Alice Waters

At an inaugural benefit for D.C. Central Kitchen, Tom Colicchio went from being a top chef to a real-life hero.

According to eye witness Ezra Klein, Joan Nathan, the award-winning cookbook author of Jewish Cooking in America and hostess of the event, began to choke on a piece of chicken. Colicchio happened to be nearby and when Alice Waters shouted, "Does anyone know the Heimlich maneuver?" he was able to perform the life-saving technique on Nathan.

Nathan was lucky to have such a strong, quick-thinking chef nearby. After hearing this news, do you consider Colicchio a hero? Does it make you want to learn the Heimlich maneuver?

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• Meet Kelly Choi, the host of Bravo's upcoming series Top Chef Masters. — Serious Eats
• Read Alice Waters's personal letter to Barack Obama. — Gourmet
• Learn the difference between cinnamon and nutmeg.— Cookthink
• Find out how far your food travels. — The Kitchn
• Here's how restaurants are coping with recession. — The Epi-Log
• Fight the Winter flu by eating more kale. — Mouthing Off
• Ten good-luck foods to enjoy during Chinese New Year. — Chow

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Wondering what to get your mother this year? Encourage her to head to the farmers market with a hook-and-go cart. She can hang her reusable totes packed with fresh produce and products on the side hooks.

If she's too busy to make it to the market bring the farmers to her with a community shared agriculture box. Each week local, in-season fruit and vegetables will be delivered to her door!

For more gift ideas, browse the selection below. Check out all the gift guides on HolidaySugar.

On hand at this weekend's Slow Food Nation was Momofuku chef David Chang, whose self-described "vaguely Asian" New York restaurants have catapulted him to celebrity status in the past several years. In a guest appearance at the festival's Green Kitchen, Chang showed the audience Momofuku's twist on caprese salad. As he was prepping for his demonstration, he was kind enough to talk to me about slow food, fast food (Chipotle and In-N-Out are his favorites), future plans, and his latest infatuation. To read what he had to say, read more

I thought it couldn't get any better than a bacon and runny egged top crostini. Boy was I wrong. This sausage, egg, and arugula pizza made me want to jump into my screen! Following Alice Waters's recipe, the egg is cooked when the white has just hardened and the yolk is runny. — Food Wishes Video Recipes

With the tremendous success of the foodie movie, Ratatouille, kids may be disappointed by a cookbook that dumbs down cooking with vegetable faces and cookie cutter shaped sandwiches.

However Alice Waters' children's cookbook is written from the point of view of her daughter Fanny. Fanny At Chez Panisse is the perfect tome for a child who has shown interest in the culinary world. The book begins with Fanny describing her mother's world inside the famed kitchen at Berkeley's Chez Panisse and includes the people who are a part of the daily workings of a restaurant. Later Fanny provides recipes to 46 of her favorite dishes ranging from peach crisp to roast chicken with herbs to garlic mayonnaise — all of which are delicious enough to be enjoyed by both children and parents alike. If you know a child who is interested in learning more about food, think about giving them this delicious book.

My girlfriend Melissa is moving back to California and I'm in charge of planning her welcome back party. This morning I made invitations inspired by the route Melissa and her boyfriend will travel from Seattle to San Francisco. Now I have to put together a menu of passed appetizers that includes both vegetarian and meat-friendly hors d'oeuvres. The party not only celebrates the return of my friend, but it also highlights the local cuisine, culture, and atmosphere of the area that Melissa has desperately missed for the last two years. I'll be buying all of the ingredients for the menu at the farmer's market to ensure the produce is local and the cheese artisan. I'll use recipes from some of the Bay Area's most celebrated chefs so check out what I'll be cooking, just read more