• Chef Michael Smith talks about the struggles of food banks and offers a recipe for beef stew.
• A run-down of Vancouver's 2008 culinary highlights, from celebrity chefs to memorable meals.
• Will 2009's leading beverages include savory fare like rosemary sprigs and ... bacon?
• With tight purses, drinkers are flocking to cheaper booze, home-grown flavor, and affordable Argentinian wine.
• French chef Anne-Sophie Pic grabs an honorary doctorate from the University of Montreal.
• Rob Mifsud discusses the rising trend of high-price cookbooks from signature chefs.
• And if you're gearing up for another Christmas celebration on the 6th, try these dinner twists.

When it gets chilly out, there is nothing more appealing than a hot bowl of soup or a big serving of chili or stew. Soup is comfort food that warms you up instantly and, by and large, is easy to prepare. The Big Book of Soups and Stews: 262 Recipes for Serious Comfort Food starts out with a brief introduction on the basics of soup making, including recipes for stocks and broth, but gets right into the main recipes quite quickly. This is a big plus for some cooks, since in-depth books that focus on teaching technique are always interesting, but not always practical when you want to put something together quickly and just want a good recipe without another lesson.

The soups include meat based dishes and vegetarian ones, hot and cold soups, and there are things that will appeal to everyone in the family - with 262 recipes, if would be hard not to. Some of the recipes are Black Bean Chili, Cream of Artichoke Soup, Italian Meatball Soup and (probably a kid-favorite) Spaghetti Soup.

Lentils may be in short supply, especially if you want to buy them in bulk, but for the average home cook, the odds are good that you're not eating lentils every day and a cup or two should still be easy enough to come by. Lentils are high in protein and provide a huge advantage over beans in soup because they do not have to be soaked in advance and have a relatively short cooking time. This recipe comes from Cooking Light and is an easy to make, satisfying dish.

I used black lentils to make this soup, but you should be able to substitute any kind you have, such as red or yellow, and still come up with a great result. I also opted to omit the cilantro, since I don't like it to have a really strong presence in dishes, and did not puree the soup. The dish was slightly spicy and very good, especially considering that it only took about one hour to make!

I guess I had better get started if this stew is going to be cooked by the time my guests arrive! (It has just gone 6 in the evening). 

As per normal - where there is inevitably some disaster or other - I can't locate the original recipe I was going to use. I have a chorizo, tins of chopped tomato, onion, garlic, smoked paprika powder, stewing steak, potatoes... but forgot to buy a pepper (bell pepper) or a bottle of red plonk to go in with the beef stock. Did get some parsley for the garnish though! Hopeless really, at shopping... even with a list.

The other day I popped into Panzers Deli near Lords Cricket Ground in London (I was there for a New Zealand Wine Tasting, not the cricket) and spotted uncooked chorizo (this is unusual as I have only seen the pre-cooked version in the UK) although it doesn't look that different from the ready-to-eat. No idea how long it takes to cook but it is going in the pot with softened onions,some garlic and the paprika, all after the steak has been browned. Then the wet stuff.

Today's slashfood mini theme is slow cooking with three hours the minimum. So I will let this lot simmer gently for a couple of hours before adding the potatoes which should give plenty of time for the wine to breathe - a gutsy red from La Mancha - one item I didn't forget to buy!

[Photo Andrew Barrow]

Slow cookers are one of the most useful appliances you can have in your kitchen, even more so if you don't enjoy cooking or you have a busy schedule that keeps you running around and not working over the stove. You can toss together a soup or meat dish in the morning in about five minutes and when you return from work in the evening, you'll have a hot, home cooked meal waiting for you. In addition, everything cooks together, which means that you'll only have one pot to clean. Some recipes will call for the meat (or even vegetables) to be browned before adding them in, but this is almost never really necessary.

Slow cookers cook foods for long periods of time at low temperatures. Modern slow cookers often have an automatic shutoff or a super-low "warm" setting that will protect both your food and your home when you are not around to watch, so they are safe to use any time, unlike the stove or the oven. They are ideal for cooking lean or inexpensive pieces of meat because they trap juice and steam as they cook the meat, allowing the meat to become moist and tender, preventing it from shrinking or toughening. The long, slow cooking process also allows flavors to meld and blend, making it an ideal way to cook soups and stews, too.