Jacques Gandouin, Le Petit Larousse du Savoir-vivre & Republican elegance…
Emily Post, Eleanor Roosevelt & William Hanson…
February Literary Mood Board • The Art of Good Manners, Part I…
Last Tuesday, I turned down an invitation to a gallery opening—the kind of event I usually love—and…
Returning to the Basics: Why I’m Re-reading My Bookshelf in 2026 January arrived this year not as a…
A Gentle January: Literature, Fireplaces and the Art of Slowing Down When the Christmas ornaments go…
A nourishing, vibrant broth for slow January days, inspired by the travels of Lesley Blanch The…
When Creation Becomes Listening There’s a particular moment at the end of the year when I feel…
Belgian Advent Calendar – Day 24 Do you remember what it felt like to believe in magic? Not…
There is something almost poetic about a vegetable that requires absolute darkness to find its…
Belgian Advent Calendar – Day 22 The ritual begins before the first sip—before the tea even…
Belgian Advent Calendar – Day 21 The winter solstice is one of the most meaningful moments of…
Germaine Absalon owned Café Vlissinghe in Bruges in the 1950s, and by all accounts, she ran it with…
Belgian Advent Calendar – Day 20 I’m sitting here with a cup of tea and a brand new copy…
Belgian Advent Calendar – Day 19 After Ghent’s golden towers and Bruges’ brass…
Belgian Advent Calendar – Day 18 I’m imagining myself sitting in a Brussels brasserie…
Belgian Advent Calendar – Day 17 I’m standing at the edge of the Minnewater—the Lake of…
Belgian Advent Calendar – Day 15 There’s a particular madness that overtakes you in…
Belgian Advent Calendar – Day 14 I’m starting today with a cup of coffee—a scented Irish…
Belgian Advent Calendar – Day 13 In Belgium, the tree doesn’t come out immediately after…
Belgian Advent Calendar – Day 12 As I wandered through the Christmas market in Bruges, the air…
Belgian Advent Calendar – Day 11 There’s a particular quality to Belgian light in…
Belgian Advent Calendar – Day 10 Do you remember when you learned how to look at art? Who was…
Belgian Advent Calendar – Day 9 You cannot speak of Belgium without speaking of Art Nouveau…
Belgian Advent Calendar – Day 8 There’s a particular tyranny in the modern insistence…
Belgian Advent Calendar – Day 7 There are places in Brussels where the past doesn’t…
Belgian Advent Calendar – Day 6 There are countries you love because you were born in their…
Belgian Advent Calendar – Day 5 It wouldn’t be December 5th at The Ritual of Reading if…
On the eve of Saint Nicholas, Belgian children place their shoes by the fireplace, hoping to wake up…
Belgian Advent Calendar – Day 4 “Every town is a state of mind, a mood which, after only…
Belgian Advent Calendar – Day 3 I grew up in Europe’s Eastern-continental climate in the late…
Belgian Advent Calendar – Day 2 Have you ever watched a flame flicker and felt, for a moment…
Belgian Advent Calendar – Day 1 Welcome back, dear friends, to the fifth edition of our Advent…
Discover the Voices That Shaped French Literature on Their Own Terms…
Let’s Talk About Female Authors November has arrived wrapped in wool and melancholy, and Paris…