This year, why not march to the beat of a different drummer and rock around a designer color tree on Christmas morning? Deck your halls differently with a Christmas tree from Treetopia, a premiere resource for artificial Christmas trees with attitude.

The pre-lit, stylish trees come in a variety of types, sizes and colors, but we liked the food-friendly sound of the “Cranberry Crush” tree (other designer colors available). The winner will receive a four-foot-tall tree decked out with clear lights. You’ll enjoy this “sustainable” Christmas tree for many years to come. If you prefer, you can donate it to your local children’s hospital or other group in need of holiday cheer.

Approximate Retail Value: $259.00

Celebrate Christmas with a chic colored tree from Treetopia.

A second winner may wake up on Christmas morning to his or her very own custom-blended MojaMix cereal. The prize is a $30 gift certificate to build one’s own dream breakfast cereal from scratch. Choose your favorite base cereal, dried fruit, nuts and possibly some “extras” like cacao nibs. Name your cereal and choose a quote or a photo for the front of the bag.

Retail Value: $30.00

• To Enter This Gourmet Giveaway: Go to the box at the bottom of our Cereals, Pancakes & Waffles Section and enter your email address for the prize drawing by noon on Monday, December 14th. (Privacy is observed; your email address will not be used for any other purpose.)

Lick the envelope—it tastes like bacon. Photo
by Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

From J&D’s, the folks who brought you Bacon Salt, here are envelopes that anyone will want to lick. J&D’s Bacon-Flavored Mmmvelopes not only taste like bacon, they can be enjoyed by those who are halal and kosher. All of J&D’s products are vegetarian and K-OF K kosher certified.

The envelopes have a pork belly design on both sides. Under the flap are the words, “Everything Should Taste Like Bacon.”

Well, not everything, guys. There’s still ice cream, cake, cookies, chocolate (with or without bacon), peanut butter, brioche, fries, onion rings, crab cakes, sushi, guacamole (add your own favorites here __________), and every great food that isn’t bacon.

• Get your Mmmvelopes at JDFoods.net.
• The Bacon Boys from J&D’s have a contest going. Submit your own recipe using any J&D’s product, or recipes using real bacon, by December 15th. You could win a J&D’s Everything Pack that includes one of everything they make. Go to the Recipes Section on J&D’s website and use the Submit Your Own Recipe; all submissions will be judged for the prize.

[1] A slice of foie gras, known as a “scallop,” is briefly sautéed and served with peaches, marmalade and marigold salad (photo © Restaurant Daniel| NYC).

[2] Foie gras-stuffed prunes (photo © Caviar Russe.

On festive occasions we serve “Foie Gras Variées,” a dinner plate comprising small amounts of different foie gras* preparations that make a luxurious course.

The plate typically includes:

 
The same can be done with chicken livers: chicken liver mousse, terrine, and sautéed livers.

It’s just as satisfying for those without a hunger for the duck or goose version, and much more affordable.

Serve the plate with a glass of Gewürtztraminer, Late Harvest Vouvray, Riesling or Sauternes, makes guests very happy.

In fact, sybarite that we are, we often serve two different wines so your guests can experience different pairings.

Want some chocolate with your foie gras?

Here’s a recipe for Foie Gras Served With French Toast and Spiced Chocolate Ganache, from Chef Mark Gold.

Serve it as the first course of a very opulent dinner.

________________

*Foie gras is a specialty food product made of the liver of a duck or goose that has been especially fattened. Here’s more about it.

†Quince is a winter fruit. Other options include a dried fruit compote, apples, figs, black cherry jam or fig jam. In the spring, we like fresh figs, gooseberries or green grapes (the smaller the better). While few of us have 50-year-old balsamic vinegar, if you have balsamic glaze (commercial balsamic vinegar boiled down to thicken it), you can add a few drops to the plate in any season.
 
 

Lager (the German word for storage) refers to any beer made by bottom fermentation. It is usually golden in color but sometimes can be dark.

Lager requires a longer, colder fermentation than ale (which is a top-fermenting beer), and uses a different species of yeast that tolerates cold temperatures well. The result of the cold fermentation is a lighter, crisper, smoother beer.

Ale is the favored beer style of England, and as the British colonized America, it became the beer of the Colonies. Lager beer was introduced to the U.S. during the German immigration of the early 1800s. It was immediately adopted and the country switched from being an ale-drinking country to a lager-drinking country.

The only challenge was that brewing lager required a colder environment, 30°F to 40°F.

Tip a glass to National Lager Week! Photo by Duncan Tidd | SXC.

• Check up on more types of beer in our Beer Glossary.
• Check out the recipes in our delicious, six-course beer-and-food-pairing dinner. 

Divide a dragonfruit at the dinner table.
Photo courtesy Melissas.com.

You can give these fruits as gifts (Melissas.com has individual boxes and monthly “club” gifts). But give them to your own household, too.

Pick a specific day of the month—the first Monday, the third Sunday, e.g.—to be Exotic Fruit Day in your home. Have your featured fruit for dessert or at brunch, experience different tastes and build your knowledge base.

If there’s no market in your town where you can pick up exotic produce, Melissas.com is happy to oblige.

• Next, you can tackle exotic vegetables. See our Exotic Vegetables Glossary.