Just in case the newspaper’s ads haven’t driven home the point, here’s another reminder: The annual run-up to gift-giving season officially gets underway this weekend.

Like turkey, the berries are native to North America and were one of the foods that Native Americans introduced to early settlers to the continent. Dutch settlers thought the long, drooping blooms on the bushes looked like the beaks of cranes, and the name craneberry endured in slightly shorter form.

With Thanksgiving rapidly approaching, and a month of more holidays coming along behind it, many cooks are getting ready to balance all the special holiday preparations with the continuing need to get an everyday dinner on the table each night.

Is it even possible to have too much chili? Most Texans don’t think so, and the Rotary Club of Galveston is also firmly in the more-is-better camp.

Not everyone puts away the skeletons and sweets on the day after Halloween. For many people in Texas and Mexico, Nov. 1 and 2 are the time to remember friends and family with a Dia de los Muertos (literally “Day of the Dead”) observance.

While the Island Oktoberfest hosted by First Evangelical Lutheran Church attracts fans of sausage, beer, polka and all items German, one of the most highly anticipated components is the traditional strudel served up by Cindy Cornelison.

Next time you eat a pecan, or an apple, or drink a glass of orange juice, remember that someone planted the tree that produced it. On Nov. 17, the Galveston Island Tree Conservancy celebrates Arbor Day and some of the area’s most dedicated tree planters at a luncheon at the Bryan Museum.

Not many foods have achieved what tacos have: Multiple fast-food franchises, their own style of trucks and even their own day of the week.

Notes in the margins, newspaper clippings used as book marks and dog-eared corners can tell an intriguing story about the book’s readers.

Some of my busiest friends were enjoying a rare bit of downtime and swapping tips on how they get dinner on the table night after night.

Chocolate chip cookies are beloved by kids, adults, bakers, non-bakers (eating the raw dough is apparently irresistible enough that Pillsbury prints a stern warning against it on their slice-and-bake cookies) and virtually anyone who has ever tried one.

The PAWS Gala benefiting the Galveston Island Humane Society is no bare-bones affair.

A recent trip to Dallas revealed the sad truth: Summer fruit season, so good while it lasts, has come to an end. The roadside stands in north Texas selling Fairfield peaches, the latest-ripening of the Texas peaches, have all closed up and moved on.

Just because it’s Labor Day on Monday doesn’t mean that any of us want to forego a good meal.

In “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” Alice spies a cake with “Eat Me” spelled out in currants. If there was ever a dessert that was its own “Eat Me” message, no words needed, it’s a pie topped with clouds of billowing meringue.

Where did the expression “cool as a cucumber” come from? Cucumbers aren’t inherently cooler than a squash or a tomato, but for some reason, the cold standard is a dark green, heat-loving vegetable.

Family dinners can be the best part of the day, but it can also be a challenging concept.