Why am I doing this?

A couple days before New Year's Eve...my close friend, Sally, is panicked. She's been dating Charles for a couple months and has been invited to spend New Year's at his sister's house and was told not to worry about taking anything as Charles's bro-in-law is a gourmet chef. Even though someone says not to worry about it, it's still not proper...

Sally: He's even making sushi. Cindieeeeee, he's a gourmet chef!! And I'm on a budget. Crap! What am I gonna do?!
Cindie (BTW, my name is Cindie): Don't stress. Lets think about this for a second. You want to take something a little personal because this is for your possible future sister-in-law, but not too personal. No wine. And flowers are expensive and a waste sometimes. You said he's serving sushi, right?
Sally: Yes.
Cindie: How many people are attending?
Sally: 6 adults and a few kids.
Cindie: What's your budget?
Sally: No more than $50.
Cindie: What about going down to the gift district (it's a section in Downtown LA) and getting a couple of sake sets? They're like $10-20 per set depending on what you pick and you can get a nice large bottle of sake for $20. Shouldn't spend more than $20 on a large bottle.
Sally: Can we go together during lunch?
Cindie: Ok, we'll go and I'll show you where.

We drove down to Spring and 5th Streets and parked the car. Walked down 5th to the corner of Spring (I think or it might have been Winston and Spring, but they're one short block apart) went a couple doors down to an entrance. Walked in and went passed a couple of booths til we hit the Japanese man who sold an array of sake, tea and plate sets. Sally got 2 neat red ceramic sake sets with black and tan Asian writing on it which the Japanese man could not tell us what it said. Oh well, but they were cool looking.
She paid $10 for each set (I found the exact same ones on Amazon.com, but they're priced at $19.99 per set). She was excited. She stopped at the liquor store on her way home and picked up a bottle of sake for $20 and wrapped up all the gifts together.



So we were under her $50 budget by $10. These days, that can mean a lot to someone.

After New Year's weekend and we were back in the office, Sally came and thanked me with excitement. She said the sake and sets were a huge hit and so much fun! Her appreciation for the idea made me wonder if I can help other people in the LA who are stumped on what to do, buy and where to go for deals on nice stuff, not crap. So I thought during these tough economic times people are going through and since I enjoy helping people out and pointing them in the right direction, I'd offer my advice by blogging about it. My good deed for the day. So I hope you'll write me if you're in a predicament like this. Maybe I can help you save a few bucks and tell you exactly where to go. What's your dilemna? How can I help you?

Happy Friday,
Dear LA Concierge