Coming Wednesday to Your Table

Our holiday food section extravaganza (OK, we don't get to use that word often, so bear with us) continues this week with our salute to the humble cookie. Or, as my 1963 Betty Crocker Cook Book calls it, a "cooky." We've got a great list of recipes for a cookie swap, as well as an ode to my all-time favorite cooking ingredient .... butter.

Ben Cunningham's Pitcher This column talks about cooking with beer, and Pat Kettles introduces us to some rare California vino. Naturally, Prudence Hilburn is lending the Gourmet Touch to a series of simple soups that a newbie to the kitchen can put together.

Enjoy. Life's too short to eat bad food.