Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

The new issue of New York magazine has this recipe for "Flourless Chocolate-Walnut Cookies" that sounds like it will meet your "good and easy" criteria - I haven't made them yet but I nearly started drooling when I saw the picture of them in the magazine!

Easter candy in general, particularly Cadbury Mini-Eggs.

Cakespy: I love Carlo's bakery so much! Their M&M cookies are to die for, and the cakes are just out of this world!

New York magazine ran a recipe for Spaghetti and Strawberries last summer, which was really delicious and easy to make. Recommended!

Blueberry vodka lemonade, pino grigio, and cold (not ice) water.

PumpkinBear...interesting. Thanks. I will have to check my local listings again. Tina was always cooking outside and she had this totally cool fold-up cooking station on wheels!

I was vegetarian for 15 years until I started to watch Bourdain's "A Cook's Tour." I totally fell under his pro-meat spell. For about the last two years I have been eating meat, wondering if maybe I would feel healthier and have more energy. The answers to that are no and no; if anything, I gained weight! And the recent beef recall totally reminded me of why I became vegetarian in the first place, which is why I am no longer eating meat except for these three exceptions: Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Europe (I will continue to eat fish, however). Seems like a good balance to me. Perhaps this doesn't make me a true vegetarian, but that's how I identify myself.

I love this recipe for Pumpkin Polenta. Just use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock, and substitute the chorizo for the veggie sausage of your choice, or tofu.

I'm not really sure what flavors are associated with NH. Maine gets blueberry, Vermont gets maple, and Massachusetts gets Fluff. The first thing that comes to mind when I think of my home state is The Old Man of the Mountain but I don't think granite-flavored ice cream would be such a hit. Maybe just vanilla with something hard and crunchy in it like cookies or candy to represent the Granite State. The Old Man would definitely have to be on the package though!

I have had this at Al Forno and it is so good! It's served with "coffee-scented mascarpone" and chocolate sauce. Incredible!

Lots of plain hot water and lots of sleep.

Thanks everyone! This is all very helpful!

You're staying at the Marriott Marquis?!? I would think that would be a very fun place to be on New Year's - you can probably see all the action from the revolving restaurant up top!!

Here's my suggestion for a totally random New Year's outing: head down to Grand Central and have a drink at The Campbell Apartment (if it's open - check first). Yes, Grand Central will probably be a mad house, but if you can take it all in from one of the balconies, the chaos can be strangely beautiful. And it's just a gorgeous space overall, and worth checking out. You might be able to pick up a snack to take back to your hotel room from the market, too, if it's open, like some cheese and crackers from Murrays.

I have to say honestly, the site did not wow me.

It might be helpful to say exactly what A La Carte Catering is right on the homepage, something like "A La Carte Catering is a full-service catering venture run by Chef Jason Schnur in Medina, Ohio." Even though it says "A La Carte Catering," I was thinking, "what is this company?"

My other thought is that the name of your company should be featured more prominently. The visitor counter jumps out more than the actual name! The visitor counter looks a little out of place - I would ditch it.