Somethings + Nothings: December 15, 2017

It's holiday party night, no?  Everyone is off to their holiday office parties this evening and I will be indulging in some holiday friend time with this one and this one, though we have not yet decided which trendy East Los Angeles restaurant we will be attending for dinner - choices are between Cafe Birdie or Kettle Black and I have no idea how we're going to decide.  This week's photo is an outtake from last year's trip to the Stuttgart Weihnachtsmarkt, where we got to experience sauerkraut spatzle and maultasche and and choral concerts and model trains and most importantly, a bit of wintry weather, which we are sorely missing right now in Los Angeles as we lust over our East Coast friend's Instagram feeds.  Happy Friday all!  Some links to keep you entertained below.

I've been nursing a hangover all day because we had an old friend over for dinner and while cooking Nigel Slater's delicious recipe for coq au riesling, I imbibed a little too much of said riesling.

And in other fancy-recipes-that-aren't-really-that-hard, I made Nigella Lawson's recipe for Sticky Date Pudding.  This is a dessert I only ever order at restaurants because making it seemed daunting but it turns out its even easier than a regular cake.  Put it on your holiday baking list.

Did you catch yesterday's post on our stop in Troyes, France, during our honeymoon?  Check it out if you missed it - there's some tips on this hidden gem of a. town, but also some photographs we really love.

I love gifting and Andy is stricken with panic and terror at the idea of gifting, and this article has some good (if conflicting) tips on how to approach the task.  The major gist is to just calm down about it.

My sister got me a Chemex for Christmas - it remains under the tree because I refuse to get into Christmas presents until Christmas Day - and The Kitchn had a quick how to on cleaning the darn thing.  Frankly, it doesn't seem hard enough to warrant a how-to except for the hot tip to remove the wooden handle first.

Coming soon - Target is going to try to beat Amazon at their own game and start offering same-day shipping.

Dudes, stop dying of loneliness and isolation, and start holding hands.  Limited human contact to sex and violence isn't good for you or for anyone else.

And lastly, an interesting piece of how the Getty was protecting its art from potential fire damage this week.