• It's the season for holiday parties. Russ Parsons shows us how to throw an elegant holiday party without going completely insane. The menu includes a tart of mixed greens, Dungeness crab salad with avocado and bitter greens, carrots with smoky pimentón-orange glaze, and roast tenderloin of beef with horseradish crème fraîche. The menu serves twelve and is a buffet so you can spend maximum time with your guests.
• It's not a party without dessert. Susan LaTempa breaks out recipes for espresso angel food cake with a pourable ganache, the rich and intricate chocolate Rigo squares, and a lime curd tart.
• And of course there has to be booze. Corie Brown takes on what to serve (wines and a house drink) and what to serve it in. Reidel's stemless wineglasses have made old-fashioned glasses suitable for wine serving. The recipe for a Golden Pomme (equal parts apple juice and bourbon, flavored with Amaretto di Saronno and fresh lemon juice) sounds a bit deadly and hangover-inducing.

• Tamales are a Southern California Christmas tradition. Barbara Hansen shows you where to get yours if, like me, you are too lazy to make your own. The variety of types of tamales available L.A. is amazing ranging from the classic chicken, cheese, and chile kinds to chocolate masa with fresh strawberries.
• Finally a new review from S. Irene Virbila. She checks out Solare, an Italian place that replaced EM Bistro. She says it is good, if not wildly inventive food but gets a bit cranky over the fact that all the entrees come with the same veggies and that the wine list is a bit haphazard. She gives it one-and-a-half stars.
• Susan LaTempa checks out the fashionable pho at Benley in Long Beach.
• It's actually cold enough in L.A. for soup to be quite welcome. Amy Scattergood delivers recipes for roasted chestnut and pumpkin soups.
• For the wine of the week, S. Irene Virbila chooses the 2001 Aia Cabernet Sauvignon Oakville, a Napa wine that can handle anything from the Christmas goose to a juicy burger.