Damon Lee Fowler

A very merry Christmastide to you! Yes, it's still Christmas—the third day of it, also known as the Feast of Saint John the Evangelist.

If you've already put away your Christmas decorations, the last of the eggnog, and all your holiday tableware—and are now contemplating that New Year's resolution to diet, well, bless your heart: You're missing out on ten more days of celebratory feasting.

This is a good time for intimate celebrations that are just two of you—or just yourself, as you wind down from a big family gathering. The eleven days of Christmastide Read More 

Since fall is my favorite season for cooking, it shouldn’t take a mathematical genius to figure out that Thanksgiving is my favorite cook’s holiday. Normally, the second week in November would find me up to my elbows in planning—gathering recipes, happily mapping out every detail, stocking up on the basics.

And by the week of the feast, my kitchen is fragrant with a simmering broth pot, bubbling cranberry conserve, baking cheese straws, and toasting pecans. For the space of that week, no kitchen job—not even peeling brussels sprouts—seems tedious.

This year, however, my kitchen will be a lot quieter, not to mention less fragrant.  Read More 

One of the lovely things about Thanksgiving dinner is the way family traditions are perpetuated from generation to generation as we gather around that common table. Even lovelier is the way other traditions get adopted and shared as people come into our family and as we get absorbed into theirs, sometimes through legal ties but more often just because we love one another. Read More