The Nice List: Gifts For Girl Friends

This homage to the great Slim Aarons was staged at the beautiful Belvedere Mykonos hotel.

As much as I enjoy the festive sparkle of the season, it’s the coziness, as exemplified by these cosseting, mostly beauty-related gifts for friends, that I love the most.

The Biossance Love, Joy and Bestsellers gift set, now on sale at Sephora for only $56, is a tremendous value and a lifesaver for anyone whose skin is just assaulted this time of year by the dry air, wind and cold. (The entire Biossance line is built around squalane, a fruit-derived version of a natural substance produced by the sebaceous glands that accounts for 10% of your skin's oil.) There’s lactic acid in the Resurfacing Serum to gently smooth skin while it moisturizes and you get a full-sized pot of Squalane + Omega Repair cream to soothe winter-battered skin. There’s even a soft pink sleep mask so no uninvited light messes with your sleep!

These Martine bracelets from Suetables are the grown up version of a string friendship bracelet, but they’ll last longer as they are made with genuine semi-precious stones. At $36 each, (fashion pack must-have Carolina Bucci Forte Bead bracelets run close to eight hundred dollars a pop) these are well-priced enough that your friend can go back and buy more if she prefers the multiple bracelet look.

Crémant, a type of sparkling wine made around the champagne region of France, is, according to the booze snobs, subtler than champagne and softer than prosecco which has been the go-to now for a decade plus. Crémant de Bourgogne Brut Réserve Bailly Lapierre, $22.95, lcbo, with its beautiful orange label, is a favourite to drink straight or change up your Negroni Spagliato.

Who are those people running around with smooth, shiny, non-frizzy hair in the winter? They may be using both the gifts in this Kérastase Hydration Essentials kit, $87.75, Sephora.com. The overnight serum does its non-pillow-staining hair-nourishing magic while you sleep and the hands down, best smelling hair smoother there is, keeps your hair controlled for day. (Seriously, I wish the scent was a perfume/body lotion/hair mist.) Not only does it keep hair smooth, but it does it with that wonderful and let’s face it, very high end scent.

The Hugs & Kisses Classic Shea Butter duo, $24, loccitane.com is so much more than a tree ornament, It’s your best shot at keeping your hands from becoming all lobster-red and horribly dry and your lips from getting cracked and peeling off in painful little flakes this winter. L’Occitane’s beloved shea butter hand creme is protective and soothing yet magically lightweight. And when paired with L’Occitane Ultra Rich lip balm, which contains all the shea butter and beeswax you could need, you are now protected against everything winter can throw at you.

In my dreams, I go to a spa for a week with girlfriends and we spend our days having relaxing treatments, hiking and lolling by the pool, reading all the books that had accumulated on our nightstands back home.

To mimic a sensorial spa bath at some imaginary spa, Bathorium’s Amber Glow Mineral Clay Bath Soak, $48 for three ‘servings’, bathorium.com, is a soak-until-your-brain-melts wonder. It’s both relaxing and energizing with sea salt, red clay, papaya seed oil and a gentle floral scent to turn a bath into a detox spa treatment. Rinse off and then stagger to bed for an uninterrupted eight hours.

The model in the original photo was Aarons’ wife, Rita, and apparently she was quite cold and unhappy whilst posing for this shot.

The Nice List: A Free(ish) Seasons x Caudalie Diffuser

In its signature Caudalie Bordeaux shade, this Seasons x Caudalie diffuser is a beautiful addition to any table.

Looking like a ceramic vase or art objet, the Seasons x Caudalie diffuser may be the best Gift With Purchase ever.

If it’s getting a little too fireplace candle-scented in your home, this diffuser, that you load up with the stress-busting scent of Caudalie Beauty Elixir, is what you need to see you through the coming dark winter months.

Caudalie have partnered with Seasons to create this striking diffuser in the signature Caudalie Bordeaux shade to gently and continuously scent your air with Beauty Elixir’s famous “garden’s worth of rose, orange blossom, rosemary and aromatic myrrh” like a magical, unseen house fairy. And because you charge the unit with a USB cable, there’s no ugly power cord attaching it to a wall.

As a free gift with purchase in stores at Sephora through Caudalie, it requires a minimum spend of $300, which I know sounds steep, but a Seasons diffuser retails for around $180 Canadian on its own. So buy everyone on your list a Caudalie gift set (not even joking) and finish off your holiday gift buying in one fell swoop.

