Photograph by Jennifer Sosa

As Christmas fast approaches, Los Angeles-based chef and entrepreneur Olivia Muniak shares her tips on curating a successful festive party for family and friends

For me, the holiday season revolves around dreaming up new and exciting menus that reinvent classic favourites with seasonal ingredients and unexpected flavours. Admittedly, hosting is in my job description, but I take the same pleasure in putting on a magical evening for my friends as I do in designing an event for clients. Below, are a few tricks I’ve learnt over the years to reduce stress and ensure success.

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1. Atmosphere & Music

Curating a successful event in your home is about all achieving the perfect balance of food, drink, atmosphere and music. Personally, I like to use lots of unscented candles dotted around the house and assembled on the dining table. It’s a quick and easy way to create a warm, magical atmosphere.

In terms of music, I usually prepare playlist of my favourite artists such as Cesaria Evora, Amanz, Buena Vista Social Club and Rhye. Random pop or rock songs playing from your Spotify “like” list can make for a bumpy night.

Right now, I can’t stop listening to… Orchestra Baobab.

Olivia mixing cocktails in her home. Photograph by Jennifer Sosa

2. Aperitivo Hour

Building in time to greet your guests with cocktails is the warmest way to welcome someone into your home. I find that if you can allow time to enjoy conversation and a drink with friends, it sets the tone for a more fun and relaxed evening. Having a large batch of cocktails pre-mixed so that you can pour the liquid over ice makes your job as bartender even easier.

Try this cocktail… Bianco (White) Negroni 

Read more: Alain Ducasse & Dom Pérignon’s Ephemeral Dining Experience

3. Wine & Food Pairings

Even the simplest wine pairing can really elevate an event. While some guests or family members might prefer stick to their preference of white or red, try offering different varieties of grapes that enhance the flavours of your dish. It might sound obvious, but I find the best place to start is often the local wine shop. It can be really helpful to get some expert advice based both on what you’re cooking and the kind of atmosphere you’d like to create.

This Christmas I’ll be drinking… a Barolo in Tuscany.

Photograph by Jennifer Sosa

4. Approaching Cooking Like a Pro

People always ask how I make cooking and entertaining look and feel so easy, my answer is always prep! I begin the shopping and the cooking days before the party so that when it comes to the evening, I get to actually enjoy the event.

I start by reading the recipe through a few times to make sure I’m not missing any specific produce or complicated processes – you don’t want your guests arriving just after you’ve discovered the main dish needs 3hrs in the oven. Then, I prepare my mis-en-place (a French culinary term that refers to a chef’s “set” station) so that I have each ingredient pre-measured and ready at my fingertips.

Read more: Prince Robert de Luxembourg on Art & Fine Wine

There are often things that can be done the morning of the event, or even the day before, which will, again, save you time and stress when your guests arrive. Vegetables, for example, can often be precooked and a salad (undressed) can be ready in the fridge. Personally, I like to make the dessert a day or two prior to the party.

I also highly recommend trying to stay on top of your washing up during the cooking process – having an empty dishwasher is a lifesaver for that late-night clean up. Or else, opt for a glamorous approach (it’s Christmas, after all) and hire someone to help out with serving food, pouring wine and clearing away dishes.

The most thumbed cookbook in my kitchen… Gjelina: Cooking from Venice, California by Travis Lett

Photograph by Jennifer Sosa

5. Decor

I’m a collector by nature. Over the years, I have amassed all sorts of dishes, serving platters,  vintage glassware and eclectic trinkets. Personally, I think life’s too short to be precious about Grandma’s china, but if you have a slim collection at home, there are numerous rental companies from which you can source beautiful dishes, glassware and flatware (and most let you return it dirty).

Outside of the necessary items on the table, I like to add small vases with delicate florals, or larger clusters of sparse branches arranged in clear vases so guests can still see each other across the table. A simple, dark velvet ribbon tied around a napkin is a quick way to add texture, colour and sensuality to a table.

My favourite homeware shop… Il Buco Vita in New York City.

Olivia Muniak is the founder of La Cura, a Los Angeles-based catering and events company. For more information, visit: thisislacura.com

The latest release from renowned champagne house Philipponnat: Clos des Goisses 2009

Festive drinks parties might not have started just yet, but it’s never too early to stock the cellar, or drink champagne. Julian Campbell, Champagne Buyer at leading London wine merchant Justerini & Brooks recommends five champagnes for LUX readers

1. Philipponnat Cuvée 1522, 2008

Precise, aromatic notes of salt and red berries, brioche, toast and peach combine to produce an arresting initial impression in Philipponnat’s brilliant 1522 2008. A wine with a beautiful seam of fresh acidity that will allow this to age for many years to come. 8 years sur lie has given fabulous complexity with a savoury, very fine note of freshly baked pastries below the fruit, while also giving the mousse a wonderful finesse and sense of integration. The finish is long and deliciously salty. Only 1200 cases of this brilliant wine were produced.

