning, how did you, when you got out of school, how did you decide to present that to the world? Did you think about becoming a chef, you know, in a restaurant or?

Chadwick Boyd (04:38)
No,

I thought I wanted to be Mike Brady of the Brady Bunch. I thought I would be an architect to be honest, and that didn't work out. I was really great at presentation and the artistic creative part of it, but once I got into like engineering and structures, I sucked. And so I bailed on that and went into creating my own degree, honestly. And I think

Laurie Forster (04:56)
Ha ha!

Chadwick Boyd (05:03)
the reawakening for foods ⁓ and writing, because I have a journalism, English, and French degree, I think it started to come back to life when I went to school in Paris for summer. And as you and many others ⁓ who travel there, it's really hard to go to Europe and not fall in love with food and wine, right?

Laurie Forster (05:17)
Mm.

Chadwick Boyd (05:25)
and just the art of eating and presenting it to the joy of presenting to other people. And from there, I ended up working with food brands. I was working with a fried chicken brand when I was 25 years old and I got up at 4 a.m. in the morning and called the Southeast Bureau Chief at CNN to pitch a church's chicken story. And it was crazy, but I loved it. And that's where I fell in love with media.

Laurie Forster (05:25)
Mm-hmm.

Chadwick Boyd (05:53)
And just one thing led to another. And the next thing I know, I'm working with the people who are in the early years shaping Food Network. And then I was working, I found myself working with Pam Krauss, who is Ina's and Giada's and Martha Stewart's editor who taught me how to do cookbooks. And the next thing I know, it all just kind of turned into this career that I'm contributing to magazines. I'm at the Today Show. And it was all just out of

curiosity and passion that was born when I was really young.

Laurie Forster (06:26)
I love that. And there's a great Steve Jobs quote. It's something like, you know, you can't connect the dots looking forward. You know, you don't know where everything's gonna take you. And it sounds like for you as well, as I think me too, you know, all these different passions that you had and skills that you developed all came together now in the ability for you to use them. You know, the cooking, the journalism.

⁓ the PR and pitching the network. So I'm thrilled to have you here and the holidays are upon us and people are going to start showing up maybe invited or not invited. Or maybe we need to bring a dish to somebody else's party. Well, you have an amazing holiday guide that you just released. Tell us a little bit about that. And then we're going to kind of go through what people can expect to make from your guide. And I have a couple of wines.

Chadwick Boyd (07:08)
Yeah.

Laurie Forster (07:20)
to pair with it. So tell me about the guide. Yeah.

Chadwick Boyd (07:21)
Ooh, I'm excited. So,

you know, my grandmother died in March. And so I've been very blessed when I was born. I had all of my grandparents and great grandparents alive except for two. And so I made it 54 years with the presence of a grandparent in my life.

And so this holiday season, I'm really thinking about the simple things that my grandparents in particular brought to our family for the holidays. And that doesn't mean cooking, you know, very difficult things. It's like the simple things that you can get your, ⁓ your family together and share in and make, and just really enjoy delighting other people, whether they're coming to your place or you're heading over there.

That's really been on my mind this holiday season. That's what I wanted to create with this holiday ⁓ treat, cheat sheet, which is a tongue twister. But it literally is, you know, very simple. ⁓ magazine editor friend of mine taught me this is that their girlfriend recipes, like they're not like step by step by step, but they're simple ingredients that everybody can have access to and find at the grocery store. And

pulled together and feel like they're a really special cook even if they didn't have to cook at all.

Laurie Forster (08:44)
You know I love that because I've already talked about my handicap in the kitchen. So where can people go to get the guide? And then let's talk about the three stunning things you have in there to bring to a party or to put out at your party. And then I'm gonna give you some ideas. And I know you'll have in the guide ideas of what to drink with it as well, but I'm gonna show you my picks.

Chadwick Boyd (08:48)
Hahaha!

I cannot wait for your input because that wine part is not my specialty. The food part is what I bring. So I'm excited about that. So first off, can follow me on Instagram at Chadwick Boyd. And if you follow me there, then you'll be given the guide. It'll be sent directly to your DM. You can also go to my website, ChadwickBoydLifestyle.com, and go to the news and stories section, and you can find it there too.

