The Friday 5 #121
The increasingly confusing world of wine offers, show-off Christmas food hacks and how to create a great Christmas cheeseboard
I don’t know about you but I’ve almost hit peak Christmas already. So much so that I did hesitate for a moment about whether to stuff your inbox with yet more festive content.
I’m actually dying to write about something else. Music. Beds (yes, really!) The restaurants I’ve been to and dishes I’ve eaten which have nothing to do with turkey.
I am still soaking up all things Christmassy not that it’s quite as easy as I suggested the other day. I attempted to walk through the Ritz last week and was barred for not having a reservation though I did get as far as their rather fine tree.
By the way I’ve noticed that there are a lot of reductions on Christmas decorations so it may be a good moment to add to your stocks for next year. Cox & Cox, for example, has up to 35% off garlands, lights and baubles. India Knight had some other excellent suggestions on her Substack if you’re a paid subscriber.
Also if you’re getting a bit desperate for ideas a regular delivery of fresh flowers would be a cheering way to start the new year. I treated myself to a bouquet from Arena Flowers every fortnight during lockdown and got so much pleasure out of them. They’ve also got 15% off some of their Christmas bouquets.
We had a really good Christmassy Q & A session online the other night so much so that I forgot to find out who was drinking what. We covered how much it’s reasonable to pay for champagne, what style you should buy for Christmas and what you should do with any leftover fizz (is there such a thing?). Also what to drink with Christmas pudding. Look out for Claire Thomson (@5oclockapron) and my instagram reel next week. (As usual I failed to record the session. So sorry. It’s top of my New Year resolutions for 2025 to be a bit more tech savvy. 🙄)
Onto the wine (and cheese) recs …