Start the event with a two glasses of
water. Photo by Fred Redhat | Dreamstime.

An article in a medical journal, recently reported by The New York Times, scientifically confirmed the efficacy of an old dieting trick:

Water drunk before meals helps to aid in weight loss, by filling the stomach so one is more full than ravenous.

Use this trick to minimize over-indulging on tempting food and drink this holiday season.

The first thing to do when you cross the threshold of a party, bar or restaurant is to imbibe two glasses of water: tap water, mineral water or club soda. (While not part of the study, we opine that you can substitute diet soda, iced tea/iced coffee or hot tea/coffee.)

If plain water doesn’t float your boat, go for flavored club soda or add a squeeze of lemon or lime, or a good shake of aromatic bitters, which aren’t bitter but add nice flavor and aroma. Angostura bitters, available in most supermarkets and liquor stores, have a nice ginger flavor; the company also makes orange bitters.

Club soda with bitters (lots of them!) are our favorite no-calorie mocktail. The four-ounce bottles of bitters are small enough to carry in a purse or pocket, so you can BYO.

The other benefit to starting a celebration with two glasses of water: It hydrates you to counter the dehydrating effect of alcohol.

Brown and white sugar cubes are decorated with charming gingerbread men, Rudolf The Red-Nosed Reindeer, candy canes and snowmen. The same decoration is available in all-white sugar cubes.

The decorative sugar cubes are sold in an 18-piece gift box ($21.99), a 36-piece gift box ($39.99) and 100-piece gift box ($97.99) at SugarCubes.ca.

If you want to make this your “signature gift” this holiday, you can save by buying the 100-piece gift box and break it down into smaller gift boxes.

Beautiful sugar cubes for entertaining
and for gifts. Photo courtesy Home Sweet Home.

• See all the types of sugar in our Sugar Glossary.
• See more of our favorite gourmet gifts for Holiday 2010.
• See all 13 holiday gift lists—Books, Diet, Kids, Kitchen, Kosher, Stocking Stuffers & more.

Classic French toast. Photo courtesy
MackenzieLtd.com.

This eggy fried bread, with or without maple syrup, can be served for breakfast, brunch or lunch. It is usually made with plain white bread, but can be even more enjoyable when made with brioche, challah, cinnamon swirl bread, French bread or raisin bread.

As with waffles, French toast can be elevated to a dessert by topping it with ice cream and dessert sauce. It also can be baked in the oven, casserole style, for a bread pudding-type dessert.

FRENCH TOAST RECIPE

2. Soak slices of bread 30 seconds on each side in the mixture.

3. Fry in butter on both sides. Additionally, you can caramelize the toast with extra butter and sugar in a hot pan.

4. Serve immediately with maple syrup. For a special experience, serve with an infused maple syrup from Moosewood Hollow, like Sweet Autumn (a blend of sweet spices and vanilla), Sweet Chai, Sweet Ginger or Sweet Heat.

5. Garnish with fresh berries or sliced bananas and enjoy with a tall glass of milk.

• Read the history of French toast, which includes the recipe for a Monte Cristo sandwich—chicken and melted cheese in-between slices of French toast.
• Read our review Moosewood Hollow maple syrups, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week.

This Christmas Eve dinner is celebrated with a feast of—you guessed it—seven different traditional fish dishes (although some ambitious families may go for eight, nine or more small courses, served individually or on a buffet).

The tradition of eating seafood on Christmas Eve dates back to medieval times, to the Roman Catholic tradition of abstaining from meat or milk products on Fridays and specific holy days. Fish, typically fried in oil, was most often served.

Thus, traditional dishes for The Feast Of The Seven Fishes include baccalà (salted cod fish), calamari and fried fish and seafood (oysters, scallops, shrimp, smelts). But we’ve updated the choices in our dinner menu. Design a menu of your own favorite dishes or follow ours:

• Oyster shooters or oysters on the half shell (or shrimp skewers or crab cakes)
• Seafood chowder

How about a hearty bouillabaisse for
Christmas Eve? Photo courtesy MackenzieLtd.com.

• Marinated seafood salad (calamari, octopus, shrimp, green and black olives, onion) over greens
• Angel hair pasta with lobster in a tomato cream sauce
• Squid ink pasta with scallops and red caviar
• Your favorite salmon dish
• Your favorite shrimp dish

You can also turn your dinner into a friends-and-family potluck.

You may enjoy The Feast Of The Seven Fishes so much that you’ll start collecting recipes in January for Christmas Eve 2011.

Creamed raspberry honey is irresistible.
Photo by River Soma | THE NIBBLE.

The company blends its clover honey with fruit or spice to create Apricot, Blackberry, Cranberry, Raspberry and Spiced Honey Crèmes.

Luscious, yet light on the palate, these honey crèmes are delicious on just about anything: toast, scones, waffles ice cream, or as a cheese condiment. Add some to grilling sauces or marinades; and by all means, sweeten tea or other beverages. Flavors include Apricot, Blackberry, Cranberry, Raspberry and Spiced.

The honeys are available in 2.25-ounce, 5.5-ounce and 12-ounce jars at $3.49, $4.99 and $8.99, respectively. For a larger gift, consider a gift crate with three 5.5-ounce jars. Purchase online at HoneyRidgeFarms.com.

• See all of our favorite gourmet food gifts for Holiday 2010.
• Check out the history of honey.
• Discover the different types of honey.