Pumpkin gnocchi. Photo: sonicwalker, Flickr.

• As wine sales have dipped with the failing economy, the results of the annual Plonkalooza, which judges 50 local wines -- half whites, half reds -- priced at $12 or less, are more promising than ever.
• L'Ecluse 16 in France's Alsace region serves "traditionally French [fare] with an inventive twist," with consideration of seasonal produce.
• An interview with Boston "Rising Star" Jiho Kim, head pastry chef at L'Espalier.
• A gallery guide on how to satisfy your "pumpkin palate," from its savory cameos in coffee and beer, to inventive pancakes, pastas and whoopie pies.
• Reminiscent of collegiate endeavors, the Boston Globe goes on an informative pizza crawl, sampling everything from cheese-loaded dive pizzas to the upscale quality-ingredients of refined Italian eateries.
• Restaurants: Jamaica Plain's Bon Savor serves French and South African cooking and is "as much about charm and personality as food;" "the coolest place in town," Trina's Starlite Lounge dishes up delicious bar fare; Barbara Lynch's flagship restaurant No. 9 "is still tops" for French and Italian seasonal cuisine.
• Recipes: A brothy, vegetarian Mexican-Style Soup; a refined Cod Wrapped in Phyllo with Pea Puree; Apple-Plum Crumble with maple syrup and oats; a spicy-sweet Vietnamese Caramelized Chicken.

Quiche Lorraine from Thomas Keller's cookbook. Photo: esposj, Flickr.

• The craft beer hype has brought stout beer into the mainstream -- but the public's perception of it as purely "stout" is inaccurate.
• Playwright humorist Paul Rudnick disproves parents everywhere in his new book, "I Shudder," by living 51 years subsisting mainly on candy -- and sveltely, at that. "What I love about Halloween is its childhood honesty," he says. "It's about what children want rather than what parents want them to want."
• A touching story on the "softening" of chef Thomas Keller preceding his last meal with his once-estranged father.
• Tater tots and Tecates have started to replace caviar and Chardonnay as foodie first dates take a more casual, adventurous note.
• Prompted by a resourceful reader in Beijing, a New York Times writer matches Italian wine with Chinese fare In a pairing fit to make Marco Polo proud.
• After ruinous delays for restaurateurs, the liquor license process has been streamlined by the new New York State Liquor Authority chairman, David Rosen.
• Restaurants: Flushing, Queens' Imperial Palace is "at the zenith of Cantonese cooking in New York City;" Green Apple BBQ in East Harlem proffers a Mexican influence on Southern cuisine; Brooklyn's Rocky Sullivan's in Red Hook tackles steamed lobster, successfully.
• Openings and closings; plus Dining Calendar -- highlights include Day of the Dead workshops, a pumpkin dinner and a meal in memory of Sheila Lukins of the Silver Palate.

Halved pumpkins. Photo: Icrontic.com, Flickr.

• Damariscotta holds a pumpkin parade and contest that gives the orange gourd center stage. Plus recipes for: Pumpkin Carrot Cake, Pumpkin Praline Cheesecake, Brown Sugar Spiced Pepitas, Maple Mushroom Pumpkin Creme Brulee and Pumpkin Praline Trifle.
• A reminder that healthy doesn't mean piled with nonfat, processed foods.
• Portland's Harvest on the Harbor will offer all "the delicious flavors of this foodie state" this weekend.
• Andy and Jaime Berhanu offer Maine its first taste of locally created tempeh.
• A visit to Etude elicits musings about pinot noir and a list of their best wine picks.
• Recipe: Oatmeal Cake with Coconut Icing.

• Can you have a wedding reception without a cake? A look at the evolving world of matrimonial sweets.
• The Mark Twain House hosts a wine tasting in full, classic Clemens style.
• When your main course is simple, try teaming it with an interesting side like broccoli-cheese casserole.
• Chicken pot pie with drop biscuits is a good way to stretch a few ingredients to feed a family.
• Creative ideas for showers of the wedding and baby variety.
• Put down the pie and whip up some Pilgrim's Pumpkin Pudding instead.
  
• Yet more critical praise for Francis Ford Coppola, whose Sofia Sparkling Blanc earns Wine of the Week kudos.
• Microbrew reviews for Farmington River Brown Ale, Trout River Rainbow Red, Harpoon Leviathan, Ballast Point Sea Monster Imperial Stout, Trout River Chocolate Oatmeal Stout and Iniquity Black Ale.

As someone who has never managed to make ravioli that didn't look like thin, lumpy pillows from some dystopian prison ward bunk bed, I'm completely and totally awed by these beauties, from Jezzfoodieme on Slashfood's Flickr pool.

They're filled with pumpkin and piave vecchio cheese, toasted in butter and topped with walnuts. There's a link to a recipe at Yum-O-Rama, with helpful photos -- unfortunately for me it calls for a ravioli mold.

You can tell that we here at Slashfood are knee-deep in autumn: some of us are swilling pumpkin beer and mixing pumpkin cocktails; some of us are making comfort food from soup to pot pie; and no few of us are stuffing Halloween candy into our mouths. So what better time to share a slim, marvelous volume devoted to recipes and techniques for autumn's centerpiece ingredient?

Yes, a pumpkin is a squash (and squashes, by the way, are gourds), and so are crooknecks, acorns, butternuts, zucchinis, chayotes, pattypans, carnivals and all of the summer and winter squashes that take center stage in A Harvest of Pumpkins and Squash. The book begins with cookbook author Lou Seibert Pappas' thoughts on squash, from their history to their purchase and preparation, followed by a wonderful and useful squash glossary (squashary?). From there we proceed to squash recipes (squashipes?).