Williams-Sonoma Pimps Handmade, For a Price

I got a laugh at the cover of the Williams-Sonoma holiday catalog.Notice the headline? "Handmade for the holidays."At first, I thought, isn't that nice? Giving homemade treats as Christmas presents? I had a momentary vision of spending a leisurely day making goodies to give out, perhaps putting them into some...

By Michele Laudig

December 14, 2010

Audio By Carbonatix

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I got a laugh at the cover of the Williams-Sonoma holiday catalog.

Notice the headline? "Handmade for the holidays."

At first, I thought, isn't that nice? Giving homemade treats as Christmas presents? I had a momentary vision of spending a leisurely day making goodies to give out, perhaps putting them into some elegant Williams-Sonoma containers that would serve other purposes after the contents were gobbled up.

But as it turns out, the sweets are "artisanal" confections for sale. Handmade, yes, but not homemade.

I love handmade anything (pasta, ice cream, candy, bring it on!), and am more than happy to let "artisans" do their thing. But from time to time, I want to be that artisan.

Williams-Sonoma missed a chance to appeal to crafty, D.I.Y. types here. Just look at what I found several pages in, which gives me an idea for homemade cookies I could really geek out on: Star Wars cookie cutters! Now I'm having visions of green frosting for Yoda's face . . .

Michele Laudig

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