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Cranberry sauce with champagne and currants!

I'm excited to try out the Cranberry Sauce with Champagne and Currants this year!

OK, I have one question. Why is that burger bigger than Susie Fogelson's head?

Generally speaking, I give everything a week in the fridge. I've never heard anything about a 4 day limit before.

I just tried Dogfish Head's Punkin Ale the other day. Fairly tasty, and better than most pumpkin ales I've tried, but I still wasn't in love with it.
Probably the best I've had is from the Salem Brewing Company in Salem, Mass. Stellar pumpkin ale, I can't wait til I find myself in that area in the fall again...

Wow, this event looks phenomenal. I don't live anywhere near Chicago, but it could be worth a trip some year - the food sounds and looks wonderful, and the wine and liquor tents are just the icing on the cake. :-P
As for the five-spice braised pork...call me crazy, but maybe the five spices were Chinese Five-Spice? In which case, it's a blend of cassia, star anise, aniseed, ginger, and cloves. Or some approximation thereof. But it's pretty commonly sold as a spice blend.

@pastry262: A pilgrimage would be a good idea. I've always despised White Castle burgers (well, when I say always I mean since I first tried one in...'97?), but I visited White Manna a few months back and fell in love. They redeemed sliders in my eyes.

I'm starting to catch on that the "Crisper Whisperer" is not entirely suited to those of us in the Northeast...I've never heard of, let alone seen, a "hairy gourd" before (settle down, children), let alone gotten one in my CSA. Where on earth do they grow such a thing?

I've always enjoyed grape soda, but I think the reason for that is that I drink it very, very infrequently. I probably haven't had a can in 5 or 6 years. And now I have a slight craving for it....

It's funny, I'm sitting here thinking how so many people would find this article and some of the comments to be extravagant. Obviously, they don't know what they're talking about, and they're probably not reading Serious Eats, sooo....yeah.
I tend to splurge on chocolate, beer, eggs (recently got a hookup for some delicious free range eggs at a reasonable price), cheese, olive oil, balsamic vinegar. Wine I usually buy pretty cheap from local wineries but my favorite local wine is well over $30, I think over $40 the last time I bought it (The Barbera from Va La Vineyards in Avondale, PA, if anyone has had the pleasure of trying it), so I guess that counts as paying extra.

OK, which one works better, canola or olive oil? The article says olive, recipe says canola. I guess the extra flavor of the olive oil would be wasted with all those other wonderful ingredients...?

I'm sure there are plenty of brands that didn't get hit in this taste test, but particularly surprised to see that Vosges was omitted. Their "deep milk chocolate" is outstanding, but maybe it's a little too dark for this taste test - I think it's 40-45% cacao. It's the type of chocolate they use in the original Mo's Bacon Chocolate Bar, which is one of my all-time favorite chocolate bars.

I loved both as a kid, but as I've grown up, something about Cool Whip has really started to freak me out. Of course I prefer homemade whipped cream, but in a pinch, Reddi-Whip is surprisingly good. And yeah, it can liven up a party pretty handily. Although...Cool Whip has a spray-topped can now too, doesn't it?