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Today we want to feature a few outstanding soaps. Not only does everyone need a good bar of soap, but there is something indulgent about a specialty cleansing product. With the winter holiday season abutting New Years, we feel now is the ideal time to share with loved ones products to help symbolically wash away the difficulties of 2020 and start anew, clean as a whistle. Add any of these products to a basket with a candle, one of our drinkware picks and a brick of Ruk'u'x Ulew for a luxurious spa package or include a bar with the Guy Cotten Duffle for a travel pack that's perfect the avid adventurers in your life. We begin with the ‘ĀINA soap from Indigenous Soap Company. This soap is beautifully scented, hand made, and comes from the Island of Oahu's Love Chance, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and a soap making visionary. Incorporating botanical ingredients and promoting positive, connectivity, and healing, the Indigenous Soap Company shares incredible gifts that are capable of transforming your skin and your mindset. HAWAIIANS HAVE BEEN USING NATIVE PLANTS, SEAWEEDS, MINERALS, CLAYS AND OILS FOR CENTURIES TO MAINTAIN HEALTH AND VITALITY. ‘ŌLENA (TURMERIC), LAUKAHI (PLANTAIN), KUKUI NUT OIL, COMFREY AND ‘ALOE HAVE ALL BEEN ADDED TO BRING YOUR SKIN BACK TO LIFE. SO, MALAMA KA ‘ĀINA (TAKE CARE OF THE LAND) AND NEXT TIME YOU'RE IN THE SHOWER LET THE ‘ĀINA MALAMA YOU! (1) Also relying on the cleansing and healing properties of herbs and botanicals is Remedios del Bosque, or 'Forest Remedies'. While not advertised as such, their basic oil, Oleo Basico, is our go to oil for two step cleansing. We simply massage the oil into our skin to break down makeup and any residual dirt from the day, then we remove the oil with a gentle saponified cleanser. The combination of moringa butter with olive, argan, jajoba, caster, and cacoa oils leaves our skin feeling extraordinarily moisturized and prevents our harsher cleansers from stripping our skin. We've also heard it's excellent for beard care! Plus, fragranced with frankincense, lavender, geranium and white sage essential oils the aroma is intoxicating and certainly deserving of the extra skincare step required by a second wash. Next we share the Face Stone from Nature of Things. With the tumbled cratered appearance of pumice, these Stones are made entirely of French white clay. While there are no traditional cleansing ingredients, the clay acts as a physical exfoliant, brushing away imperfections and dull tired skin. We love to leave a bit of the clay on our skin while we complete the rest of our bathing ritual, allowing it to draw out any impurities that can then be washed away leaving us feeling deeply cleansed and undeniably pampered. The stones themselves are stunning and the perfect natural accessory for any bathroomscape. For an aesthetic powerhouse we turn to Ume Studio. Their sensationally carved 'Erode Soap' series is breathtaking. Smooth soap is transformed into sculptures with gouged ridges that undulate like waves. Some of the designs showcase speckles of distorted spots while others offer swirls of subtle marbling. Each soap is hand made and entirely unique. Frankly, they are almost too magnificent to use! However, the staggeringly beautiful scents will leave you reaching for these soaps whenever possible. We love the white grapefruit, the cardamom vetiver, and the daily detox juniper berry and lemongrass. Whichever you choose, the Erode soaps are magnificent pieces of artistry that happen to be functional. They just exude luxury! For All Folks Face/Body Wash is also a masterpiece. A Calendula-based soap is the foundation onto which rose, neem, rosemary, basil, and Chinese peppermint are added to build a symphony of fragrance. Aside from their mesmerizing scent, each extract and essential oil offers a unique skincare benefit that will leave your skin feeling nourished and healthy. The luminous golden bottles are impeccably refined and will offer the perfect understated color to any vanity. We turn now to Paris to find the La Sultane de Saba black soap. We were introduced to this soap during a spa treatment in Ibiza and we never looked back. Fortified with rich, natural, nourishing ingredients this soap is stunningly fragrant and astonishingly moisturizing. Added to water and the olive-derived surfactant are pure eucalyptus oil, olive oil, and Argan oil which form a thick paste with a consistency and color somewhere between the most decadent sticky caramel and a refreshing olive gel. The fruity earthy scent of olive tames the eucalyptus, resulting in a strong almost medicinal herbal fragrance without venturing to the dark side of Vic's vapor rub eucalyptus scents. Opening the gorgeous glass jar instantly transports us to a Moroccan Hammam, an experience that only intensifies when we massage the rich soap onto our skin and bathe in the scent of eucalyptus. It's sheer heaven and the ideal gift! Yukon Soap Company, another proudly Indigenous owned brand, offers beautifully simplistic soaps that just feel therapeutic. Moving back to Mayo, Yukon to live on her traditional territory, Joella Hogan committed to not only creating magnificent soaps but also to supporting, engagement with, and connecting to her Norther Tutchone culture. It's a beautiful sentiment that is only empowered by the the quality of her products. Our favorite soap from the Yukon Soap Company is the Cornmeal & Honey. We love it as a biweekly gentle facial exfoliant as emollient antibacterial honey carries finely ground physically exfoliant cornmeal. While the exfoliation is excellent, the product feels delicate and leaves our skin feeling properly cared for. This is the ideal soap to gift to the no fuss people in your life who deserve some subtle pampering! When she took on the company, Joella was looking for a way to connect people to culture and to land. And she has done just that—from getting elders and local kids out on the land to gather wild botanicals, to employing youth in her workshop, to offering