An inevitable by-product of Holiday excesses is a … choose your own label: hangover, sour stomach, upset tummy … you know. And there are many patent medicine vendors who will swear their products will relieve your problem.

But one of the oldest, simplest, most effective, and most refreshing remedies is Bitters in Soda (carbonated water).

Now that we’ve passed the first anniversary of Colbrook Kitchen, we thought we’d share how we got started on this adventure.

My parents always loved caviar. It's a special treat that they never took for granted. They especially enjoyed it during the holiday season, and my mother had a way to make serving caviar easier.

Here's a tip just in time for the holidays from our wonderful friend Willi (who gets 100 Cooks' Club Points for submitting a tip we used.)

Oh how we love a beautiful cheese course at the end of a meal! We picked up this habit traveling in Europe and often substitute it for dessert. This ritual, whether as a prelude to dessert or in its place, has become much more familiar and appreciated here in the US.

Slice Across the Grain! We’ve all read this, and been told this, more times than we can remember … and still we forget … what does this mean? Why does this matter? And how do we do it?

As the Holidays come to a close and you begin the inevitable cleanup from the flurry of the season, don’t forget your Gift Closet. It can be a closet, or a drawer, or simply the corner of a shelf somewhere. It has a critical role throughout the year, but this seems to be the time of year when it needs your particular attention.

It’s that time of year when entertaining heats up, and house visits and dinner parties abound. While a lot of what follows is common sense, sometimes we get so busy that we forget. So here are a few simple suggestions that we’ve found help us, and we hope will help you, to be great guests.