Metropolitan Home December 2007

Table of Contents

36 Editor’s Page

40 Inbox

43 Word
The best of the best from the worlds of design, travel, food and more.

56 Gift Guide High/Low: It’s Better to Give…
Stylish gifts, chosen for two budgets: tight and flexible.

66 Met Tomes: Shelf Fulfillment
By Michael Lassell
The season’s best and biggest bangs for your book bucks.

70 Weekend Kitchen: A Sticky Situation
By Roscoe Betsill
Flecked with salt or scented with ginger, caramel has come a long way since its days as an ice cream topping.

76 Editors’ Choice: Beauty and the Beast
Serve your holiday meal with decorous refinement or a dash of the wild with the latest in tabletop fashion.

84 Ten Questions: Amy Sedaris
The actor and writer who crosses the threshold from quirky to wacky gives “serious” advice on entertaining.

97 Personal Style
Home design is all about you.

98 Hamptons Real Escape
By Fred A. Bernstein
Met Home of the Month Designer Vicente Wolf helps a New York financier on a peace-seeking mission achieve instant calm in a shingle-style house on Long Island.

108 Czech Mates
By Jean Bond Rafferty
For an art nouveau villa outside Prague, English interior designer Kate Hume and Czech architect Dasca Cerna created a home with historic charm on the outside and a strong sense of modernity within.

116 Happy Blendings
By Susan Morgan
Designer Sasha Emerson’s vivacious mix of patterns, colors and textures brings energy with a sense of humor to a Los Angeles household.

124 Neutral Territory
By Susan Kleinman
Nestled within the urban confines of a Manhattan cityscape, a duplex loft designed by Francine Gardner is grounded in soft earth tones.

132 Simply Simon
By Lisa Skolnik
Chicago furniture retailer Fern Simon exercised well-honed curatorial skills to fashion a look that’s all her own for her Lake Michigan condominium.

138 The Sweet Touch
By Janet Fletcher
America’s best pastry chefs craft new sugary temptations that give year-end traditions a twist. 

142 Recipes

150 Resources

156 Trend Watch: Crease Is the Word
Origami-like creations promote a design aesthetic that’s all about going with the fold.