food and nutrition

Culinary historian Michael Twitty's love affair with his ancestors' cuisine sprouted early.

It's not often I get inspired to make a dish after watching a celebrity chef whip it up on TV. Especially when said cooking star is Sandra Lee, who's best known for her "semi-homemade" style of cooking, which relies heavily on prepackaged products instead of fresh items.

I'm not going to lie to you.

I mean, I could lie to you. I could say that in winter a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of braising. I could say that when it is cold out, braised foods warm you from the inside out. I could even say that the time spent braising a meal ensures that it will be made with love.

Salted Caramel Macaroons? Mini Carrot-Spiced Cupcakes With Molasses Buttercream? Caramelized Onion and Peppered Bacon Flatbread?

It started, as bonkers things often do, at a party in college.

The theme was dead celebs and historic figures. Then-student Frank DeCaro went as Euell Gibbons, the Grape-Nuts cereal spokesman who famously claimed pine trees were edible.

"He was a naturalist," said DeCaro, who carried a pine tree through the party. "He ate all this healthy food and then he dropped dead."

Two words: cinnamon roll.

OK, that was almost too easy. Yet today, while you're on the treadmill, or balancing your checkbook, or changing lanes, or reading a bedtime story, you will be thinking of having a cinnamon roll, ideally within the week. Maybe even sooner.

Chili? Boring.

Chicken wings? Lazy.

Ordering a pizza? Boring and lazy.

If you're having the gang over to watch the big game on Sunday, don't settle for the same old standard party foods. If you want your party to be at least as memorable as the game, and maybe even as memorable as the commercials, you'll want to do it up right.

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Diane Turcotte of Sun City Center, Fla., is "looking for a recipe for hot German potato salad that uses a can of cream-of-celery soup."

Margot Hilbert of Spring Hill, Fla., shares a recipe she has used for many years and says it's a family favorite. It originally came from a 1968 Campbell's cookbook, "Cooking With Soup."

Recently, a friend and I got into a short but spirited debate about the relative merits of pecans and walnuts. She argued for the superiority of the pecan, while I made a pitiful attempt to defend the walnut. I couldn't muster much enthusiasm, because I like pecans, and I think that there are plenty of occasions when they're the right choice.