1. Move over canning, root cellars are the newest (oldest), hottest method of food preserving on the block. The New York Times featured them last week and Culinate offers more on subject from expert Harriet Fasenfest.
2. Looking for a way to make your winter a little brighter? Plan meals with friends and family.
3. Like the taste and convenience of slow cooked foods but don't have an electric slow cooker? CityMama helps you use just a cast iron casserole dish and your oven to achieve the same effect.
4. The Wednesday Chef featured a chocolate chip cookie recipe that includes buckwheat groats for added fiber and texture. These are going on my 'must make' list for this weekend.
5. I bought a big bunch of kale last weekend at the farmers market. I haven't gotten around to cooking it yet, but I've got my eye on this recipe from Elise at Simply Recipes.
6. For those of you out there who keep kosher, it's going to be a whole lot harder to get kosher beef for you dining table. NPR reports that one of the largest Kosher meat plants in the country has shut down their beef facility.
7. I like pumpkin bread and I LOVE cranberry bread. Putting the two of them together? Genius!
8. Looking for a weekend baking project that will knock the socks straight off your loved ones? What about the Feather Boa Doughnuts that Erin made recently! Based on a recipe from 101 Cookbooks, they are a little lighter than fried doughnuts but I imagine no less delicious.

Don't try this at home, kids.

I set out on a mission: to find a Crock Pot or off-brand slow cooker at a thrift store. I had my mental list of Places Most Likely To Carry Slow Cookers. I had a pocket full of cash (in case the negotiating bug bit me). I live in Portland, Oregon, the city of thrift, for goodness' sake, where it's cool to tell your friends that you got your hip jacket at the Bins (the Goodwill outlet - how's that for thrift?).

I started at the fabulous Lounge Lizard (SE 13th and Hawthorne), which had a display of retro dinnerware that made me drool. No Crock Pots ("no one has Crock Pots! Try the Salvation Army," she told me), but I checked out the variety of kitschy cookware before settling on a pot that the owner said was an ice bucket but I thought might work in the oven for a nice insulated casserole. Cost: a too-expensive $24, but I paid because I felt guilty about all the photos I'd snapped.