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That's wonderful! Merry Christmas to you! For dinner, I gorged at my office party on some awesome Senegalese food catered by a company whose name I sadly don't know. Mmmm... jollof rice...

It appears that Ocean Spray now makes it; my local Giant had a bunch on the shelves. Blueberry is the new cranberry?

I've been kind of surprised that this chatbit didn't raise more eyebrows. I've never been a fan of his writing style (to put it mildly), but his opinions have been fair and well-based. Is he thinking about leaving?

Spiced nuts (wow, coating them with frothed egg white before tossing with sugar and spices makes a big difference--GREAT texture) Also, another batch of Aunt Kay's Butter Cookies because I really must share these with the world...

Aunt Kay's Butter Cookies: butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, flour. Period. Aunt Kay, you mad genius, I adore you.

Every restaurant near the Verizon Center is full of folks in Caps gear on nights before a game, whether it would be appropriate on a normal night or not. Proof, Jaleo, PS7's, Zaytinya--so attire isn't your limiting factor.

Salisbury steak and steamed broccoli In serious need of some comfort food and with some mushrooms and ground beef to use, I reverted to college cafeteria-land, and this recipe made it worthy of adulthood. I left it to simmer on the stove rather than the oven and threw in some fennel because I also have that to spare. This one is a winner.

Cranberry orange scones. I'd never tried this recipe before, but they turned out wonderfully tender and actually taste just as good slathered with butter as without . I used fresh, frozen cranberries, which were fine, but the dried cranberries that the recipe called for would be better. Chocolate-cherry bark. This is easy as heck, and I whip it up every year--I always shudder that mail-order places charge obscene amounts of money for this simplest of recipes. I managed to screw it up in a few ways (bought cherry candy canes instead of peppermint; put the crushed canes in with the white chocolate on the double boiler, raising the melting point way too high), but it's still darn good.

I want to move into your camera and stay there a while.

Clink to Mrs. B and hillvalley to DR.com, which has helped me realize that it's more satisfying to cook dinner for a friend than to order pizza, even on a weeknight. (And ditto to this clink deserving better than the plonk I'm currently drinking.)

Stuffed portobellas, filled with sauteed button mushrooms, rehydrated porcinis, onion, shallot, wild rice, and goat cheese, and then broiled with a bit of parm on top; from Mollie Katzen's The Vegetable Dishes I Can't Live Without (I'm just now realizing that I forgot the lemon juice and tomatoes, but I added the porcinis and porcini water and red wine to the sautee for the hell of it) Apple, fennel, and endive salad with a dressing of lemon juice, olive oil, shallot, dijon, salt, and pepper; from my head* *This was a little bitter, which went pretty well with the rich stuffed mushroom, but I might add some honey to the dressing next time. But my veg friend, who just moved to town into a showbox apartment with a criminally small kitchen, seemed to be in heaven.

Yes! in Adams Morgan usually has them.

I had a great meal at Nopa last weekend. Casual atmosphere but great food--excellent ingredients treated simply. I would mainline the carrot+rabbit soup if I could; I don't remember the last time I saw a carrot soup that wasn't pureed, and this one--with a phenomenal broth, beautiful carrots, and shreds of tasty rabbit--makes me wonder why! Also excellent: the chickory salad, and the farm egg poached in smoked tomatoes served with grilled bread. Don't miss the cocktails either. The Eucharist is a sherry+scotch concoction I drank to start the meal; I ended it with the B+T: Benedictine and TEQUILA. These things should NOT go together--but they do! They SO do! Out the Door is the offshoot of the Slanted Door with three locations around the city. Most people just think of the takeout counter in the Ferry Building, but the other locations are just smaller versions of the Slanted Door (but quieter!), with table service and less chaos, and the food is spot on. We enjoyed the heck out of the crab cellophane noodles, green papaya salad, shrimp crepes, and broccoli. They also serve excellent wine on tap.

Cesar is excellent. Great tapas and cocktails, walking distance from Chez Panisse, casual.

