Blog Posts by Sarah McColl, Shine staff

Cocktails!If you were just punching out of work on a cold December night in 1873 and in need of some liquid refreshment, you would have rounded the corner to your local Ohio watering hole only to be greeted by 200 women kneeling on the sidewalk, clad in black, praying.

Now you really need a drink.

With men over the age of 15 knocking back an average of 7 gallons of pure alcohol per year (that's 3 times what we drink today!), the ladies had had enough. This act of "radical civil disobedience" would have still been considered within the bounds of acceptable 19th century female behavior, explains historian Catherine Murdock in the documentary Prohibition, and the temperance movement spread "like wildfire" across the country. Buoyed by support from various churches, the Women's Christian Temperance Union became a force to be reckoned with through the end of that century, but it was the Anti-Saloon League efforts that made sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol illegal in the 18th

Whether it's a killer cookie recipe, a generations-old method for making eggnog, or a roast that always elicits oohs and ahhs, this month's Supper Club is a smorgasbord celebration of the festive fare that makes this season so delicious. What are the holiday traditions at your house? Please share! Here's how:

1. Write a blog post telling us about your favorite holiday recipe by Wednesday 11:59PM PST, December 19th. Be sure to include a photo and a recipe.
2. Mention and link to the Shine Supper Club in your post: http://shine.yahoo.com/supper-club/
3. Tweet @YahooShine with a link to your post and include the hashtag #shinesupperclub. Aren't on Twitter? Email the link to shine_sarahmccoll at yahoo.com. We will compile the links for all participants to include in their posts so all Supper Club members can share in the link love.
4. Finalists will be posted by 12PM Thursday, December 20 with voting open until 12PM PST Friday December 21. The winning recipe to be featured on the Shine

Linda of Spicebox TravelsMeet Linda, the blogger behind Spicebox Travels and the winner of this month's Shine Supper Club and a swank 4-quart casserole from Crate and Barrel for her simple recipe for Gratitude Fried Rice (recipe below). (Be sure to also read the story that goes along with the recipe--it's deeply humbling and a much-needed reminder this time of year.) Peek inside Linda's mind and refrigerator as she answers our usual questions:

What ingredient are you currently obsessed with?
I'm a huge fan of spices (hence my blog name) and my current favorite is an ancient one: cardamom. My husband crushes green cardamom pods into my coffee and tea and my all-time favorite coffee cake recipe has a really assertive cardamom flavor.

Favorite food memory?
This is a little embarrassing, but it would have to be my 5th wedding anniversary dinner, which was nearly a decade ago. My husband and I were young and unsophisticated food lovers who were willing to splurge on a special meal, so we decided to celebrate our

Looking at the most-searched recipes of the year is like spying in a stranger's kitchen. There's a crockpot on the counter, zucchini in the fridge, and a whole lot of chicken on the table (every afternoon, the Internet explodes with searches for "chicken recipes"). It's also pretty comforting, since a stranger's kitchen looks shockingly like our own. If this list makes one thing clear, it's that home cooks are after the same thing: how to make simple, everyday meals and celebrate every occasion we get (one word: cake!). For each of the year's most popular searches, we've offered some of our favorite recipes, just to save you the trouble of looking yourself. Here's to another year of happy cooking and delicious meals. --Sarah McColl, Shine staff

The Shine Supper Club is serving up a winter's worth of one-pot dinners to keep weeknight splendidly simple.

Right now, your refrigerator is probably about to burst with Thanksgiving fixings, and, if you're anything like us, you're really looking forward to turkey and dressing (and mashed potatoes and green bean casserole and pie, yougettheidea). But there are still a few meals left before the big day, and even after, you may have a house of guests to continue to feed. Never fear! The Shine Supper Club is here to keep dinner easy and your kitchen (relatively) clean with these one-pot meals. Share yours and you could win this swanky Dansk casserole from Crate and Barrel! Here's how:

1. Write a blog post, on Shine or elsewhere, telling us about your favorite one-pot meal by Sunday 11:59PM PST, November 25th. Be sure to include a photo and a recipe.
2. Mention and link to the Shine Supper Club in your post: http://shine.yahoo.com/supper-club/
3. Tweet @YahooShine with a link to your post and include the hashtag #shinesupperclub. Aren't on Twitter? Email the link to shine_sarahmccoll@yahoo.com

Despite hoopla to the contrary, Thanksgiving isn't really about the turkey. It's also not about finding a parking space at the mall, religion, whether or not you've found the love of your life, or anything else that might send you into a sweaty panic. It's just a day where we get to enjoy our family and friends (until someone, inevitably, blows it), carb-load, and somewhere in there, once the kitchen's a wreck and our top button's undone, be thankful. Here, the recipes and traditions that make this Thursday one of our favorite holidays.

Wine Spectator's Top 100 list was released on Monday, and lucky for us, there's quite a bit of thrill to be found in the bargain bin. The ranking is based partly on a 100-point grading system (just like in our school days) determined in a blind tasting, with only about two percent of wines earning 95 and above. (All of the 20 wines listed here earned at least a 90, making them A-students.) But the list also leaves room for the x-factor, explained Wine Spectator Executive Editor Tom Matthews. "It's not strictly about the numbers," he told Yahoo! Shine. Instead, the Top 100 is intended as a "conversation starter" about the "high points in the year and what got us excited," he said. The results are pretty thrilling, especially when a $9 Chianti outranks a $125 Barolo. That certainly gets us excited. If nothing else, use the list as a jumping off point to discover new wines and get out of your wine-drinking comfort zone. "Don't be afraid to explore," encouraged Tom, and at these prices we