"holiday dinner" news and stories

I always have the best plans around the holidays when it comes to food. I always have some mathmatical formula where I'm going to consume the least amount of calories possible. If I don't have any cookies, I can drink more. If I don't have any of my sister's brownies, I can have a third helping of stuffing.

It never works out though. I go back for seconds at my sister's house (ham, lasagna, chicken breasts, green bean casserole, various desserts), then have a turkey sandwich and stuffing later that night at home. I go to my other sister's Xmas Eve party and find myself eating pasta salad and grazing on tortilla chips, cheese, and trifle all night (and six beers - "light," but still). Then, on Xmas Day, another meal, this one consisting of turkey, oatmeal and sausage stuffing, yams with marshmallow topping, a bottle of wine, Oreo Cookie cake and cheesecake.

What did you have to eat the past few days?

• For many families, Christmas Eve means the Feast of the Seven Fishes.
• Some people don't drink alcohol with their meals.
• A quick guide to the many cookbooks released in 2006.
• How to pick the best knives for your kitchen needs.
• The history of Vanilla Caramels.
• Make some mac 'n cheese, but with a twist.
• The Globe taste tests several light microwave popcorn brands.
• This week's recipes: Onion Jam on Toast; Potato Gratin; Hazelnut Macaroon Domes; Chocolate-Dipped Coconut Sticks; and the Lavender Splash.

So one of my duties this Christmas at my sister's house (I'm also making this) is to make a cheese and cracker platter that folks can munch on before and after the main meal. I've done them before, but they always turn out to be just very basic cheese and cracker snacks: a couple of different blocks of Kraft cheeses and a few different crackers. A very basic, low-cost type of thing, and it's OK.

But this year I want to do something different. I want to get a really good selection of nice cheeses and several different types of crackers to place around them. So I need your help! What kinds of cheeses and crackers would make a good selection for my family? Any tips or tricks you can give me to make it just a bit more than the usual "cheese and Ritz cracker" affair? Anything besides the cheese and crackers you'd put on the platter too? Fruit? Chocolate?

That pic on the right looks like a cool presentation.

Call me crazy, but I never think of the winter being a time for salads. To me, the winter is for soups and hearty meals and hot meals and hot tea and hot chocolate. Salads are for the spring and summer, the time of leafy greens and lighter dinners. Christmas is for turkeys and hams and mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie.

But the people over at Cooks Recipes would certainly disagree with me. They've come up with a huge list of various salads that you can eat at Christmas. Most of them incorporate the flavors of the season, including the Cranberry Apple Salad, the Holiday Sweet Potato Salad, and Grandma's Winter Fruit Medley. Danish-Deli-Food.com has a Winter Salad made with figs, cabbage, oranges, and pecans that sounds interesting. But the Layered Lettuce Salad? Not festive enough.

Oh, and Ambrosia Mold sounds like the name of a Bond girl.

• Nostalgic foods you can make for the holidays, including Potato Latkes and Spicy Popcorn.
• Yes, you can find some healthy fast food.
• A recipe for the intriguing Black Cake.
• Forget those little candy canes. How about some 14 inchers?
• Massachusetts Governor-elect Deval Patrick is also a gourmet cook. (Also check out some of his favorite recipes.)
• A new book coming out says that the next big trend is "gastroporn." Um, hasn't that been going on for a few years now?
• Um...wow.
• This week's recipes: Mincemeat, Frangipani mince tartlet, and Chocolate Caramel Turtles.