The fact that the gas wasn't turned on in my building until the night before my Pre-Thanksgiving party meant that I had to scramble to transition from dinner to appetizers, but the mostly no-cook food ended up being a roaring success.* And not serving dinner meant that I was able to open the invite to a lot more people. Muhammara (HUGE hit; no one had ever heard of it, and everyone loved it; great vegan treat if you make it sans eggish bread) Olives marinated in lemon, orange, rosemary, and garlic Mushrooms marinated in lemon, garlic, shallots, thyme, and roasted peppers Pimiento cheese (I've never been a fan, but was desperate for things that didn't require cooking, and people seem to like it; indeed, the entire three cups was devoured) Spinach-artichoke dip (gas got returned at the last moment, so I got to cook it till it was all nice and bubbly-crusty) Salami rolled with horseradish cheese Shrimp and homemade cocktail sauce Crudite and ranch dip Home-baked pita chips Store-bought nuts, bread, crackers Because I was scrambling with suddenly being able to cook food, I didn't make a punch, which I'm sorry about, but which I swear I'm going to try for my next party! *Next time I need to make at least one thing that I like and everyone else hates. All the food was gone! Vultures! Nothing like staying up until 4am and then waking up with NO munchie food left over. Thank goodness a friend brought me a gorgeous pineapple as a housewarming gift, which I devoured when I roused myself around 1pm.

Garbage can pasta with leftover ingredients from weekend cocktail party: sauteed garlic, onion, roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, carrots, and a link of Italian sausage*; deglazed with the dregs of a bottle of red wine; simmered with the last of a jar of tomato sauce that got me through the no-stove period; served over pasta and some shredded mozz; sprinkled with parm. Pretty darn tasty! And goodness knows I need some veggie vitamins after the party... *Cibola Farms has a bit of clove, which is not my favorite spice, but really works in this sausage.

Luna Grill on Connecticut Avenue always has turkey and dressing on the menu. It's not fancy-schmancy, but it always scratches the itch for me!

Thanks! I searched WaPo before I posted but somehow missed the Boston Club Punch, which sounds not seasonal per se but tasty enough for me not to care! It shouldn't matter if I swap some Chambord (which I have) for the raspberry syrup (which I don't), right?

It's that time of year again! I'd like to make a punch for a party this weekend and have a few parameters: seasonal, cold, not more than one or two exotic ingredients, no gin, no cooking (simple syrup is fine). I'm considering the Fish House Punch and the Three Sisters Punch linked above, but have you run across anything new and tasty lately? Share!

Microwaved yukon gold potato topped with microwaved chopped broccoli, a bit of butter, parmesan, and shredded monterey jack cheese I don't know if it's just that I'm giddy to eat something that's not cereal or takeout, but it totally hit the spot!

Beer. Lots of it. To a second week without gas in my apartment, to my fireplace imminently being torn out of my wall, to fundamental structural problems, and to the bloom being officially off the homebuying rose. Whiskey soon.

Cold Pete's Apizza is definitely more high class. The new apartment is still stove- and heat-free, so I defrosted some broccoli soup made last spring (microwave!) and ate it with some pita chips (found the toaster oven!). It hit the spot, but I'm itching to cook a real meal in my kitchen. This is the first time I've had a gas stove since I moved out of my parents' house, and it is just sitting across the room, in a coma, taunting me...

Smoked salmon on cucumber slices, with a little dollop of creme fraiche. (Wow, that sounds so good to me right now!) Oh, and I swear, whenever I put out boiled shrimp and cocktail sauce, they disappear in like a minute. That was a luxury staple at my parents' cocktail parties, but I never see it anymore.

You aren't the only one! Thanksgiving dinner is my favorite meal, bar none. And while I love my Thanksgiving with my brother, cooked by his chef buddies, this year they're not even serving turkey. They're roasting a pig. Now, people, I have NO complaints about a whole roast pig, but I need my turkey and stuffing and various other starches on Thanksgiving, which is why, for the second year in a row, I'm hosting Pre-Thanksgiving. The weekend before, I'm making the entire meal with all the fixins for my friends so we (I) can have the traditional day that we (I) need to make our (my) holiday season right. It's a ton of work, but if last year was any indication, it is totally worth it and loved by all (me). It's also an awesome reason for a party. Try it!

Cold Goose Island IPA Cold Down-the-Hill Pete's Apizza* *The day I moved in, Shangri-La was found to have a gas leak, so the whole building was shut down--stove, heat, fireplace. But that's okay because I'm still enamored of it like it's a cute boy, and as long as a lady has hot water, internet, beer, and awesome delivery pizza, what else does she need? I do really need to find my toaster oven though...