Delicious redecorating for Habitat for Humanity
This weekend, adults and kids will help build two house foundations out of gingerbread, destined to last for decades and help change local people's lives.

Blowfish cocktails make sake sexy
Shauna Rempel  
For connoisseurs, sake is something to be savoured.

Holiday show-stopper can be sophisticated
Mark Bittman  
We've all been to holiday dinners where the cook or a guest reveals, with absolute and utter pride, his or her special version of sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top.

Biscotti: Once loved, twice baked Italian cookie
Eric Vellend  
As of next week, cookies become an official food group. Before you dig up those time-honoured recipes, I want to let you in on a professional secret: Biscotti are a baker's best friend.

Medium shrimp with big taste
Garlic Shrimp, Zucchini and Corn Sauté

Kind words for inexpensive Portugese red
Gord Stimmell  
Our value discovery of the week is Vista TR, which sounds more like a software package than a wine. However, this big-hearted red from Portugal is very consumer-friendly. Even wine snobs like it. Just don't tell ...

A hearty vegetarian stew
This is a hearty yet quick vegetarian stew that requires no fancy ingredients but tastes divine.

Children will want every day to be a snow day
Kim Honey  
Children love this dessert, but it contains raw egg whites. To be safe, don't serve to the very young or very old. I used Gala apples. In Home Made , Tana Ramsay strains the apples after cooking, but I threw ...

Comfort me with apple pie
Trish Crawford  
As the days grow dark and chilly and the economy worsens, there's nothing that soothes the soul like a slice of deep-dish apple pie.

Chili peppers give more bang for the cluck
Freddie's Bang-Bang Chicken

Exhibit makes a meal of history
Corey Mintz  
Every week, I interview chefs to gather details for my reviews. They tell me about produce and meats coming from towns an hour outside of Toronto, grown by people they know. "The lamb? I get that from Jim. The beets ...

Braised turkey
Mark Bittman  
Turkey can be quite rewarding when handled properly. But roasting a whole bird is among the least "proper" methods. If the white meat is overcooked (which is almost inevitable), it turns dry; if the dark meat is undercooked ...

Winery takes `green' to the limit
Gord Stimmell  
Southbrook Vineyards, which opened its new state-of-the-art winery building in Niagara this summer, now has become the first Canadian winery to achieve biodynamic certification.

Pasta perfect with peanut butter
Adapted from Eat This Book , by Tyler Florence.

Tana Ramsay the soft-spoken chef
Kim Honey  
Tana Ramsay and I have one thing in common: We have both cooked for her husband. That would be Gordon Ramsay, the British celebrity chef.

Arrival of Beaujolais Nouveaux riches
Gord Stimmell  
It's Nouveau Beaujolais time in Toronto, when the traditional young, fresh and fruity reds are unleashed upon us.

Vesper, or a version of it
William M. Dowd  
"Three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it's ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon peel. Got it?''