crafting workshops, and participating in farmer’s markets across the Yukon (2) Next is Officina Profumo - Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella. With an extensive history dating back to 1221 when Domenican friars began experimenting with officinal herbs grown in their monastery in Florence, Santa Maria Novella is an institution in the the world of skincare and beauty with a well-deserved reputation for excellence. Their elegant products are to die for and make unrivaled gifts. We especially love the Vellutina Soap enriched with Idralia cream and lightly fragranced with sweet honey. As our dear friends at Aedes de Venustas describe, Vellutina is "enriched with elastin, collagen, jojoba oil, and coconut oil [making it] virtually a face cream in a bar"(x). It's a deliciously good product that your loved ones will adore. Although Santa Maria Novella products are no longer made by Domenican friars, the aloe vera roll soap by Les Bénedictines de Chantelle has been made in a French abbey for more than 60 years. Much like the Nature of Things Face Stone, this simple tusk coloured soap is a softly irregular pebble shape making it unexpectedly decorative. It's absolutely lovely. Aesthetics aside, the composition of the soap is idyllic. Its practical shape and aesthetic curves will make this soap essential in the heart of your bathroom. Its subtle fragrance will envelop you in a cocoon of softness and thanks to the softening and nourishing properties of aloe vera, it will become the natural ally of your skin (3). We return now to the United States where we find Etta + Billie. The "unique scent pairings are 90% inspired by organic, farm-fresh ingredients and 10% inspired by...delicious artisanal cocktail[s]"(4). This Ventura, California brand expresses a desire "to bring nourishment and satisfaction into daily routines" and—speaking only for ourselves—we cannot put into words how successful they are! The original Cold Brew Mint Coffee Soap is our holy grail soap. Invigorating coffee and refreshing peppermint oil offer a vibrant and awakening experience to our mornings while also providing our skin with necessary antioxidants and a hint of revitalizing caffeine. In case this soap isn't incredible enough (which we assure you, it is!), Etta + Billie also donate a portion of sales to organizations that better the world and commit to shipping their beautiful products in recyclable packaging. So by gifting a bar of this epic soap you not only better the skincare routines of your loved ones but you also improve the world around you! Whats not to love? Moving to the East Coast of the US, our next soap comes from Saipua (which means "soap" in Finnish) and The Farm at World's End. Founder Sarah Ryhanen has created a brand that is so stunningly aesthetic and effortlessly sophisticated that we don't have the words to describe it! All we can say is her Vetiver soap, carrying a cloud of French green clay, is skincare at its finest. As described, the soap has an unbelievably elegant fragrance that "focuses on vetiver, a smoky scent, rounded out by the addition of citrus"(5). It's remarkably good and always works wonders on our temperamental skin. Out next stop is the amazing country of Greenland. Here, Theodora Høegh shares a line of skincare featuring hand-picked herbs from Greenland's pristine wilderness. Her brand, Ulu Care carries seven unbelievable soaps containing everything from mountain adler to labrador tea. Our favorites of the Ulu range are the Red Seaweed and the Yarrow soaps. The yarrow plant, cultivated in Greenland by the Norse for its medicinal properties, soothes our dry, wind-chapped skin and blankets us in the most stunning spicy herbal scent. The red seaweed, like all seaweeds, is rich in vitamin C and antioxidants making it ideal for reducing inflammation and minimizing the appearance of hyperpigmentation. The packaging is effortlessly simplistic and an elegant expression of Ulu's commitment to natural organic skincare. These soaps make magnificent gifts for the people in your life who value unique and quality skincare ingredients! The last few products we're sharing come from Russia. The Russian members of our team were adamant that we feature these products as "any soap that can sooth icy Siberian skin is a must-share!" and it's hard to argue with that logic! Berezka Lab offers a striking collection of eco-friendly skincare products in graphic minimalist black packaging that is viciously chic. While it doesn't come in black packaging, the Berezka Karelian Shungite soap bar is an incredibly product. Rich with shungite, a mineral that may contain free-radical-fighting fullerenes, the charcoal colored bars are scented with fir, sweet almond, pine, and sweet orange for a stunning unisex fragrance that we can't get enough of. We find this soap to be impressively moisturizing and gentle enough to be used on even the most sensitive skin as it contains an abundance of nourishing oils that feel utterly pampering. You can't go wrong gifting a bar of this luscious soap, especially given its androgynous fragrance! Last, but certainly not least, we find our way to Babushka Agafia for another black soap (can you tell we really love black soap?). Agafia Yermakova, an herbalist who spent her life in the coniferous forests of Siberia, is the inspiration behind this black soap that is enriched with an impressive 37 Siberian plants selected from Siberian tradition. The soap smells wonderful and there is something magical about the herbs in this soap as even our toughest, driest, most irritated skin seems to softened to flawless toned perfection after we use the soap. Plus, we love that it feels like a folk remedy from our surrogate Babushka, Agafia! You can't go wrong gifting any one of these incredible luxurious soaps. These soaps are sourced from around the world and offer a host of healing botanical ingredients and intoxicating fragrances so you would be hard pressed to find someone who wouldn't love a soap from this list! For an extra entry check out our feature on Nablus soap from the West Bank.

