• Cakespy (aka Jessie Oleson) is writing a cookbook! I’m doing a little happy dance over here. It’s embarrassing.
• While discussing Pepsi’s new fruit-like substance, Tropolis, Marion Nestle asks a really smart question, one I wish more parents would ask before buying snack foods: “Is a ‘better-for-you’ product necessarily a good choice?“
• In other corporate what-a-load-of-crap news, McDonald’s new Fruit & Maple Oatmeal doesn’t actually contain any maple syrup. None. Lucky for us, the state of Vermont can actually call them out on this, and it may even have an effect.
• I made these Thin-and-Chewy Oatmeal-Flax (and chocolate chip) Cookies from Nourish Network the other day. Deeelicious, though they were neither thin nor chewy. With flavor like that, though, we didn’t mind a bit.
• Also a hit, for a late holiday celebration at the in-laws’: Olive Oil Granola, a riff on this recipe from Melissa Clark in the New York Times.
• Love the looks of this super-simple recipe for quick Pickled Carrots, via Snack Girl. There’s always some limp vegetable in my fridge, in need of a vinegary pick-me-up.
• If you’re a food blogger you should check out this remarkably thorough roundup of food blogger conferences, courtesy of Namely Marly.
• Speaking of blogging, nominations are open for the Bloggies, until January 16. Nominate your favorites in a whole buncha categories, but make sure you include them all the first time since you only get one chance.
• If you’re an NYC parent, you should know about Poppins Perks, a cool one-deal-at-a-time site created by Anna from Mommy Poppins. This week there’s an especially good one for us Williamsburgers: Three passes to the new Klub4Kidz on N. 4th for just $15!
• Two, count em, two, writer friends of mine have new books out. First is a marriage book unlike any you’ve come across: Alisa Bowman‘s Project Happily Ever After: Saving Your Marriage When the Fairytale Falters. It all begins when Alisa finds herself planning her husband’s funeral while he’s still very much alive…
• And then there’s Ruth Pennebaker‘s funny and wise novel about multiple generations of women who find themselves under one roof, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakthrough.

And finally, remember that video I posted in late December, showing Harry at his school’s holiday show? Tell me I’m not crazy for thinking we’ve found his penguin doppelganger: