I Tweet. Therefore, I read.

No joke.

The other day I was an unwilling victim to a man who insisted on explaining that "real men don't Tweet."



In that case - and following that unimpeachable logic down its weedy and dark path - it might be of some use to point out, especially to those giving gifts to the kings and queens of the social media game this year, that indeed, not only do real men Tweet, they also read. And promote literacy.

The Chardonnay and Pinot Noir made by Crushpad for Biz and Ev, founders of Twitter, Inc. under the Fledgling label made their way into my home this week as Blushing gifts. 100% of the cases sold will promote literacy. 100%.

These Hostess gifts are among the greatest I have known: In a class with the highway I was gifted, and the bottles of Absolute Boston for the Charles River Conservancy Charity.

I don't know what's in the bottles and I don't care. 1. I would serve it shamelessly to a table of hideous wine snobs and glare at them with daggers in my eyes if they chose to remark on its quality (although, knowing what I do, I can assume it is delicious). 2. I don't care if Biz mixed Concord grape juice and vanilla extract together and called it a Pinot - because it is the right thing to do.

It's on my bottle list now so don't come by if you're a real man who doesn't Tweet.



To you, Biz and Ev; real men who Tweet. Well done.

Order it here, by the palate.

You think. And then you give.

Host and hostess gifts fall into two categories: Brilliant. Boring.

I have a friend who puts a great deal of thought into the gifts she brings; they are nearly always books, but sometimes they are also magazines on a topic upon which I like to read from overseas; British and French decor mags, an underground fashion thing, what have you. All of them brilliant.

Plants and greenery of any kind: Brilliant.

Then sometimes I get cocktail napkins. Yawn.

In the last two weeks I have spotted these two books I will be pleased to give to the modern hosts who are gardeners (or at least have one) and healthy eaters. While they may not seem right up the same alley, indeed, one leads to another.



Landscaping with Fruits and Vegetables, Fred Hagy, is a beautiful book that should have a place in every home: Borders and gardens full of organic produce. This is not a fad, in fact it was a war-time method of survival here in the United States and now it should be a pesticide-free method of the same.



Ani's Raw Food Essentials, Ani Phyo - now hear me out - is another instructional, glorious text for a new way of thinking about food (and those autumn borders filled with cabbage, see above). The Raw Food Movement is not one of my favorites only because of the way it appeared on the scene - too often presented with snobbery by the sanctimonious. But seeing past all that nonsense, if you can, it is the best way to consume food for so many reasons: Clean, unadulterated, easier, faster - I could go on and on. As much as the movement on the whole may annoy the mainstream cook, host, and consumer, the message is perfectly simple and critically important: Just plain good food. It can't miss: Just take the cooking oils out of your life and see what happens to your skin. Trust me, I know.

Give thoughtfully, ya'll.

The Bachelor Entertains

A tramp, a gentleman, a poet, a dreamer, a lonely fellow, always hopeful of romance and adventure.
-Charlie Chaplin

Earlier this week, we looked over a few suggestions for the bachelor pad of a modern, artistic, fearless guy. I received a request for my thoughts on what the same sort might have on hand for entertaining and while not an interiors person, I am happy to stumble around clumsily in chairs and tables until we come to the china patterns; then we are back in my yard.

When it comes to masculine tables, my thoughts always return to this table of Campion Platt's at 2009's Dining by Design.

And this, by Marc Blackwell.

A couple of other rooms which, although grander than the nature of the request, are inspiring:




And now for a few entertaining items: Masculine, elegant pieces for those evenings in.

Items in this set:
Solid Dinnerware - The Horchow Collection
Dinnerware Under $300 Dinnerware - The Horchow Collection
Gump's San Francisco - Twist Coaster Set, $130
Gump's San Francisco - Fine Malt Scotch Glasses, set of 2, $75
Gump's San Francisco - Horn Corkscrew, 4"L, $38

Photo credits: Traditonal Home 1, 4, 5. Blushing Hostess, 2,3

The Bachelor's Suggestion Box

I have long mentioned our unfortunate familial habit of kitchen fires and the patient fire chief just down the hill in our hometown. He is a fire commissioner now and consequently lovingly referred to in Bedford as "Commish" these days. He is also a remarkable artist, graduate of Parsons, and a careful self-made man who built an impressive business. He brought this Depression-era cottage on one of his lots back from the brink on his own and is still working on the place in his spare time.

