Think it's too early to start planning Thanksgiving dinner? Think again! Nov. 26 may seem like a long way off, but for the holiday host, it's right around the corner. That's why each Tuesday until Turkey Day, we'll bring you preparation tips to ensure your Thanksgiving is as smooth as your gravy (should be).

1. Get a head count.
Now's the time to start inviting people to Thanksgiving dinner. If you're thinking about it, chances are good your friends and family are, too. So if your cousin is bringing her new boyfriend, and both sets of grandparents are coming to town, as well as your parents and siblings, you're going to need to figure out how to seat everyone at your small table with three mismatched chairs.

Getting a head count this early ensures you'll have enough time to borrow tables, chairs and whatever other furniture items you need to so that everyone can eat comfortably, and then have a place to lounge when the tryptophan-wine combo sets in. And don't forget to find out who's a vegetarian, who's allergic to nuts, and any other dietary restrictions you'll be dealing with. The last thing you want to hear as you put your orange-scented green beans with toasted almonds on the table is that your cousin's new boyfriend has a severe nut allergy.

For your lunchtime pleasure, I'm presenting a series of my favorite bento boxes. Bento are Japanese home-prepared meals served in special boxes, usually eaten for lunch at work or school. These days, bento enthusiasts from all over the world share their creations on Flickr.

This simple, well-balanced bento comes from Kayepants. We've got some roll-ups of flour tortilla, Laughing Cow cheese, salami and pickles - American makizushi! - along with green beans, honey-roasted peanuts and cottage cheese with salt and papper.

Vanity Fair's Graydon Carter picks up his second restaurant, Monkey Bar. His first, the Waverly Inn, has been luring a high wattage crowd for two years, despite not being officially open.

L.A.'s fast food moratorium raises questions about choice and personal responsibility.

The Minimalist makes chapati, Indian flat bread.

A recipe for slow-cooked green beans.

Eric Asimov sips the crisp white wines of Spain.

Specialty coffee roasters hit New York.

About a month ago, I did something that was both exciting and a little scary. I gave my very first solo cooking demonstration. Normally, when I make food in front of people, I have Scott standing right there, prepared to jump in with a quick quip or ask a question that will keep me talking. To add to the difficulty of the day, I didn't know what I would be making until I got there. The event was sponsored by The Food Trust for Buy Fresh, Buy Local Week and so what they did was drop off a box of fresh produce and when I showed up, I had to figure out what to do with it.

The picture you see above was a bed of greens, topped by a marinated salad of green beans, halved grape tomatoes, onions, basil and goat cheese. Big thanks to Angie, for adding her gorgeous picture of that delicious salad to the Slashfood Flickr pool.

• With gas costing in excess of $4 a gallon, Diana Morgan (author of Grill Every Day) goes off in search of grillable cuts of meat that cost $4 or less a pound. She comes up with Skirt Steak, Argentine-Style, Grilled Southwest Chipotle Chile Chicken, Grilled Sweet Corn, Black Bean and Cherry Tomato Salad, Espresso-Cardamom-Rubbed Pork Chops and Korean-Style Grilled Short Ribs.
  
• In addition to all that helpful information about grilling, the FoodDay staffers serve up a wealth of information about making the noble burger.
• It's green bean season and it's proving to be a bumper crop. In addition to freezing or pickling, here's some more bean inspiration: Green Beans With Cherry Tomatoes, Garlic and Lemon Zest, Summer Bean and Tomato Bruschetta and Green Beans With Sun-dried Tomatoes, Feta and Mozzarella.
  
• Eggs don't have to just be for breakfast. Try these protein-packed orbs any time of day for a tasty treat, especially as part of Eggs With Mediterranean Vegetables in Tomato Sauce.
• In the Shortcut Cooking column, it's all about the Muffuletta.

They say that the greatest form of flattery is imitation, but what do you call an outright swipe? I guess that would be stealing. I have to admit right off the bat that I swiped this right off of Smitten Kitchen. I came across it one day, and it was so beautiful that I knew I had to include it on this menu idea list. Instructions are on the blog.

Wouldn't mom absolutely love this salad? It would be a colorful, flavorful, and seasonal addition to any brunch menu. I generally think of brunch as more breakfast-y, but (a) lot of people include lunch or dinner items in brunch and (b) who wouldn't want something as beautiful as this salad at breakfast? Anyway, it's just a suggestion, but one I know I wouldn't want to pass up!

I know that none of our Slashfood readers would ever dare to eat canned vegetables (except tomatoes for sauce, right), but just in case you happen to be one who might eat French-cut green beans, make sure to check out the list below. The FDA has issued a warning that the canned green beans could be tainted with the toxin that causes botulism.

