When cocktail hour calls for something special, we like to add a splash of syrup to our Gin Fizz.

Husband-and-wife team Emily Butters and Forrest Butler handcraft the most splendid syrups using hard-to-find spices and certified-organic, fair-trade ingredients. The Royal Rose repertoire includes cardamom clove, autumn plum, tamarind and lavender lemon. Have a look at some sample recipes here.

The syrups are made with cocktails in mind, but are equally scrumptious in teas or drizzled on berries and ice cream. —Athena Tsavliris

www.royalroseny.com

Christmas is a time for extravagance. From cocktail hour to afternoon quaffing, enhance the mood with these wonderful wine pairings. Click the links below for LCBO availability.

Toast: Premier Brut Champagne ($319), Louis Roederer: www.champagne-roederer.com

Starter: Non-Oaked Chardonnay VQA, Henry Of Pelham 2009 ($6.95). We watched a program about this estate and it looks great.

Main course: Pinot Noir, Dan Aykroyd ($14.95) from Niagara Peninsula—goes beautifully with Turkey.

Pudding: Inniskillin ice wine ($79.30). One of Canada's best! www.inniskillin.com

Cheese and afternoon quaffing:Cabernet Rose VQA, Peninsula Ridge 2007 ($14.05). www.peninsularidge.com

A French martini is our favourite high-summer cocktail.

Ingredients

1 1/2 oz vodka
1/4 oz Chambord raspberry liqueur
1/4 oz canned pineapple juice

Method
Pour into a martini shaker, shake with ice and serve in a cocktail or martini glass. 

These proportions pack quite a punch but for a little je ne sais quoi, top with a splash of Prosecco and add one or two fresh raspberries to each glass. 

Trust us, you’ll be the most popular hostess in town.

If a trip to Buenos Aires is nowhere in your tarots, may we suggest inviting the indigenous flavours of South American cooking into your home instead?

For just a few weeks, Argentine chef, Diego Felix will be in Toronto whipping up traditional Paraguayan corn cakes, halibut ceviche and avocado and lime pies in kitchens across the city. 

The 34-year-old BA native has garnered considerable buzz since setting up his ‘secret’ supperclub, Casa Felix, a few years ago. Much like the food he is known for at home, the meals he offers on his North American tour take local and indigenous products and combine them with South American cooking methods, techniques and recipes.

In Toronto he might bake bread using Red Fife wheat while in Chicago he might prepare a Peruvian inspired Tacu Tacu with Anishinaabeg hand harvested wild rice.

He’ll cook, he’ll serve, and he’ll even do the washing up!

"Buen Appetito!"

Felix will be in Toronto from May 20-June 2. A four course tasting menu with cocktails and wine pairings prepared in your home costs approx $90 per person. For more info contact Felix, diego@diegofelix.com

You’ve been indulging for a month straight. Why stop now? Step into your favourite jammies and feast on French toast in bed this Christmas morning.

Ingredients
4 slices of Pandoro, about half an inch thick
1/2 cup whole milk
2 egg yolks
1 tsp. sugar
a pinch of cinnamon
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
icing sugar/syrup/crème fraîche for garnish

Method
1. In a large bowl combine the milk, egg yolks, sugar, and cinnamon and whisk until mixed.
2. Melt the butter in a large pan over a medium heat. Once the butter is melted, dip your first Pandoro slice in the mixture.
3. Saute the Pandoro in the butter for a few minutes on each side and then move to a plate while you cook the remaining Pandoro pieces.
4. Top with icing sugar, maple syrup or crème fraîche and berries.

Note: You can make French toast with any bread that tickles your fancy, but we like to use this rich, Italian, egg-y bread.
Recipe serves 2.

Auguri!

Buy your Pandoro at Lady York, 2939 Dufferin St., Toronto, 416-781-8585 and other Italian food stores.

Last week we brought you spicy gluvine. This week we’re celebrating the festive season with gallons of rich and creamy eggnog guaranteed to get everyone feeling warm and fuzzy—even Uncle Ebenezer.

You will need:
20ml bourbon 

30ml spiced rum
65ml whole milk 

35ml double cream 

1 free-range egg, cracked into a bowl 

3 tsp white sugar

1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

ice to serve



Method


1. Place all of the ingredients, except the nutmeg and ice, into a cocktail shaker and shake it all together.

2. Strain the mixture into a short, ice-filled rocks glass.

3. Serve with a sprinkle of freshly grated nutmeg.
Recipe is for one. Double, triple, etc. as required.

Cin, cin!

Let’s pretend we’re on the sunny slopes of Gstaad, sipping gluvine while we wait for our bratwurst to arrive.

Gluvine Ingredients (serves six):
1 bottle red wine
½ cup demerara sugar

1 cinnamon stick

grated nutmeg

1 orange, halved

1 dried bay leaf

Method:

Put the wine in a saucepan with the orange, sugar, bayleaf and the spices. Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved. Taste to see if you want the wine sweeter, and add more sugar to taste. Turn off the heat and strain into heatproof glasses. Serve at once.

Note: mulled wine is best served strong and sweet, so don’t be shy with the sugar.

Who said, “Good taste is death. Vulgarity is life?”

Find out by flicking through Florence Muller’s highly addictive Fashion Game Book.

This stylishly-bound fashion plate is brimming with quizzes, flip-tabs and matching games for the well-versed sartorialist.

Warning: Watch out for the girl with the acrylic nails—fashion trivia is known to bring out the feline in every fashionista.

Available at Amazon.ca ($22).

Potatoes roasted in goose fat; turkey stuffed with panettone; pudding doused in brandy—no other holiday is quite a gluttonous as Crimbo.

Bursting with festive cakes, cookies, sauces, preserves and trimmings, the recipes in Nigella Christmas will guarantee a holiday of decadent feasting.

Chapters include "The More the Merrier" (Cocktails, Canapés and Manageable Mass Catering), "Seasonal Support" (Soups, Salad, Sauces and Serve-later Sides) and "Joy to the World" (Christmas Baking and Sweet Treats).

Who’s washing up?

Available at Teatro Verde, 7 Avenue Rd., Toronto, 416-966-2227, www.teatroverde.com and at Amazon.ca ($31.50).

With the holidays around the corner everyone will be entertaining. Here are a few secrets to being a hassle-free hostess.

• Unless you have a fleet of staff, get everything done before hand (ie: if it’s pasta have your sauce ready and water on a simmer before your guests arrive).

• Table-top cooking like fondue and hot rock is a fuss-free way to break bread and the ice with your guests. Throw in a tossed salad and some condiments and you’re off.

• Don’t be too purist. Stock cubes, ready-roll pastry and tinned tomatoes are all more than acceptable and no one will ever taste the difference.

• Grown-up dinner invitations shouldn’t extend to dogs unless they are impeccably behaved. Ditto to children.

• Check with your guests if they have any food intolerances. Food fads and diets do not apply. You’re not running a restaurant.

• Seat the good talkers next to the good listeners, buy twice as much wine as you need, and everything will be ok.