Don’t look away ...

… but this is another gift guide.

Welcome to my weekly Letter from Nettle & Quince, in which I share stories, articles and recipes, as well as restaurants, books, exhibitions, etc, that inspire through the seasons.

Some of the things published in the last few weeks:

• 7 good things in November — Lighting candles to banish the gloom and music to warm the soul, my monthly capture of the best things to remember November by.

• A recipe | Pecan bars

• Interwoven, enlaced — How we embrace Thanksgiving in London.

It’s free so please do share, and a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has.

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We slid into December on a silvery sheen of damp and frost. Hats and scarves piled by the door, another blanket on the bed, candles on the kitchen table. But already the temperature has mellowed, the month settles in. Like every year, I haven’t registered that Christmas is in two weeks’ time.

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COOKBOOKS

I have few wishes, mostly food books. And this year there are so many.

I gripe about articles that feature ‘15 best cookbooks out this month’. How is this helpful, who acquires a dozen cookbooks in a season? Isn’t that the sum total of all cookbooks out this month? It’s not. I can handle only strictly edited lists. Yet in the past few weeks, as I’ve read about new releases and browsed bookshops, my list has grown and grown, and though I keep paring it down (!) it is already seven books strong. Forgive me.

Roast Figs, Sugar Snow: Food to warm the soul by Diana Henry (Aster). Unsurprisingly everyone has been talking about this new edition of Henry’s second book, initially published in 2005. Henry is without a doubt one of the best loved food writers in Britain, and this book conveys the author’s sincere delight in cold weather and warming recipes. ‘You really want a drop in temperature and you want that thing of being in the kitchen with the windows steamed up, having come back from a long walk […].’ (From this article in The Independent.) The book is lovely and from a brief glance in the bookshop I immediately noticed quite a few recipes I would like to make. (Notably, Tafelspitz!)

The Secret of Cooking: Recipes for an Easier Life in the Kitchen by Bee Wilson (4th Estate). Or ‘How to fit cooking into the everyday mess and imperfection of all our lives without it seeming like another undoable thing […].’ It sounds indispensable, this extract gives an insight.

National Dish: Around the World in Search of Food, History and the Meaning of Home by Anya von Bremzen (Pushkin) in which the author examines stories and mythologies behind foods that purport to represent national identity. It was listening to the Food Chain podcast (min 6:30 to 16:16) that really caught my attention for this book. It sounds fascinating.

Invitation To A Banquet: The Story of Chinese Food by Fuchsia Dunlop (Penguin). In which Dunlop shares her deep knowledge and infectious love of Chinese food. [Read this Guardian article about Dunlop and her book.]

My Everyday Lagos: Nigerian Cooking at Home and in the Disapora by Yewande Komolafe (Ten Speed Press). I’ve mentioned and shared Komolafe’s writing more than once. She’s a vivid voice and while I don’t know Lagos, through her writing I can feel it.

Two cookbooks I haven’t waited for Christmas to buy. They’re both very good looking and I know I will cook from them.

Brutto by Russell Norman (4th Estate). You know I’ve loved Brutto from my first visit in its early months, and while I’m usually biased against restaurant cookbooks, this one is a real cook’s book. It carries with it on every page the charm and spirit of its author, chef and restaurant founder Norman who died suddenly, heartbreakingly, a few weeks ago. It features 4-ingredient recipes — anchovies with orange zest, butter, and sourdough — and crunchy vegetables served, as in the restaurant, just with oil and salt. Food that invites a certain way of eating and easy hospitality. It is my way too. Also, I want the recipe for the bollito misto! (And the pepper stew).

The Irish Bakery by Cherie Denham and Andrew Montgomery, with essays by Kitty Corrigan (Montgomery Press). This book immediately received accolades and its first edition sold out in a month (it is reprinting). It’s a collaboration between cook and food writer Denham and photographer Montgomery. In the book, ‘the island’s remarkable culinary heritage is brought together… combined with complementary spotlights on the best producers and artisans working in Ireland and Northern Ireland today.’ It’s a unique and very beautiful book.

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FOREVER THINGS FOR THE KITCHEN

I am not a consumer of latest trends and gadgets, I don’t browse shops much. In my kitchen nearly every item is something I find not only useful but beautiful too, things I’ve owned and cherished for many years, which I would always happily give or receive.

Here is a selection, my timeless ‘Tried and True’ list, one I compiled a couple of years ago and is, accordingly, just as pertinent today.

=» Tried and true gifts for the kitchen [Nettle&Quince]

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HOMEMADE

My first job as a fourteen-year-old was wrapping presents in a parfumerie in the run up to Christmas. This kind of teenage job existed in France then. Two lasting consequences are that I’m very good at wrapping presents neatly and efficiently, and I still cannot bear the perfumed smog of the ground floor of department stores.

That year I gave everyone a bottle of scent, which I got at a very generous employee discount. Other years I wasn’t as flush and had to rely on creative ideas. I’ve crocheted jewellery pouches and sewn travel bags, I’ve even knitted scarves, and once I gave my family pots of nuts and raisins steeped in golden liquid honey.

Honey has since become a rare and precious commodity, but if I can find some that is real and local-ish, I’m very tempted this year to make this idea for seeded honey.

For a couple of years already I’ve had these stuffed chocolate-coated figs bookmarked.

Christine Ferber’s Christmas jam — a gift that unfurls in every bite, layer after layer, and which will hopefully, in an explosion of taste, convey all the affection (and quite a bit of time!) folded lovingly into each jar.

And of course, all the biscuits (cookies), and Stollen!

Now I must start baking … and organising gifts