"I've known Stan personally for quite a few years," Baris says. "He stands out as a very exceptional mixologist. I asked him if he wouldn't mind making us a cocktail list, and he was pleased to do so."

There are two ways to gift shop for a cook. You can drop a wad on a spectacular piece of equipment that will get used three or four times a year and sit in the pantry the rest of the time. Or you can convert a relatively small amount of money into a potful of tools that will get used on a daily basis.

"Like a lot of brewers today, its Charlie's fault," Turner says. Charlie, in this case, refers to Charlie Papazian, the man who founded the American Home Brewers Association in 1978 and in 1984 wrote the 'home brewer's bible,' The Complete Joy of Home Brewing.

A fun variation on winter and holiday cuisine is cooking with wine, liquor or liqueur. Each alcohol can add a distinctive flavor or enhance other ingredients from your favorite recipes. Whether youre cooking or baking something savory or sweet, alcohol can give your culinary dishes a festive element and taste.

Although most people celebrate Thanksgiving at home with family and friends, many local restaurants are concocting Thanksgiving feasts for those in need of a sound holiday meal. The Cork, Greenbriar Inn and Peaceful Valley Ranch have unique Thanksgiving menus and specials this year.

"When people hear 'gluten-free,' the reaction can be 'poor thing,' and I just want to say, 'Look at what's on my plate does this look like deprivation to you?'" In the blogosphere, Ahern, 44, is best known as Gluten-Free Girl.

Opening a restaurant is always a long process. But the chain of events that led to the opening of one Boulder restaurant and the realization of a lifelong dream spanned two continents and intertwined the fates of two women in a way neither of them could have foreseen.

To use the Splick-It app, users select a restaurant or cafe from the list of available eateries on the phone, which will then bring the restaurant's menu onto the screen. From there, customers can customize items and write notes for their order before adding them to their cart.

Chef Marcus McCauley is a dedicated member of Rosh's team who originally hails from Pearl Street's recently closed Bimbamboo. McCauley is very proud of his Oklahoma provenance and prepares food accordingly: farm-fresh goodies that range from persimmon pudding to poached pears served in pomegranate juice.

According to an article in The New York Times last November, soggy fields from heavy rain in Midwestern states, where the majority of commercial pumpkins are grown, prevented farmers from getting harvesting equipment to the pumpkins during the typical harvesting season in August.