$50 Hömage gift certificate, Tube Vase, Japanese Home Cooking by Sonoko Saka

The Tube Vase by local artist Stanton Hunter is made from mid-fire porcelaneous stoneware, good for dried flowers (cannot hold water). Stanton is an accomplished artist and runs the ceramics department at Chaffey College. You can see his Shard Towers in the front garden of the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena.

Japanese Home Cooking by Sonoko Sakai is considered an essential guide to Japanese home cooking. Sonoko is an accomplished chef and author and recently gained notoriety for her curry blocks featured in the New York Times.