Advent Calendar: Day 2 – A Glamorous Gift Guide

FASHION CLASSICS

Beaton in Vogue (book). US$25 {Amazon}

UNMISSABLE TV

Downton Abbey, Series 1 and 2, Limited Edition Set. $25 {Amazon}

VINTAGE READS

Party of the Century: The Fabulous Story of Truman Capote and His Black and White Balls. $12 {Amazon}

SCENTED PLEASURES

Jo Malone's new fragrance, Blackberry and Bay. Set to be as popular as her Lime Basil & Mandarin, judging by the reviews. {jomalone.com} {Image via Bloomingdales}

SARTORIAL ADDICTIONS

Annual subscription to Australian Vogue. A beautiful magazine. $69. {vogue.com.au}

CHIC THINKING

'Cookies and Cream' tuxedo-style laptop bag. Forever New. $49. {forevernew.com}

GLAMOROUS GLOBE-TROTTING

'Sienna' bow-tie carry-on case. Forever New. (A great fashion store for gorgeous clothes as well as chic and cheeky gifts) $99. {forevernew.com}

PARISIAN MEMORIES

A romantic, cinematic photo shoot with One and Only Paris. {oneandonlyparisphotography.com}

MORE VINTAGE READS

The Man Who Was Vogue: The Life and Times of Condé Nast. (Great book){Amazon}

MUST-SEE FILMS FOR BUILDING A FILM LIBRARY

 Don't Look Now, one of Julie Christie's best movies, based on the Daphne du Maurier story. One of the great Gothic horror films, it's set in Venice and is still considered a great film. (I won't tell you about the sex scene as it's unladylike: but do some research and you'll see why Donald Sutherland was in trouble and why Christie's boyfriend Warren Beatty demanded they edit it out.)

INDISPENSABLE REFERENCE MATERIAL

1001 Movies To See Before You Die. $21 {Amazon}

FASHION CLASSICS

Audrey: The 60s (Hardcover). Published November 6, 2012. $22 {Amazon}

Advent Calendar, Day 1: Rumtopf – A Guaranteed Good Time

I don't want to scare anyone, but this weekend the calendar clicked over to December 1. Don't worry. The Library has a solution. Every day from now until Christmas, I'm going to bring you a selection of great tips, tricks and alcoholic hits to keep you jolly through the festive season. Kind of like an Advent Calendar of Inspiration. These have all been sent into The Library this past year from generous readers, and I've been saving them up for a special occasion. 

Seeing as I missed Day One and Day Two, here's a whopper Advent offering to kick us all off in style. Rumtopf. Haven't heard of this? Oh baby, you are in for A GOOD TIME with this! Hand it out to the family. It will ease the Christmas tensions in no time. And if anyone's still standing on Christmas night, I'll be impressed.

{Recipe courtesy of my dear friends Gilli and Kendall Carter. Oh – and apparently you need to make this 6 weeks out from Christmas, but don't worry. Just toss some more rum in to give it a kick: it will be fine.) {Glass image via darkrum.org.uk: a great site for delicious drink recipes. Rum from Mauritius. All fruit images by me}

ROCKIN' RUMTOPF

INGREDIENTS

1. Fresh fruit (approximately half a kilo or 1 pound). See below for suggested fruits.

2. Sugar (approximately 200g or 1/2 pound).

3. Good quality (unflavored) dark rum to cover the fruit by 1 inch.

BEST FRUITS FOR RUMTOPF

Strawberries (don't wash, just remove stem & leaves) 

Raspberries (don't wash)

Pears (cored, peeled & sliced)

Pineapple (remove rind & core and cut in large cubes)

Cherries (any variety, stemmed and pitted)

Nectarines (halves, pitted)

Peaches (remove pits and cut in halves, quarters, or slices)

Plums (remove seed and half or quarter)

Grapes (sweet seedless red or green grapes)

Red currants (removed from stem)

Gooseberries (remove stems)

NOT RECOMMENDED:

Apple; blackberries or blueberries; watermelon and cantaloupe; rhubarb; bananas and citrus fruits (oranges and lemons)

DIRECTIONS CONTINUED BELOW...

DIRECTIONS:

Wash and dry the inside of the Rumtopf. A great suggestion is to use a chinoiserie ginger jar, which you can plonk straight onto the Christmas table.

Wash and dry the first chosen fruit. Remove any stems, seed and pits.

Place all the fruit and 200g or a half pound of sugar into the Rumtopf.

Pour in enough rum to cover the fruit by at least one inch.

Cover the opening of the Rumtopf with tightly with plastic (to avoid evaporation) and place the lid firmly on top.

Store in a cool place away from heat and direct sunlight.

You may even store the Rumtopf in the refrigerator.

Every week add an additional layer of fruit and more rum, following the instructions above, until your Rumtopf is full. Test for flavour. (You may need to test it a lot.)

Check periodically to make sure their is no extra fermentation taking place.  If you see bubbles beginning to develop, you have fermentation.  If this happens, add rum that is 151 proof to suppress the fermentation. Yes, you heard right, 151 proof. Just toss that juice in baby.

SERVE WITH:

Serve the Rumtopf syrup (hot or cold) over ice-cream, cake, flan, puddings, or cheese cake. 

Serve the strained liquid as a liquor or after-dinner cordial.

Add two tablespoons of the strained liquid to Champagne for a fantastically toxic cocktail.

Lay some of the warmed fruit onto crepes on Boxing Day. Add a heap of whipped cream or ice cream, if desired. 

