I'd been itching to try this recipe since it came out in October's Gourmet . I am a sucker for alchemy cuisine, anything that rises or changes color or shape and turns into something else, so the idea of purple wine-soaked spaghetti thrilled me. This recipe is basically a version of my favorite broccoli and ziti standby, only with the addition of red wine. I had assumed before reading the recipe that the noodles would be boiled in the wine but it was actually a process that involved parboiling both the pasta and the broccoli.

The wine is added to the partially-cooked pasta. The fun part is watching it slowly change color as you boil it. The recipe calls for a red zinfandel, and you could probably use any red, but I think a heavier wine like a zinfandel or a cabernet sauvignon adds a nice purple hue. I was curious to see if it would taste wine-heavy. It definitely had a wine taste although it wasn't overpowering.

Overall I'm not sure if it added enough bang for my buck to cook pasta this way again, but it was fun for novelty's sake. One caveat to those who are making this recipe is to have extra wine on hand if you want to recreate the deep purple shown in the Gourmet article. It's definitely festive for the holidays.

I make chocolate-dipped coconut macaroons each year for the holidays but in honor of today's event I decided to perform a few boozy experiments. I am a firm believer that anything can be made better with a little booze. I think every cook who has experimented with cooking with liquor probably has a few bottles of half-finished liqueurs around the house. My recipe uses the same proportions as this one only I use almond instead of vanilla extract. In order to get the maximum flavor for my experiments, I upped the flour a bit so that I could include more liqueur. The results were mixed.

• 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.

• Little oysters, big flavor - Russ Parsons covers the population rise of the Olympia oyster. Finally some good news about the state of seafood. I've seen so many articles lately about the depletion of various ocean resources; it's nice to know that there is some hope out there.

• Because this season wasn't fattening enough, Donna Deane takes on fritto misto, delicious Italian fried veggies and seafood. So tempting, just don't glance at the calorie info at the bottom of the recipes.

• Stop eating your lunch hunched over your desk. Leslee Komaiko declares that deluxe lunch is back. It's certainly a cheaper way to enjoy some of L.A.'s hottest restaurants including Dakota and Providence.

The latest flavor mutation is Cinnabon flavored canned coffee. Coca-Cola Consolidated will be selling the new premium coffee drink to consumers in the Southeast. The coffee is available in three flavors:  Cinnamon Vanilla Latte, Caramel Nut Latte and Espresso & Cream. The new drink will be on sale at convenience stores, grocery stores and restaurants throughout the South and may expand into other markets eventually. So the canned coffee business hasn't really taken off in this country (except of course for Starbuck's) so it will be intriguing to see if people are interested in the Cinnabon brand.

• Regina Schrambling's got the blues, blue cheese that is. She covers most of the American blues, including my fave, the Great Hill Blue, and the best blue for rookies the Point Reyes. She also breaks out a couple of recipes including apple-wild rice salad with blue cheese and Calvados dressing; roasted green beans with blue cheese; and the decadent grilled steaks with blue cheese and cranberry confit.
• Barbara Hansen covers tortilla soup, giving several variations including black bean and tortilla ball soup. Any version is definitely as good as chicken soup for helping to chase away a winter cold.
• What suits a blue cheese best? A fruity and strong wine. Leslie Brenner suggests a bunch of sweet dessert wines including tokaji and tawny port.
• S. Irene Virbila picks the 2003 Rustenberg Stellenbosch Chardonnay as her wine of the week. It's a light and peachy white.
• Being rolled in two kinds of sugar makes the chocolate San Andreas cookies both delicious and messy. Barbara Hansen unearths the recipe. I'll be making these sometime soon and I'll post the result.

My theory on Thankgiving is that I don't mess around with tradition when it comes to the actual day but after that, all bets are off. The leftovers are the perfect excuse to try something new because, after all, if it totally tanks, you aren't really wasting brand new ingredients. My other criteria is that leftovers should be fun but not too ambitious. I'm a lazy cook, especially after Thanksgiving, so nothing too time-intensive or messy would do.

