Friday Favorites for “Winter” (White on Rice Couple)

We really don’t have a “Winter” down here in the Orange County basin of Southern California. In fact, we might have 2.5 seasons, most of which is mild to warm weather. The other .5 season is pretty much what we’re getting right now, cool dipping down to 48 degrees F this week. Brrrrr. When we get down to 48 degrees, we’re pretty much wearing sweaters and will occasionally adorn a scarf and gloves in the morning. We’re spoiled to be able to go to the beach and romp with the pups in December, but it doesn’t mean that we don’t yearn for snow and colder weather.

Our Winters are filled with what most of the country sees in Fall: leaves changing to hues of reddish/yellow then brown and a nice crisp/cool chill fills the air. It’s the Winter that we know and we love it.

Even when we drop below 50 degrees F, we’ll pretend we’re in the midst of a blizzard. We’re in Winter mode and crank up the oven to bake lots of warm comfort food. A pot of tea is on the stove and we’ve got the fireplace crackling with wood to warm up the living room. It’s fun to pretend that like that and indulge in our favorite warm foods yet not have to scrape any snow off the driveway or on our window shields. It’s nice to have the best of both worlds: great holiday Winter foods and a clear driveway.

We wanted to share with you some of our “Winter” favorites we’ve been enjoying this week, along with some great new finds that we purchased and can’t wait to share with our friends who are coming to dinner:

Jennifer Perillo’s fantastic new recipe journal, Simple Scratch Cooking, filled with wonderful easy, everyday means for the home cook. Her first issue sold out so fast, thank goodness she followed up with another issue for Winter so quickly.

Are you ready for these incredible recipes? Gruyere Cheese and Rosemary Biscuits, Chewy Oatmeal Allspice Walnut Cookies Gingerbread and Chocolate Streusel Cake and more!

Treat yourself to her print edition here or her digital version here. Make her recipes as soon as you can. You’ll be making them for years to come.

Matcha Tea by Breakaway Macha: Our go-to shop for hand-selected, quality macha by Eric. Our latest curiosity lies in his cold-brew mocha tea, which is a very rare organic mocha. The color is spectacular.

We’re also in love with his collections of mocha ceramics and teaware. We just ordered his set of macha creamers and can’t wait to write about those when they’re in our hands!

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