Laurie Forster (09:17)
Me too.

Great, perfect. All right, so Instagram or your website, either place. And ⁓ tell me about these holiday jam and cheese windows. I know there's an inspiration behind it and tell us a little bit about, I think you have samples there so people that are watching on YouTube or seeing this on social media can see what the finished product looks like, at least from an expert perspective. Tell me a little bit about that recipe.

Chadwick Boyd (10:02)
Well, I love using things that you can pull directly from your pantry. And this year I have fallen in love with these Effie's biscuits. It's really kind of funny because people call me the biscuit man or the biscuit king because I make tall, tender, flaky, you know, American biscuits. But these biscuits are a company. It's women-made out of Nova Scotia. And I love really good quality specialty items.

Laurie Forster (10:20)
Mm-hmm.

Chadwick Boyd (10:28)
And this is a cross between a cracker and a cookie. Really, really well made. And for party fare, I like something that is really sturdy, that is a canvas that you can create with. So that's what these recipes are. And you just happened to catch me. We did not plan this. Behind me is my test kitchen here in New York City in Manhattan, where I created these three recipes. So the, the.

The holiday tiles that you talked about are these. Yeah, so this is the oatcake biscuit and it reminds me of Linzer sandwich cookies. So these are basically a cheese and cracker that is a play on a classic holiday German Linzer cookie. You put red pepper jelly, like a half of a teaspoon on top, just spread it to the edges and then take a young

Laurie Forster (10:58)
So pretty.

Chadwick Boyd (11:21)
Pliable cheese like an emmental or or a fontina cut it about eighth inch thick to the size of the biscuit and then take a mini cookie cutter or the center part of a Linzer cutter and Stamp it out like that. I mean, here's a cute stocking here is ⁓ a Holly you can do a tree. They're really sweet and cute

Laurie Forster (11:42)
Aww.

Chadwick Boyd (11:45)
and then just adorn it with some fresh thyme or other herbs and then I just ⁓ sprinkle flake salt like snow on top. Put them in the fridge for about 10 minutes just to set the jelly and you can take this with you if you're going to your friend's house or family ⁓ but you can put them on a platter and I promise you people are gonna talk and think that you are the cleverest cook in the entire place because they're that cute and they're so damn delicious.

Laurie Forster (12:11)
I love that and I love Fontina by the way. It's one of my favorite cheeses. So that's exciting to me. And thanks for giving me the background on the German inspiration because actually the wine I picked to go with this ⁓ bite, the window bites is the Dr. Yeah. It's the Dr. Loosen Riesling and now.

Chadwick Boyd (12:30)
this is like behind door number three. yum.

Laurie Forster (12:36)
This is a dry Riesling, the one I selected because I love dry Riesling, but Riesling has a lot of fruit. And so even if dry, the fruitiness there is gonna be a great matchup to the red pepper jelly if you have that, or I think you could use, ⁓ what was it? There was another jam that you could use.

Chadwick Boyd (12:55)
It's like a strawberry

rhubarb jam or a raspberry jam works really well.

Laurie Forster (13:00)
Exactly. So the little bit of sweetness in there from the jam really kind of makes me want a little bit of sweetness or fruitiness. Dr. Loosen makes a great off dry Riesling. And what that means is that it's just a little bit sweet. It's off of dry, just a little bit sweeter than dry. So look for a Mosel German Riesling, either off dry, even dry, I think would.

Chadwick Boyd (13:12)
Mmm.

Laurie Forster (13:25)
work because you have the cheese, have the savory elements as well and the salt on there. The acidity in here is really good, so that's gonna stand up to the salt that you're kind of sprinkling on there, but you've got the fruit and sweetness to balance out the jam as well. And Riesling is just really food friendly and goes with so many different things. So if you're going to a party or you're having a party,

Chadwick Boyd (13:37)
Mmm.

Mm-hmm.

Laurie Forster (13:49)
A Riesling will go with a myriad of things that you might be serving, whether they're the appetizers or an entree or beyond. And while we love to talk dry in the wine world, most people like wine with a little bit of sweetness. If you look at the US as a whole, there's more non-dry drinkers than there are people who like bone dry wines. So the German Riesling was my suggestion here.

