LONDON — Looking to create a bit of winter luxury when tending bar at home this holiday season? London’s top cocktail-makers have some tips.

If you’re looking for something to make your holiday meal easier, this pie might be the answer.

Poinsettias are like Christmas budgets this time of year. Both are in the red. But what is that white flowering bush blooming freely now? Read on if you want to know. In the meantime, if you want to give inexpensive gifts with a personal flair, living plants that fit the personality of the recipient are ideal. However, be careful with your choices. There is a big difference between a succulent plant that might have romantic inferences and a spiny cactus that says something else! Poinsettias are blooming in some areas and not doing well in others.

Writing about visiting gardens on a recent trip to the San Francisco Bay Area, I was reminded of the lyrics of the 1960s song San Francisco by Scott McKenzie: “If you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.” Well, I left my haku lei at home, but I did visit a few interesting gardens and can recommend more, if you’re going to San Francisco.

U.S. Sen Mazie Hirono will answer kupuna questions on how the Inflation Reduction Act will lower prescription drug prices for Medicare recipients at a live telephone forum sponsored by AARP Hawaii at 9 a.m. Dec. 17.

I just tasted a seafood dish with aji amarillo sauce at a local restaurant. It’s a yellow hot pepper sauce that gives a sweet and hot pepper flavor to the dish. I wanted to make the dish at home and was delighted to find the sauce in a jar at the supermarket. So, I created this simple dish. It captures the flavors of Peru, without a long preparation time. If you can’t find aji amarillo ready-made, this recipe will work with hot paprika instead.

Fruitcakes are a holiday treat many people love — and many more, it seems, love to hate. Stale jokes aside, though, the fruitcake has a long history that even predates Christmas itself.

ertain elements of a holiday look give us that Christmas feeling. Images of holly and mistletoe, twinkling trees and vintage Santas are what I conjure in my mind when thinking of holidays past, and Nostalgic Noel is a look that delivers in spades for me. Classic but fun, this Christmas decor delivers whimsical vibes at every glance.

round this time of year, Rose Keiko Higa often finds herself making holiday cards for family and friends. An art history major at Oberlin College, in Ohio, she uses cut and layered paper to craft Christmas cards, and paints traditional Japanese New Year’s cards on watercolor paper.

When did fall slide into winter?

When I saw the name of this pasta recipe, Cheapskate Pasta, I wondered what it was. It’s in Francine Segan’s new book, “Pasta Modern: New & Inspired Recipes from Italy.” In a recent interview she told me that it’s a recipe to use up foods from your cupboard. It’s also an easy vegetarian recipe. I’ve adapted her recipe for this quick dinner.

Nephi’s Smokehouse recently established a scholarship in honor of the owner’s nephews, Dexen and Kaeden Matsuyama, who tragically died in a 2015 house fire.