One of our team members owns a magnificent and prolific persimmon tree that, every year, is pulled almost to the ground by vibrant orange fruit. When we discovered this recipe from Adventures in Cooking for a roasted chicken with persimmons and sage we knew it was destined to take center stage at our holiday dinner. Roasted birds are as quintessential as holiday food can get. There is something about everyone at a table being served from a large communal chicken or turkey that feels familial, unifying, and celebratory*. So, with our abundant persimmon harvest in hand and a desire to find delicious seasonal dishes, it was hard to imagine a more perfect holiday recipe! Tangy silky persimmon adds color and brightness to a gorgeously browned bird glazed with sticky honey and luscious red wine. Seasoned with sage, rosemary, and time, the chicken takes on a beautiful herbal flavor that is the ideal complement to the complexities of the glaze. Also, as the chicken is allowed to brine overnight, the meat is moist and succulent every time. This dish is an easy but phenomenal main course that will surely please everyone at your table! Also, we do want to take a moment to mention how incredible Eva Flores of Adventures in Cooking is! Her recipes, categorized by seasons, are each remarkably unique and beautifully composed. Flores's photography is breath-taking and leaves us wishing she could live in our. However, she dislikes ants which makes us—and E.O. Wilson— a bit sad (although, she may change her mind about the tiny crawlers after reading our gift guide entry on arthropods!). If you are looking for indulgent recipes or just want to spend a moment pouring over impeccable food photography do check out Adventures in Cooking. You won't be disappointed! *But please note that, as some of our vegan and vegetarian ARCANISA team members can attest, we are in no way suggesting that you must have meat to have a communal dining experience! By Eva Flores of Adventures in Cooking One of my favorite things to make is a simple roast chicken, especially during the winter months. The skin of the chicken crisps up beautifully and the flavors of the poultry seep into the accompanying vegetables in the pan. Another wonderful aspect of it is its versatility, you can pair it with so many different flavors and make an evilly delicious roast chicken every time, whether savory, sweet, or sour. This chicken is a little sweet and a little savory. I used one of my favorite winter fruits, the persimmon, to make a glaze for the bird and also put some in the pan alongside the chicken to roast away in the oven. The result was a succulent chicken, full of delicious sweet, salty, and fruitful flavor. The honey and wine in the glaze worked wonders on the skin of the chicken, and we ate it alongside a bottle of wonderfully inky black Pinot Noir from Last Bottle wines. (Nothing pairs better with a roast bird than a big glass of red, in my opinion.) It made for a wonderfully cozy and soothing meal, which was much needed since I kind of sorta accidentally started a kitchen fire earlier that day. To be fair, it remains a mystery whose fault it was, but some chunk of food had fallen onto the bottom of the oven unnoticed during either my or Jeremy’s use of it, and when I preheated the oven that day, whatever it was promptly turned into a small-yet-terrifying flaming baseball-sized coal. A little splash of water put it out immediately, but it did put my nerves on edge. It was the first time I’d had to deal with a kitchen fire since my older sister put room temperature olive oil straight into a scalding hot pan when I was 8 years old, and even then I wasn’t trembling afterwards. But in the end the most annoying part of it was cleaning the water out from under the oven, which is a pretty mild clean-up as far as kitchen fires go, so I can’t complain too much. Plus, I got to eat roast chicken afterwards, and in my opinion any evening that ends with good food and wine is a pretty great one, regardless of the miniature disasters that led up to that point. INGREDIENTS SAGE BRINE 6 cups tepid water 1/3 cup kosher salt 1 teaspoon rubbed sage 1 roasting chicken 5-6 pounds PERSIMMON GLAZE 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth 1/4 cup red wine 1 persimmon peeled and diced 1/4 cup honey 1/4 cup butter 1/2 teaspoon flake sea salt 1/4 teaspoon sage ROAST CHICKEN WITH PERSIMMONS 1 yellow onion chopped 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon sage 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1/2 teaspoon rosemary 1/2 teaspoon thyme 2 persimmons cut into 1/-inch thick slices 1/4 cup chicken or vegetable broth Cooking twine PREPARATION: For the brine, whisk together the water, salt, and sage until the salt has dissolved. Place a gallon size ziplock bag in a medium bowl and place the chicken inside the bag, legs + cavity facing upwards. Pour the brine into the bag and seal it, pressing out as much air as possible and trying to get the brine in the cavity of the bird as well. Place the bowl in the refrigerator and allow to brine overnight. The day of cooking, begin making the glaze. In a medium sized pot over medium heat, bring all of the ingredients to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and allow to simmer until the permission fruit has softened, about 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 15 minutes before pouring the mixture into a blender or food processor and pureeing until smooth. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the bird from the brine, rinse it thoroughly, and pat it dry. In a small bowl mix together the salt, sage, pepper, rosemary, and thyme. Place the onion pieces in an even layer on the bottom of a roasting pan. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of the olive oil over them and toss them with a pinch of the spice mixture, then pour the 1/4 cup of the glaze and 1/4 cup of broth into the pan and set it aside. Rub the chicken down with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil inside and out, then rub the bird down with the remaining spice mixture. Place the bird centered in the pan, breast facing up, and tie the legs together with the twine. Arrange the persimmon slices in the roasting pan around the bird. Place on the bottom rack of the oven and roast for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven temp to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and continue cooking, basting the bird every 15 minutes, until the internal temperature of the bird reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit at the thigh joint. If the bird is browning too quickly, tent it with tin foil. Allow to cool for 15 minutes before carving and serving. Towards the end of the cooking time, bring the glaze to a low boil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and continue cooking at a simmer until the glaze thickens slightly, about 5 to 8 minutes. Remove from heat and serve alongside the carved bird.