It’s just so beautiful. So many diffusers are pretty enough (I’m lying. I loathe most of them) but their ‘spa vibe’ only looks right on a shelf in your yoga room or in the bathroom.) But Seasons x Caudalie is chic and looks at home on a stack of books or on the coffee table. It really ties the room together. (100 points if you know where that quote comes from.)

Here are some favourite Caudalie gift sets from Sephora to reach that $300 mark:

The Vinotherapist Body Moisturizing Duo in just the prettiest pale purple hatbox contains Caudalie’s newest Vinotherapist Hand and Nail cream and a giant jar of their new, heavenly smelling, quick absorbing, vegan Replenishing Body Butter, $95. Sephora.com

The Caudalie Vinoperfect Dark Spot Brightening Solution Set, $95, Sephora.com, contains brand stars like the Brightening Glycolic Essence (a staple no matter what other brands you use) and the very effective yet quite gentle Brightening Moisturizer.

This is a great deal: a bottle of Beauty Elixir to spray in the air, on yourself and to use in the diffuser, along with a pore-clearing Vinergetic C+ Instant Detox mask, $25, Sephora.com. It’s your serene Saturday movie night, sorted.

(Semi-related aside: I am particularly fond of the tableau in the photo at the top of this story, because that is Craig’s winning entry to the New Yorker cartoon caption contest. mic drop.)

The Nice List: Better Gifts For Men

Colin Firth in Bridget Jones’s Diary, which, if you think about it, was a Christmas movie.

This bit of snark courtesy of Instagram..

Men get a lot of nonsense at Christmas, and not just holiday-themed sweaters. A recent gift guide go-to was whiskey stones — cubes of frozen soapstone used as ice cubes that wouldn’t melt and dilute an expensive single malt.

But despite the fact that they don’t really work, they refused to go gentle into that good night, and are now shorthand for silly men’s presents, along with beard oil and anything leather (see chart.)

The gifts below tread the line between silly and practical. They’re also pretty genderless. I’d be happy to receive any one of them.

Instead of, say, a monogrammed leather passport cover*, give him his initial filled with an assortment of delicious Scandinavian candy from Sukker Baby Toronto, ($69 plus cost of letter.) These high fructose corn syrup-free scandi treats make for a gift that will be greeted with true delight instead of polite smiles.

*We all know you have to remove the cover when you reach passport control, so that’s one item that always puzzled me.

Why are contemplative baths only for women? Everyone needs to hide out in a steamy room, submerged in hot, fragrant water. Steeping in a Dr. Hauschka Spruce Warming Bath, $35, Drhauschka.ca, is a powerful sense memory of being in a forest and the bathroom will stay beautifully scented for hours afterwards.

Give a guy a break and prevent him from pulling something when cleaning off the car this winter. The Karcher electric ice scraper, $79, Canadian Tire, will make quick work of that impenetrable ice glaze that covers the windows when the car sits outside overnight and the temperatures rise and then drop precipitously.

We love a shacket, and this toasty, quilted fleece version from Brixton, $180, Brixton.com, comes in pure orange for your favourite peacocking gentleman or in a clutch of more neutral shades if standing out is not his thing.

Now that everyone uses their phone to tell time, luxury watches serve mainly as a way to spend a truckload of money. But an oversized, brightly coloured G-Shock, thebay.com, is fun, a tiny bit silly and has the childlike appeal of a hard-won midway prize.

If your family doesn’t have their Scrabble tiles in a Crown Royal bag, buy a bottle of the famous Gimli, Manitoba whiskey now, ($46.45, lcbo.com), while they are offering the signature purple drawstring bag as a gift-with-purchase. Then drink it with ice, not whiskey stones, or add a generous slug to liven up everyone’s cup of grocery store eggnog.

The Nice List: The Gift of Sleep

Bedtime bliss: fresh linens, a reading lamp and an unimpeded path to the bathroom.

Apparently sleep is the new sex. And while I don’t want to delve into this too deeply, I do know that amongst my friends, an uninterrupted eight hours can be elusive. So here are some holiday gifts to help anyone set the stage for a restful night.

