We've hit the ground running at the New York City Wine and Food Festival, and last night we kept busy (and full) stuffing our faces at Meatball Madness (our favorite: a brilliant duck and porcini creation).

While our mouths were pretty much full the entire time, we'd have been remiss not to catch a word with the evening's host, Giada De Laurentiis, who had the weighty task of evaluating all 25 meatball contenders at the event. She took a minute to tell us what makes a great meatball at home, as well as her Halloween plans and her latest big project.

More on meatballs, her favorite homemade Halloween candies, and food trends she's over when you keep reading.

What to do with eight pounds of pork? Braise it, grill it, and serve it all sorts of ways. Check out this post from OnSugar blog FreshTart for inspiration.

In my excitement to braise something, anything over the past freezing weekend, I got a little carried away and bought an 8-pound boneless pork shoulder...

...for four people, one of whom (Nathan) is hardly ever home and one of whom (my mom) has barely an appetite.

But guess what? It's almost gone! I cut the roast in two, braised half, and grilled the other half long and slow. I served the braised half to our friend Marty, as well as Stacey and Cooper, for family dinner on Sunday night. I sliced the other half and gave some to Stacey, and made sandwiches for Mom and Nathan, and then nachos for Nathan, and about 50 snacks for myself...

And just like that, we'll finish off the last bit in some sort of hash tonight.

What am I trying to say? That I'm excessive in oh so many ways? No, although of course that's true. My point is that the versatility of braised meat is just endless! Braise on Sunday, with very little effort, and have several easy meals all week. It's cheap, delicious, and damn good fun.

The pic up top is the braised version, on polenta, with tomato jam, and finished with bits of crispy guanciale (cured pork jowl) gifted to me by my friend Joy Summers. She visited Mom and me last week and brought me the guanciale plus a pound of Hope Creamery butter. There is love.

Keep reading for more yumminess.

Chopping an onion is one of the most basic skills every home cook should have under her belt. If you're interested in a simple method, be sure to check out our onion chopping tutorial. While no tears are shed in the video, I know this problem plagues more than a handful of folks.

I, for one, used to see my tears well up in mere anticipation of the task at hand. Here are a few tips and tricks to make those painful, pesky tears stop and allow the chopping to ensue. Keep reading to learn how to stop crying and start chopping.

• Worth a try: Ken Burns's Prohibition documentary, coming soon — Eater
• World tour of 55 global food blogs — Saveur
• Leftover chicken, 5 ways — Kitchen Daily
• A champion Illy barista shares his coffee secrets — Food Republic
• Ming Tsai will host NYC's cranberry-centric popup eatery — Grubstreet NYC
• Where's the beef? 10 great memorable burger ads — Delish
• 20 best bars for beer lovers — The Daily Meal

Pumpkin spice cake makes the perfect finish to a Fall meal, as reader coltkels proves in the Savory Sights group.

It’s here! What, you say? Only the best time of the year, that’s what. The time when leaves are crunching under your feet, the weather has cooled down, and you spend the Saturday afternoons watching college football.  This is my favorite time of year, but this year it’s a little different. This Fall I am enjoying days with average temperatures of 89 degrees and trees with all their leaves. That's right, I am living in Dallas, and this is its Fall. With the first day of Fall just having happened last Friday I thought what should I do to make it feel more like Fall here?  Simple answer . . . make a Fall meal.

So I made a pumpkin spice cake with pumpkin cream cheese frosting.  This cake is basically "Fall in your mouth."  That is how the cake earned its name of "Fall Into Deliciousness." Now all I need is date night with Casper or Hocus Pocus!

To get the full story, more amazing fall pictures, and the recipes, go to The Pilot's Daughter.

Want to share your favorite autumn dish? Upload it into the Savory Sights community group! You could wind up featured here.

I just attended our first event of the New York City Wine & Food Festival, Giada De Laurentiis's Meatball Madness (check out that meatball selection!), and our favorite meatball of the night was — gasp! — not even made from red meat at all.

First, a disclaimer: a delayed flight meant that by the time I'd arrived, most of the meatballs were entirely picked over. But of those that were still being served, the one that stunned me the most came from midtown Manhattan's Fresco by Scotto. I'll admit that the restaurant — a Manhattan mini-chain that's recently branched out into, of all things, frozen dinner deliveries — was a bit of an unlikely contender. But I was blown away by the restaurant's impressively tender meatball of ground duck and porcini mushrooms, served in a sauce of sun-dried cherries and Barolo wine.

Despite a longtime love affair with ground meats, it had never, ever occurred to me that a meatball composed of duck meat could be so delectable. After tonight, I've decided that it's going to have to be my next kitchen experiment! Have you ever had a duck meatball?

It's the best time of year to be in New York! No, I'm not speaking about the weather (although that's seriously nice, too); I'm referring to the New York City Wine and Food Festival, the long weekend in October each year when food fanatics convene in the big city to watch Food Network talent like Bobby Flay and Alton Brown dish on everything from celebrity cooking gossip to their favorite kitchen techniques.

Claire Robinson's Tacos	Surprising Giada Facts	Alton Brown Gets Funny
Behind the Burger Bash	Top Grand Tasting Picks	Tyler's Ultimate Dinner

For real-time updates, be sure to follow us on Twitter — it'll be just like you're right there. To get you pumped for the return of New York's favorite food event, check out some of our top moments from years past.