Holiday Gifts for the Foodie

The second installment of the Patch 2011 Holiday Gift Guide reminds you that the holidays are not complete without great food. What better way to thank the foodies in your life than with these unique gifts from Union County shops.

Looking for something special for the foodies in your life or a gift for the host/hostess of your Thanksgiving dinner? You can count on the Patch 2011 Holiday Gift Guide to direct you to the Union County artisans and retailers to find gifts that will make the season bright.   Gifts to Eat   Gifts to Drink   Gifts for the Table Gifts for the Prep Work   Gifts for Fun   If all else fails, gift certificates to your favorite restaurants are always a good option! If you want to share your finds, feel free to upload them to this article and join our live chat about local holiday shopping here now through Black Friday.

• Photos (28)

An 'Oldie but a Goodie' Thanksgiving Dessert

Pumpkin cheesecake with bourbon-sour-cream icing has become a holiday staple at the Chmiel house.

For Paula Chmiel, Thanksgiving traditions often come in the form of cooking up those tried-and-true favorites that make it such a special holiday. The South Orange resident is a professional chef. In her family, pumpkin cheescake is one of those recipes that people talk about for weeks both before and after the holiday, so give this one a try if you want to impress! Originally published in Gourmet in 1990, it was a recipe Paula noticed on the magazine cover while at college and she just had to make it. Jump ahead 21 years and the same recipe is still alive and well both in the Chmiel house and online (www.epicurious.com), though she has changed it up a bit here and there. While Paula isn't working in a restaurant kitchen these days — she's…

•  1 Comment
• Photos (2)

Light Up Thanksgiving With This Yummy Side

Potato and onion gratin with thyme tastes as good as it looks!

Nothing inspires comfort food like a Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings and next to stuffing, nothing beats the potatoes. After all, this is the one dinner that we can be sure is home cooking at its finest — a pull-out-all-the-stops meal where too many sides are never enough and the turkey is never too big. Well this year, I'm featuring a side dish that's comforting, cheesy and light enough you'll still have room for that pumpkin pie. A year ago, this column featured a pretty spectacular Thanksgiving side dish, potatoes au gratin with bacon and scallions. Sure, it was packed with bacon, cheddar cheese and heavy cream. A dish like that is a show-stopper on the table and the recipe was a hit. In fact, it even became a high school …

•  2 Comments
• Photos (1)

About Town

Four Westfielders Get Down and Dirty

Teachers run in the mud, a Thanksgiving soup recipe, a way you can help others and my thoughts on Ryan's Story.

As we kickoff Thanksgiving week here in Westfield, we have the story of some local residents – including two teachers – who got dirty all in the name of a race. A great soup recipe for Thursday from Limani's and a way you can help others this week. In light of Friday's powerful bullying prevention assembly at Roosevelt, I am sharing some of my thoughts on the subject. Here is what is going on About Town. FUN IN THE MUD Four Westfielders, including two teachers, had fun in the mud over the weekend. Westfield High science teacher Sara Soriente and Roosevelt physical education teacher Demont Heard joined Westfield residents Michele Taffera and David Liptack ran the Tough Mudder, a 12-mile race and obstacle course in the mud, in Old Bridge. …

• Photos (3)