You don’t see lab mice hunched over their phones, doom-scrolling before bed. According to a 2022 study in Biology, copying mouse behaviour and “adopting a regular behavioral pre-sleep routine was found to be more efficient in facilitating sleep than medication”.

And just look at the helpful illustration that accompanied the study. Isn’t the fluffy mouse bed inspiring?

For a human nesting ritual, spray this heavenly-scented and relaxing Body Shop Sleep calming pillow mist, $18, bodyshop.ca, (made from 100% natural lavender and vetiver ) on your pillows and linens. Then throw open the window for that blissful ‘warm bed in a cold room’ sleep.

Simplest solutions are often the best. The Slip silk sleepmask ($70, Sephora.com) completely blocks out all light because even the faintest amount can muck with your circadian rhythms. This unbelievably soft mask is made from pure mulberry silk for breathability and even the filler is silk, as this is no time for polyester to be anywhere near your face.

I loved Flintstone vitamins as a kid so I was charmed by Nature’s Bounty Hair, Skin and Nails gummies. Their latest release, Nature's Bounty Sleep VitaBeans soft chews, $19, amazon.ca contain melatonin, the natural hormone found in our bodies that has a role in our wake and sleep cycle. Each generously-sized VitaBean contains 2 mg of melatonin and they’re a great occasional aid for insomnia or jet lag.

If your insomniac friends ‘partake’, then have them try a THC/CBN combo edible before bed, as CBN acts as a sedative by helping the body raise serotonin and melatonin levels. These sugar free Blackcurrant CBN Gems from Olli, $8.95, are designed to be low enough dose to take during the week with no after-effects the following day.

An epsom salt bath can soothe and relax on its own but the added lavender, chamomile and melatonin found in Dr. Teal’s Melatonin Sleep Soak, ($10.49, Shoppers Drug Mart) will help to calm even the chattiest of brains before bed.

All soothing, all the time. After your bath, the last thing you need is some tastebud-searing toothpaste to wake you up just as you’re trying to wind down. Hello Goodnight lavender & chamomile toothpaste, $6.97, Walmart.ca, is a naturally flavoured, dye-free, fluoride-free paste with lavender and chamomile that harmonize with the subtle mint flavour. It’s an unexpected flavour pairing that works, and a fun way to get more ‘time for bed’ cues.

No screens before bed! Instead, spend some quality time with this reissue of Hotel Splendide, a charming collection of vignettes by Ludwig Bemelmans about his life as a waiter at the New York City Ritz the 1920s, before he hit it big with the Madeline books.

Then turn out the lights and instead of counting sheep, just recite Madeline’s famous opening lines:

In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines

Lived twelve little girls in two straight lines…

The 'I Want To Be Invited Back' Cottage Gift Guide 2022

Lake of Bays, 2022.

Bringing generous and practical gifts for your cottage-owning friends all but ensures an invitation next season. For more suggestions see the last cottage gift guide here.

Instagram’s new favourite account is @ironicboatandtote because the hive mind discovered that LL Bean will embroider whatever you like on their signature sturdy canvas carryalls ($39-$59.) A cleverly monogrammed, oversized tote to haul necessities from the car to the cottage and down to the dock is always welcome.

You can take inspiration from the irreverent folks above (our favourites include ‘ Zoloft’ and ‘Prada’) or embroider your host’s name or initials or their cottage name on a tote. The all-cream LL Bean version is very chic, especially with the same colour embroidery, for a truly monochromatic look. But if you can’t get your hands on one, the dark blue or black straps are still the classic choice.

Put the boat in the water, take the boat out of the water, haul some rusty, scrap metal to the dump, clear the overgrown brush by the road.

Having a cottage is a never-ending chore list, so Awaye pain relief cream, $23.29, Amazon.ca, is a very thoughtful, if rather unexpected, gift. Not a CBD cream, it contains β-caryophyllene that blocks the pain receptors in the body’s endocacannabinoid system (ECS) like CBD creams do. Added capsaicin, (with its pain relieving properties) amplifies the effects of the β-caryophyllene making Awaye more effective than CBD alone. And because Awaye doesn’t actually contain cannabis, it isn’t subject to cannabis regulation and costs much less than CBD cream.