I originally planned to make sweet potato ravioli but since a Thanksgiving elf ate a lot of the sweet potatoes leftover (I think it was the dash of Cointreau that made them so irresistible) I ended up combining mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes to make gnocchi.

You have to have it at the Thanksgiving table but what do you do with it afterwards? In my house there always seems to be leftover cranberry sauce especially since most of the time we have both the whole berry homemade and the canned jelly stuff. So here are eight ways to enjoy your leftover cranberries. And feel free to let me know what you do with your leftover cranberries.

1. Cranberry mustard or mayonnaise--You may not want to toss all the cranberry sauce into your bottle of mustard or mayonnaise but mixing in a little cranberry is a great way to pep up chicken, ham, and yes, turkey sandwiches. It can also be mashed into butter or cream cheese as a breakfast spread.
2. Throw it into a muffin or quick bread recipe. Not so good for the jelly stuff but you can use the whole berry sauce as an addition to blueberry or corn muffins.

You slaved away over a hot stove, accepted the kudos and packed the fridge full of tasty remains. Then what? There are only so many reheated plates you can make so we have rounded up a bunch of inventive things to do with your leftovers. Don't forget that your leftover creation can earn you $50. We are offering three prizes for Most Creative, Editor's Choice and Best Use of Turkey. So show us how well you ate over the weekend and we will be happy to reward your ingenuity.

Want to participate in our Lovely Leftovers competition but feeling short on inspiration? About.com has a bunch of posts with more recipes that you can shake a drumstick at. There are Asian-themed creations for turkey and Mexican themed recipes (including my favorite, green chile turkey enchiladas. Then there a cornucopia of Leftover Recipes with a whole list of everything from turkey curry to pumpkin satay.  Not all of them are fabulous but they definitely are excellent for getting you to look at your leftovers in new ways.

Stilton cheese and mincemeat pie are two quintessentially British flavors and they will both be available this season as ice creams. The Sun reports that Churchfield Farm is creating a Stilton cheese ice cream which they say goes great with holiday mincemeat pies.  You can also get your mince pie in ice cream form. IC Wales reports Llanfaes Diary is offering a mince ice cream in addition to their popular Christmas pudding flavor. Unusual ice cream flavors seem to be a growing trend both in restaurants and with adventurous consumers. Game to make your own Stilton ice cream? You can find a recipe here.

If you are like me the thought of a turkey eating contest right about now is pretty nauseating but on Wednesday a group of competitive eaters took on roast turkeys. Yahoo News reports that the winner was the adorable little lady shown here, Sonya "The Black Widow" Thomas  who ate four pounds, 3.1 ounces of turkey in 12 minutes. The "Black Widow" is a seasoned veteran of many contests and currently holds 27 world records according to her website and a fan of another famous eater, Takeru Kobayashi.

Recently the Ovidias chocolate line from Belgium was launched in the States. What makes the Ovidias line so intriguing is that the chocolates are individually wrapped and then vaccum packed in a can for freshness. The can helps protect the chocolate from air and sunlight, saving it from the dreaded cocoa bloom. The chocolate which has been available in Europe since 2000 comes in eight different varieties and sells for around $7 per can.

We know you are doing some amazing work out there today and we'd love to see it. Our Slashfood Flickr Pool is open and waiting for photos of your holiday feast. Or just toss a link to your blog in the comments. We are always on the lookout for amazing food porn and we will try to highlight some of the best Thanksgiving shots over the next few days. Shown here is my pecan pie as it headed into the oven.

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us here at Slashfood. Hopefully you are dropping by because everything is getting prepared and you have oodles of time. If however, you are in search of help or last minute inspiration, please check out our Thanksgiving Full Plate, a handy list of all of our coverage on the big day. So far at my house, the disasters-averted tally stands at one. I managed to let the cranberries which had been simmering on the stove for an hour or so get a little too reduced and nearly ended up with blackened cranberry sauce. Luckily I pushed the mass of sticky berries through a sieve and ended up with gorgeous ruby red cranberry jelly. Who needs the canned stuff anyway?