NEWS, NIBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE AND GOOD THINGS TO DO RIGHT NOW

MAKE YOUR PARTY SHINE

WORDS: MORGAN LAWRENCE, FLORA LOUGHBRIDGE, SUSAN LOW, PHOEBE STONE, RACHEL WALKER. PHOTOGRAPHS: ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES, MATTHEW STANSFIELD, DAVID GRIFFEN, BELINDA LAWLEY, CHRISTOPHER HEANEY

Chef Jack Stein is encouraging you to invite people round for festive food and light your gathering with candles. No, he hasn’t gone all soppy – it’s to raise funds for disaster relief charity ShelterBox.

The idea is that your guests donate to the charity, and the candlelight is inspired by the emergency solar lights ShelterBox uses to assist families made homeless by conflict and natural disasters, such as the recent tsunami in Indonesia.

Money raised will help provide items such as tents and water filters for affected families. Order a fundraising pack, including recipes and a quiz, from shelterbox.org/shine

SMELLS LIKE Christmas spirit…

The first taste of mince pie, the warmth of an open fire, the sound of familiar festive songs: Christmas is a feast for the senses. We asked YOU which aromas you find the most evocative of Christmas.

BEST CHEESE ON THE BLOCK

Such a gouda win from Jørn Haflslund

The 31st annual World Cheese Awards have revealed this year’s World Champion Cheese, but don’t get too excited as the chances of you being able to buy it are slim. Norwegian dairy Ostergården, whose aged gouda, fanaost, is the champion, gives new meaning to the phrase ‘small producer’ – Jørn Hafslund (left) makes fanaost from the milk of just 12 (highly pampered) cows. Fanaost came top out of 3,472 entries in the blind-tasting competition in Bergen and was awarded a score of 89 per cent by the 16 judges. Winner Jørn said, “Cheesemakers here look out for each other and work together, so this is for Norway.”