Endear yourself to your friends by clearing some of that afore-mentioned brush (obviously ask first.) A sandvik, aka Swedish Clearing Axe, $76, Leevalley.com, slices through unwanted saplings (I’m looking at you, poplars) and underbrush like butter.

A new Maglite flashlight for the bunkie or a guest room is always welcome, because you can literally never have too many flashlights at the cottage. A Maglite is sleek-looking, reassuringly hefty and the light it throws can illuminate a scary walk back to your cabin.

If you are borrowing a family cottage for a week and need to make a huge gifting splash and Homer Simpson donut pool floats are not the right vibe for the lake, a Yeti Tundra 35” cooler, $375, is rugged, super practical and just this side of fancy.

And if an almost $400 cooler is too rich for your blood, (remember - this is a hostess gift. I’m not suggesting you buy this for yourself!) then an oversized Yeti 1 litre water bottle is a more practical gift choice.)

Not only does this Citronella Night Jasmine candle, snapdragondesigns.ca, $59.50, contain bug-repelling citronella, it smells wonderfully of jasmine and orange flower (aka neroli) and its graphic illustration is chic and suitably cottage-y.

And don’t forget to spell off your host and bring all the ingredients for at least one complete meal for everyone. If your wallet allows, this is the time to blow the budget on seafood and steaks (especially appreciated if your hosts have children and their disposable income now goes towards extracurriculars and orthodontia.)

And finally — just for fun, throw in some multipacks of TP. (This idea courtesy of a lovely cottage-owning friend.) It began as a Covid-inspired idea two years ago, but given the price of everything now, this is both a practical and luxurious gift.)

Gift Guide: World Sleep Day

Because there are no big holidays until Easter and Passover, this year I’m mashing up St. Patrick’s Day (March 17th) with World Sleep Day (March 18th.) Translation: I will bake and then demolish a round of Irish soda bread (recipe below) and then hopefully have a good night’s sleep.

It’s funny that World Sleep day comes the week we’ve all had our slumber thrown into disarray thanks to daylight savings time. According to the Canadian Research Chair, up to 25% of Canadians suffer from a sleep disorder. I would argue that by a certain age (ahem) that number hovers around 100%. Does anyone our age sleep through the night unassisted?

Here is the Oldish sleep pack:

Madge and Mercer’s La Calma is a high 50 mg dose of CBD with a micro 2 mg dose of THC for anxiety reduction and sleep assistance. And the subtle ginger and lemongrass flavour handily mask that ‘singular’ pot smell and taste. It cracks me up that so many of us who did not partake when we were younger are all over this stuff now.

The Belif Aqua Bomb sleep mask, $45, Sephora, a cousin to the truly stellar Aqua Bomb moisturizer soothes and hydrates your poor, winter-dried-out face overnight, with anti-oxidant-rich Lady’s Mantle and Scottish heather to calm irritation and redness. So even if you don’t sleep properly (oy), at least the face in the mirror the next morning will look dewy and rested.

A great big, body-wracking O is still the best soporific. Dame Products is a woman-owned company so you get cleverly designed tools that are cringe-factor free, much more aesthetically pleasing than a standard issue vibrator and ‘face meltingly’ (not my words, but such good words) effective. The Aer, $120, doesn’t vibrate, instead using puffs of air to work its magic.

30 minutes before bed, open the window (cold rooms equal better sleep) and lightly spray your pillow with Bleu Lavande’s calming lavender room spray, on sale for only $13.88, Shoppers Drug Mart. When you walk into the gently scented, cold room at bedtime, it will feel like some kind soul (you, a half an hour ago) prepared the room for a good night’s sleep.

Keep Ilia Lip Wrap Hydrating mask, 434, Sephora, on your nightstand as a reminder to use it before bed. Papaya enzyme gently exfoliates while mango butter and a host of nourishing oils bring moisture back to chapped lips. You might argue that a lip product isn’t a sedative, but it’s these bedtime rituals that tell your brain it’s time to sleep.

We’re supposed to turn off our screens and read a book before bed, but that’s difficult when our phones are virtually soldered to our hands. A bath prevents this, unless you are a true cowboy who puts their laptop or iPad on a bath tray, in which case I cannot help you.

My favourite Canadian bath company, Bathorium, has stellar scent blends like Sea Kelp Serenity bath crush, $30, The Detox Market, a Dead Sea salts bath soak with lavender and bergamot that will relax you down to your bones so completely that you’ll have to crawl to your bed.

