Fab Food Fest: Winter's Eve at Lincoln Square

One way to combat holiday blues and withdrawal is to reflect kindly on the wonders of Thanksgiving whilst jumping right into spreading Christmas cheer. Always a sap for the spirit of Christmas, I'm wasting no time gearing up for my favorite holiday.

Tonight at Lincoln Square, it's Winter's Eve, the annual Lincoln Center tree lighting and food fest. Beyond the whole Christmas cheer thing, there's food and entertainment stretching from the Time Warner Center to 68th Street and everywhere in between. Local restaurants set ups tents and offer food samples ranging from $1-$5 and I'll be sampling up a storm, not to mention hunting for the freebies. The tree lighting starts at 5:30 and food and entertainment lasts until 8 making this a perfect post-work stop for food and fun. I'm super excited about this for two main reasons:

1) Some of the participating restaurants are ones that are generally a bit out of my price range (Bar Boulud, Asiate) and this is a perfect opportunity to sample their offerings without breaking the bank.
2) A portion of proceeds will go to City Harvest, New York's only food rescue organization. As a bonus, they'll also be collecting canned goods at their truck parked at 63rd and Broadway, so do your part and bring one.

Participating Restaurants:
• A Voce
• at65 Café
• Asiate
• Bar Boulud
• Bar Masa
• Bouchon Bakery
• Café Fiorello
• Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola and Great Performances
• Ed's Chowder House
• Europan Bakery Café
• Gabriel's Bar & Restaurant
• Gourmet Garage
• Josephina
• Landmarc
• Le Pain Quotidien
• Luce
• Magnolia Bakery
• O'Neals'
• Nick and Toni's Café
• P.J. Clarke's
• Picholine
• Porter House New York
• Rosa Mexicano at Lincoln Center
• Sapphire Indian Cuisine
• Screme Gelato Bar
• Siam Inn
• Soutine Bakery
• Sushi a-go-go
• 'wichcraft

Other promised highlights:
-Free hot chocolate and peppermint bark at Williams-Sonoma @ Time Warner Center
-Dante Park's got cheese sampling (you know, the little square outside Lincoln Center)
-Kiehl's has got cider and samples
-NYIT's boasting a 'Go Green exhibit'
-Whole Foods will have holiday food samples
-Find your inner kid at Landmarc as they've got cotton candy

Bottom Line: Cheap, charitable, and fun to boot

Beware: It gets mighty crowded, so come prepared to battle your way through crowds to reach your desired food stops. For some tips on how to do the festival circuit, check out my article on the San Gennaro Festival back in September.

Anyone else plotting their festival route for tonight? I'm hoping the weather holds up and I can hit as many stops as possible. If you're attending, give me a shout to meet up!

*Be sure to check back for the wrap up later this week!

Turkey Day Wrap Up

The dreaded Monday morning after a 4 day weekend of stuffing my piehole full of turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin (my favorite foods of the holiday), and I must admit, I'm struggling today. After 2 Thanksgivings (one with my family, one with Shaun's), a trip to visit family friends in Connecticut, and a day at Giants Stadium watching the Jets clinch it over the Panthers (let's just pretend Thursday's Giants massacre didn't happen), is there anything worse than having to get back into the regular routine?

The ban on Christmas movies and music has been lifted and I'm already plotting my holiday baking and tree trimming, yet the Turkey Day recovery is still a rough one. So my question to all of you wonderful readers is this: How do you get through the holiday withdrawal? Please leave some love and suggestions in comments to help me get through! Meanwhile, here's a glimpse of some of my holiday fun...

Making friends with my cousin's new puppy, Kaci

 A bird crisped to perfection

 

 The traditional turkey-shaped butter...awaiting the guillotine, aka cousin Matt's butter knife

My mom making her amazing turkey gravy

A well-balanced Thanksgiving dinner...one of the best ever! 

Trying to ignite the chocolate fountain for dessert...yup there were dippers like fruit & pretzels...

My sisters, cousin and me

And after all of that turkey...

Post-Thanksgiving Jets game

Yeah, we have good seats

So there you have it. A quickie on my Thanksgiving and now you can see why depression has set in now that it's over. Looking forward to hearing your tips on dealing with withdrawal!

*Don't forget to check out Robin Hood, the wonderful organization helping to bring holiday meals to the hungry

Give Thanks By Giving Back

I know I write about food - a LOT. And I'm fortunate enough to be able to afford to eat food - a LOT. Unfortunately, for many people in and around New York City (and across the country) this is not the case. That's where a fantastic little organization appropriately named Robin Hood comes in. A non-profit organization working to feed 120,000 hungry New Yorkers this holiday season, Robin Hood has teamed up with Fresh Direct to provide full turkey dinners with all the fixin's (like stuffing, veggies, even cake!) to those in need. For $50, you can purchase a Robin Hood Holiday Meal for 8 to be delivered by Fresh Direct and help a hungry family of 8 have a fantastic meal during the holiday season. Want to know how easy it is to make a difference? Click here, fill out the form, pay your $50 and Fresh Direct handles the rest. For more information visit robinhood.org and find out how you can help hungry families across New York City. Still not put over the top about this? Not only is it a worthy cause, it's 100% tax deductible to boot.