When the holidays get hectic,

slow down with some tasty eggnog

By Georgia Williams

Christmastime brings with it many traditions, not the least of which are food-related. Cookies, eggnog, fruitcake—all carry with them the marker that Dec. 25 is looming. Really, now, what is tastier than a gingerbread man or almond paste cookie dunked into a tumbler of eggnog as a special holiday treat? You could probably do the same with fruitcake, but it’s unlikely to make that melange at all palatable.

After Thanksgiving, leftover turkey populates soups, salads, sandwiches, casseroles and the like, but how about dessert? Enter Turkey Joints, odd-looking yet tasty rods that don’t really contain the holiday fowl, but are a unique and delicious seasonal candy created in nearby Rome. Those in the know buy jars of them each year for holiday gifting, or for themselves.

Giving the gift of wine says you value

the recipient’s sense of the unusual

Looking for a holiday gift that is both personal and universal, sophisticated and fun? Smart yuletide shoppers are turning to wine clubs and wine-related accessories to round out their seasonal shopping this year.

New cookbooks offer the perfect solution for yuletide gift-giving

By Lorraine Smorol

Foodies always appreciate gifts of cookbooks, and publishers beef up their offerings for Christmas giving. You’re always safe buying a recipe-driven opus, but memoirs centered around food and cooking have recently entered the market in droves, many with eye-catching titles.

Gingerbread can be found in more than miniature holiday houses

By Elizabeth Wimer

Pumpkin and peppermint are two heavy hitters in the flavor department of the holiday season. This year, a favorite flavor is getting more attention: ginger. Gingersnap and gingerbread flavors are exploding this season behind coffee bars, in supermarkets and as a holiday destination.

The folks at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que are making it easy for you to have a traditional Thanksgiving feast that even includes some nontraditional, but oh-so-tasty, barbecue. The downtown eatery will be closed for the holiday, so office manager Lindsay Amorese suggests you place your order now. “Let us take care of the hard part,” Amorese says.

There are two plans, depending on your number of guests. Plan 1 feeds nine to twelve, includes a 14- to 16-pound pit-roasted turkey, homemade gravy, Cooter’s Mama’s cornbread stuffing and two homemade pies, and costs $149. Plan 2 feeds five to eight and includes a 9- to 11-pound pit-roasted turkey, homemade gravy, cornbread stuffing and one homemade pie. It costs $99. Pie choices are key lime, peanut butter or sweet potato pecan. 

It’s that time of year again, when an enormous bird invades your oven, spends hours sucking up energy and takes minutes to eat, and brings families together. Butterball is a wealth of knowledge about turkeys, not the least of which is their Turkey Talk-Line, which will dispense advice through the end of December. Or, join the www.butterball.com Web chat Nov. 25 from 10 a.m. to noon to get real-time answers from others in the coop, er, loop.

Just in time for cooler temperatures, Carrabba’s Italian Grill is moving heartier fare to the forefront of its menu and introducing a full line of miniature desserts, bite-sized portions of the eatery’s most popular meal-enders. 

Marsala di Carrabba continues the restaurant’s tradition of offering multiple tastes on one plate with chicken and sirloin marsala served with a vegetable medley. Rissotto Di Mare blends delicate seafood with hearty risotto and linguini with clam sauce comes with choice of homemade marinara, creamy white or traditional garlic and oil. The mini-desserts, priced at $2.25 each or six for $12, include such classic Italian treats as tiramisu, cannoli and chocolate espresso mousse.

Along the Cayuga Wine Trail you can shop for the holidays while sampling fine wines and holiday treats. Take home a souvenir wineglass, a grapevine wreath, a collectible silver ornament from each winery and holiday recipes. The Holiday Shopping Spree takes place Saturdays, Nov. 22 and Dec. 6, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sundays, Nov. 23 and Dec. 7, noon to 6 p.m.

Participants are eligible to win one of the grand prizes: a one-night stay at Packwood House in Skaneateles, the Hobbit Hollow House Bed & Breakfast in Skaneateles, the Holiday Inn in Auburn or the Inn at the Finger Lakes in Auburn. Advance-sale tickets, $35 per person or $45 per couple, can be purchased at any Wegmans; tickets at the door cost $40 and $55, with discounts for designated drivers. For more information, visit www.cayugawinetrail.com or call (800) 684-5217.

• Farther west, along the Keuka Lake Wine Trail, check out Keuka Holidays II. Hearty winter foods paired with Keuka Lake red wines are featured, and each ticket holder will receive a grapevine wreath as well as an ornament from each participating winery and a free holiday wine glass with food samples. Tickets are advance-sale only and cost $35 per person, $55 per couple. 

Event hours are Saturday, Nov. 22, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 23, noon to 5 p.m. Except for Ravines Wine Cellars, east-side wineries open at 11 a.m. on Sunday. For more information, visit www.keukawinetrail.com or call (800) 440-4898.

—Georgia Williams

In The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura, the author describes the “roji” as the “garden path, which leads from the machiai (waiting room) to the tearoom, signifying the first stage of meditation: the passage into self-illumination.” And that’s exactly the feeling you get when entering Roji Tea Lounge, 108 E. Washington St.

The East-meets-West teahouse provides a serene setting with couches and small tables for patrons to engage one another or sit peacefully alone listening to the background mood music or perusing a book. Several exotic teas, including greens, oolongs, blacks, whites and fermented, are served, with the option to complement your choice with several desserts.