This stunner of a soda bread is not mine, but with this recipe and a cast iron pan, it can be yours.

And finally, I want to leave you with a recipe for soda bread. It comes together quickly, requires no kneading and by baking it in a cast iron pan you ensure a satisfyingly crunchy crust.

Soda Bread

Makes one round, serves 2-4.

For a savoury version, omit the sugar and add three chopped green onions and a cup of coarsely grated cheddar to the dry ingredients and butter mixture before adding the buttermilk.

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups buttermilk (no substitutions)

1 egg (optional, for added richness. So yeah, do it.)

4 1/2 cups all purpose flour (spooned into a measuring cup to ensure an accurate amount. Dragging the cup through the flour and then levelling it off packs too much flour into each cup.)

3 T granulated sugar

1 t baking soda

1 t kosher salt (Diamond Crystal if possible. It really is the best.)

5 T cold, cubed unsalted butter.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F and lightly grease a 10 inch cast iron skillet.

Whisk together the cold buttermilk and the egg.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.

Add the cold cubes of butter to the flour mixture and incorporate it with a pastry cutter until it all resembles cornmeal (as if you were making a pie crust.)

Pour in the buttermilk/egg mix and stir until combined. When you have a unified (albeit crumbly) mass, turn it onto a floured board and barely knead for only half a minute until the flour is incorporated.

Shape into a round and place in your cast iron pan. Cut a cross into it almost all the way through, as this will help it bake evenly, place on the middle rack and bake for about 40 minutes. (Start checking at the 30 minute mark. You might want to drape it with foil if it browns too quickly.)

Remove when done and cool it on a wire rack and then happily consume it all in one sitting.

***

And finally, here’s something to be proud of: the government of Canada reached their $30 million match ceiling for the Red Cross by March fourth, but the Red Cross is still a great place to donate to help Ukraine.

Valentine’s Day Gift Guide 2022

This Valentine’s day please give yourself a reward (large or small) for having made it this far.

And let’s go wider with our gift-giving. Galentine’s Day (great idea, terrible name) was just the beginning. Let’s include family members, friends, even pets. If you love someone, give them a treat.

The All-Clad 4 quart slow cooker, ($175) is a great gift to buy yourself. It doesn’t look too aggressively large on the kitchen counter, but is still big enough for make meals for four. It is less about getting yet another appliance and more about the irrefutable fact that waking up to a hot breakfast is life-changing.

Overnight Hot Steel Cut Breakfast Oats

Before bed, butter the inside of the ceramic liner with a teaspoon of softened butter to prevent sticking (do not skip this step.) Add one cup of dry steel cut oats (not the quick cooking version and definitely not rolled oats) a diced apple (don’t bother peeling it,) some walnut pieces, a quarter cup of golden raisins, several shakes of ground cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice and 4 1/2 cups of liquid (water, milk, nut milk or any combination of the three) and set the slow cooker on ‘low’ for 8 hours and hit the start button.

Then tidy the counter and lay out nice bowls, spoons, napkins and a non-scratch serving spoon (I like this silicone one from Muji, $12.90) and when you wake up you will have a hot breakfast waiting (the machine will switch to warm after the eight hour cycle is complete) and you will think ‘How lovely. My staff prepared breakfast for me,’ and your day will be off to the best possible start.

The Kosta Boda Snowball votive holder, $49, WilliamAshley.com, is a 1973 Scandi design classic from Sweden that is still in production. Just one (they’re three inches tall) adds a warm, refractive glow to your mantle or coffee table in these later winter months. It’s wintery, but not Christmassy.

Zara Vetiver Pamplemousse eau de parfum, $39.90, Zara.com, created by Jo Malone no less, is not a complicated scent. It’s actually pretty linear, just vetiver and grapefruit. But what it lacks in nuance, it makes up for in eye-opening, happy-making grapefruity zest and rain-soaked, humid jungle vetiver. It is so wonderfully alive and invigorating and because it is (relatively) inexpensive, you can use it liberally. Spray a giant cloud and walk through it? Sure. Bring life back to a stuffy a stuffy room? Absolutely. It’s not a classically ‘romantic’ rich or floral Valentine’s scent, but it is the promise of spring.