Given that yesterday's gift pick was an adult beverage, we figured our gift today should be something the whole family can enjoy: microfossil matrices. One of our team members was lucky enough to grow up with a father who was an avid amateur geology/paleontologist. Not only would he take them on regular rock-hunting adventures to quarries and distant rivers, he would also gift them geologic treasures at the holidays. Microfossil matrices were one of those gifts and quickly became the most interactive and engaging presents from their childhood. Collected typically from riverbeds, microfossil matrices arrive as unassuming bags of unsorted rocks and sand. However, hidden within the gravel are tiny Brachiopods, teeth, coral, Fusilinids, Echinoids, Crinoid stems, and other marine fossils. Each one is minuscule, typically measuring less than 10mm long, but they are riddled with prehistoric detail. See if you can spot the teeth in the photo above! Fossil matrices are impressively diverse as their compositions are unique to the location they're collected from. Some have smooth pebble-like rocks and others have monochrome white-washed rugged fragments making it more challenging to uncover the fossils. In addition to the visual differences, the matrices also carry different types of fossils so you never know what you'll discover! The delight of this gift is the opportunity to sort through the rough for preserved riches. The moment when, after pouring over rock after uninteresting rock, one uncovers a perfectly preserved shark tooth or crinoid stem is priceless magic that everyone, young or old, will cherish. Microfossil matrices are like fossil hunts in a bag and, as life is stalled from COVID, having the opportunity to take a tiny at-home adventure into the prehistoric world is a true gift. Fossil matrices are absolutely perfect for kids (although the tiny particle size means it isn't suited for very young children). You can find a variety of matrices online through specialty rock websites as well as Ebay. Transfer a few bags of fossil matrices from different locations into decorative jars and wrap as a gift with a jewelers' loupe and a small white dish or plate for a complete fossil-hunting set. Be sure to label the jars with the location the matrices are collected from! We recommend rinsing the mixes before sorting as it's much easier to identify the fossils when the dust and dirt is removed. As adults, we love spending hours sifting through the tiny matrices; it's impossibly meditative. But fossil-loving kids are quickly hooked on the activity. They get to feel like real paleontologists– especially with the magnifying loupe in hand! Microfossil matrices are simple unique gifts that will keep everyone in the family occupied for days!

While you may be reading through this recipe thinking, "fresh spring herbs seem awfully out of place on a holiday recipe guide" and you would be write. The winter is in no way synonymous with lush fresh herbs but that's one of the reasons we love this recipe for our holiday tables. The hearty, starchy, earthy flavors of traditional holiday recipes are effortlessly complemented but this brighter side dish. Soft polenta entangles a host of vibrant fresh herbs and is brushed generously with olive oil fragranced with aromatic coriander, sage, and mustard seed in this stunning recipe by Krautkopf from their absolutely amazing self-titled cookbook. Krautkop is the creation of Susann Probst & Yannic Schon and the photography and recipes on the site are consistently and remarkably outstanding. We can—and have—spent hours scrolling through the pages of their site unable to decide which flawless recipe we would try because each of them is strikingly well balanced and staggeringly beautiful. This recipe is no exception. While Probst and Schon offer a plethora of more seasonally-appropriate winter dishes, it's their wild herb polenta that we will be serving with our holiday dinners this year to offer balance against our richer heartier dishes. Plus, this recipe is dairy free, gluten free, and vegan so it can be enjoyed by all your holiday guests! Every year, we are delighted like tiny tots to sow our herbs and vegetables. The balcony is whipped into shape and every year some pots and boxes are added. When everything is ripe we have barely a place to sit but until then we have several months. Even if the range of vegetables grows bit by bit in spring, there are already plenty of herbs which are not only healthy but also for free! Of course, before you start collecting them you need to inform yourself and also wash the plants thoroughly. However, we all recognize stinging nettle, dandelion, and daisies, don’t we? If you don’t like the bitter note of some of the wild herbs you should take the very young leaflets. You can also put the dandelions in salt water for 20 minutes detract the bitterns. We like to eat the herbs in salad, as pesto, or chopped in polenta. We’d like to present you a delicious recipe from our cookbook. By the way, you can vary the size of the pan for gratinating the polenta. The bigger, the crispier the polenta, the smaller, the more fluffy inside. FOR 3 SERVINGS INGREDIENTS: 150 g spinach 150 g (wild) herbs (eg. 1 bunch wild garlic, parsley, burnet, some chives, sorrel and nettles, some dandelion leaves and watercress) 1 shallot 1 l vegetable stock sea salt 250 g instant polenta 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil black pepper 1 tsp coriander seeds 1 bunch of sage 2 tsp brown mustard seeds PREPARATION: Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C air circulation). Grease a springform pan (Ø 24 cm). Wash the spinach and the herbs (except for the sage) and shake until dry. Pluck the leaves – for the stinging nettles you preferably wear kitchen gloves. Roughly chop the herbs and the spinach. Peel and finely dice the shallot. Boil up the vegetable broth and thoroughly salt it. Stir in the polenta and let it well at low heat for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp virgin olive oil and sauté the herbs and spinach at low heat until it collapses. Season the herbs with salt and pepper, and gently fold it in the polenta. Fill everything in the pan and bake it for about 20 minutes until the polenta is slightly crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside. In the meantime, wash the sage and gently dab it dry. Roughly grind the coriander seeds. Wipe the pan, heat the remaining 4 tbsp of olive oil and sauté the sage at medium heat until crispy. Lift out the leaflets and degrease them on kitchen paper. Now, add the coriander and mustard seeds to the oil and shortly let them to draw. Spread the sage and spicy oil on the ready polenta, and let the polenta cake cool down a bit before cutting.