And here's some good ol' retro 1980s music to stir all that good ol' rum to – Cee Lo Green's version of Daryl Hall's I Can 't Go For That, recorded live at Daryl's house. Link here

And if you like that, then you'll love this – link. It'll make you dance in the kitchen!

Les Mis & Other Fantastic Films For The Festive Season

Oh, thank you Film Gods. After years of what seemed to be a string of wishy-washy, lowest-common-denominator, what-was-the-plot-again? movies over the festive season, the heavyweights in Hollywood have done a cinematic U-turn and are bringing us a feast of films this Christmas. From Anne Hathaway's Oscar-worthy performance in Les Mis to film adaptations of the cult books Cloud Atlas and Life of Pi, we're heading for a whole lot of big-screen drama this holiday season. Get the popcorn ready.

LES MIS

Right from Anne Hathaway's first, memorable note of I Dreamed A Dream, this movie sets the tone for an extraordinary tale of broken dreams. Based on the famous story of tragedy and passion set during the French revolution, Les Misérables stars Aussies Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe, along with  Helena Bonham Carter (always need Helena in a period piece) and Amanda Seyfried (Mamma Mia). All of the dialogue is sung, but it doesn't seem to be as tiresome as you'd imagine. Even ol' Russ is pretty good at carrying a tune. Anne Hathaway is being tipped for an Oscar, and it's easy to see why: she's magnificent in the trailers alone. Released December 25.  Trailer here and website here

CLOUD ATLAS

Cloud Atlas is a very, very complicated story. It's also a very long story. If you're not someone who can sit in a cinema seat for three hours, don't bother. But you'd be missing what appears to be a brilliant movie. Tom Hanks and Hugh Grant are entirely out of their comfort zone, Halle Berry and Susan Sarandon are as gorgeous and as skilled as always, and the rest of it is a visual extravaganza. The adaptation of David Mitchell's beloved bestseller was always going to be ambitious, but thankfully it seems to have worked. A film to make you think. Recently released.  Trailer here and website here.

DJANGO UNCHAINED

I'm in love with New Orleans at the moment. (Have you seen the new book out from Assouline?) And in the hands of Quentin Tarantino, this modern western set in the South comes alive – even with all the deaths in it.  Jamie Foxx is the slave-turned-bounty hunter and Leonardo DiCaprio is the plantation owner, and there's a lot of blood-stained, cotton field-covered Mississippi backcountry, but there's also a lot of humour and fresh perspectives. Another Tarantino success. Released December 25. Website here.

LIFE OF PI

I never managed to read this highly acclaimed and bestselling novel by Yann Martel, so I shall wait the movie and then tackle the book. It's the wrong way around, I know, but with Ang Lee as director, this is one film that's bound to be beautiful. It's very different to Lee's other films, such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Brokeback Mountain, but it's a magical journey of love, loss, hope, faith and spirituality nonetheless. It's a complex, mulit-layered tale, often told through cultural symbology, so it may pay to read up on some reviews before you see it so you don't miss the many references. Recently released. (January 1 in Australia)  Trailer here.

The Return Of The Glamorous Years

Jay Gatsby is back. 

This excites me more than anything. More than hearing Pantone's prediction for 2013 is Monaco Blue. Even more than hearing that Downton Abbey is doing a fourth series. (But sadly, without Matthew and Mary. Oh Matthew, why are you falling for Broadway?) 

I'm so excited about the return of The Great Gatsby that I don't think I can wait until May 10 for Baz's beautiful film. In fact, I'm quietly worried that we'll all be OVER the 1920s by then. Seeing Baz's version after the world has already gorged on the trend will be like seeing Robert Redford lying in the pool after being shot in the back by Myrtle's husband George Wilson. Quietly anti-climatic. 

Gatsby was everywhere in Paris last month. Everywhere.  If you blinked, you could've been forgiven for thinking you'd fallen into a time slip and landed with a clatter of pearls at a gin-soaked soiree on Long Island somewhere. Many of the big fashion boutiques were busily devoting windows to the decadence of the 1920s, bookstores were filling windows with F. Scott numbers, and florists were doing arrangements using lots of black and gold. 

We're definitely seeing a return to the va-va-voom years.

Vintage cover.

Kate Spade clutch.

A still from Baz Luhrmann's forthcoming movie with Leonardo diCaprio.

A stamped tribute.

F. Scott Fitzgerald's former home in Paris. 

I always walk past on my walk to the Luxembourg Gardens and pause in respect.

Another of F. Scott Fitzgerald's apartments on the St Sulpice Square, now a fancy hotel. 

FSF's passport.

A fantastic book about Sara and Gerald Murphy (supposedly the inspiration for many of FSF's books), and their time with Scott and Zelda in the south of France,

A poster in a Paris bookstore.

A poster for Baz's new film.

The trend for 1920's legs is already showing up in London department stores. {Unsure of credit}

{Unsure of credit, but love it.}

One of Grace Coddington's most beautiful shoots, for US Vogue.

Bryan Ferry's latest reinvention, assisted by some alluring 1920's style women. Very Ferry. {Shot by Richard Grassie}

Series Three of Downton Abbey which opens in the spring of 1920.

Giorgio Armani.

Shakespeare & Co in Paris

Shakespeare & Co; a bookstore that's far, far more than just a literary cliché. It's a place that groans (quite literally, because the floorboards are stairs are so old) with history. The atmosphere here is wonderful. No wonder FSF and Hemingway loved it.

Ralph Lauren, who dedicated his St Germain windows to a Gatsby theme.

Johanna Johnson.

A new rug collection by Catherine Martin (Baz's parter), inspired by the film.

Via the lovely Collage of Life. 

And this quote, my dear friends, is precisely why I love this writer so much.