PUBLIC MARKS from vacelts with tag food

Baking cookies at Christmas has been a holiday tradition in my house since I was tall enough to stand on a chair to reach the counter. I have many memories of a delicious-smelling kitchen filled with laughter as I baked with different members of my family - my mother, my sister, my grandmother, my cousins - over the years.

Thanksgiving is usually one of those holidays that pass in a blur of turkey and football, but three - all during particularly different points in my life - stand out for me.

So while I dream of delicious, mouth-watering turkey on Thanksgiving, the meal always comes down to one course for me — Dessert. And when I think about Thanksgiving Day dessert, my mind always jumps to pie — more specifically pumpkin pie.

After seeing me on one of my little chocolate binges (we won’t talk about how often these happen), my husband has asked me if there’s such a thing as too much chocolate. I emphatically declared no one. That’s before I read about Chocolate Show going on in New York this week.

I watch too much TV. I’m the first to admit it (the first step for conquering any addiction is admitting you have a problem). That said, I don’t actually see myself giving up one of my favorite past times. At least until this strike hit. But as my favorite TV shows go dark one by one, I find myself in quite a quandary. So I’ve come up with my own 10-step (I know it really should’ve been 12) plan to avoid the withdrawal symptoms and help me survive the strike.

A recent study indicates that preschoolers prefer the taste of food in McDonald’s wrappers to the same food in generic wrappers. I agree that children prefer the McDonald’s food, but I don’t think it has anything to do with taste.

For me a quick summer meal is a sandwich and chips, but for those of you that have a more discerning palette, here are 101 ideas for summer meals that take less that 10 minutes, courtesy of the New York Times.

I found some really cool recipes for blueberries and thought I’d share with you too.

Coloring the Easter eggs is the fun (although messy) part. Hunting the eggs is the best part. But now that Easter's over what do you do with all those hard boiled eggs? Here are a few recipes I found that you might try.