This is the season of giving special and meaningful gifts to the people we love the best! I have pulled together a list of my favorite things! Included are thoughtful and fun ideas to nourish the mind, body and soul!

1. The Pocket Cathedral

I would be remiss if I didn’t lift up The Pocket Cathedral as a beautiful gift for the ones you love the best this Holiday! Following is a review from Amazon: It’s as if you have stepped into a beautiful sanctuary. Turning the pages brings the scent of votives and the brush of angels’ wings. The Pocket Cathedral is a gift of prayers, scriptures, and quotes that shine serenity and light into the corners of your heart to bring hope, inspiration, and consolation. Pages to be read with your family, friends, or in times of sacred solitude. A truly blessed benediction! 

Proceeds from each book sold go to help kid’s fighting cancer this Christmas.

2. Bread and Honey Essential Oil

I am most excited about this gift! With the help of a local apocothary, I have created a special Bread and Honey healing oil to calm life’s anxiousness, help to heal your body and nourish your soul. Not only is it my secret for a good night’s rest, but I use it for anointing the sick, calming and blessing my children. It is also a lovely perfume! The combination of chamomile, lavender, frankincense and bergamot have been used for many millenniums in healing. This is a gift that will just keep giving! All the ingredients are organic and the finest on the market! Treat yourself to the special oil. I have one in the car, by my bed and in the kid’s rooms!

3. Herbes de Provence

This is what I would love to find in my stocking this year! Herbes de Provence is the signature ingredient of every dish I make! This special blend of herbs from the south of France (lavender, basil, thyme, fennel, and savory) adds flavor to my soups, roasted chicken, salmon and simple salad dressings. The French melange of herbs comes in the cute Provençal clay pot that you can keep refilling for years! Visit Little Gourmand online or go to their U.S. store right here in Nashville. Ask to see the basket I designed of all the things I love French! I have included the crepes that I will pull out on Christmas morning, chocolate croissants and so much more! The owner Guinevere is as lovely as they come! Give your Christmas a little French flavor!

4. My Last Supper: 50 Great Chefs and Their Final Meals

This book is already wrapped and under the tree with my name on it! Fifty of the best chefs around the world were interviewed about their last meal on earth! It’s a foodie’s dream-reading! One of my favorite female French chef’s said she would enjoy a simple roast chicken, french fries cooked in duck fat and a chocolate eclair! The chefs are also asked to tell the setting of the last meal, who their dining companions would be, drink of choice, music playlist, and who would prepare the meal! This is pure joy for me!

5. Kusmi Ceramic Mug

Call it a form of meditation or spiritual ritual but I sit down every day and have a cup of tea! I absolutely love my Paris “Eiffel” mug and everything from the French tea company, Kusmi. For 140 years they have used the highest-quality, health-boosting leaves with beautiful and unique blends! My favorite is the BB Detox with green tea, maté, rooibos, guarana, dandelion, and flavored with a hint of grapefruit. This is a cute and useful tea cup with the tea insert inside! Check out Little Gourmand for Nashville’s only selection of Kusmi tea and these fun mugs!

6. Bread and Honey Apron & Recipe Cards

I am very excited to introduce the Bread and Honey Apron and packet of recipe cards! I love this apron for the pockets! When I am cooking it is so nice to tuck the recipe in the pocket to keep pulling out and to keep my wooden spoon close by! These recipe cards are the perfect size and you get 6 of my favorite meals for my family: Vegetable soup, Chicken, lemon and olive tagine, and an easy recipe for a tomato tart! Also included are a set of blank recipe cards! I plan on adding more recipes in the New Year!

7. DōMatcha Green Organic Summer Harvest Green Tea

I make a Matcha green tea every single day as does my sister, husband and father in law. The health benefits of drinking the pure ground tea leaves are remarkable.  (See my Matcha blog post). I make mine with almond milk, turmeric, cinnamon, and a little Turbinado sugar. This would be a great health resolution for the New Year!

8. The Hamilton Mixtape

My family is absolutely in love with the music from the Broadway musical, Hamilton. Even my three year old can bust out the opening rap by Lin Manuel: My name is Alexander Hamilton. There are a million things I haven’t done, but just you wait. Just you wait! The Mixtapes were just released this week on iTunes, and boy are they fun! Lin Manuel invited the likes of Kelly Clarkson, Usher, Sia and many other famous artists to sing his songs! Drop an iTunes gift card in the stocking and mark it, “Mix tapes!” Let this be the music track that has you dancing into 2017!

9. Alziari Olive Oil

If I am ever stranded on a desert island, I only need bread and olive oil! I was first introduced to this particular olive oil in Nice, France twenty years ago and it remains a special treat. This is an olive oil to dip chunks of olive and rosemary bread into! I love it!!

10. All is Well Cuff Bracelet

This bracelet was inspired by the words of Maryann Blackman, “May you hear the angels singing over you in the night watches and know that all is well.” But the words, “All is well” can also be found woven throughout the Bible. In my mind, it is the Divine saying, “Take a breath. I have the reins!” You can purchase this bracelet online at Ex Voto Vintage or at their Nashville or Birmingham store locations. A portion of the proceeds goes to fighting pediatric brain cancers. This would make a sweet gift for a daughter, mother, grandmother and friend!

Merry Christmas!!

Farrell