On a hot July night in Marbella, a Costa del Sol town in the southern Andalusia region of Spain, we were invited to a dinner on a magnificent rooftop a few miles away from the Puente Romano Hotel where we were staying. Overlooking the Mediterranean sea, we were served chilled glasses of brandy, a welcomed digestif given the heat. The brandy was so exceptional that we remember almost nothing else about the dinner! Now, to be fair, any beverage served on a rooftop overlooking the Mediterranean will in fact be fantastic, but this brandy is uniquely delicious even away from paradise. We learned it was pacharán brandy—also known as patxaran—made from crushed and fermented berries of the sloe/blackthorn tree. Our generous hosts informed us they were 'wild beach plums', although these plum-colored berries in the rose family are actually cultivated in the northern Basque region of Navarra where pacharán is produced. The cloudless red brandy is fresh, sweet, and succulent given the remarkable flavor of the fruit. In addition, anise is added offering a whispered fragrance of licorice to the liqueur that is uninterrupted by any scent of alcohol. Some producers add coffee beans for subtle, almost indiscernible, richness while others include lemon, orange, or grapefruit for an effervescent twist of citrus. Though the flavors vary, the process for producing pacharán is strict, dictating the quantity of sloe and the time frame for maceration which ensures that each bottle meets the standards and expectations of the governing body and anyone lucky enough to savor the pacharán. It should come as no surprise that, given the magnificent flavour, pacharán has been enjoyed by the Spanish for centuries. We know this as there are records of the liqueur being served as part of the wedding menu for the marriage of Gonofre de Navarre, the son of the Spanish King Charles III, with Doña Teresa de Arellano, which took place in 1415. We also know that the Queen, Blanca I, took pacharán for its medicinal properties when she fell ill at the Monastery of Santa María de Nieva in 1441 (1) You can be confident that a bottle of this beautiful red liqueur, favorited by royalty, will impress any guest on your list. There are no shortage of producers of pacharán; Zoco, Panizo, La Navarra, Etexko are just a few although Zoco seems to be the most readily available. Should you purchase a bottle of pacharán to gift, be sure to buy an extra bottle for yourself and let it transport you to a hot summer night on the southern coast of Spain.

Holiday cookies are a cherished tradition for many. Whether they be spicy gingersnaps or heartwarmingly iced sugar cookies, these sweet treats fill cookie jars and plates ready to fill us with nostalgic holiday cheer. Our cookie trays have a special, more sophisticated, addition: tahini, rye and chocolate chip cookies. An earthy blend of buckwheat and rye are combined to form the dough of these tender cookies. Rich savory nutty tahini paste offers a mature balance to the sweetness of sticky dates and bold chunks of chocolate. The final cookies are coated in beautiful sesame seed teardrops that spotlight the flavour of tahini and offer a subtle crunchy texture. It's a really magnificent cookie. Inspired by the Parisian restaurant, Mokonuts, the original recipe for these cookies was created by the ever so talented Boy Who Bakes, Edd Kimber. This recipe is fantastic and produces beautiful cookies but we love the adaptations by Green Kitchen Stories. Substituting dates for some of the sugar and buckwheat for the whole wheat flour results in a bit more complex flavour profile that we prefer. We also follow the recommendations from Bijouxs Little Jewels from the Kitchen to use large chunks of chocolate to created melted ribbons of decadent chocolate and to use a blend of black and white sesame seeds for the coating for added style. However you choose to make these cookies, you won't be disappointed and you won't be able to return to ordinary chocolate chip cookies at the holidays! Recipe by Green Kitchen Stories (adapted from Boy Who Bakes) *notes by Bijouxs Little Jewels from the Kitchen INGREDIENTS: 125 g / 1 cup wholemeal rye flour 100 g / 3/4 cup buckwheat flour 1 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 100 g / 3 1/2 oz unsalted butter, room temperature 75 g / 100 ml tahini 100 g / 1/2 cup light brown sugar or coconut sugar 75 g soft dates (roughly 8) 2 large eggs 150 g / 6 oz chocolate (65-75% cocoa solids), roughly chopped *ensure you have large chunks Sesame seeds, to coat *mix black and white sesame seeds PREPARATION: 1. Combine rye flour, buckwheat flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl, set aside. 2. Place butter, tahini, sugar and dates in a food processor and mix for a few minutes on high speed until light and fluffy. 3. Add the eggs to the processor and mix until combined. 4. Pour the butter mixture into the bowl of flours, add the chocolate and mix until evenly distributed. 5. Refrigerate for 2 hours until firm (or stick it in the freezer for 20 mins) and set the oven to 190°C / 380°F. 6. Roll the cookie dough into balls, roughly 45 g in size, and coat (moderately) in sesame seeds. 7. Place on one or two parchment lined baking trays and bake for about 10-11 minutes. After they’ve been in the oven for about 6-7 minutes remove the tray(s) from the oven and smack it against the kitchen table top a few times to help the cookies flatten out a bit before placing it back in the oven for the remaining time until slightly browned. 8. Let the cookies cool on the baking tray for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 9. Will keep in a sealed container for about 3-4 days (but they won't last that long). Should you want a visual instruction, here is a video documenting the original recipe by Boy Who Bakes. Remember, these instructions vary for the recipe above!

