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In this episode

I know I’m not the only one for whom Christmas brings about a sort of nostalgia that encourages reliving old stories over and over and over again. Come on, ‘fess up. Naysayers, I’ve got nine words for you: A Christmas Story marathon on TBS, starting Christmas Eve. Or perhaps for you it’s Love Actually. Or A Charlie Brown Christmas. Or Miracle on 34th Street. Or Christmas in Connecticut, as it is for David and The One.

Christmas stories, in all their crazy, happy, warm and fuzzy, lovey-dovey feel-goodness, just don’t get tiresome. Ever. Which is why we’re indulging you with Christmas stories galore in our Christmas podcast. For starters, David divulges his best Christmas ever (believe it or not, there’s no food involved in his tale). And I confess to a family tradition of take-out on Christmas Eve (don’t judge). But there’s a heck of a lot more than our stories.

Christmas in Connecticut

A Carnival of Cookies

We indulge you with the chosen Christmas-cookie recipe from a trio of baking divas—cookbook author Dorie Greenspan’s French sablés, Momofuku Milk Bar pastry chef Christina Tosi’s grandmother’s four-ingredient cut-out cookies, and blogger extraordinaire Joy the Baker’s pseudo-Italian potato chip–inflected layered cookie creations. You’ll also be privy to what type of Christmas cookies David and I each like to bake and why.

Christmas Goose

Has David told you the story of the year he made goose for Christmas dinner and it ended up in the rubbish? If not, you gotta hear this. Thankfully, Hunter Angler Gardener Cook blogger and Duck, Duck, Goose author Hank Shaw took pity on David (that is, as soon as Shaw stopped laughing) and advised him—and all of us—on how to pull off an exquisite roast goose.

Entertaining Made Easy

We also hear from the charming—and charmingly realistic—entertaining guru Elizabeth Mayhew. She’s sorta the anti-Martha in our minds, and she shares some swell stories and time-saving tricks on how to be the hostess with the mostest—as in, the mostest time to mingle with your guests.

Boozy Punches

Finally, there’s the story from the year I stumbled upon the best Christmas cocktail-party trick ever—but I’m not going to tell you what it is. Instead I’ll let Maria del Mar Sacasa, author of Winter Cocktails, explain the ingenious beauty of this simple, stunning, money-saving cocktail trick that you’re going to want to start implementing immediately. I will, however, give you a hint: It’s got everything to do with big punch bowls and big-batch boozy concoctions such as Sacasa’s stunning Winter White Sangria.

If that’s not enough storytelling for you, perhaps you ought to consider sitting down with your fave Christmas mnemonic a little early this year.

The word "David" written in script.



About David Leite

I count myself lucky to have received three James Beard Awards for my writing as well as for Leite’s Culinaria. My work has also appeared in The New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, Saveur, Bon Appétit, Gourmet, Food & Wine, Yankee, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, and more.


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11 Comments

  1. I had so much fun listening to this podcast, from the UK. Very intelligent and also light and joyful. Hope you had a great Christmas.

  2. For some reason I just got this episode yesterday on my podcast app. I was so excited to see a new episode, then I realized it was from Christmas. 🙁 Oh well, I listened to it. Who says Christmas in September is not a good thing? And, as I was cooking a mini-Thanksgiving dinner for my son’s birthday dinner at the time, who am I to nitpick?

    So sorry to hear there won’t be any more episodes, but glad I got to listen to just one more. And I think I must have missed this one the first time around. But parts seemed familiar, so maybe I just forgot. Either way, I am making cookies tomorrow to take to a party. Now I just have to decide: vanilla sables or four ingredient cut outs. Decisions, decisions!

    1. Sarah, thanks muchly for the kind words. Possible good news! We are thinking of bringing the podcast back, but in a shorter version. So stay tuned.