Every Christmas my father prepares buñuelos for the family on the mornings of the 24, 25, and 26 so that all can have their share–no matter their arrival time. A round Colombian cheese bread, buñuelos are made from corn starch, shredded queso campesino, milk, and a little salt and sugar (we first mentioned them here). They are […]

My cousin Toño is an amazing paper folding artist. Here’s just one example of his work. To see more, check out his origami photo set. Image: The Squirrel Family, Toño Garcés.

Seven local designers, two great calendars. See below for details on how to get yours. happify For the fourth year running, happify brings a 2010 calendar in the form of 12 postcards, offset printed in a rich chocolate brown on an extra-thick (110#) recycled cream 5″x7″ cardstock. On the reverse side there’s space for writing […]

With the feast of our Lady of Guadalupe right around the corner – tomorrow, in fact – I took the opportunity to become acquainted with one of the most important traditions surrounding this sacred festival: tamales. While I’m an avid tamale consumer, I’ve never actually made them. So when I heard the kitchen at Church […]

Yesterday and today I made my favorite Christmas cookies. This isn’t a recipe that’s been in the family forever by any means, but ever since grade school my mom has made these chocolate-mint cookies to everyone’s delight. ¾ cup margarine (1½ sticks) 1½ cup brown sugar 2 tablespoons water 2 cups chocolate chips (1 bag) 2 […]

My ideal bread–the bread I want to have for breakfast every morning, around my sandwiches at lunch, and to sop up the remains of whatever sauce adorned my dinner–is a crisp-crusted, chewy, open-crumbed bread, flecked with bran. This is the kind of bread perfect with a slice of cheese, some large-grained cured sausage and a […]

I just found out about littlefactory.com via a post on Shelterrific, a blog I read pretty regularly. What caught my eye on their site were these number placemats. Order soon if you like the look, with shipping from Hong Kong orders should have been in by the 5th to arrive by the 25th. I may […]

Forget the food! Here’s the table setting before we filled every possible surface with a bowlful of stuffing.