Brought to you by the letter D

Who is making a resolution to eat healthier this year? If you are, Comfort Food Makeovers: Healthy Alternatives to Your Favorite Homestyle Dishes is a good place to find some better-for-you food ideas. Elaine Magee is the "recipe doctor" for WebMD. In other words, she is the one who makes over all the high fat, unhealthy favorites that users ask about into healthier, lighter versions that are just as flavorful.

The primary techniques that the book uses are using lower fat ingredients (low fat milk, light sour cream, etc) and simply eliminating some of the fat. The serving sizes are also slightly reduced, but the recipes usually have more fiber than the originals, which will help you feel fuller. The recipes sound pretty much like those you would find in a full-fat cookbook, but you'll probably enjoy Pecan Sticky Buns, Oven-Fried Buttermilk Chicken, Chicken Pot Pie Soup, Creamy Au Gratin Potatoes and Fudge Truffle Cheesecake just a little bit more knowing that they're better for you. Complete nutritional information, as well as information for a non-lightened recipe, is given for each dish.

When we did our decidedly inspired D day yesterday, we hadn't yet seen Nigel Slater's occasional series on the ABCs of food. He's in the middle of the alphabet, now, and is hitting the highlights between "F" and "L." Here's a rundown:

• F is for the Fairtrade mark and fish, especially fresh sustainable and (yes) Fairtrade fish.
• F is for farmer's markets.
• G is for game and grilling - Nigel suggests a stew of pigeon and rabbit with bacon, rough red wine and button mushrooms.
• I is for Internet shopping and Italy - "our second gastronomic home."
• J is for Japanese food. Nigel gives us a "recipe" for salted edamame beans.
• K is for kitchen; Nigel celebrates the movement to break down walls between kitchen and dining room.
• L is for lime, "the flavor of the moment," "most fashionable fruit next to the pomegranate," showing up in everything from "grilled garlic-infused scallops to ginger-spiked chicken soup" to lime zest in chocolates.

[Photo Sarah Gilbert]

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This Danish is... literally... six inches across. It's the most decadent thing for breakfast within a good 17-mile radius, scented with cinnamon and butter, dotted with crumb topping crumbles, sparkling with icing and swirled with raspberry jam. These delectable pastries, in a variety of flavors and many studded with whole blueberries or sliced local peaches, are baked fresh every day by Bowers Bakery in Portland. Just wait until you see the height of this ultra-yummy pastry.

It's not our fault. It's evolution, man. When the days are short and the weather is cold, all we want to do is snuggle into our comfiest chair with a blanket, a steamy mug of hot chocolate, and maybe a nice slice of meatloaf or macaroni and cheese. Followed up by (naturally) chocolate layer cake with extra coffee ice cream.

But the magazines, the newspapers, heck, even the blogs, all they say is eat right! Lose weight! Get out of the house! And most importantly, lose that comfy chair, man!

We're left with the ultimate D-word: Dilemma. What's to be done when our biology is warring with our better judgment? Diet? Or give in to the Decadence of the season, fill our tummies with warm, fattening comfort food, and just wait 'til spring to follow through on those resolutions?

The place blows all business logic out the window.

Diddy Riese is a decently sized ice cream and cookie shop in a very high rent spot - Westwood Village. It is open until very late. There are at least four people working behind the counter at any one time. High rent, long operations, labor costs - and yet, Diddy Riese is able to sell two cookies slapped around a scoop of ice cream as a sadnwich for one dollar. And let me tell you, I am quite certian that 99% of the UCLA students who walk through Diddy Riese's front door spend...one dollar.

I just can’t see how $1 each can pay for the Westwood overhead and wages for four men behind the counter. Is there something else going on back there? Back behind those brown boxs with stacks and stacks of chocolate chip, white chocolate macadamia, oatmeal and M&M? How does Diddy Riese stay in business?!

But you know what, if there is some crazy stuff going on, I don't care because I love Diddy Riese. I love every permutation of cookie and ice cream, except mint chocolate chip because I think mint is nasty. I never understood how mint chocolate chip ice cream could pair with a cinnamon sugar but I saw someone order it once. That's just wrong. So is the parking situation in Westwood Village, since a Diddy Riese run means you spend one dollar for an ice cream sandwich, but seven dollars to park there.

Diddy Riese
926 Broxton Ave (at Le Conte)
Westwood, CA 90024
(310) 208-0448