HERAKLION, CRETE -- Michael Psilakis needs a goat. He reserved one, but there was confusion about when the famous chef from New York would pick it up, and the village butcher sold it to someone else. Without it, Psilakis could not make the braised goat, the moussaka, the pasta with goat ragu or t...

There's something about Glut, Mount Rainier's long-standing natural foods grocery, that leaves first-time visitors astonished. It's a cluttered shop, the kind of old-school health food store that has largely been replaced by bigger and shinier varieties. But that's not the surprising part.

When Doug Wetzel sat down for Thanksgiving dinner soon after he moved to Petaluma, Calif., he surveyed the table. His hosts, who owned the artisanal bakery where he worked, seemed to have everything right: "turkey and stuffing and oven-roasted Brussels sprouts." But when Wetzel asked for the...

If we didn't know better, we might suspect vegetarians had packed the short list of most-viewed recipes in Recipe Finder for October. They are all meatless:

-- BOOK SIGNING: Allison Hooper of Vermont Butter and Cheese Co. signs copies of her cookbook "A Cheesemaker's Kitchen" during a wine and cheese tasting. Free. Reservations required. Two sessions, 6 and 7 p.m. The Curious Grape, 4056 Campbell Ave., Arlington. 703-671-8700.

Anthony Burrell switched more than neighborhoods when he left the British-themed CommonWealth Gastropub in Columbia Heights for the Latin-Asian hybrid Masa 14 in Logan Circle this fall. For starters, his pantry at the new restaurant couldn't be more different. "Lemon grass, ginger, chilies. . . . I...

The last thing I expect to find when I go for takeout is good pie, let alone excellent pie. And yet here was a pumpkin pie with looks worthy of a food magazine cover and taste worthy of Grandma: subtly spiced, with a velvety texture and not too sweet.

The word "classic" gets tossed around so much in cocktail circles. But how does one actually define a classic? Sometimes it's easy. Manhattan . Margarita . Martini . Bloody mary . Old-fashioned. Negroni. Piña colada . They've become such standards, so ubiquitous, that it's hard to imagine that...

Rodney Strong Wine Estates announced last month that it is now "carbon neutral." The Sonoma County winery joins several in California, South America and New Zealand that, through conservation and investment in clean energy (by buying carbon credits), have reduced their carbon emissions enough to...

Prices are approximate. Check Winesearcher.com to verify availability, or ask a favorite wine store to order through a distributor.

-- Saveur magazine includes a simple sauerkraut recipe in its current issue. The basic recipe found online at the National Center for Home Food Preservation calls for 25 pounds of cabbage with 3/4 cup salt and yields nine quarts of sauerkraut. Chef John Shields of Gertrude's in Baltimore says that,...