Latest fromViva
Recipe: Toffee nut brittle
Softened butter to grease an oven tray, ¼ cup water, 1 cup white sugar, ½ cup light corn syrup, 1½ cups raw peanuts, ½ cup pecan nuts, ½ tsp salt, 2 Tbs butter, 1 tsp baking soda
Recipe: White Christmas truffles with brandied cherries
Makes approximately 20. 20 fresh cherries, 50ml brandy, 100g butter, ½ tin condensed milk, ½ cup white chocolate, chopped, 375g crushed wine biscuits
Recipe: Ginger, hazelnut and orange chocolate
This recipe needs to be made a day ahead. 400g dark chocolate - at least 60 per cent cocoa solids, 200ml cream, Zest of one orange, plus a little extra to garnish, 2½ Tbs crystallised ginger, finely chopped
Smells like Christmas
The interplay between fragrance and memory prompts powerful emotions. Every season leaves a scent trail, but perhaps none more so than at Christmas.
Christmas is in the air
Isaac Sinclair, Ecoya's New Zealand-raised, French-trained, Brazilian-resident perfumer, answers Viva's questions about home fragrance.
10 Favourite Things: Wallace Rose owner Sandra Harden
Ponsonby Rd favourite Wallace Rose reopened its doors last month following a year's break for owner Sandra Harden.
How to impress your guests
Go on admit it, we all do it - check out what is on display in the bedrooms and bathrooms when we stay at or visit other people's homes.
Beauty in New York
Book in - or look in with Viva - to find out what it's like to play Park Avenue princess for a day.
Just our cup of tea
Vincent Chen brews up a brilliant idea in the form of the world's most pure tea, grown here in Waikato.
Giving sponge cakes a try (+recipes)
Sponges need a gentle touch but the results are worthwhile.
Kiwi ingenuity for a cool operator
Industrial design student Ben de la Roche shares his inspirations.
Bobbi Brown's empire leads her to NZ shores
Makeup mistress Bobbi Brown opens her first flagship store in Australasia this weekend.
The Hobbit beauty inspirations
The experts reveal the beauty routines that go in to creating the magical looks for the cast of the The Hobbit.
Q & A with Marc Jacobs
Renowned for his collaborations with leading artists, Louis Vuitton designer Marc Jacobs teams up with Daniel Buren for its spring/summer 2013 collection.