Did you read The Thorn Birds (Indigo.ca) when it came out in 1977? How about Scruples, Princess Daisy, Flowers in the Attic or Judy Blume’s Forever? A nostalgic dive into the books we read right under our parents’ noses is calming in a way that a new book just isn’t. This is the perfect gift for an old friend to remind them of just how long you’ve known each other.

I am totally charmed (sorry) by the idea of wearing a loved one’s (spouse, child or pet) diamond-studded initial around your neck. These wee 8mm high letters (not including the ‘bail’) are from Canadian-owned Mejuri.com, $265.

Toronto’s Soma Chocolatemaker should get a medal for making sophisticated high quality chocolates that include all the fun and mouth fizz of pop rocks. Their new Wild Berry Pop bar, $12, somachocolate.com of white chocolate with fruit and pop rocks is as if the gods somehow made fruity cereal milk into a creamy, melty solid that also fizzes. And how beautiful is this packaging?

Gifts For Frazzled Hosts

Etiquette experts say that it’s impolite to bring flowers to a dinner party because you are asking your already put-upon host to find a vase and arrange flowers when they are busy welcoming guests and seeing to dinner. Much better to send flowers ahead of time or the next day as a thank you.

Guidance like this increases my already sky-high gift anxiety. Like there’s an unseen panel judging my gift as ill-conceived or merely thoughtless. But I don’t want to show up empty-handed knowing I’m sending something the next day. So I am trying to think what would be appreciated if I were feeling overwhelmed or just plain distracted in the kitchen. Happy holidays!

Instead of flowers, let’s start a tradition of showing up with a lasagna and some face masks for the hosts to enjoy the next day when they are exhausted. If you are in Toronto the bolognese lasagna at StockTC on Yonge at Eglinton is hefty for its size and it tastes extravagantly rich and homemade. Throw in some cooling and depuffing, day-after-the-party Cucumber Eye Masks, $5, Sephora.com, and you have a perfect Thank You for your host. (Do I have this beauty writer thing right? Dunno, but if someone showed up at my place with lasagna and cucumber eye masks, I’d let them in.)

The perfect gift for any plant-based friends who may not get the iron they need, the Lucky Iron fish, when boiled for 10 minutes in a soup, curry etc, provides six to eight mg of bioavailable iron. Created by Canadian health workers in Cambodia, witnessing malnutrition in marginalized communities, the fish is best used here for anyone needing an iron supplement. And a percentage of the proceeds goes to help communities in need through Lucky Fishes non-profit partners.

Olli’s Caramelts which contain 2.5 mg of both THC and CBD each are definitely not for kids.

If you were tasked with bringing dessert:

This season people may feel as overstuffed as a couch by the end of the holiday meal. If dessert is up to you, why not go lighter? A couple of boxes of President’s Choice cocoa dusted salted caramel Truffles, $2.49 each, (the cocoa dusting make them look instantly fancier than a regular chocolate), with some fresh figs and raspberries or clementines on a platter lets everyone take what they want. Not to mention, fewer dishes afterwards.

And if your table is adults only, then why not add some Olli Passion Fruit Caramelts, with 2.5 grams THC and 2.5 CBD for gentle “relaxation”. Olli Caramelts are like an ‘enhanced’ version of the wrapped Kraft caramels of our youth except that they also taste brightly of passion fruit and they contain both 2.5 mg of both THC and CBD for the ‘entourage effect’ that amplifies the effect of the THC. So not really like Kraft caramels at all.

This appeals to me for its university dorm party vibe. Show up with a carton of grocery store egg nog (or an actual bottle of ‘fancy’ nog like this one from Toronto’s Summerhill market) and a mickey of just good enough brandy, like St. Remy XO, 375 ml, $20.95, LCBO.com. You can crown yourself barkeep and mix up fortified nogs for the assembled (and hopefully delighted) throng. No punchbowl required, just a willing arm to provide generous pours.

Gift Guide: Dinner in Italy

The best part of foreign travel is renting a place with a kitchen and roaming through markets and small shops to assemble dinner like a native. Seeing as that may not be happening until later in 2022, assembling a food basket is the perfect gift (along with an off piste item or two) for that friend who, at this point in the pandemic, would happily swim to Europe if they thought they could make it.

