14
ERIC REGULY
I want a cognac, not the crappy cognac; I don't want the brand-name cognac, the stuff everybody thinks is really good, the Rémy Martin. I hate that. I want cognac: Kelt, Pierre Ferrand, and another I like but I can't afford, Hine Rare and Delicate.
I would like a copy of the bestselling fiction on the day of my high-school graduation: June, 1976. (Editor's note: Leon Uris's Trinity.)
I'd like to have my grandfather's watch - it's a gold railway watch from the 1920s - I'd love to recondition it so that it actually works.
I would love a collection of Steve Bell's cartoons. He's of The Guardian. He's the nastiest, funniest, most vicious cartoonist in the world and I just love him.
Hine Rare and Delicate, $79 at Woodman Wines and Spirits in Toronto and at the LCBO throughout Ontario, at B.C. Liquor Stores and in various stores in Alberta.
DAVID EDDIE
This is ticklish, but a shoulder bag. What can I say? They're handy. But choose an ultra-macho one (military is best). Clearly the recipient of such a gift has to be secure enough in his masculinity to sport such an accessory. (And if anyone even whispers the word "murse" in his vicinity, it's going straight to the darkest recesses of his closet.)
A neat present might be to surreptitiously take my bike to a shop and "high-end-ify" it, replace various components with better ones, maybe get it converted to single speed. Single speeds are taking the world by storm. Why? Two words: mechanical simplicity. Something all men love.
And shoes. You ladies are always bragging what great shoe shoppers you are. Prove it! And having a well-shod man in the vicinity? It's sort of a present to yourself.
Raiders bag in black organza, $248 at Roots. Go to Roots.com for store locations or to buy online.
TIMOTHY TAYLOR
I have several old Sabatier knives from Le Creux de l'Enfer, a factory in the Thiers region of France. The blade of each is stamped with this little devil figure running with a trident. I'm kind of attached to these, an affection I no doubt inherited from my chef character in Stanley Park, to whom I gave a Sabatier obsession. Anyway, as it happens, the steak knives a friend gave my wife and me as a wedding present over 20 years ago now are starting to come apart. I've never figured out a satisfactory way to recement the bone handles to the stainless-steel tangs. So I was thinking of updating. Sabatier are good knives. And I also kind of like that these are stamped with an elephant instead of a devil.
Sabatier steak knives, $52 each or $46.50 each for four or more at Lee Valley. Go to Leevalley.com for store locations or to purchase online.
ROY MACGREGOR
I would love a good, unbreakable paddle.
Costco has some weird machine that turns your old LPs into digital. Looks like a turntable. I could listen again to my old Dylan and Hendrix and Procol Harum.
I would love a GPS so that I'll know where I am when I'm lost.
A black-fly body suit.
A fly rod.
Carlisle plastic and aluminum
paddle, $18 at Mountain Equipment Co-op. Go to Mec.ca for store
locations or to purchase online.
JOHN BARBER
New Birkenstocks! Book a personal fitting. Clogs are cool.
A Weber Performer Charcoal Barbecue at Home Depot. Charcoal grilling is inarguably superior to gas in every respect except convenience. Now there's no excuse to burn gas in your back yard.
The Arc'teryx Gamma SV soft shell jacket is functionalism raised to a high art, made in Canada. It's the Mies van der Rohe of windbreakers.
Arizona Birkenstocks, $129, go to Birkenstock.ca for store locations or to purchase online.
IAN BROWN
A stovetop espresso maker, about $20 in any ordinary kitchen equipment store, and quite seriously as good as most $500 countertop machines. But not in aluminum.
A non-rattling SIG water bottle that will fit the rack on my road bike, to replace the bisphenol A leacher I've had for 10 years.
A travel-sized tube of good brushless shaving cream.
A Faber-Castell Grip Plus mechanical pencil, plus a couple of tubes of .7 lead. You can buy one for $10, though there are fancier and pricier versions, such as the appealing super-fat lead version. Incredibly handy, and zero dork factor.
An Elmore Leonard book I don't have, in paperback; or Jonathan Miles's Dear American Airlines, a funny and moving novel about infuriating airline service and being a father.
Bialetti Casa Italia stainless steel espresso maker, $15 at Winners. Check kitchen supply stores and The Bay for similar products.
