bakeries

If you’ve lived here for any amount of time, you know there’s a very particular giveaway that you’re taking a flight departing a Los Angeles-area airport: passengers toting the recognizable yellow boxes and bags from Porto’s Bakery & Cafe through airport terminals and onto planes. The scent of the cakes, breads, pastries and papas rellenas, or potato balls, cuts through the antiseptic, recycled air of the airplane cabin and can make the drudgery of travel slightly more bearable. And the items, brought to relatives or…

Los Angeles is more than 5,500 miles from Copenhagen — but for those in search of some hygge this holiday season, a warm and cozy solution is a mere three-hour drive up the coast. The city of Solvang — also known as the “The Danish Capital of America” — is in the Santa Ynez Valley, making the community of half-timbered buildings and windmills an easy day- or weekend-trip destination for Southern California travelers. What’s more, Solvang’s six-week-long Julefest kicked off last weekend, which means it’s a great time to…