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2. Pascal Doquet Le Mesnil 2006

All the minerality of Grand Cru Mesnil vineyards combined with Pascal’s vinous, long lees aged style – a real stand out in Pascal’s lovely range of Blanc de Blancs. The product of a supple, solaire vintage that has imbued this with lovely fruit to balance out the deep chalky notes, this is drinking beautifully now but will improve over the coming decade.

3. Philipponnat Clos des Goisses 2009

The latest release from renowned champagne house Philipponnat.  Opening up with a wave of wonderfully fresh cool chalk aromas, then a bold, expressive nose of grapefruit and fresh red berry, citrus and buttered hazelnuts and finally the faintest suggestions of fresh Victoria plum – there’s a great deal going on here, a wonderful marriage between complex richness and keenly rendered flavours. On the palate this is a big and powerful Goisses but also refined, brimming with rich red fruit, pastry, brioche, raspberry and finally the zest of lemons providing a keen, taut edge. Highly vinous, textural, long and complex, this is every bit as regal as we’d hoped. Superb, a true Clos de Goisses.

Read more: 5 travel experiences that will change your life

4. Egly Ouriet Les Crayeres, Ambonnay, Grand Cru, Blanc de Noirs, Brut NV

There’s an element of generous sunshine in this tremendously vinous bottle of champagne, but also a mouth-watering stony element, clear cut golden peach and raspberry, and fantastic chalk definition and minerality on the finish. Long, pure and textural – truly a wine masquerading as Champagne. Made by grapes from an exceptional Ambonnay vineyard with 70 year old vines on intensely chalky soil (at times up to 100m deep).

5. Ulysse Collin, Les Maillons, Blanc de Noirs, Extra Brut, 2013 base

Harvest tends to start here, one week ahead of the other vineyards, and the resulting champagne presents the most glorious red fruit and spice characteristics, huge amounts of pinot appeal, the finest of mousses, with a flourish of red currant, raspberry and ginger spiced pinot fruit on the finish. Aromatic and extrovert while remaining exceptional precision and detail.

For more recommendations and to purchase online visit justerinis.com

Ex-Nobu head chef, Scott Hallsworth, provides Londoners with a rare insight into some of his favourite foods at a wonderfully wintery pop-up that will have your taste-buds tingling and your eyes all aglow this festive season.

Mr. Pig’s cosy Christmas interiors

Kurobuta, the recent brainchild of Scott Hallsworth, and now a permanent fixture in Marble Arch and on the Kings Road since it outgrew it’s original pop-up due to overwhelming popularity, takes its inspiration from the Izakayas of Japan, where tapas-style plates are served to accompany drinks in a casual setting. This December, Hallsworth has gone back to his roots and installed a painfully cool pop-up below the site on the King’s Road, to showcase his love for unusually-combined ingredients – derived from both Japan and beyond.

Scott Hallsworth

Hip, relaxed and with just a hint of East-London edginess, diners sit on metal chairs at communal wooden tables, with chopsticks in recycled tins ready to be tackled, with Hallsworth himself making the dishes to order in the open kitchen a few feet away. This is stripped-back rock ‘n’ roll exemplary gastronomy at its best.

Settle in, get cosy and dive straight into the cocktail list. A sake-based tipple is compulsory, but for those otherwise inclined a ‘Pink Rabbit’ consisting of Patron, Campari and Strawberry Jam, that arrives in a champagne glass with a puff of candy floss sets things off with a bang. Mr. Pig’s real draw however is, of course, the food. The specially-chosen 10-dish-only menu is designed to be enjoyed ‘tapas style’. One could (and should), easily make their way through the entire list. Hallsworth’s favourite – Short Rib Rendang with Coconut and Crab Sambal is a joy, the Eringi Mushrooms baked with Sake, Butter, Garlic and served with Beurre Blanc are mouth-wateringly good, and the Grilled Pork Belly and Pickled Mussel Ssäm with Chili Jam and Roasted Rice is crunchy, juicy and packed with flavour. The best dish? The Crispy Oysters with Nam Jim and Umami Mayo, without doubt. These light, citrusy bites of flavour are enough to make any foodie feel that Christmas has come early.

Hallsworth has done it again. With its low-lighting, cosy atmosphere, relaxed ambience, festive tipples and a perfectly-crafted menu, Mr. Pig is the place to indulge in some festive cheer this December. Open Thursday to Saturday for dinner only, be sure to not miss out.

kurobuta-london.com/mr-pig-london/