⁓ But I also love in your guide that you mentioned ⁓ Beaujolais, Villages being an option. And I did bring one of those to the table, which I'll talk about with another one of your recipes. But I love your idea of Beaujolais or Gamay for really all three of these. think that's a solid because Gamay has such great fruit, but good acidity as well. It's, ⁓ I think a great pairing for everything in your guide, actually.

Chadwick Boyd (14:21)
you

Okay.

I am so excited to hear you that I hear you say that because Gamay is something that I have gone back to this season. I can't tell you why, but it was, you know, when you just get a, um, um, you know, around on the side of your tongue, you get some, a craving for a flavor or a taste that you have had. And for whatever reason, yeah, just like that calling, uh, back to Gamay. And so it has been.

Laurie Forster (15:04)
Yes, the salivation. Yeah.

Chadwick Boyd (15:12)
on the forefront of my mind and I love that you've affirmed that ⁓ I guess this is the holiday, the year of Gamay.

Laurie Forster (15:17)
Yes.

It is

kind of the year of Gamay. It's quite popular. And a lot of natural winemakers are using Gamay, and the natural wines are a pretty hot segment right now. So yeah, you're on trend. You're on trend, Chadwick. Perfect. And I wanted to say, too, the Dr. Loosen Riesling that I picked up, I think was around $15, $16. So you don't need to break the bank. It doesn't need to be expensive wine. It's delicious.

Chadwick Boyd (15:35)
Excellent. ⁓ I love that.

Laurie Forster (15:50)
easy to open with a screw cap. And Dr. Loosen is one of the most famous winemakers in Germany. Everything he makes, if I see Dr. Loosen on the bottle, I know I'm going to be good. So I'm with you. It doesn't have to be expensive and uber time consuming. So well, I know the next one has a couple of things I love, Gruyere and prosciutto. So tell me a little bit about that recipe.

Chadwick Boyd (16:01)
Mm.

No.

Hmm.

Yeah, so these are the ⁓ Gruyere date prosciutto bites. they're so pretty on just a simple china plate like this. They're the Effie's Gruyere biscuits that I've just placed ⁓ a dried plum on top or a date or any other. You could put an apple.

hot if you want. And then just wrap it thinly with some prosciutto tight and put it in the oven at 375 for about 18 to 20 minutes. The edges of the biscuit are going to caramelize. The prosciutto is going to crisp. Bring it out of the oven, brush it with some honey, and then sprinkle it with some crushed pink peppercorns.

And just let it sit for just a couple of minutes and then serve them. And this is another bite that people are going to go, oh my gosh, this is like, what is this? And they're going to wolf it down. So, you know, definitely party friendly. How easy was it? I just gave you a really quick recipe and I'm pretty certain that most people are like, Oh, I can do that. Yeah.

Laurie Forster (17:03)
Mmm.

I can do that.

And where is the best place for people to find the Effie's biscuits? Is it ⁓ on Amazon or?

Chadwick Boyd (17:32)
It's a great.

Yeah, so you can actually, I'm glad you asked because you can go to Effie's homemade.com on their shop. And if you use my code free shipping CB, you will get free shipping coming straight to your home. You can also go to a specialty, you know, food shop, whole foods and the Marie Marie's cheese section of Kroger Albertsons. That's the where you'll find them.

Laurie Forster (17:48)
Hmm.

Okay, great. Awesome. Well, for this one, I did pick the Gamay. I know we touched on it just there at the end of our last one, but I love the idea. And really, if you think about it, the Riesling is, you know, with both of the first two that we've talked about, the Riesling would be solid as well as this Gamay. ⁓ Because I just had George Dubuff on talking about Beaujolais Nouveau, I just happened to have one of those here.

Chadwick Boyd (18:23)
Mmm.

Laurie Forster (18:26)
Nouveau is a gamay that basically is the first release of gamay every year, third Thursday in November. So we just kind of passed that it's a fruitier style of gamay than say a village or a crew Beaujolais. But because of that, thought it was, and it has nice acid. was a good match up, especially with the first one where you might have a little bit of jam included on that.

Chadwick Boyd (18:45)
Hmm.

