"holiday party" news and stories

'Tis the season for holiday parties! I'm bringing the food and beverages to a cookie exchange this week, and I've decided to make some mulled wine for the occasion. Wine people tell you when you're cooking with wine or using it as a base for other drinks, you still want something drinkable, and I absolutely agree with that. But I wouldn't waste a $20 bottle in a heated, spiked drink or on a big crowd of party-goers. Instead, I turn to box wine as the ideal party wine. Why?

• Box wine is inexpensive (around $20 for the equivalent of four bottles), and the quality has gotten much, much better over the years.
• Boxes are lightweight, easier to transport, and greener than glass bottles, so when you're serving in quantity, those numbers add up.
• Box wines stay fresh for a month after opening because of the vacuum seal, unlike bottles, which should be refrigerated and drunk within 3 days if possible.

Now, let's be clear that boxed wine will not blow away the connoisseurs in your group, but it's a great budget-friendly choice for parties. If you're serving it as is, decant it for a classier look. When your guests ask what it is, be mysterious: "Oh, just a little something I picked up the other day when I took the private jet out to California for an afternoon meeting."

Here are a few decent box wines to try:

Bota Box Pinot Grigio or Shiraz ($16)
Black Box Merlot or Shiraz ($22)
Banrock Station Chardonnay or Shiraz ($19)

My mulled wine recipe is after the jump.

Easter doesn't seem like one of the bigger drinking holidays. Christmas? Sure. Valentine's Day? Sure, especially if you're not with anyone. But Easter? Well, I guess any situation where you have to deal with your family is a situation where you might want to drink.

About.com has a variety of Easter-oriented cocktails, and, of course, they're a little sweeter than many cocktails, in keeping with the holiday. But they aren't for kids!

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 some reason I'm reminded of that episode of WKRP in Cincinnati, where Mr. Carlson unleashes a bunch of turkeys for a Thanksgiving Day promotion and discovers that turkeys can't fly.

This isn't about them flying, but it is turkeys in the airport. Deep-fried turkeys, to be exact. Seems many people at Dulles International Airport weren't too happy when they found out that someone had served a deep fried turkey at a holiday party at the airport last week. In a letter to management, a spokesman for the air traffic controller's union said he couldn't believe someone would deep fry a turkey (always a tricky thing to do even in the safest of circumstances) in an area where it is "surrounded by carpet, linoleum, an airport, aircraft, a control tower, thousands if not millions of gallons of jet fuel and thousands of passengers and employees."

A fire marshal on the scene made them turn the cooker off, but the FAA says they did nothing wrong.