On a warm summer evening in June, we walked along a garden to the breath-taking Union Chapel for London's first ever The Moth GrandSLAM event by The Moth. After being served an outstanding dinner at the Chapel's Margin's Cafe (at which profits go directly to The Margins Project to further their mission of supporting people facing homelessness and crisis), we sat in our pew in the dimly lit church and listened to 10 incredible storytellers, standing alone on a stage illuminated by a towering rose window, share stunningly heart-wrenching tales on the theme of Fish Out of Water. The storytellers told "tales of being out of their element: the freak, the foreigner, dressed for the opera at the clambake, out of the loop, the only person in the loop, the voice of dissent, the lonely fool. Outsider, interloper, odd man out. The black sheep, the chatty monk, the juror with a doubt" (1). Against the backdrop of the Chapel, the stories felt vulnerably holy and it was sheer magic. We were moved and the event was, unequivocally, one of the most memorable we've ever attended. The year prior, someone gave us the tickets for the GrandSLAM as a gift. We want to share that gift giving perfection by featuring tickets to The Moth as our gift guide entry for today. We ardently cherish experiential gifts. Any opportunity to learn and explore is priceless in our book. Any opportunity to learn and explore is priceless in our book and, with this in mind, we can confidently say that tickets to The Moth's StorySLAMs and GrandSLAMs are the ideal gift. Who doesn't love being told stories? If you enjoy NPR's StoryCorps then you will certainly love The Moth storytelling. The Moth hosts three types of live events: StorySlam, GrandSLAM, and Mainstage. Mainstage events are curated and feature tellers who have worked with The Moth directors to organize their tales (2). In contrast, StorySLAMs are "community-focused, open-mic storytelling competitions in which anyone can share a five-minute story on the night’s theme"(2). When the doors open, storyteller hopefuls put their names in The Moth “hat." A half hour later, names are picked, and one by one, storytellers take the stage. The ten featured stories are scored by teams of judges selected from the audience. Each StorySLAM generates a StorySLAM winner. After ten SLAMs, the winners face off in a GrandSLAM Championship. (3) We do recommend prioritizing GrandSLAM events as the storytellers have already made it past an initial StorySLAM round and, as a result, you're more likely to see strong performances. Although the SLAM events are described as competitions, in reality they feel like independent monologues performances. There may be a winner but there certainly aren't losers! Unfortunately, in order to stay safe and prevent the spread of the coronavirus, venues around the world have temporarily suspended their events. But there is still a way to gift The Moth experience! While we wait for venues to open and host live in-person SLAMs, you can purchase tickets to regularly hosted live virtual SLAMs or buy one of three books by The Moth which are compilations stories from incredibly talented storytellers. The most recent book, 'Occasional Magic: True Stories About Defying The Impossible', is a well-deserved New York Times Bestseller and an outstanding holiday gift. The Moth GrandSLAM was tremendously enjoyable; we laughed, we cried, and we left feeling overcome with gratitude. We cannot emphasize enough how wonderful a gift the tickets were and we hope you consider sharing a SLAM experience with loved ones. And, if you are in London, you must find any excuse to see an event at Union Chapel!

It seems everyone and their mother has taken up baking in 2020 and we fully support it! There is something poetically romantic about waiting for fresh loaves of bread, leavened with a lovingly-tended sourdough starter, to rise —especially when the world around us feels so chaotic. After waiting patiently for a marvelously proofed dough, we are then blessed with the glorious aroma of crusty bread baking to perfection. What could be better than that? When entertaining during the holidays, we do our best to put our loaves in the oven close to when we anticipate guests will arrive to ensure our homes smell nostalgically inviting and our guests are greeted with welcoming warm bread. And no bread is more enticing than this goats' cheese and honey maslin by Nicola Willis. The spicy tangy earthiness of dark rye is complemented by sharp salty goats' cheese and ribbons of sweet honey. In addition to it's beautiful flavour profile, the maslin loaves take on a stunningly deep color that allows for impressively high-contrast decorative scoring designs. Served with fresh figs, this bread makes a memorable addition to any holiday table. Recipe by Nicola Willis included in "Slow Dough: Real Bread: Bakers' Secrets for Making Amazing Long-Rise Loaves at Home" by Chris Young. Nicola said, “This loaf brings it all together: using time and the best local ingredients to make great Real Bread. The richness of the Welsh honey we use contrasts with the sharpness of the Ragstone cheese, all balanced by the light texture and gentle taste of the sourdough.” Ragstone is an unpasteurized lactic goats’ milk cheese, made in Herefordshire’s Golden Valley, and you should look for an artisanal chevre or something similar when you make this loaf. FROM MIXING TO OVEN: overnight plus 6–8 hours BAKING TIME: 35–40 minutes INGREDEINTS: FOR THE PRE-FERMENT 90g/3¼oz/6 tbsp rye sourdough starter 60g/2¼oz/¼ cup water 120g/4¼oz/¾ cup plus 2 tbsp white bread flour FOR THE DOUGH 270g/9½oz/scant 2 cups white bread flour 150g/5½oz /scant ⅔ cup water 60g/2¼oz/½ cup wholemeal/wholegrain (dark) rye flour 20g/generous 1 tbsp honey 5g/1 tsp fine/table salt 80g/2¾oz/⅓ cup soft goats’ cheese 20g/generous 1 tbsp honey, for drizzling semolina or polenta/cornmeal, for dusting PREPARATION: Mix the pre-ferment ingredients together, cover and leave at room temperature overnight, or refrigerate overnight and bring it out 2 hours before needed. Mix the pre-ferment and dough ingredients together, cover and leave to rest at room temperature for 10 minutes. Instead of kneading the dough, give it four separate single folds, with rests of 10–15 minutes after each fold, then leave the dough to prove for a further 1 hour. Shape the dough carefully into a square about 1cm/½in thick. Break the cheese into pieces, distribute them evenly over the dough and gently press them in. Drizzle with honey. Fold the 4 corners of the dough into the middle to cover the cheese, form the dough into a ball and seal the seams tightly. Dust a proving basket well with semolina or polenta/cornmeal, shape the dough to fit and place it in, seam-side up. Cover and leave to prove for 4–6 hours at room temperature (alternatively, prove in the refrigerator overnight again, and remove 1 hour before baking). Heat the oven to 240°C/220°C fan/475°F/gas 8–9, with a baking stone or baking sheet in place. Dust a peel with semolina or polenta/cornmeal, turn the dough out onto it and slash along the middle of the top with a sharp knife, or if you feel confident, slash a pattern into the dough. Slide the loaf onto the baking stone. Bake for 35–40 minutes until the crust is golden, or darker if you prefer.

