SpiceLines

When: 10:38 AM today.

Where: The kitchen. Watching Greta Scacchi's slow seduction in Heat and Dust.

What: A plump Arkansas Black apple, baked with spices, walnuts, golden raisins, and lemon zest, gilded with heavy cream.

The Taste: Soft apple, sweet and tart, winey juices mingling with brown sugar and butter, delicately perfumed with Indonesian cassia, ginger and clove. Grated Meyer lemon zest intensifies ginger’s citrusy flavor. Walnuts add crunch.

The Bonus: Intoxicating fragrance of apple and spice warms every room of the house.

The Recipe: Blend 4 tablespoons sweet butter with 4 tablespoons brown sugar, 2 teaspoons Indonesian cassia (a.k.a. cinnamon), ½ teaspoon powdered ginger, ¼ teaspoon ground cloves. Add 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts, 2 tablespoons golden raisins, grated zest of one Meyer lemon.

For the saffron-lover, vials of fragrant red threads from Spain, Iran, Kashmir,
Greece and Morocco offer an affordable taste tour of the world's most expensive
spice. Kashmiri saffron shown here, has a slightly acidic floral scent.
From www.lecomptoirdespoivres.com.

I hear it’s going to be a frugal Christmas.

Over at Martha Stewart Living, editors are working overtime on crafty-cheap gift wraps. My favorite: shoving a small gift into a Kleenex box stuffed with paper shreds culled from an office recycling bin, and topping it with a gold bow. Runner up: a red Target bag dangling a pine-scented, Christmas tree-shaped air freshener.

Ouch.

This season the real trick is to make a calibrated splash-- not overly extravagant, of course, but not too Scrooge-ish either—and to do it without smashing the piggybank. Luckily that’s pretty easy, especially now that we’re all retreating to the kitchen and actually cooking again.

Lamb shanks braised in yoghurt with Indian spices are a "frugalista's" reward:
after two hours of slow-cooking, these relatively inexpensive cuts become
delectably tender. The bonus: a rich, savory sauce perfumed with cardamom
and other fragrant spices.

The chile ristra is hanging on the front door, peppery pods twined with red ribbon. All 500 white lights, minus a few derelict ones, are twinkling brightly on the Fraser fir, the prettiest we’ve had in years. The carved Oaxaca cherub is hovering nearby, casting a beneficent gaze on all who gather at the hearth.

I’m ready.

Oh, actually not. There’s a pile of oddly shaped boxes in the attic that need wrapping. Nothing too splashy this holiday, but everyone is getting their heart’s desire, even if they don’t know it yet….

“Frugalista” is the season’s buzzword, at least according to The New York Times. It refers to a person who is both frugal and fashionable. Naturally the newspaper of record was promoting a “splendidly naughty” $3,295 Jimmy Choo evening bag as a last minute stocking stuffer.

In the wee hours, the Buddha’s hand, forming the Darmachakra, or teaching mudra engages the fingered citron, symbol of happiness and prosperity, in a stately minuet.

Happy holidays--and may the coming year be filled with joy, wonder and wisdom.