Christopher Niquet: Giving

The Gift suggestions continue today.
Christopher Niquet shares his thoughts about Giving and Christmas Traditions. Christopher was recently captured by Scott Schuman "The Sartorialist" wearing red. "Saint Nicholas" at his elegant best.

Niquet has a monthly culture and style column in Vanity Fair France, and his first book Models Matter is out in the Spring of 2017.  He has been a stylist since the late nineties working for Self Service, Another Magazine, Dazed & Confused, US Elle and Purple, with campaigns for Karl Lagerfeld, A.P.C., Hermes and Zac Posen. (from Fashionista here)

"I am lucky to have a great cook as my partner, but during the holiday I can add to the menu and we always get a giant blini and caviar from Petrossian (here) in New York and replicate Diana Vreeland's caviar pie but with a twist no cheese or herbs, just sour cream and eggs." 

{Image by Oi-Cheong Lee from the Photographic Studio

for the Metropolitan Museum of Art]

Diana Vreeland's Caviar Pie
1 1/2 cups minced white onion, scallions or green onions
8 large hard-cooked eggs
1/4 cup mayonnaise
8 ounces cream cheese or Neufchatel cheese, softened
1 cup sour cream
8 ounces caviar*, 2 or more colors if desired

Spread the onion on paper toweling to drain. Mince the eggs and combine with mayonnaise; set aside. Beat the cream cheese and sour cream together; it should be very smooth.

Lightly coat a 9" round springform pan with butter or cooking spray. Spread the egg mixture evenly over the bottom and sprinkle the onions on top. Drop the cream cheese mixture by spoonfuls atop the onion layer and spread gently with the back of a spoon. (Wet the spoon, if necessary.) Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or overnight.

Before serving, gently spread the caviar over the cream cheese layer in a decorative design. Use waxed paper or even string to outline your design. Accentuate with chopped chives, scallions or parsley, if appropriate.

"I love the Demoiselle pattern from Porthault in the plum color combination and love to gift a small pillow case for a plane or a pouch for your slippers as a gift." here

"I have been wearing Aromatics Elixir by Clinique for years and am trying to get my hands on their perfumers reserve limited edition. iI wear it as a perfume year long but like to use it as a room spray during the holiday." here

"I always pass by Kentshire on the top floor of Bergdorf Goodman for jewelry. I especially like this Art Deco brooch composed of a jade Buddha mounted on a Japanese sword guard." here

"I also like to buy books for friends, this volume compiling the works of editor Phyllis Posnick at Vogue called Stoppers makes the perfect gift as well as a vintage volume of Gay Talese's New York ; A Serendipity's Journey  here.

"And finally, it wouldn't be Christmass without flowers from Zezé (here) who luckily is right around the corner. He has been doing flowers for us for the past 5 years and he just always makes sure the arrangements are right for every room year long." 

From my own list, David's, Jane's, and with Christopher's, parallels for Giving obviously come to light. We love to celebrate the Season with special Foods, spicy Scents, and Books! As we wind down our list of Giving this year, more wonderful ideas emerge from Charlotte Moss in my next posting-Coming soon.

Follow Christopher on ig here