1. FINEST PEPPERS: Special peppers are mashed with a small amount of Avery Island salt, placed in white oak barrels and aged for approximately three years and then blended with premium white wine vinegar, strained and bottled as a small batch of Tabasco Reserve Pepper Sauce ($24.95 for a 5-ounce bottle) at tabasco.com.

2. PREPPING VEGGIES: Perfect for everyday cutting tasks, this Wüsthof utility knife features an Epicurean wood-fiber composite handle for super durability. It comes with a matching Epicurean cutting board ($129.95) at Williams-Sonoma, Plaza Frontenac and Chesterfield Mall and williams-sonoma.com.

3. FLOATING ICEBERG: The Gin & Titonic silicone ice cube tray comes with four ship and four iceberg shapes ($10) at the St. Louis Art Museum Shop, One Fine Arts Drive in Forest Park.

4. FLAWLESS VODKA: Medea Vodka comes with programmable LED technology that allows you to display your personal message in blue or white on the front of the bottle ($49.99) at drinkupny.com/Medea_Vodka_p/s1001.htm.

5. HAND PICKED: For the "Cook's Illustrated CookBook," the magazine's editors handpicked more than 2,000 recipes from the pages of Cook's Illustrated to create this wide-ranging book ($40) at amazon.com.

6. PIE IN THE SKY: Slice and serve your pies and quiches with this high-heel pie slicer ($14) at Posh Unique Boutique, 5343 Highway N, Cottleville.

7. FINE DINING: For a wine party, try the Centellino wine aerator. Uncork the bottle of wine and insert the wood stopper. Most red wines need to breathe, and the aerator helps with this process ($42) at Garland Wines, 11 South Old Orchard Avenue in Webster Groves.

8. SMILING FACES: The whimsical gurgling water pitcher will create smiles around your dining table for years to come. When you tip it, the stoneware body makes a blurp, blurp, blurp sound just like a gurgling fish ($45) at Trova, 1900 Park Avenue in Lafayette Square.

9. SWEET DELIGHTS: Some of these eye-popping artisan chocolates feature elaborate ingredients such as citron or lavender, while others showcase single-source cacao beans. This gift box features nine ($14, other sizes available) hand-made by Rick Jordan at RJ Chocolatier, 14882 Clayton Road in Chesterfield.