Simple Pleasures

The stark beauty of winter.




The lovely photograph above is called Borders, and is by James Jordan, via his Flickr photostream. James took this shot of a snowy fog-shrouded field in Door County, Wisconsin.

A Fairy Tale Feast

Each December 23 Sasha, a designer living in Zurich, invites his friends home for a holiday get together over mulled wine. But as you can see, Sasha does much more than spice the wine and put out a plate of nibbles — he creates an entire indoor winter wonderland for his friends to enjoy. You can see more photographs of Sasha's holiday decorating here, too. Via Côté Maison. (photography by Francesca Giovanelli)

Two Days of Noël : Good Cheer

Paul Lowe of the wonderful Sweet Paul blog has been posting lots of great food and craft holiday suggestions for the last little while, and I really loved his idea for a very simple dessert. Paul first buys a ripe, soft whole brie or camembert cheese. He leaves it out for at least 4 hours before serving, to soften it and allow the flavour to ripen. Once it's ready, he puts it on a large platter, drizzles good quality honey on it (Paul suggests lavender honey — mmm) and then adds sage leaves and a few fresh figs (or dried figs if preferred) and serves it with crackers, bruschetta and red wine. Easy and sophisticated. More wonderful ideas on Paul's blog here. (Photograph by Colin Cooke)