Wishing You a Wonderful Holiday Season!


I kicked off the holiday season by having cappuccinos with a friend at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in midtown Manhattan. 

I hope you had a good Thanksgiving and that you have terrific plans for the holiday season ahead. Don’t you love it when Thanksgiving is a bit early so there’s more time between that holiday and the next ones? Right now, I’m not only Christmas shopping and collecting recipes for some entertaining ahead, but also starting to pack for our winter-long stay at our home in Uruguay. One of the things I always bring is Hellmann’s mayo because the version they sell in Uruguay just isn’t the same. For me, homemade chicken salad and coleslaw are two of life’s little pleasures. You, too?

When I’m frazzled, which I sometimes get at this time of year, I like to use the four-square breathing technique (also known as box breathing) that I first heard about from the race car driver Julia Landauer, a really impressive woman I was once on a panel with. I swear it really helps.

A Fabulous Book Bargain for You!

Calling all lovers of fabulous book bargains. The eBook of one of my most popular stand-alone thrillers, The Wrong Man, will be on sale for only $1.99 on all major platforms until the end of today, December 4.

[Amazon] [BN] [Apple] [GooglePlay] [Kobo]

What I’m Watching

Britbox - Payback
Payback
On BritBox

This is a six-part British series about an ordinary woman who inadvertently becomes embroiled with a terrifying crime boss (and I do mean terrifying!). I didn’t think I was going to love this one, but I stayed with the first episode and by the end I was absolutely hooked. The star, Morven Christie, gives a really compelling performance.

What I’m Serving

[photo: recipe]I love pie at Thanksgiving, but by Sunday of that weekend, I’d had enough sugar for the month. Problem: I was having friends over dinner that night. I ended up serving cheese, fruit, and a baguette after the main course (chicken piccata) instead of a dessert, and it was just the right touch.

I first had cheese post dinner many years ago on one of my early trips to London, and I later discovered that it’s not uncommon for Brits and certain Europeans to finish a meal this way. One of my closest friends is French and he says that when he was growing up in his family’s farmhouse in Brittany, they always kept cheese out on the kitchen counter (not the fridge) and served it following the main meal.

Okay, granted there’s fat and a few carbs here, but there’s very little sugar.

And oh, what a divine way to finish an evening.

Until next month, all the best,

Kate White