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We're taking this week and next off to enjoy some holiday family time blogging-free. However, watch the site each day for a review of the year... we continue with July.

Recipes
• Nina's Lime Soda
• Vinegared Strawberries with Creme Fraiche
• Sugar Cones
• Abby's Blueberry Pie
• Watermelon Popsicles

News
• The History of Ice Cream
• AT on Advertising: Is Google Evil?
• Edible Estates: Tear out that Lawn, Plant Food
• The Best Lick Ice Cream Contest

Products
• Wine Created for Sushi
• Grindstone Bakery Sprouted Seed Spelt Bread
• Two Great Ice Cream Makers

Stores
• Pasolivo Oils and Willow Creek Olive Ranch
• Formaggio Kitchen

La Cocina is a non-profit organization that provides commercial kitchen space and business resources to help low income women (mostly recent immigrants) take their small, home-based food businesses legit.

For example, the lady that sells tamales from her cart outside the 24th St. BART station could apply to the program, receive help writing a business plan, advice on packaging, nutritional information and marketing and begin selling her tamales at the farmers' market, Bi-rite, Rainbowor maybe even Whole Foods.

I recently met two of the women in the program and tried their wares. Both had really strong products that were entirely unique and swoonily delicious.

This recipe comes from my mom's Serbian family. It's a barely sweet, yeasted bread filled with dates, honey and walnuts. It's made only at Christmas in my family, so it has the specialness of any once-a-year family food tradition.

I still have a humiliating memory of my parents getting caught gleaning the walnuts for the bread from a roadside orchard when I was about 7. I was sitting in the car. And no, we weren't that poor. I think it was sport. Despite this childhood trauma, I still love this bread and make it every year. This is actually my aunt's recipe. My mom discovered a short cut recipe that was never as good. My favorite way to eat this bread is toasted for breakfast with lots of butter.

This versatile spread-sauce-dip combines buttery artichokes, tangy green olives and capers -- all spiked with red chili flakes and accented with refreshing mint for a sun-drenched Mediterranean vacation in December.

Dinner last night was a plain cheese American Flatbread pizza topped with Jimtown Store's Artichoke Spread, matchsticks of Fra Mani Salumi, and crumbled Bucheron as an accent cheese. Not bad for a make-do December dinner.

This intriguing item is billed as an Indoor Cooker. Problem is, it's not a commonly seen item and the seller gives no indication what one would cook indoors with it.

So let's guess. It's obviously sterno-fueled and the vessel and plate below seem like they could work for Hot Pot. The other picture the seller provided looks to my hopeful eyes like its mounded surface could work for Vietnamese tabletop grilling. How fun! The piece is in good shape and for the price, why not give it a whirl?

And don't forget to post your own listings at The Kitchen's classifieds by clicking that pretty yellow button to the right.

OTHER COOKS' STUFF
• Collector Wines for $ various
• Baccarat - Pair of Equinox Tumblers in original box for $150
• KitchenAid K45SS Classic 250-Watt 4-1/2-Quart Stand Mixer, White for $99
• 4 spice racks for $12
• Wedgewood "Blue Jasper" Tea Cup for $50
• Half Size Fridge for $20

Thanks, Craig!

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.

'Tis the time for holiday cheer and also for feeling queer. (in the head or belly or wherever this year's virus settles)

Food is always a good way to show love, but never more so than when the recipient of said love (and food) is under the weather.

Being sick can make us feel like babies and yearn for our mothers. The bland, soft comfort foods of childhood are some of our most powerful food memories.

What with all the running around, shopping, making homemade gifts and attending holiday parties, there’s not a lot of time for everyday kind of nourishment. Bloggers to the rescue. Here’s a sampling of survival dinner strategies for these last two weeks of December.

Over at Albion Cooks, we’ve got an easy, thrown together kind of tasty pizza with goat cheese sauce and vegetables.

Madeater’s larder is stocked with plenty of food. Here’s a shot of Raclette with pickled vegetables.

A nourishing soup with tofu and buckwheat noodles has both easy and healthy covered. Brought to us by Food and Paper.

Check out Cooking with Amy for an easy Brie & Bacon Fettuccini made with stuff you might just have laying around in your refrigerator.

These gorgeous parsnip and carrot latkes from Gluten Free by the Bay are maybe a little more labor intensive than the rest of the bunch, but I couldn’t resist, they look so good. Make them and add a salad and there’s dinner.

Rapini or Broccoli Raab is my idea of a perfect cooking green. It’s sturdy, pungent and versatile. It has a slightly sweet flavor tempered with a turnip-like pungency.

It is, in fact, more closely related to turnips than to broccoli, though both are in the cruciferae family like the Brussels sprouts we talked about last week.

Plunked down in the middle of The Mission with its high-end hipster boutiques, thrift stores, coffee shops and cheap burritos, Lucca Ravioli Company (unrelated to Lucca Delicatessen in the Marina) exists in a time warp of old San Francisco.

Every time I walk into Lucca, I feel giddily, ridiculously, in-love-for-the-first-time happy. The men that work there are unfailingly polite and helpful and have worked there as long as I can remember.

Last week, my sister brought me an article she’d clipped out of her local paper in Forestville, CA.

It’s about an organization called Kitchen Cosmology in Sebastopol, California. They’re doing a wonderful thing--a pairing teenaged culinary arts students with local families facing serious health problems, like cancer.

It’s good to avoid succumbing to holiday gluttony 24/7 so here’s a little something on the lighter side to add to the Fish on Fridays category. I always forget how good, healthy and easy fish tacos are until I make them and vow to do it more often.

They’re remarkably adaptable to any type of not-too-expensive fish you might find in your local market. You can use any kind of light fillet like sole, snapper, catfish or tilapia. I prefer saltwater species, but sometimes the freshwater farmed fish are more economical.

The textural contrast between lightly crispy fish, supple corn tortillas and soft avocado is a big part of this simple recipe’s success.

Now these are good. They’re crisp and a bit spicy, a little sweet and nicely tart. Maybe even a little addictive.

I especially like these bread and butter pickles with creamy goat cheese, but they’re also quite good with chicken or tuna salad. Or right out of the container while standing in front of the fridge.

Dave Ehreth, a former high tech entrepreneur, also works his low-tech magic on a classic dill—I mean a real pickle, fermented in barrels with salt, no vinegar. They’re great too and kind of taste like half-sours to my non East Coast palate.

The seller decided he or she “wasn’t the cooking type after all”, after buying this brand new 11-cup Cuisinart Food Processor.

It’s never been used, has all its blades and goodies and would make a real nice holiday gift for yourself or someone else. A smokin’ good deal at $150. Think of it: Holiday Pie crusts and cookie dough, compound butters for basting, nuts for baking, So many uses this time of year.

I think this one might go fast.

And don't forget to post your own listings at The Kitchen's classifieds by clicking that pretty yellow button to the right.

OTHER COOKS' STUFF
• New 7-piece Sculptured Pyrex set for $15
• New 5-peice Oneida Bakeware Set for $25
• Wine Preservation System by PEK for $55
• New Whirlpool Conquest Stainless Steel 25.6 Cu. Ft. Refrigerator for $725
• Mini Sanyo Refrigerator for $50

Thanks, Craig!