Pumpkin Spice Vodka
Follow procedure for Five-Berry Vodka, but with the following ingredients:
About 2 cups peeled, seeded pumpkin flesh (or try butternut squash)
5 cinnamon sticks
6 allspice berries
2 or 3 cloves
1 nutmeg

Nutcracker Cocktail
2 oz. Pumpkin Spice Vodka
1/2 oz. crème de cacao
1/2 oz. amaretto
splash of cream

Shake all ingredients over ice in a cocktail shaker. Pour into a martini glass. You could go mad and rim the glass beforehand with graham cracker crumbs.

Makes 1 cocktail.
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My aunt Ellen makes the most gorgeous–and the most lethal–Cosmopolitan I have ever met. Made with regular vodka, it is all pale pink demureness: the lace garter of cocktails, with a dagger tucked in. A deeper blush comes from five-berry infused vodka.
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Egg and Soldier is currently on location in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where I’m visiting with the paternal wing of my family.

An afternoon-long festival of vodka infusion is now a traditional highlight of our annual November gathering. It began a few years ago as an orderly affair following the guidelines provided by infused-vodka.com, and is now something of a fruit free-for-all. Either way, the results are delicious and a brilliant base for holiday cocktails.
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Every year, my mother and I dress our great American Thanksgiving bird with this stuffing, which bows deeply to our Italian heritage. It came, with proportions improvised annually, from the memory of my late grandmother. Spicy, rich, and dense, it’s filled with meat, eggs, cheese, and a smattering of green: truly an omnivore’s stuffing. To eat it is to feel warmed and fortified for a long winter, a long nap, and all that the season presents.
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If you’re still looking for a regal bird to grace your Thanksgiving table, and seek an alternative to the frozen supermarket variety, Belly DuJour offers some helpful advice in Today’s Bite. You’ll find tips on securing a wild or locally-raised turkey, or the turducken of your dreams. They also share Diane Morgan’s recipe for apple cider brine. Laying down the baster altogether this year? Check out the Turkey Takeout Roundup.

It’s dark early now, and the spirit needs a lift. This spiced hot chocolate is, for me, an instant-good-mood substance, especially with a tiny glass of Cointreau or amaretto served alongside.

Many substitutions can be made in this recipe. You might add a bit of instant coffee or espresso powder, or use ground cardamom instead of cayenne for a bright burst of orange. A pinch of chipotle in place of the cayenne will add a smoky undertone and subtler heat, if that is preferable. You could also simply add a pinch of finely ground aniseed to the powdered chocolate/sugar mixture and have a liquorice-flavored drink. You’re free to use milk instead of water, but the drink is intense as it is, and milk might lull the palate–and the rest of you–to sleep. I prefer to enjoy the effects of this elixir with open eyes.
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Have I lost my head?

I recently saw Sofia Coppola’s film Marie Antoinette and found it enchanting. It was, at that moment, exactly what I wanted: something luscious to gaze at. Any more of a plot would have distracted from the sumptuous dresses, the shoes (oh, the shoes), and the piles and piles of magnificent pastry.
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Make no mistake, this sparling red from Ca’ dei Mandorli in Northern Italy is a sweet one. It tastes like a bowl of cherries, with a nosegay of roses and violets thrown in. Drink it with salty cured meats, a tart berry dessert, or the meanest, darkest chocolate. The label graphic suggests another possible pairing.

Taralli are present at every major holiday in my maternal family’s house, where their crunch is the counterpoint to our conversation around the kitchen table. In a family where holiday eating never ends, but simply flows, these hard, peppery biscuits are what we’re munching on when it isn’t mealtime…a sort of interlude food. And they are, best of all, pulled out late at night, or before breakfast when the rest of the house is still asleep (for me the former is usually more relevant than the latter), and dipped into a cup of sweet, milky tea.
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There is hope for those of us who can’t imagine a Tekka Maki without a side of plastic grass. Or a large bill at the end.

The recently launched Sushi Day offers a simple sushi recipe daily. There’s also a glossary of sushi terms and an advice section focusing on tools and technique.

Now get that nori rolling!

Via lifehacker.