While I was shamelessly begging and pleading with him to please kindly consider returning to his art in order to do a favor for me, he mentioned he was thinking of inviting every female he knows over at once to gather their best advise on what to do with the front room of his home.

David's art is full of vibrancy and modernist depictions of iconic images: He is hip and fearless with color and his home should be no less layered with interest, boldness, and texture.



And of course I thought of you, my talented readers and wondered, what is your most favorite masculine living space?



Leave me your links or suggestions. A wonderful lifelong friend and I cannot wait to read your input.

In the meantime, I have considered a few rooms which may be helpful to David in his process.












Photos: Living etc.

Enter your favorite post links here or leave a comment with your links or thoughts.

Last minute shopping: A sport for the clever

Oh, Baby. Say it isn't so. Say you did not not not leave this shopping thing until now. Oh, my.

Alright, because I adore you, I am here to help (hopped up on a dose of caffeine so inadvisable and grotesque I hesitate to mention it lest you think my style has been taken prisoner by Starbucks - but no problem, hold me down, I've got you covered). Let's hope these fine retailers are nearby...


Kate Spade, Westbury Opus, at Nordstom, and on mark down.


L'Occitaine, Home Fragrance in Verbena and Rose, retail finder for the US and UK here.


I would love a really heavy throw. Ideally, it is in 6-ply heavy gauge cashmere. However, if I step out of Wonderland for a moment, Pottery Barn does a fine job of creating things under which one can nestle and nestling is something I believe in.
Pottery Barn, assorted throws


It's gorgeous and every home needs one, if not for it's actual purpose, then for a dozen others. Williams-Sonoma, The Martini Pitcher

Williams-Sonoma, Nespresso Automatic Espresso


Williams-Sonoma, Children's cookie and cake decorating set


Apple, iPod Touch


The Bolter, Frances Osbourne, available at Barnes and Noble; "Perhaps nothing is more seductive than the fascinated contemplation of distant shames." writes one reviewer of a granddaughter's biography of Idina Sackville's romp through men and Kenya. At the top of my read list...


The Museum of Innocence, Orhan Panuk, available at Barnes and Noble, "One of the trickier subjects in fiction is that of the hapless suitor, besotted with love, locked in a lifelong obsession with a woman he can neither leave nor have. Yet, for all the perils of that soupy scenario, great literature has come of it. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote memorably of just such a man in "The Great Gatsby"; William Styron, in "Sophie's Choice"; Gabriel García Márquez, in "Love in the Time of Cholera"; and Mario Vargas Llosa, in "The Bad Girl." Now, adding to those triumphant chronicles of the lovelorn, comes Orhan Pamuk's mesmeric new novel, "The Museum of Innocence." - Marie Arana for The Washington Post


The Imperial Cruise, A Secret History of Empire and War, James Bradley, available at Barnes and Noble. James Bradley, author of Flags of our Fathers, recalls the diplomatic mission that President Theodore Roosevelt sent Secretary of War, William Howard Taft on in 1905. Traveling across the Pacific, Bradley reports that Taft made 'secret and unconstitutional' agreements on Roosevelt's behalf that permitted Japanese expansion into the Philippines and Korea and denial of a once promised protection of Korea by the United States.


Nigella Christmas, Nigella Lawson, available at Barnes and Noble. I am certain Nigella needs no introduction...

Good luck in these last moments before the festivities begin, my hopes are with all of you for a fabulous holiday.

Blushing letters: The blade

Catherine,
Can you recommend a very fine knife for my boyfriend?
Thank you,
Ellen
Irvington, NY

Ellen,

I wish I could. Firstly, I don't know the first thing about hunting or fishing knives though I certainly have a few colleagues on the style list to the left who could help if you really must produce a knife for these purposes. If you refer to kitchen knives, I am equally stumped.

