http://www.metro.usen-us If you’re not headed home for this turkey-based holiday, or if you just want to put the day’s cooking duties in the hands of professionals, there are a surprising number of notable restaurants open for Thanksgiving dinner. While most places remain closed for the holiday, some of Boston’s finest eateries are leaving their doors open. http://www.metro.us/us/article/2008/11/26/03/2243-66/index.xml WINE. Malia Llerena happily sips chardonnay, zinfandel, Champagne and merlot. She knows red wine goes in the larger glasses and Champagne gets the long, skinny flutes. After all, she’s already 5 years old. http://www.metro.us/us/article/2008/02/14/02/4651-66/index.xml CANDY. With Valentine’s Day having likely snuck up on you, there’s a good chance that you can’t order fancy chocolates or fresh flowers before this afternoon. If you’re trying to play it low-key — or cut financial corners — and decide to hit the corner drugstore instead of Barney’s, at least prepare yourself for what your significant other will think. http://www.metro.us/us/article/2008/02/14/02/3957-66/index.xml PROFILE. Two huge cauldrons of what looks like thick, dark chocolate ganache sit in the windows, but there’s no sign outside Chocolee. It’s opening day, and although there’s nothing denoting this new South End chocolatier, the grapevine has been buzzing. http://www.metro.us/us/article/2008/02/13/23/5843-66/index.xml TREND. You probably didn’t know the secret to being a four-star chef was sitting on your kitchen counter. Need a hint? Nope, not your Magic Bullet or the Margarator. It’s your trusty purveyor of hot pockets and Ramen noodles: the microwave. A lot has changed since the first Radarange rolled off the assembly line in 1947.   http://www.metro.us/us/article/2008/01/31/00/3847-72/index.xml BOOK. The kitchen truly has become the focal point of today’s home. Whether you enjoy cooking or not, the room has shaped our lives and culinary preferences. While it once isolated the chef, the kitchen is now the bustling hub for many families... http://www.metro.us/us/article/2008/01/24/01/4119-66/index.xml MEALS. Chicken soup may be the all-American cold and flu panacea, but around the world, people turn to all manner of culinary curatives for the chills and sniffles. http://www.metro.us/us/article/2008/01/17/03/2206-66/index.xml SKILLS. Peter Hertzmann is something of a knife expert, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t cut himself. “I had the opportunity to go to an old-time butcher in Toronto to learn about butchering,” he says, “and by the end of the week, I had eight nicks on one hand and seven on the other.”http://www.metro.us/us/article/2008/01/17/03/1519-66/index.xml CHEFS. Sam Stern is the latest culinary prodigy to come out of England (the last being Jamie Oliver), and he has a few recipes for anyone who has 5 minutes and is at least 10 years old. He sports the same tussled teenage flair bolstered by can-do attitude and laid-back style. It’s a winning combination, especially for inspiring young cooks. http://www.metro.us/us/article/2008/01/09/22/5632-72/index.xml INTERVIEW. When Kim Sunée was three years old, her mother abandoned her in a South Korean marketplace with a handful of crumbs in her hand; the event that foreshadowed a life of complexity and culinary adventure.  http://www.metro.us/us/article/2008/01/09/22/5636-72/index.xml WEB. A grain of rice isn’t much — until it meets the power of the Internet. When bored Web surfers met hunger relief at freerice.com, more than 12 billion grains of rice were raised for the United Nations World Food Program in just three months, enough to feed more than half a million people. http://www.metro.us/us/article/2008/01/03/04/0645-72/index.xml BREAD. In Mexico, it’s a tortilla. In Ethiopia, it’s injera. It’s naan in India, and matzoh in Israel. By whatever name you call it, flatbread is everywhere. And in the United States, it is a quickly rising part of the nearly $14 billion bread industry that is crowding shelves from Wal-Mart to Whole Foods. http://www.metro.us/us/article/2008/01/03/02/4933-72/index.xml GAME. Venison 101 isn’t for the faint of heart. For $99, a hunter, cook or anyone who is curious can spend a day at Penn State’s meat laboratory in State College, Pa., to learn the ins and outs of what to do with a prized carcass. http://www.metro.us/us/article/2007/12/13/03/5300-72/index.xml ROUNDUP. Gifts for foodie friends can be personal, unique and yummy — and they don’t take up precious floor space (fridge space is another issue). http://www.metro.us/us/article/2007/12/13/03/4835-72/index.xml DRINK. Opalescent muse, bottled madness, the essence of life: Absinthe has answered to many names over the centuries, feeding inspiration and insanity in equal measures to artists from Baudelaire to Degas before facing a ban that lasted nearly a century.http://www.metro.us/us/article/2007/12/06/00/3951-66/index.xml FOOD. Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick has been serving his players “humble pie” all season. Though the Pats have continued to win game after game, their leader has routinely showed them ways they can improve in the film room and thus kept them “humble.” http://www.metro.us/us/article/2007/12/06/00/2911-66/index.xml TIPS. It’s easy to recognize a perfect latke, but not to make one. Some tips:  http://www.metro.us/us/article/2007/11/29/02/4724-66/index.xml PROFILE. What do canned tomatoes, yogurt and fresh strawberries have in common? Of course they’re all food, but the better answer is they are all shipped, flown or trucked before they hit the supermarket shelves. http://www.metro.us/us/article/2007/11/29/02/3845-66/index.xml PROFILE. Zen Buddhists use a number of techniques to center themselves:  meditation, lectures from learned teachers ... and making dinner? Yep. http://www.metro.us/us/article/2007/11/15/02/2417-72/index.xml INTERVIEW. Before there was “Top Chef” and “Hell’s Kitchen,” there was “The Restaurant.” Chef Rocco DiSpirito and financier Jeffrey Chodorow’s televised kitchen meltdown made for tabloid fodder...http://www.metro.us/us/article/2007/11/08/00/5730-72/index.xml