December: Sam's List

Holiday season is in full swing. Whether it's dinner parties, cozy coffee's, walks through the city or cuddling on the couch - every's trying to forget this dreary weather and bring in that warm spirit. There's so much i've been loving this path month and because it's holiday season I decided to squeeze a sixth thing I love in the list. Sit back, read, enjoy and get inspired for your next dinner party.

1. Food Concepts - I don't think it's a secret that i'm pretty in love (…some may say obsessed) with my hosts, their themes and their table designs.  They truly never cease to amaze me in what they create and these three host's have really been blowing me away with their concepts, how they look at food and build a table. 

• Mays - Kat (Living & hosting in Berlin) creates dining concepts that are true art. She has both a gastronomy background and one in architecture and it shows in how she formulates how the food sits on the table. I mean, look at those tortilla's from above?
• Sobremesa - Raquel (Living & hosting in Amsterdam) creates these warm, decatate dishes that truly just make you want to curl up next to the fireplace with a view…or sit out on the terrace in the sun but we're not getting that anytime soon. She's about to launch her first cookbook and he dishes are ones that you want to have for your dinner party. 
• Sakai Cook's - Agnes (Living & hosting in Amsterdam for now) takes her Japanese and Brazilian heritage and creates unforgettable menu's with insane flavors that can brought to your table. 

2. Butter Art - There's no shying away that I'm a bread and butter girl. Those two things can put a smile on my face pretty damn quickly. But in the world of culinary arts, where flavors dance and textures entwine, butter doesn't always get it's place. I recent years it's been making waves in new ways (The board, whipped etc,) and slowly rising is butter as table art. 

Beyond its functional role as a cooking ingredient, butter transforms into a medium of creativity. Allowing us to sculpt, mold, and create cute aestheic feels both for the eyes and taste buds. Currently I'm playing around not just with piping but different shapes, patterns, molds and even bows for my dinner parties. 

3. Bows on Candles - It's bow season! Bows in your hair, bows on a present, bows on a tree. I even put them on my wine glasses for my birthday party and it was such a nice little whimsical treat. But what i've been seeing recently and truly can't wait to recreate is the bows on a candle stick. Just an overload of bows piled up looking elegant and stunning. I'm a true believer that you can never have enough bows and bow can never be too big. 

4.The July  - It's no surprise that I'm extremely particular on who we work with as a brand. We turn down quite a lot of partnerships because we don't feel there is a natural cohesion between the two of us. Let me say, when the women of The July (What used to be Boat&co. in Amsterdam) reached out about doing dinners with them in their rooms, I was beyond excited. It's not only a hotel room but a full kitchen so it actually feels like i'm welcoming the women into my home for the evening. It was always the tricky part about doing these dinners in restaurants in general - it never quite felt like you could connect in that loud space. So this felt like a easy meld of our two worlds. If you haven't checked out their Lobby & Bar (where you can EASILY work or get a nice coffee during the day) I would highly recommend it. If you see me working there, please come say hi! 

On to the night! We hosted our first one and it was just chef's kiss. The theme was “No Dictionary Definition” where we bought together 6 women who couldn't be defined by a dictionary definiton of themselves. The table decor, the food, the conversation were as nourishing as you can imagine. We've put our next evening live on the platform  and i'm so excited to welcome the next group of you to the night.

5. Kindred- As some of you are aware, we spent all of November in the USA and with that, I did my first Kindred apartment. It was seriously so great - I have nothing but good things to say about it and it will definitely be how i am traveling in the future (for both long and short stays). It's women founded and I think the thing I love about it most is the fact that the only people who are invited to come on the platform must have the home as their primary residence. So landlords that own a bunch of “airbnb” homes aren't able to come on and put them up. Because it's a credit system and/or home swap - very transparently - we only ended up paying €250 for 2.5 weeks in Philadelphia. How can you beat that?  You do need to be invited to the platform (& only are given 3 invites yourself) but in speaking to them, I was able to get an invite code for you women. I do not get any $$$ for this, I truly just want to pass it along. Learn more about it HERE. Happy traveling my women. 

6.Holiday Shop Hop  - For you women in Amsterdam (or visiting during this period) - The women of La Louème (& all of these other incredible shops) are putting on a holiday shop on their street in Amsterdam East (Czaar Peterstraat) on Saturday December 2nd and December 16th. I not only rent their tablewear for my evenings but purchase from these women quite often as well. If you're looking for a great Saturday activity to do with your women, this is it. Stop by La Loueme and tell them I sent you :)