Laurie Forster (18:51)
but also here where you have saltiness. So you have the acid acidity to match that. And then you have the fruitiness of this gamay to match the sweetness in the date or the plum, whichever you choose to use in the recipe. And I think people are really liking this kind of lighter style of red these days, not the big heavy oak bomb that you have to have a steak with. Like this is just much more food friendly throughout a meal.

Chadwick Boyd (19:10)
Yeah.

Laurie Forster (19:19)
And that was my suggestion for this one. And you could bring a Riesling and a Gamay and you have pairings throughout the evening, I feel like.

Chadwick Boyd (19:29)
Yeah, for sure. So I'm making a list and checking it twice for my wine. And so as soon as we are done here, I'm going to go have to place an order.

Laurie Forster (19:32)
Of course.

There you go. I love that. And then the other suggestion you had, which I think would be solid as well for these first two and actually all three is a Prosecco Rose. Because Prosecco is not super bone dry and it can hand up to spice and fruitiness in the foods, which we have in these first two. And Rose gives you a little more fruit and flavor.

Chadwick Boyd (19:49)
you

Laurie Forster (20:04)
than just a basic Prosecco. So I love that Prosecco-Rose suggestion. I didn't have one today, but I would go out and get one and it's a solid pairing for both of those.

Chadwick Boyd (20:16)
Well, that sounds delicious. I love a sparkling rose ⁓ and I'm loving the recommendation of the Gamay I'm just thrilled about that. That's so great. My taste buds are like, woo, let's drink.

Laurie Forster (20:26)
Me too.

Woo! Yes, and

I appreciate that in the holiday guide, you're also giving us some non-alcoholic wine options because there are so many good ones. And just to mention, one of my favorite Prosecco producers is Mionetto. And you probably know their bottle as an orange label, orange foil at the top. You'll see it next time you go to the store. But they make an excellent non-alcoholic Prosecco. I'm not sure if they're making a rosé one just yet.

Chadwick Boyd (20:41)
Yeah.

Laurie Forster (21:00)
but their non-alcoholic Prosecco is really, really good. you know, if you're, you know, there's lots of reasons why people might not want to drink, whether it's health or just want to take a night off or there's, you know, just, it's a Tuesday night and they want to feel good in the morning. So look for the Mionetto non-alcoholic Prosecco. I think they do a really nice job with it. But I love that you included that in your guide.

Chadwick Boyd (21:20)
And.

Yeah, so a lot of my subscribers and my readers, know, my magazine readers, I've started to ask me about that. So I love hearing about the brands that you're talking about because that's also new to me. So I'm being educated because I want to one have some other options too, but I want to give some great recommendations to, you know, my community that really go well with the food that I make.

Laurie Forster (21:50)
Yeah, I love that. Awesome. All right. So I saved the chocolate, which for me, if it's not chocolate, it's not dessert. I don't know. I'm just that kind of person, but we saved the chocolate for last. And each one of these is using a different effies, correct? And so tell me about this, the last recipe, the exact name for is the biscuit bark bites. Yum.

Chadwick Boyd (22:07)
Yeah.

Yes,

these right here.

Laurie Forster (22:19)
my gosh, I wish I could reach over the airways and take a bite. That is, looks so delicious. Yeah. We got to get together so we can have both of these together. I'm a huge chocolate fan. So how do you put this, this is a perfect dessert to bring to a party or just to end a meal because it's not heavy. It's just a nice, you know, these days a lot of people just want a bite of something sweet. We don't maybe want a whole piece.

Chadwick Boyd (22:23)
There you go. Well, you're drinking wine and I've got the treats.

I know.

That's exactly right. So I'm a Halloween baby and my favorite candy bar is an Almond Joy. And what I love about these Effie's cocoa biscuits is that they have a hint of coconut in them with a balance of salt. your wine palate will appreciate, and your husband's a chef, so you'll appreciate really good balance of different flavors when you bite into something.

Laurie Forster (22:53)
Mm-mm.

Chadwick Boyd (23:12)
The other thing that I know that people love to do these days is bark. I find bark to be messy, because you have to melt the chocolates and then spread it out, and then you have to break up the cookies or whatever and make that. And I was like, why do we have to do that? So basically, I just put the Effie's cocoa biscuits down on a sheet pan lined with parchment.

drizzle, I melt some dark 70 % or 80 % dark chocolate in the microwave for two and a half, three minutes, whisk it to cool it down just a little bit and give it some gloss and then cut up some candied orange into little pieces, just like little studs like that and place it on top of the biscuits, drizzle with the dark chocolate and then I'm...

