Planning your Thanksgiving menu? For many there's no need to do much planning -- most of the meal is set in tradition.

Trying to squeeze a classic Thanksgiving dinner out of your food budget?

Turkey Day arrives next week, a holiday that many folks plan for weeks ahead. So, it's never too soon to think about what to serve for wine.

Weekly recipes for November 19, 2008

You don't have to know how to cook kosher to enter the third annual Manischewitz Cook-Off Competition, but it might help.

Pillsbury's test kitchen workers have been putting in some time giving a new twist to an old product -- flaky refrigerated crescent rolls dough.

Let's cut to the chase with some favorite wines from the just-completed Tri-Cities Wine Festival.

Weekly recipes for November 12, 2008

There's few better ways to beat winter chills than with a mug of hot chocolate. And there's no better way to make it than with real milk and chocolate, say the Dairy Farmers of Washington.

Waving Tree and Phelps Creek Vineyards wineries are separated by the Columbia River but are worth a stop to sample their excellent wines when traveling the Columbia Gorge.

Food in brief for Wednesday, November 5.

Weekly recipes for November 5, 2008

Ever wonder who grows all those pumpkins for Halloween jack-o'-lanterns and Thanksgiving pies?

It's fall and Mid-Columbia farm fresh fruits are pulling a disappearing act. Soon all we'll have that's locally grown are apples and pears. But that's OK. Growers in warmer areas -- like California -- are already sending their tree and vine-ripened fruits to market.

Anyone who travels to Washington State Univerity should make a stop at the nearby wineries.

LINCOLN CITY, Ore. -- Want to combine some new expertise in the kitchen with beachcombing and wave watching? Head for Oregon's Lincoln City and the Pacific Coast Center for Culinary Art.

Weekly recipes for October 29, 2008

Have you stripped your tomato plants bare? If not, hustle out to the garden now because if Jack Frost hasn't hit your neighborhood yet your address is coming up.

Are you or someone you know fired up over cooking?

In addition to stunning scenery and great seafood, Port Angeles also offers some excellent opportunities for wine touring.

ZILLAH -- Put on your scariest Halloween costume and head for the hills, the Rattlesnake Hills that is.

PORTLAND -- Savor and delight in the flavors of the Northwest. Find that next great wine buy or discover a new restaurant to tempt your taste buds all at the Northwest Food and Wine Festival on Nov. 15.

Auction, wine tastings

Weekly recipes for October 22, 2008

Learn how the wine industry began in the Mid-Columbia, why where a grape grows determines how good a wine becomes and sample some of the premier wines of the Northwest at the Tri-Cities Wine Festival on Nov. 7-8.

Americans have loved Marcella Hazan's cookbooks and television appearances for decades. Now we can follow her journey in Amarcord: Marcella Remembers: The Remarkable Life Story of the Woman Who Started Out Teaching Science in a Small Town in Italy, and Ended up Teaching America How to Cook Italian.

WOODINVILLE, Wash. -- Januik and Novelty Hill wineries in Woodinville share more than a tasting room -- they also share a winemaker.

Weekly recipes for October 15, 2008

Food in brief for October 15, 2008

SPOKANE -- Arbor and Barrister are two Spokane wineries that were founded in different centuries but that have their tasting rooms close together.

Spooky pumpkins, funny pumpkins, painted pumpkins and carved -- they're all welcome at the 13th annual Pumpkin Contest at the Pasco Farmers Market on Oct. 25.

Lemon grass, red curry and Thai basil were exotic ingredients in 1983, almost impossible to find anywhere let alone in the Tri-Cities.

Weekly recipes for October 8, 2008

Richland High School grads, if you're heading for Atlanta drop by Table 1280 Restaurant and Tapas Lounge and say hello to Chad Guay, a former Richland High School student.

I jumped at the opportunity Monday to quiz sommeliers from New York and Houston on how they would sell a Washington wine when approaching dinner guests.

Weekly recipes for October 1, 2008

Judges sifted through nearly 700 recipes submitted in the "Flayvors of Washington" recipe contest held earlier this year and announced the winner at the end of August. It's Chicken Curry Burger with crispy Prosciutto and Warm Apple Chutney, submitted by Teresa Ralston of New Albany, Ohio.

Is your lunch green? No, I'm not talking about salads or even fuzzy mold. Instead the question of the day is: How trashy are your totable meals?

Prosser's new Vintner's Village is a must-stop for folks who like wine.

Arts in brief for Friday, January 9.

Weekly recipes for September 24, 2008

Columbia Valley wineries are celebrating the 2008 grape harvest with wine tasting, food sampling, tours, art displays, live music and grape stomping.

Does one of Chukar Cherries' products add pizzazz to one of your favorite dishes? If so, don that apron and enter the Chukar Cherries 20th Anniversary Best Cherry Recipe Contest.

If you enjoy fine wines and delicious foods there are four events coming up at the end of September you'll enjoy.

Catch the Crush is a great time to visit Mid-Columbia wineries, especially Badger Mountain/Powers and Gordon Brothers.

In Provence, every grandmother worth her Dutch oven has a ratatouille recipe that family members swear is unsurpassed. But in the U.S., this divine stew of late summer and early fall vegetables too often is a victim of kitchen sink syndrome, resulting in a sloppy hodgepodge of ingredients lacking focus and definition.

WENATCHEE -- There's more than apples and cherries growing on the hills surrounding Wenatchee. Wine grapes are gaining in popularity too.

GRANGER -- The sixth annual Washington State Menudo Festival will be held Sept. 14 in Granger.

The 24th annual Pasco Fiery Foods Festival on Saturday and Sunday features two food contests plus delicious farm fresh produce, herbs, specialty foods and crafts.

Cañon De Sol and Gamache can be described in sports parlance as no longer rookies.