The beans were processed by Lakeside Foods in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. The company is voluntarily recalling 15,000 cases of green beans, although no botulinum toxin has been found in any cans that were tested. No illnesses had been reported due to consumption of the green beans as of August 1, either. But hey, better safe than sorry!

The affected brands are: Albertson's, Happy Harvest, Best Choice, Food Club, Bogopa, Valu Time, Hill Country Fare, HEB, Laura Lynn, Kroger, No Name, North Pride, Shop N Save, Shoppers Valu, Schnucks, Cub Foods, Dierbergs, Flavorite, IGA, Best Choice and Thrifty Maid.

The warning applies to cans with the following codes: EAA5247, EAA5257, EAA5267, EAA5277, EAB5247, EAB5257, ECA5207, ECA5217, ECA5227, ECA5297, ECB5207, ECB5217, ECB5227, ECB5307.

Recipe and photos after the jump.

It seems that every family makes that Durkee Green Bean Casserole recipe (or a variation on it) for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Maybe not every year, but I think we all try it at some point. It has somehow become not only a food tradition but a pop culture one too. I hope someone in my family makes it this year too, but maybe it's time to try another one out and see how that goes.

Click past the jump for a recipe that puts a new twist on the favorite:

The holidays tend to bring up a lot of food traditions and we all have at least one relative that wants to stick to the old standards, point-blank refusing to try any new foods between November and New Year's. But even if you're sticking with tradition, you can still improve on the original recipe. Alanna, from A Veggie Venture, made the World's Best Green Bean Casserole based on a recipe in the most recent issue of Cook's Illustrated. The recipe emphasizes using fresh green beans, not frozen or canned even though it takes a lot more time to prep them, and a fresh mushroom sauce that adds a bright, enticing flavor in lieu of canned mushroom soup. Even CI couldn't do away with the canned french fried onions, but as Alanna points out, the topping can be reduced by half and still be very generous. And you won't feel as guilty for using something canned and fried, but will still keep everyone in the family happy with a perfect holiday side.

Like true coffee addicts, the guys over at Forbes have scoured the globe looking for the most expensive coffees in the world. And we're not talking about specialty coffee drinks, but about the beans themselves. Starting off the list at $160 per pound is Kopi Luwak, which we have already heard about, since the berries are digested by civets before the bean is extracted and brewed. This is followed by Hacienda La Esmeralda (Panama, $104/lb), Island of St. Helena Coffee Company ($79/lb), El Injerto (Guatemala, $25-50/lb), Fazenda Santa Ines (Brazil, $50/lb), Jamaica Blue Mountain ($49/lb), Los Planes (El Salvador, $40/lb), Kona ($34/lb), Starbucks Rwanda Blue Bourbon ($24/lb), Yauco Selecto AA (Puerto Rico, $22/lb), Fazenda Sao Benedito (Brazil, $21/lb).

Keep in mind that many beans in supermarkets (and cafes) are "Blue Mountain-style" or "Kona-style" and do not necessarily contain all of the beans that the name suggests, which is why prices in some venues appear to be lower. The Starbucks blend is worth noting because it is part of the company's Black Apron line, a selection of frequently changing premium coffees. Premium, however, doesn't always mean better, especially because several of the prices given here are for the green beans, and a good or bad roast is vital to achieving a quality cup of coffee from high quality beans.

Over at Engadget, there was a post on how to convert your air popcorn popper into a coffee roaster. An interesting bit of tech work, but they definitely made it more sound more difficult than it really is. And the commenters seemed certain that trying to use an air popper to roast coffee beans was a move likely to burn down the house. Clearly, they haven't roasted coffee before. I have used an air popper to roast beans successfully, without any serious modifications to the machinery - and without burning my house down, as I cleverly thought to do my roasting outside. In retrospect, this was an excellent move, as the process produces a fair amount of smoke.

Here are some tips and instructions for roasting your own coffee.

I think I may have finally cured my family of the green bean casserole.

Every year I try to introduce new dishes to my family's Holiday dinner tables in order to get replace some of the ones that I *ahem* hate. Okay, so I don't hate creamed corn, and mashed potatoes aren't terrible; it's just that we have the exact same thing every effin' year, and the dishes that we could "jazz up" into Parmesan and Roasted Garlic Smashed Potatoes or Cornbread and Sausage Stuffing, are rejected the next year for the boring, plain traditional ones. The one I hate the most is the ultimate poster child of the Food Network show Unwrapped - green bean casserole. It's made from frozen vegetables, canned soup, and pull top canister onions.

But this year, I blanched fresh green beans for a few minutes, wrapped them in bacon, and roasted them at 350 for 15 minutes, a la Paula Deen. They were awesome. Not a single one left. My sister made them the next day for her party, too.

We'll see if the green bean casserole makes it to the table next year.