When one of our male colleagues arrived in the office with this luxurious gold beetle brooch affixed to his bag, we knew instantaneously that we had to feature it. As we formalized our plans for this beetle gift guide entry, we realized that there was no shortage of creature-centric art that we adored. As a result, we present you with this unusual gift idea: sculptural—sometimes wearable— arthropods. Before you pull away, we invite you to appreciate how architectural trilobites and whispery moths are inherently artistic in themselves, so the translation of these forms to art is seamless and results in outstanding visual texture. Prepare yourself for some entomological magic! As our inspiration for this feature, we begin with the scarab brooch by Ukrainian Sergey Zhernov of Zhernov Artifactory. Our team owns two color combinations: gold and two-toned gold and silver plated copper. Both are absolutely phenomenal. We love how the smooth contours of the exoskeleton are spotlighted by the reflective metals. The sculptural spired mandibles extending from the head of the beetles are viciously cool and the clear focal point of these commanding pieces. We proudly wear them as statement brooches on simple black dresses and suits or, as our colleague masterfully demonstrated, as fantastic accents to bags. It makes us feel chic and sophisticated and ever so slightly edgy, in the most delicious way! Next we have an awe-inspiring creation from Swedish father and daughter goldsmiths, Ola and Hilda Lancing, of Guldsmed Lancing . The minuscule whimsy of 200 oxidized sliver ants is accented beautifully but a curled golden branch that wraps around the neck, sprouting delicate golden flowers and leaves. The Lancings arrange the ants with impeccable movement; the ants appear to climb onto each other, clinging to the branch, forming a tangled web of legs and iridescent bodies the décolleté of the wearer. It's fantastically romantic and an outstanding demonstration of artistry. We travel now to Philadelphia Pennsylvania for these gorgeous tin moth earrings created by Devin McNutt at Saffron Creations. Their folded golden bodies are blanketed by cape-like wings, pierced with golden rings. Playfully curved legs bend upward toward expressive antennae that delicately frame and flatter the ear of the wearer. They're gloriously reminiscent of origami as their broad flat wings offer a paper-esque geometry that is simply to die for. Plus, McNutt selects vibrant symmetric patterns for the wings of these zestful critters making them genuinely joyful accessories. They certainly leave us smiling! The whimsy continues with these graphic beetle brooches from the studio of Lindsay Locatelli in Colorado. Made from polymer clay and silver, the beetles feature psychedelically colored rings that leave them exuding spirited fun. Bands of color wrap around horn like mandibles and pronotums (the neck like segments) offering a striking linear accent to the iridescence of spotted bodies. Assembled, the segments, each full of unique and bold personality, form a totem pole like beetle that perfectly accents any outfit. Artistic faux taxidermy is next on our list. From Buffalo, NY's Aleah Michele Ford of Moth on the Wall, these moth sculptures are a bit too big to be worn as jewelry (although we powerfully support you if you decide to try!). Stunningly realistic fabric is wrapped around wire frames to form wings that can be positioned to add life-like movement to the moths. The seamless wings are accented by touchably fluffy abdomens that erupt into the most ethereally feathered antennae. The realism is remarkable but it's the scale that transforms these faux moths into true artistic masterpieces. We adore how large they are. With impressive size, each sculpture is capable of truly transforming any wall it is hung on into a fanciful entomological exhibit. We can't rave enough about these! Out last wearable crawler comes to us from Moscow. Artist Peresvetti uses outstanding beadwork skills to create bewitchingly textured beetle brooches. In parallel with Locatelli's banded horns, Peresvetti's beetles' antennae are constructed with beads that decrease in size forming a banded taper of stacked rings. What we love most about the use of beads is the eye-catching light-reflecting texture. It's surreal. The shadows between rows of beads provide unexpected linearity that is enhanced by the perceived hardness of the material. Flat beads glisten like disco balls while round beads produce a ribbed surface that seems almost plush. Peresvetti captures an astonishing amount of detail, ensuring the beetles remain recognizable by altering the angles of the beads to suggest the segments of the bodies and adding six tendrily legs. Available in every color and pattern imaginable, these beetle brooches are well suited for any aesthetic! Although these horseshoe crabs aren't jewelry, they are unquestionably useful as they're secretly bottle openers! At roughly 5" long, the horseshoe crabs are the ideal size to sit decoratively on your counter and, bonus, they are surprisingly ergonomic. Beneath the solid metal bodies are edged lips that lift caps and lids effortlessly. But it's not the functionality that we are smitten with, it's the design. Industrial Designer Matthew Hall, based in Rhode Island, creates these beautiful sculptures by hand and the quality