Happy Holidays!

Food, drinks, cookies, plus a review of the new Bourdain biography, what we're watching and reading and links we've loved.

There is no better time to walk in the West Village than the weeks before Christmas. It’s uncommonly beautiful, this neighborhood, with Christmas trees in brownstone windows, wreaths on windows, trees wrapped in lights, pine-smelling sidewalks where the trees are sold, and the new dining shelters decked out in the streets.