December 2025 Vol. Nº26
There is an undeniable sense of magic to winter. The cozy nature of the season, being all tucked away from the cold, frosty windows framing icy blue scenes dusted in crystal sugar frost while the sound of crackling fires and togetherness pair with scents of mulled wine and prime rib in the oven. A bit of childhood wonder instantly brings to life Christmas eve with memories of hoping to hear Santa on the roof and sleepy mornings filled with needlepoint stockings and long standing family traditions.
This is what I love most about the season. The simple joys all wrapped up in festive traditions and long dark nights that are filled with comfort and cheer. There is a profound beauty to wintertime and Christmasing, found in boughs of evergreens, grandma’s recipes and simple moments of celebration – this is a season that is meant to warm your heart. Remind you of all that you have and to encourage you to reflect upon the months and moments past. It is a time for slow evenings with festive tunes and cups of velvety hot cocoa. It is a time to fall in love with yourself, the little things and the love that you share.
Wishing you and yours a beautiful season of merry making. Xx
Get Inspired
Bring on the holiday nostalgia with a hosting spin on this classic from a 90’s childhood. A Home Alone adventure turned chic with elevated boobie traps, artisan pizza and a sundae bar that would even make Kevin McCallister pause his shenanigans.
Velvety hot cocoa served in impossibly charming Christmas mugs alongside a spread of festive accouterments. The perfect holiday movie night setup.
Inspired by the beauty of a frosty winter’s evening, this dinner party with Sake ONO is full of surprise flavors and boasts an elegant tablescape that turns the chill of winter into pure romance.
Coupe sized and toast worthy, these sweet and savory bites are here to elevate your holiday hosting.
“Christmas magic is silent. You don’t hear it — you feel it, you know it, you believe it.”
Wintertime wishes and festive season fancies.
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A Very Retro Christmas. A Very Retro Christmas. With visions of shrimp trees and jello moulds, I invite you to enter the fanciful world of food art that was the 1970s. With eclectic color, endless dips and quirky skewers sculptures you are in for a Christmas red and crystal platter fever dream. Hold on to your reindeer!
The Night Before Christmas - An Afternoon Tea. An afternoon tea. A simple and charming way to celebrate with loved ones for the holidays. Without the fuss of a formal table or extensive menu, this take on a Christmas celebration is the perfect antidote to the hustle and bustle of it all.
A Perfectly Nostalgic Festive Season Soirée - Charming Gingerbread Houses & Decadent Hot Cocoa. ‘Tis the season of hosting and merriment and sweet sugar plum memories. We are in a mad little pocket of time where the need for cozy hibernation is mixed with the whirlwind of socializing and fancy affairs. It is a time for curling up with a cup of hot chocolate by a twinkling tree, a time for sipping champagne in your holiday finest and a time for sharing traditions and joy and endless laughter. It is truly a wild and wondrous season.
Christmas Eve Pasta - Ravioles du Dauphiné. I love turning something as simple as homemade pasta into a fabulous little festive season tradition for myself. Uncomplicated perfection… Proof that even the simplest of things can have the biggest, most special influence.
Christmas Eve Fettuccine - Creating Traditions for Myself. It’s a collection of the ‘little things’ and how they make you feel that create the magic of the holidays.
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Caviar Tarts - A Chic & Easy Treat. Perfect for a fancy Christmas Eve or a glittering New Year’s Eve affair, caviar bites are about to be your go-to festive appetizer.
Filthy Martinis and Fries - A New Years Eve Vibe. The art of the mini party — The effort is minimal and yet the impact is grand. A few friends to gather and gab with frosty martinis in hand… ‘tis the recipe for the perfect night out, but in. Flirty & filthy, the perfect way to ring in the new year!
‘Tis the most wonderful time of the year where frosty morning inspire epic dinner parties and childhood nostalgia brings to life unforgettable festive cocktail fêtes. The festive season dreams of Le Supper Club are charming, glittery and coated with just a bit of mischief.
