Gift baskets from Balaban’s include a wide range of themes like a chocolate dessert basket filled with chocolate-dipped treats and bars, or an antipasto basket with pimento-stuffed olives, artichoke hearts, salami and more. Baskets can also be customized to your foodie’s favorite tastes, from wine to cheese to olive oil. $20 to $134. Balaban’s Wine Cellar & Tapas Bar, 1772 Clarkson Road, Chesterfield, 636.449.6700, balabanswine.com And now… 
Today we’re giving away a private olive oil tasting at Extra Virgin, An Olive Ovation, located on Ladue Road. At this after-hours, private tasting, you and five of your friends will get to sample an assortment of international extra-virgin olive oils, flavored olive oils, balsamic vinegars, wine and fruit vinegars and honeys. This tasting would make for a great pre-dinner activity for you and your favorite foodies. Click here to enter!
This article appears in December 2013.