Laurie Forster (23:52)
Mmm.

Chadwick Boyd (23:58)
of in love with these chocolate pearls, these little crunchy like malted little beads, and they're pretty just like a jewel box for the holidays. So put those down after you drizzle with chocolate, drizzle a little bit more to set them in place, and then here's the thing that just makes this like a chocolate shop boutique treat. Smoke salt.

Laurie Forster (24:04)
Mmm.

Chadwick Boyd (24:19)
sprinkle smoked salt on top of all of that with a little bit of sparkling sugar and this thing is so decadent. And you're right, Laurie, you can set this on the counter, let it dry, or put it in the refrigerator in about 45 minutes or so it's gonna set. And I love to have this. you get, basically we've got bark, but just in a little bite. ⁓

Laurie Forster (24:21)
Ooh.

Mm-hmm.

Chadwick Boyd (24:43)
And I love a little treat like this with a really good red wine to give to my guests during the holidays. I think people really don't love a lot, like, you know, a big slice of cake or whatever. want like, you know, just a couple bites, but we want the bites to be really, really good.

Laurie Forster (25:01)
I agree. And I think the gamay again, you know, could be a really solid red for that. But I brought something special. If you know, you want to really make this a dessert pairing I brought with me, it's called Rosa Regale and it's from Banfi and it's a Brachetto d'acqui. Brachetto is the name of the grape variety. It's made in the Piedmont region.

Chadwick Boyd (25:10)
Okay.

Mmm.

Laurie Forster (25:27)
of Italy up in the Northwest. It's at the foot of the Swiss Alps, if you want to imagine where this is. And it is a frizzante, so it's semi-sparkling and it's sweet. Now, this is said to have been Cleopatra's favorite wine. That's how long this stuff has been around. ⁓ But for me, if I'm having chocolate and I want to make a real experience out of the pairing, Brachetto is the way to go. And so

Chadwick Boyd (25:34)
Mm-hmm.

yum. Wow.

Laurie Forster (25:55)
It is a sparkling wine. So you would serve it in your traditional sparkling glassware. And it's kind of like, if I want to liken it to anything, raspberry champagne, it just has those lovely flavors. It's lightly sparkling. And by the way, it's lower in alcohol. want to say it's 7 % alcohol. So normal wines are going to be around 12 to 14%. So the other great thing is if you're doing a brunch or something like that, and you don't want

Chadwick Boyd (26:07)
yum.

Mm-hmm.

Laurie Forster (26:25)
you know, higher alcohol options. You can have some of your non alcohol wines, but this could be a little treat at the end. and I think the, it's the intensity of that chocolate is going to be nicely offset by the fruitiness of this and the bubbles clear your palette, which is what I love about sparkling wine, as well.

Chadwick Boyd (26:44)
Mm-hmm. You said

something that I'm not familiar with. Did you say frizzante or it's a semi-bubble? Frizzante

Laurie Forster (26:50)
Yeah, frizzante. Yep.

It's an Italian word for meaning it's not fully sparkling. It's semi sparkling. And so, ⁓ you know, it's not like if you take a sip of champagne, you know how much how bubbly that is. This is going to be much more lightly sparkling. And but it's going to have that little bit of sweetness on the end. If you you mentioned grandmothers or like aunts or moms or whatever.

Chadwick Boyd (26:58)
Okay. Wow.

Yeah.

Hmm.

Laurie Forster (27:16)
they're gonna love this wine. This is gonna be the hit of any girls party or, know, even the guys, if you wanna make your ⁓ lady happy or whatever, you know, nice chocolate bark or bites and this, it would be a great gift as well.

Chadwick Boyd (27:32)
Yeah, so I'm thinking, you know, you just put together a tin of these, you pick up a bottle of that and take it over to your friends. And, you know, I said one of the things that we did, my grandparents were sticklers for delighting everybody during the holidays. And there's no greater way than making these very simply, picking up a bottle of that. And you're going to, people are going to love it. They're just going to smile and be joyful.

