Thursdays are usually reserved for cupcake of the week, but this week I found another adorable pastry to take its place. From now until Dec. 31, you can head over to Krispy Kreme and pick up their holiday-inspired snowman doughnut. The classic yeast-raised doughnut is cut into a snowman shape, topped with white icing and decorated with two eyes, a nose, mouth, and three buttons. If that's enough for you, the snowmen doughnuts can also be filled with any of Krispy Kreme's fillings. While they are a bit gimmicky — just like any other limited-edition food — I do think they're quite cute. I don't like to go out of my way to get doughnuts, but if someone at Sugar HQ showed up with a box . . . well, let's just say I wouldn't turn my back on them!

A few weeks ago, I received a HUGE package from the folks at Starbucks. Inside was another box, and then another and another. After all the packaging material had been removed, I finally discovered a gigantic martini glass filled and the ingredients needed to create a Gingerbread Lattetini. It was a bit too early in the day for a mixed drink, so I set the glass aside and forgot about it for a while. Fast forward to yesterday: I was cleaning off my desk and wondered what to do with this gigantic glass. Then I wondered why I was wondering what to do, after all there was only one option — drink up!

The Gingerbread Lattetini is a simple drink to whip up and is definitely festive. It's creamy, smooth, and sinfully sipable. It is, however, a tad on the sweet side; almost like an alcoholic version of a creamy cinnamon butterscotch candy. It is also simple to make, so if it sounds like something you'd like to indulge in, read more

Like Alton Brown said in the recent Iron Chef Holiday Special, no one does holiday cooking better than a grandma like Paula Deen. If you're wondering what Paula's got cooking this year, why don't you peek in the oven and see the desserts she's whipped up. — People

Unlike Passover, it's not traditional to consume kosher beverages on Hanukkah. If you prefer to serve a kosher drink, stock up on He'Brew, the well-made Jewish beer.

Other than that, offer guests wine and a signature cocktail. An unusual wine like an Argentine Malbec pairs nicely with brisket. Since this is a celebration, pour another wine for dessert. A sparkling wine, dessert wine, or sweet Riesling are prefect for preparing the sufganiyot. Don't overlook water, sparkling apple cider, and grape juice.

As the guests arrive, get the party started with a round of blue ginger gimlets. This twist on the classic cocktail is light and refreshing. For the recipe that will have you saying cheers, read more

Today is National Chocolates Day, and since it's not chocolate but chocolates, I can only assume that it's referring to individual confections. While it seems a bit clichéd, sometimes the best thing is a box of mixed chocolate treats. You get the gooey caramel centers, the flavor infused truffles, and everything in between. I like the places where you can pick out exactly what you want in the box, as well as how many. If you're lucky enough, you can even find a chocolate factory that sells their chocolate individually. One of those places is Charles Chocolates.

I recently had the opportunity to view their facilities and sample their new products. If you're not familiar with Charles — they purposely have a small retail presence due to handling reasons — you should really remedy that. Their Caramel Almond Sticks ($11) are fabulous and their peanut butter butterflies ($27) are simply delicious, however it's their edible chocolate boxes ($45-$60) that blow me away. The entire box, lid and all, is edible. You can eat the chocolates inside and then chomp down on the box. They have a holiday collection filled with their most popular pieces, but I personally love the tea collection. The truffles are infused with five different teas and the edible lid features a painting of Chinese tea mountains. Whichever you fancy, they'll make great gifts for the chocoholic on your list, but if I were you, I'd go ahead and treat yourself.

I enjoy changing the look of my kitchen in order to go with the weather and season. However the basics — things I rarely change — are in black and white. Filling a kitchen with black and white accessories creates a wonderful foundation for decorative accents. To get in the Christmas spirit I will add red and green. For New Year's, I'll ditch those and supplement silver and gold.

To help you get back to the black and white basics, I went hunting in the Yum Market. You found some fabulous essentials, but these graphic black and white espresso cups are perfect now and wonderful later. Fun find, moderngirl! To get more ideas, scroll through below.

To learn more about the bookmarking feature of TeamSugar please read GeekSugar's explanation.

If you've never enhanced a pasta sauce with the liquid you cooked the pasta in, I highly recommend that you do so tonight. While the pasta boils, the water becomes starchy and flavorful. When tossed with cooked pasta, vegetables, and seasonings, the water clings to the pasta forming a creamy texture. In addition to the cooking liquid, this particular pasta dish is dressed up with mushrooms, basil, and lemon zest. To get the simple-yet-divine recipe, read more

A couple of weeks ago, TeamSugar and I headed out to Lafayette (east of San Francisco) and trekked out to a fancy pants high school where Anthony Bourdain was speaking. As you may have figured out, I have a slight infatuation with him and was quite eager to hear what he had to say. Would he be as brash in person? Would he complain about Rachael Ray? Or would he be slightly humble and have intelligent things to say? The answer to all of those is yes. He was brash, yet humble. He railed on Rachael, but he also gave a great perspective on our food industry.

The talk was hosted by The Commonwealth Club of California and is actually available online. To get the link to the audio, as well as read some of my favorite bits — including his run down of your fave Food Network chefs — read more