A Home Alone Christmas
Christmas for me is firmly built on nostalgia and traditions. Festive season tends to look roughly the same each year. My space, illuminated with decor and elements that have continuously brought me joy through the years, a collection of bits and pieces that seemingly breathe a sense of familiar comfort and dependability to my Christmassy scene. To repeat and recycle is to create my own little world of tradition that helps to bring to life the festive season… Without a conventional family of my own with which to build the holiday, I have come to rely on decorations and intentional moments of celebration to design a world that feels truly special for myself (and my cats). Each year, an evergreen garland draped over the doorway to my breakfast nook, the same die-cut strand of Christmas cake carrying kittens strung on the bookshelves, an ever-growing eclectic collection of vintage and modern glass blown ornaments that when placed together feel as though they perfectly spell out the story of me – a Marie Antoinette cat, always front and center, kept company by a smattering of vintage Santas, baked potatoes, leopards, caviar and deviled eggs. This is my carefully designed and collected Christmas. Colorful and electric with just the right amount of vintage and homemade. This version of Christmas, in essence, is me.
A Blue Christmas
Spring is a delicate season. One that feels tender and sweet and almost fragile. Flavors and colors come on slowly, coaxing us gently out of a sepia toned winter haze and into a technicolor vision that has us wondering why we ever craved the cozy nights of winter. To me, that is the beauty of Mother Nature – She gently unfolds, enchanting us into new chapters of unique splendor with a promise of new adventure, a perfectly timed exodus of one season just as we begin to crave another. And right on cue, the gift of spring has arrived just as I was beginning to wonder why I ever claimed to love winter. A notion that I know will return in the autumn as I grow weary of the endless heat of summer. But for now, it is spring. And it is easy to fall in love with the quiet moments, the dawn of the season’s beauty and the promise of a world in full bloom..
Santa Approved Hot Chocolate
Swiss miss hot chocolate mix. Anyone who grew up in the 90’s and early 2000’s knows the unmistakable smell, taste and texture. Yes, it was hot chocolate… in a nostalgic concept of hot chocolate kind of way. But in reality, I think it was simply a wintertime right of passage wrapped in silver lined packets and always somehow just barely more than warm. Served at the Christmas tree farm, bubbling out from the giant electric silver catering carafe inside the old hay barn, it became tradition, it was comfort. And if you added enough marshmallows it could almost be decadent. It is because of these little memories, these sugary infused moments, that my love for even subpar hot chocolate began.
Toast Worthy Cocktail Treats for Festive Season
In Los Angeles, the shift in seasons is very subtle. With seemingly forever good weather, I always long for a true spring and autumn, a time when promises and possibilities seem most prevalent. In Los Angeles, our springtime is shown with the notorious moodiness of ‘May gray’ and ‘June gloom’. A time when mornings are overcast due to the change in temperature against the ocean creating a marine layer that makes LA, for a moment, seem as though it could be somewhere else. The few trees that had dropped their leaves a few months prior now bear the classic spring green buds and the unforgettable scent of jasmine dances through the air. I have learned to read the subtleties. The Santa Ana winds, the shift in light, the way the heat builds and lingers, the brief use of my little apartment radiator…
“December has the clarity, the simplicity, and the silence you need for the best fresh start of your life.”
A cocktail party treat designed to help you survive the holidays.
Festive season worthy mini corn dogs
Mini Corndogs with crème fraîche and caviar
2 cups gluten free (or regular) flour
2 cup gluten free corn meal
8 teaspoons baking power
¼ teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 cups milk
½ cup honey (can substitute sugar if you prefer)
Cooking oil (I use canola oil)
12 hebrew national hot dogs (or preferred hot dogs)
Crème fraîche
Fresh chives
Quart sized mason jar or large cup
Thermometer for the oil
In a mixing bowl, combine your dry ingredients. Add in milk, eggs and honey and mix until fully combined. Pour into your quart sized mason jar and cover. Not all of the batter will fit – add remaining batter to another smaller jar and reserve to fill the larger jar as you make your corn dogs. *Make your batter ahead of time! I like to do mine the night before. The batter gets nice and hydrated this way and you will have a fluffier coating for your corn dogs, and when fully chilled the batter coats the hot dog better.
Heat oil to 375ºF in a large heavy cut hot dogs into thirds and pat dry and lay them out so you can easily grab them. Once oil is hot, dip 4-5 hot dogs portions into the batter with a fork to fully coat and using another fork carefully put them off into the hot oil (be sure to monitor heat through this whole process). Allow them to fry for 3-4 minutes until golden brown, gently moving them around in the oil as they cook to get an even color. Remove from oil and allow to drain and rest on a plate covered with a few paper towels. Repeat the process until all corn dogs are fried. Serve with a zig-zag of crème fraîche, top with a bit of caviar and finish with a sprinkling of fresh chives. Xx