Laurie Forster (27:37)
Yes.

Right.

I love that idea. And then it just sparked a question in me. I hope it's okay for me to just kind of off the cuff. if people are out there and they have people in their lives that love food, that love home cook, are there any gift ideas that you can give me that you think would delight someone who just loves cooking and loves entertaining? Anything interesting that you've just brought on board to your kitchen?

Chadwick Boyd (28:27)
Yeah, so I just launched ⁓ my food gifts for 2025. So it's a great question. One thing I'm loving that I, if you've got a food lover in your life, ⁓ Burlap and Barrel is a fantastic single origin spice company. Go to their website. They have, ⁓ they're wonderful, wonderful human beings, but they do, ⁓

Laurie Forster (28:44)
Mm-mm.

Chadwick Boyd (28:51)
They have relationships with directly with farmers all over the world and their spices and their blends are premium. I mean, they're truly, truly wonderful, but they also are affordable. So they're fair to the customer and fair to the farmer. ⁓ but they have a classics reinvented six pack, that has a sumac lemon pepper. It has a toasted pepita pumpkin spice in it. And I do not love.

Laurie Forster (29:06)
Mmm.

Chadwick Boyd (29:18)
pumpkin spice at all, but if you're going to do pumpkin spice, having it with toasted pepitas is like the way to go. There's a steak seasoning, there's a barbecue, it really, really is good and special and it's affordable. think it's, if I remember correctly, it's $54.99. So great gift.

Laurie Forster (29:25)
Yum.

great.

So where can people see the more extended lists of your food gift guide?

Chadwick Boyd (29:39)
You can go to Chadwick Boyd lifestyle.com, go to the news and stories section and you can find it there.

Laurie Forster (29:47)
That's perfect. I never know what to get my husband. He's a chef. what do you do for someone like that? That it's kind of intimidating. I know people say that they don't want to buy me wine probably for the same reason, but what would you do?

Chadwick Boyd (29:59)
So, chefs love knives. I love knives. And there is a brand that's a woman owned brand, two women, it's called Messermeister. And I found them a couple years ago. I have fallen in love with them. They have this cheese and tomato knife. It's a five inch cheese and tomato knife. I personally loved the olive wood one, which is like $160, but they've got a custom one that's five inches.

Laurie Forster (30:09)
⁓

Chadwick Boyd (30:26)
that it's 89.99 and it slices through soft and hard cheeses. And during summertime, during the peak of tomato season, it slices beautiful slices of tomatoes. It's really, really a special gift.

Laurie Forster (30:36)
Mmm.

that's amazing. Thank you. Now you just helped me out and I still have time, I'm sure, to get it. There's only 15 more days. Yes, I love it. Well, Chadwick, this has been amazing. I know people can go to your website, download the recipes, you know, the holiday entertaining guide. We just talked about your gift ideas, but any other ways you want people to interact with you before we go.

Chadwick Boyd (30:42)
Yes, you do for sure.

Yeah, go to my Instagram at Chadwick Boyd's and send me a message. I love to interact with everyone. So if you're new, let me know that you're new there. And you know, if you have any questions with any of the holiday treats that we talked about today or other recipes even on my website, on the recipe section of my website, ask me a question. I'm totally available to help at any time, especially during the holiday season when

Sometimes you're in a pinch, right? And you're just like, my God. So yeah, I'm not the guy who's never gonna ⁓ respond to you. Yeah.

Laurie Forster (31:28)
Yeah, right.

respond.

Chadwick, happy holidays and thank you so much for coming on The Sipping Point.

Chadwick Boyd (31:41)
Happy holidays, my friend. Cheers.

Laurie Forster (31:43)
Cheers.

Laurie Forster (31:44)
I hope you enjoyed getting to know Chadwick and his three delicious holiday bites. I'm gonna post a link to those recipes on my show page at thewinecoach.com. Just click on blog and I'll also list off the three wines that I paired with his bites. Just a reminder though, if you are looking for holiday gifts, of course, Chadwick had some great ideas. I'll post links to those on the show page, but you

you might consider going to thewinecoachclub.com. I have a bubbly pack, a French Rhone Valley pack, and lots of great wine you can send to your wine loving friends and family. Until next week.

Cheers.