"celebrations" news and stories

No excuse is usually necessary to dig into a piece of delectable chocolate, but as Wednesday, Oct. 28, is National Chocolate Day, feel free to eat two pieces.

We've got a few ways for you to celebrate. First, try whipping up a chocolate confection in honor of National Chocolate Day. We suggest 427's Chocolate Beet Cake (shown above), Quadruple Chocolate Brownies, Chocolate Chow Mein Noodles or Vanilla Hot Chocolate.

Next, consider eating chocolate with unlikely ingredients. Vosges' Mo's Chocolate Bacon Bar comes to mind. Scharffen Berger's Chocolate Adventure Recipe Contest is still accepting submissions -- you just have to combine chocolate with one of 16 exotic ingredients: paprika, cumin, smoked sea salt, papaya, rice flour, black-eyed peas, peanut butter (OK not that exotic), Malbec, fresh or whole dried chili pepper, cacao nibs, raw honey, sumac, banana leaf, pandan leaf, crystallized ginger and fresh mint. Two winners will get $10,000.

Or just ponder chocolate in all its forms, from chocolate skulls and radioactive chocolate to Baker's chocolate.

I had a really mellow New Year's Eve this year. A couple of friends came over for cheese fondue (with roasted potatoes, sausage, brussels sprouts and broccolini, in addition to the tradition bread cubes, for dipping) before the early They Might Be Giants show at Philly's TLA. Afterwards, we came back and ate vanilla ice cream drizzled with Kahlua. Of course, there was some bubbly to toast 2009.

How did the rest of you celebrate? Did you eat our or make a special meal at home? Do you have New Year's Eve traditions?

Planning a mellow, stay-at-home New Year's Eve this year? Looking for some new ideas to make tasty and inexpensive food for your personal celebration? Then look no further than Kim O'Donnel's post over on A Mighty Appetite. She rounds up twelve different recipes that will help you celebrate. Best of all, each one costs $20 or less.

Here are just a few of her suggestions. Have a pizza night, which with homemade dough and an assortment of toppings is really yummy and pretty darn cheap. Whip up an assortment of veggie and legume based dips (there's almost nothing easier than making hummus at home and you can always get creative with what you put in it). Her recipe for apple salsa and brie crostini is making me hungry even now.

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