he achieves is unrivaled. The carapace segmentation of the head is immediately recognizable; the top segment is smooth aside from realistic panels and peaks while the second segment is more detailed with small perforations framing the central ridge and marvelously serrated edges. The body concludes with a tail that begins in an angled triangular shape before tapering to a sleek rounded point. Horseshoe crabs are some of the most epic creatures (did you know they have blue copper-based blood?!) and we relish the opportunity Hall has granted to us to cherish them as everyday sculpture in our homes. Last, but certainly not least, are trilobite sculptures by Allan Drummond. An Associate Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Chicago, Drummond, with meticulous craftsmanship, produces sculptures that are so highly detailed we would think they were real if not for their oxidized bronze color. The tiered ridges of the trilobites' exoskeletons are accented by merciless spires to capture the prehistoric extraterrestrial quality of these critters. Drummond stunningly captures the diversity of this group of arthropods; some of the sculptures are rigidly skeletal, some feature hair-like antennae that seem to defy gravity, others have impressively intricate perforations. Even the undersides of the trilobites are hyperrealistic, successfully alluding to the kinetic power of dozens of cilia-esque legs. The artistry, the commitment to accuracy, and the aesthetic vision of Drummond are truly remarkable so it comes as no surprise that his trilobites are exceptional.

Are these not the most endearing ravioli? Aimee Twigger of UK based Twigg Studios shares the recipe for this breath-taking dish, complete with magnificent photographs, and we can't get enough of it. We love to serve a small dish of these party cracker shaped ravioli as a festive introduction to our holiday meals. Although we sadly don't roast ours over an open fire, chestnuts elevate the nutty flavour of sharp salty parmesan while offering a balancing sweetness that is just to die for. Porcini mushrooms provide a comforting earthiness and pepper, sage, and nutmeg add a seasonal warmth that makes us want to curl up beside a fire while we savor every bite of these ravioli. These ravioli exude the magic of winter with unrivaled flavour and shape, making them the perfect celebratory dish to share this holiday. By Aimee Twigger of Twigg Studios I have teamed up with Parmigiano Reggiano to bring you some seasonal recipes and these cracker shaped ravioli are really special. they are filled with chestnut and parmesan puree and are perfect for the holiday season, or they could be shaped like normal ravioli for any occasion. I love chestnuts and parmesan together and with chestnuts being in season its the perfect time to try them. You can also use a pack of vacuum packed roasted chestnuts if you don’t want to use fresh. I served these little beauties in some brown butter and my partner has been begging me to make them again ever since. Parmigiano Reggiano has an amazing flavour, its perfect for this recipe. Ingredients: Pasta dough 1 cup fine durum wheat semolina flour 1 cup tippo 00 flour 10 egg yolks Filling 180g roasted chestnuts (you can buy them ready roasted) 100g freshly grated parmigiana reggiano parmesan 6 dried porcini mushrooms in 250ml boiling water salt and pepper freshly grated nutmeg 1 tbsp. dried sage To cook 6 fresh sage leaves 6 tbsp. butter 2 tbsp. olive oil salt pepper parmesan Preparation: To make pasta, add the flour in a mound on the work surface and make a hole in the centre and pour in the eggs. Then using a fork start mixing the eggs while gradually mixing in the flour, knead for about 5/10 minutes until smooth. Let the dough rest for 20 minutes. while you make the filling. In a food processor add the chestnuts and pulse, boil some water and add the mushrooms in a dish and pour over 250ml of water and let sit for 5 minutes. Add the parmesan in to the food processor, then using a spoon remove the mushrooms from the liquid and add those. then strain the liquid through a sieve to remove any grit and add 150 ml of it and 3 tsp olive oil and the dried sage, nut meg and salt and pepper and puree again, add a little more of the mushroom soaking liquid to loosen the mixture if needed then add into a piping bag. Using a pasta machine roll out the dough until it is thin then cut into rectangles (see below). TIP roll the dough through the widest setting then fold and roll again, then fold again and roll through then roll through turning the width down each time, this will ensure it I nice and al dente. pipe on lines of filling then brush some water around the filling and roll up in to cracker shapes and press the ends to close then and pinch them, you can then cut small strips of dough and wrap it around each end to look like a cracker. Boil a pan of water and then and some salt add the pasta and boil for approx. 4/6 minutes then strain gently. Meanwhile In a frying pan add the oil, butter and sage and simmer until it turns brown, remove the sage and pour through a sieve to remove any black bits, add the brown butter back in the pan and then add the cooked pasta and toss in the butter. serve with salt and pepper and lots of grated parmesan. Is there any thing more delicious than brown butter and sage and lots of grated parmesan?