It’s that time of year when we find ourselves thinking about who’s made our naughty and nice shopping lists, plus it’s the season of temptation, especially those calorie-laden goodies we’re prone to gobble at holiday parties. It’s the first week in December, and already, I’ve been to two parties, a trunk show that featured the exquisite jewelry made by my dear friends, Anna Porcu and Silvia Pavanello from Tuscany, plus a wonderful San Antonio Book Festival event at Texas Public Radio with Texas Monthly Magazine superstar, Skip Hollandsworth. Skip—that’s the name he was born with, or so he claims—is a national treasure, but more about Skip later. Would you believe I was having so much fun this week, I forgot to take any photographs? Even so, I can still share some of Brenda Coffee’s Favorite Things.

Unless you love overcrowded malls, and wouldn’t miss the experience for anything, I’ll save you the trouble with a few online links. 

I DID take one photograph! It was Silvia Pavanello’s birthday, and we surprised her with a cake and champagne. Silvia’s on the left, in one of the fabulous kimonos she makes, and Sherry Sanderson of A Little Room, is on the right, wearing one of Anna Porcu’s museum quality cameos she and her Tuscan craftsmen made into a stunning necklace.

St. John knits was an upscale brand our mothers’ and grandmothers’ generation wore: matching jackets and skirts for the ladies who lunch bunch. But recently, St. John has jumpstarted their brand by appealing to younger generations with pieces like my timeless Sinclair Jacket, updated with a sprinkling of rhinestones and light-catching metallic threads. It also has a matching skirt, but I just bought the jacket–it’s still on sale–to wear with jeans and this fun Johnny Depp t-shirt, a birthday gift a few years ago from a friend. I added black, wide-legged “The Secret Sauce” jeans from Ayr, thank you, Jacqui Getz, for telling me about them in our interview, and Hogan’s retro-looking, gum-soled sneakers. The whole look is elevated, yet fun and youthful, and I can continue to wear the jacket for years to come with white pants and blue jeans in the spring and summer. Whether it’s an informal meeting, or grocery shopping, this has become one of my favorite things to wear.

For everyone who will be dropping by in the next month or so for appetizers and drinks, here are a couple of things I’ll be serving.

For starters, I think you’ll love this make-ahead, easy, and delicious cocktail. It’s a Citrus Pomegranate Champagne Smash, a beautiful and tasty combination of pomegranate juice, blood oranges, orange liquor, ginger beer, and champagne. Serve it in anything from a champagne coupe to a highball glass. The glass doesn’t matter because the drink, itself, will be the center of attention. 

Then there are these Sweet and Savory Cheesy Bacon Wrapped Puff Pastry Twists! Hello! I had something similar this week, and they’re easy and fabulous as an appetizer and will taste great with the Champagne Smash. Actually, a plate of these and a salad, and I’d be a happy girl!

Now, let’s talk about Skip Hollandsworth.

David Martin Davies and Skip Hollandsworth at the San Antonio Book Festival event at Texas Public Radio. (Photo by Alejandra Sol Casas)

Skip is an American treasure, a published author, journalist, screenwriter, and executive editor of Texas Monthly Magazine, long regarded as one of the top magazines in the country. I have a multiple decades long, personal history with a number of Texas Monthly writers, as well as the audacious and cheeky founder, Mike Levy, who once sent me a stuffed gorilla the size of my refrigerator. No joke! The UPS man had trouble getting the box up the front steps of the infamous Spy House on the Hill I wrote about in my memoir, MAYA BLUE.

Texas Monthly writers are legendary for their hit you between the eyes, true crime stories that, at the same time, are peppered with the ability to make you double over with laughter, and Skip Hollandsworth’s new book, She Kills: The Murderous Socialite, the Cross-Dressing Bank Robber, and Other True Crime Tales is no exception. Skip is credited with shaping the true crime genre, and it’s a wonder I’ve put the book down long enough to write about it. Thank you, Skip! It’s a terrific read!

Skip’s book will make a great gift for anyone who likes to read true crime or read about the human foibles of people, or women in this instance, since all the people he writes about in his new book are women. Like the jaw-dropping “trial of the century.” The well-known Houston socialite who was accused of plotting her husband’s murder, and of having an affair with her nephew, but as Skip says, she “was only getting started.”  

I have more things to share, but I’ll save them for my next Brenda Coffee’s Favorite Things. In the meantime, I hope you have a Happy Holiday, and please stay safe and healthy. What are you doing for the holidays?