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@marchpane - that made me laugh. ed, i so admire you for putting all of this out there, be it a good week or a bad one. i don't think i could do the same. holiday season is, as we all know, tough for everyone - i have thanksgiving immediately followed by my birthday, which amounts to a multitude special meals with loved ones. my main goal is to enjoy life and food while making reasonable sacrifices where i can. for example, having seriously delicious food on only TWO days of "birthday week" instead of four or five. and please keep up the cookie testing - conducting that research is a most valuable service for all new yorkers, and we appreciate it and all that you do!

pumpkin cheesecake.

i find everyone at the communal tables at momofuku ssam to be really friendly- it would probably be a great place to dine solo, and you can get some more recommendations there.

how about breakfast at prune or clinton st. baking company? or veselka? some personal favorites :)

what a great trip - have a wonderful time!

this is a cute idea, but chocolate bark is so easy to make! i'm always shocked when i see how much williams sonoma and other stores charge for peppermint bark and other chocolate barks. you can make your own with a double boiler and your favorite mix-ins - makes a great holiday gift for much less moolah.

i maintain...cornbread stuffing with pecans and bacon!!!

dressing...pumpkin pie in second place!

i had a visceral reaction reading this. YUMMMMMM.

i've grown up in NY my whole life, and i still hold to this day that (forgive me, city gods) the best bagel i've ever had was in montreal. delicious smoked fish, too.

i actually love psilakis' own lamb burger at anthos!

I'm thankful for family, friends, and for living in the great city of New York.

spaghetti and meatballs

levain and torres, absolument

the oatmeal raisinet cookie idea is so great!! i'm definitely going to make that.

i have a couple of stupidly easy recipes that i've made with candy (although not leftover- like some other commenters, i know of no such thing). while i love baking from scratch, these both use mixes, and i've gotten more rave reviews from them than anything else- it hurts my wannabe ina garten pride a bit:

1- make a brownie mix per instructions. pour half of the batter into the prepared pan. break up a toffee bar (or any other type of chocolate bar, really) and layer the bar evenly over the batter. pour in the other half of batter. bake.

2. (similar to cookie suggestion above, but for cupcakes) prepare a brownie mix. fill halfway into greased muffin cups. stick a chocolate PB cup into the batter. fill cups with remaining batter. bake. (i top this with a PB frosting)