Category: advent calendar
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WINDOWS- SELFRIDGES
This was a window, like last years’, had to settle with me before I fully appreciated the scope of the story it is telling. It is one we can relate to because it deals with Christmas day and the aftermath; who is going to do the washing up? The brusselsprout or not argument, a fridge…
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EATS- AKOKO, MAYFAIR
Innovation with a nod to tradition; I do love when chefs take risks with tastes and harness it into something daring and well… innovative. Akoko is such a place. Ten courses or so we had of the tasting menu, plate after plate of beautifully plated and splendidly delicious food. Located in Mayfair; check on that,…
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WINDOWS- HARVEY NICHOLS
I didn’t like this window, it felt more New Year’s Eve than Christmas; too much sparkle and razzle dazzle to be even remotely christmassy. Maybe this is for the many holiday parties we could have attended if the train strikes did not derail things but it is missing something. Harvey Nics is one of those…
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HOME SCENTS- DIFFUSERS
JO MALONE- Lime, Mandarin and Basil: This scent is the best home scent ever, it is great as a perfume but stupendous as a diffuser, my goodness it is the perfect balance of calm and smooth and mellow and heady. JO MALONE- Pomegranate Noir: Perfect for the holidays the quintessential scent. Dr. Vranjes- Peonies and…
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HOME SCENTS- CANDLES
Diptyque- Feu De Bois: I am not one for woodsy scents but I was in Gleneagles and there was a particular scent all over the hotel, it was so particular, wood without being murky, smooth and ever so wintery… I think I found it, Feu de Bois will make your home smell like woods and…
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WINDOWS- FORTNUM & MASON
Nowhere does tradition like Fortnum’s and no one ever will. From the advent calendar façade that lights up the store during the holidays to the chiming of the clock at the top of the hour, that brings out Messrs Fortnum and Mason to perform for the adoring crowd below. Everything about this feels like a…
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BEFORE I LET GO- KENNEDY RYAN
Do you want an author take you apart and put you back together again? Soothe you and make you curl up in a ball in the corner… Kennedy Ryan is that author and Before I Let Go is such a book. This book, this book. Josiah, Si and Yasmen, Yas, are a divorced couple who…
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THE LAST MINUTE GIFT GUIDE
First things first, it’s hard this time of year to know what to gift someone, to afford what you want to gift them, there are so many crisis raging around the world, not least, cost of living crisis which I have talked about in moments in this newsletter; its real, its out there, its in…
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THE CHRISTMAS MOVIE
There is one thing we require of a Christmas movie: the happy ending, in whatever form, from whatever arc, it ends happy. The guy always gets the girl, the girl always gets the girl, the boy always gets the boy; maybe even a Christmas wedding. The family feud always gets resolved, the long-lost sibling comes…