If I found this beautiful bottle in Europe, i would be ranting about how much lovelier everything is over there. But surprise! it’s available at the LCBO and it’s only $27.95. More subtle than the amaretto you may be familiar with, Luxardo Amaretto di Saschira is sweet but also nutty. It’s nuanced as opposed to one-note and the sheer grandness and arresting beauty of the bottle demands that you build a drinks tray around it. Great as a digestif or in cocktails, it also makes the cleverest and fastest dessert: an Amaretto Affogato. It’s the classic ‘hot espresso poured over vanilla ice cream', but with a generous slug of amaretto added to the bowl as well.

Add an unexpected treat to a food-centric gift by including the perfect red lipstick (nothing more Italian than Gucci) that an Italian hostess would quickly swipe on before receiving guests. Gucci rouge à lèvres satin lipstick in Goldie Red, $55, Sephora.ca is a vibrant true red that looks good on every complexion.

Yes, I know hand soap is not food. But I am so thrilled that this gorgeous and reasonably priced Italian brand is now available at Eataly. Their amber and spice scented Gattopardo Ambra Nera Glass Plate and Soap, $20.90, Eataly.ca makes a perfect practical but glamorous hostess gift.

This year, let’s normalize using vibrantly coloured panettone tins as sewing kits. Definitely one step up from the ubiquitous blue butter cookie tins. I found this Dolce & Gabbana panettone at my favourite Italian grocer (Toronto’s Lady York on Dufferin street) so it’s worth seeking them out at your local shops. And then you aren’t at the mercy of overstretched shipping companies.

Mimi Thorisson’s Old World Italian, Chapters Indigo Books $45, is equal parts tour through Italian cookery, interior design inspiration and straightforward, easy to execute recipes. FYI, The Cacio e Pepe is on p. 160. (Maybe mark it with a Post-it if you are giving pasta and cheese as well?)

Did you read about the bucatini shortage exactly one year ago? All the more reason to include it in your gift. Add a hunk of pecorino and some black peppercorns and you have everything you need for Cacio e Pepe (except the starchy pasta water. You’ll have to make that yourself.)

***
Storytime!

In my twenties, I visited the Toronto home of an up-and-coming film producer and his lovely Italian girlfriend. According to the friends of his who brought me, he apparently wouldn’t marry her, even after years together, because he didn’t want her to get his money in case they broke up.

She was warm, welcoming and low-key cool and kept all her beautiful dried pasta boxes casually displayed in a wicker basket on top of the fridge. When I got home, I immediately put all my pasta in a basket too, and 30 years on, I still store it that way. I googled him for this and no, they are no longer together. If you and I are friends, just ask and I will tell you who he is.

A Bath, a Bottle, a Book: Gifts for a Quiet Day

I want to steep in this marble bath at Stockholm’s Ett Hem hotel until my fingers get all pruney.

Something you want/something you need

Something to wear/something to read

This dusty old couplet is a useful reminder of what makes the best gifts, but this year I’ve shortened and simplified it to ‘a bath, a bottle, a book’ because I adore alliteration as much as I like reading and good smells (and right now, everyone needs a bottle of something.)

The book itself can be new and glossy, or an out-of-print favourite, scrounged second-hand, that you need your friend to read. That may have a whiff of ‘reading assignment’, but so be it.

This inaugural Bath, Bottle and Book is a trio of gifts for a quiet homebody, rendered weary by the season:

Canada’s own Bathorium bath bomb in Boreal Fog , $12, Holt Renfrew, Etiket.ca, has an evocative name that encourages you to go walking in the bitter cold, then come home to steep in a hot tub like a giant, human tea bag, surrounded by Boreal Fog’s wondrous eucalyptus, fir and vetiver fug.

Empress 1908 gin, $52.95, LCBO, named after the Victoria, BC, hotel, is loved for its floral notes and blend of botanicals, makes a mean martini (a very last century, female writer drink) and is arrestingly beautiful enough to be displayed on a drinks tray (the aromatic, dry gin gets its colour from butterfly pea blossoms.)

One Pair of Hands (copies available here and here), is a funny, clever and often pointed, detail-rich account of Monica Dickens’ (yes, Charles’s great-granddaughter) time spent as a cook for hire in 1930s London households after she got booted from acting school and became bored with debutante life. Why this book and this author are not more famous is beyond me.