Ole! Wawa's Newest World Brew is Mexican Blend

It's the little things that make me happy over the holidays. The look on my daughter's face when I turn on the Christmas tree lights. The smell of pine needles and those little incense cones. Remembering my holiday decorating jobs as a kid.

And the ability to get up on Christmas morning and walk to the Wawa up the street for a cup of coffee.

This year I'll be able to indulge my South of the Border side a bit with the new Wawa World Brew – Mexican Blend. According to the website the brew features Rainforest Alliance Certified beans and a medium body with a sweet, aromatic fragrance reminiscent of roasted nuts and milk chocolate with a sweet, clean finish. But hurry, World Brew blends are available for a limited time only and this one will be gone by the time March Madness rolls around!

How much do I love getting Wawa on Christmas morning? I actually recorded me doing it two years ago.

Jen Talks About Being Asked to Pack Her Knives and Go

I'm still a little shocked by Wednesday's Top Chef All-Stars result. I really thought Jen would be a contender right up until the end and was looking forward to rooting a Philly gal on. What I found more surprising was the snarky and flippant attitude she displayed at Judges' Table. I understand fighting for your dish – and I'm sure she was frustrated by Jamie leaving to get TWO stitches – but I have to admit to being more than a little turned off by what I saw.

Jen dished to TV Guide about getting booted as well as the reaction to her aggressive display.

Storied B'More Crab House to Close for Good

Though I've never made it there for crabs, I've been asked several times – usually by out-of-towners – about Obrycki's. If I want to get to the storied Baltimore crab house I better start making plans.

The restaurant, which opens in March and closes when the crab season ends in November, announced that when the crab season ends next fall the doors will not re-open. A favorite of tourists, celebrities and food writers, the restaurant is closing for "quality of life" reasons after being run by the Cernak family since 1976.

The restaurant will maintain its satellite eateries at the BWI and Cleveland airports as well as their mail-order business and plans are in place for a smaller crab house near the new slots casino at Arundel Mills.

Nothing Beats Homemade, But...

We all know that nothing beats real homemade mac & cheese. But what if you're in a pinch or – like me – just have a craving for some comforting, belly-filling, artery-clogging cheesy pasta goodness?

Check out the results of Bon Appetit's recent supermarket mac & cheese showdown – but before you do, tell us what's your mac & cheese of choice when you're in a pinch?

University of MD Students Launch Competitive Eating Club

I did a lot of dumb stuff when I was in college. But I never went so far as having the university officially recognize it.

What Will Be the Next Foodie Hit at Camden Yards?

For all the fanfare about the stadium – and it is a great place to see a game – I've never been blown away by the food at Camden Yards, home of the Orioles. In fact, I've really only found it to be, well, adequate. Adequately stadium-like.

Yes, the idea of an open barbecue stand like Boog's BBQ is a nice touch and the aromas that waft across the air as you duck the home run balls offered up by the O's pitching staff are enticing, but I live down the road from Andy Nelson's so I don't need to go to the stadium for good BBQ.

What the stadium really needs is a signature dish, something that's uniquely Baltimore and only available at the stadium. New stadium concessionaire Delaware North Cos. Sportservice seems to realize this as well and execs from the company took a culinary tour of the area this week hoping for the inspiration for that dish.

What would you suggest as a signature "Baltimore" dish for Camden Yards in 2011?

Ranking the All-Stars... Top Chef All-Stars, That Is

Top Chef is back and taking a page out of the Survivor playbook!

Tom, Padma, Gail and Tony are bringing back some of the best non-winners from previous seasons to compete for the season 8 crown. I would have liked it better if they'd called it 'Heroes & Villains' but 'All-Stars' is fine, too.

18 chef-testants will battle it out for the title as well as (I'm assuming) the Food & Wine feature and the cash from Glad or Dove or Aamco or whatever sponsor is ponying up the cash money this time around.

With tonight's premiere featuring the chefs having to recreate the dish that got them eliminated it sounds like we hit the ground running and we won't have to mess around with any oyster shucking or celery chopping lightning eliminations. And since there aren't any Clays or always-disappointing Baltimore chefs in the bunch, there won't be a whole lot of room for error either.

In order to bring my wretched odds-making skills from the NFL ranks into the reality TV arena (really, I took the Cardinals +1.5 on Monday? really?!) I've split the 18 returning chefs into three groups of six... Favorites, Competitors and Long Shots, names listed alphabetically and personal prejudices definitely taken into account.

Favorites
Richard Blais
Jennifer Carroll
Antonia Lofaso
Angelo Sosa
Marcel Vigneron
Fabio Viviani

Competitors
Tiffany Derry
Tiffani Faison
Jamie Lauren
Spike Mendelsohn
Casey Thompson
Tre Wilcox

Longshots
Elia Aboumrad
Stephen Asprinio
Carla Hall
Michael Isabella
Dale Levitski
Dale Talde