Shana tovah umetukah! Today is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. We offer the longer blessing because we love the meaning for cooks and eaters: a good and sweet year. On Rosh Hashanah observant Jews will be serving apples, honey, sweet challah, pomegranates, and other new fruits to symbolize a sweet new year.

For more good eating and Rosh Hashanah coverage, we turned to our friends over at The Jew and The Carrot. Here are our favorite posts from their week of sweetness; vegan alternatives to honey, beautiful honey pots, oranges on the Seder plate, meaty advice and more below. More

Best Wishes for 2008 from all of us here at The Kitchn. We're wondering what your cooking-related resolutions are for the new year.

Wende from The Sky Is Bigger There has resolved to make one of our recipes every week. Good luck Wedne and let us know how it goes!

Me? I want to go on at least one cooking-related trip this year. I'm dreaming of Paris, but another trip to London, or even a close-to-home guided tour of Chinatown or the Little Italy around Arthur Avenue in the Bronx would fufill my resolution nicely.

Also, I want to host four smaller dinner parties in 2008. I love going all out for the big Holiday Party, but some more intimate events will give me more time to talk to guests and practice the details of my cooking.

How about you? Tell us in the comments and let us know how we can help. We'll check back in the spring and see how we're holding up to our resolutions.

(image: NYPL)

We're ready to throw down our top four predictions for what will be happening in our home kitchens in 2008. We've come up with this list based on conversations and product requests from you our readers, what we've seen in stores and at trade shows.

Here's what we'll be ready for in the new year:

4. See Ya, Stainless After a long reign (including our own kitchens) we think stainless steel will be dethroned in 2008. Stainless still will no longer be the mega-material going into just about every kitchen re-do. Instead, we're see more recycled glass, less granite and lots more Earth-friendly composite counters.

3. Crafty Cooking Tools Cooks are sick of silicone everything. We're looking for something warmer and more personal. After so many silly silicone gadgets that just don't work as well as the stand-bys, cooks are up for hand made, one of a kind kitchen tools from sources like Etsy. We like KHPhillips hand-thrown pots and dishes made in Asheville, NC and this Chamba Ware from VivaTerra.

Our Top Two Predictions are After the Jump ... More

We have never quite known what to do with New Year's Eve. We are usually still trying to recover from the Christmas festivities and fall asleep sometime around 10pm. But if we were to throw a New Year's party this year we would go all out with tongue-in-cheek kitchsy glam and these party accessories from Realm Dekor. Yes, the straws glow in the dark - what kind of cocktail would you serve with these? Click for more info and links... More

What are you cooking on New Year's Day?

My mom always serves pork. Somewhere along the way, she picked up this idea that if you eat chicken on the first day of January "you'll scratch and scratch all year." We're not a superstitious family, but we think it is a fun tradition to play along with.

We found the Lee Brother's recipe for Hoppin' John -- "the pre-eminent rice and pea dish of the Western world, a nutritional marvel, the culinary touchstone of the African diaspora and a hangover remedy without equal" -- in the New York Times a few years ago and added that to my New Year's Day recipe collection. More

Happy Holidays from TheKitchn! I wanted to share some pictures from my Christmas party and see how your celebrations are coming along too.

A two pound hunk of English Stilton with Port and Pepper Walnuts were waiting as guests arrived. Then we started up with some passed appetizers ... More

We say - don't start from scratch? Have we lost all our principles? Hardly. We are not in any way, shape, or form above the idea of starting with a good commercially-made base and creating something new and unique with it. For instance, Sara Kate suggests a Homemade-Not-Homemade Holiday Ice Cream:

Slightly soften vanilla ice cream and stir in a nice spice mixture (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger) or powdered espresso or some caramelized nuts then re-freeze before serving.

Click for another quick holiday dessert idea... More

Company came for supper on Friday night, and for dessert we had Orange Cake with a spiced red wine and citrus syrup. This tasty, easy cake is also simple and plain, and we wanted to dress it up a bit. All it took was a bit of powdered sugar and a pomegranate.

Click for more pictures... More

We're addicted to kitschy trays and dishes that are definitely not for everyday use.

Since there's no sense in collecting stuff and leaving it in a drawer, and these dishes are perfect for appetizers, we like to throw a drinks party once a year that lets us pull out our collection of dishes and serve nothing but hors d'oeuvre. It's not too late to plan an impromptu New Years Party!

Mix and match. Pick and choose. Just try to balance the offerings with foods of different textures and flavors. Make sure there are vegetarian options and everything doesn't have cheese in it. Click through for a collection of fun and easy cocktail food ideas we've gathered over the years. More

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