This is the thing about knives, Ellen: On my kitchen counter, atop my cutting board is a Henkel's top grade carbon steel chef's knife. When I move, among the first questions I ask of Josh is always where my knife is located; my knife is critical to all that occurs in the kitchen, the center of our home and lives. When I stand in another kitchen and I am handed another's knife, I turn it around in my palm, feel for it's heft, look over its blade, and then miss the feel of my own knife. My friend, Becca, gave me my knife before I was married but allowed me to handle all the best knives available and to pick the one that spoke to me. I could no more select a knife for another than I would pick the art that hangs on their walls. It is intensely personal and entirely individual.

For hunters and fishermen, the same applies: I've a friend who fillets enormous fish with something not much larger than a paring knife. And another who de-joints with a cleaver while I use a chef's knife. A lot of this has to do with one's build and strength; I like a more substantial knife blade which allows me to do a little less work at the shoulder when dealing with meat.

When your boyfriend touches his knife and lays it across his palm, he will know it instantly and in darkness. Don't look at the price tag, don't remark about it being the ugliest one on the wall. Just buy the knife. It is what it is; a hand does not make aesthetic distinctions, the mind does, and in the instance of a primal tool it makes only pointless distinctions. In the end, the knife's work is elemental and primitive, best to leave your head out of it entirely.

All the best,
Catherine

Recipes from an Anglo-Thai Table of Beauty and Mystery

The cookbook which catalogued the legendary offerings of the parties in the darkly mysterious, magnificently beautiful, and tragically remembered Jim Thompson house in Bangkok is now available in English and French, as well as the original Japanese edition. This would be a welcome host or hostess gift for those who admired the textiles and design style of Jim Thompson, and those are - or might be - curious about the man and his social circle (part myth, legend, and tragedy, but all silky style).



House of Jim Thomson.

Host gift style: A little luck never hurt

Bridle leather and the No. 1 shoe, customized with their monogram, I say fabulous. But then again you know, I am hardly objective when it comes to equestrian inspired items for the home.

A fun and completely unexpected host or hostess gift...

Here.

Host gift style: Bacon and Chocolate

Yes, you read that correctly. This Host gift thing is a real issue around here. I have to wonder how to properly thank the gentlemen who have been so very kind to Blushing this year: The Elegantologist, Trad, and ADG, all of whom have written pieces for or about me/ her, The Hostess.

So, what do you think?



The Bacon and Chocolate Library might be right up E&E's alley.



Blog crush Trad gets Bacon, Chocolate, and Stout, I suspect he would dig this; note his Friday posts.



Back-up blog crush, Maxminimus - maybe he would want something to share with his best girl: Bacon, Chocolate, Toffee.

Just a thought, and far better than what I gave them last year.

Now, if Blushing were going to order something for herself - which she absolutely never does because she is very busy with her do-gooderness - she would, naturally, order up one of these:



Piper Heidsieck Brut Rose Sauvage Champagne & Exotic Truffle Gift Box

Fabulous chocolate. It may sound like a bizarre concept but I promise you, it only sounds that way, and only until you try it. I found mine at my local specialty market but you can also order them here. My stocking-stuffers are taking a step up this year, I tell you...

Better to give and receive: The Gentleman Host

Ah, what to give the host? I tried to think outside the bottle here (not that there is anything wrong with being inside, or, ah-hem, at the bottom of the bottle. We do not judge here.). Tell me how I did, don't worry, I can take it.


Cedarwood Marine, Mistral, makes me wonder why some things are not mandatory. They will put three in a fabulous little bundle for you, easy peasy, no?


The Minimalist Cooks Dinner, Mark Bittman (Crown), for a new cook.

For everyone else:
How to Cook Everything, Mark Bittman, (Crown). Comprehensive. And then some.


For the host with everything who like an adventure in his glass: The Glace Luxury Ice Cube. Costs $8 a piece and comes in the mail. Would I kid you?


Shearling lined scuff, LL Bean.


Correspondence valet, for the host with everything. Smythson.

Suggestions?

For a Girl who adores Alice

My closest friend since childhood has a lovely, bright-eyed gorgeous girl who adores Alice in Wonderland. Her talented Mom has read to her from this fantastic tale, allowing her to form her own images and curiosities, for some time now. She is a lucky little princess, having had breakfast with Alice at the Grand Floridian.

Here, is a bit of whimsical glassware from Fishes Eddy, for serving breakfast to the rarefied and thirsty friends of Alice everywhere. Set of Alice Glasses, Fisheseddy.com, $20, also sold individually