Tough Cookie

By AMANDA HESSER
Published: December 19, 2008

Don’t even talk to Jean Scardina about all the Christmas shopping and baking you have to do. She will humble you with the hand-knitted dog sweaters she made for her daughter’s rat terriers, gingerbread houses and marzipan figurines of Santa’s workshop she makes as decorations — oh, and the 6,000 cookies she bakes as gifts. More

Recipes: Molasses Crinkles (December 21, 2008)
Recipes: Yugoslavian Christmas Cookies (December 21, 2008)
Recipes: Pfeffernusse (December 21, 2008)
Recipes: Anischeiben (December 21, 2008)
Recipes: Dansk Spritz (December 21, 2008)

Weather, and it ain't even the bleak midwinter yet...

Well, there goes the heat wave. It warmed up to a balmy 10 degrees fondly Fahrenheit with a very refreshing wind blowing out of the west, but it's time to put away the palm trees, it's slipped back to around -2. While the refreshing wind is still blowing, it's slowed to only 3 mph. We're headed for a projected low of -12, still too warm to freeze a good shout.