Do-ahead dinners Freezer is your new best friend CONCORD, N.H. – Between her all-hours job and a two-hour daily commute, Kirsten Wilson finds herself wanting more time than she has for putting home-cooked meals on the table for her three young boys.It’s a gap she and countless millions of other time-pressed Americans increasingly bridge with […]

-The new edition of “The Oxford Companion to Food,” by Alan Davidson (Oxford University Press, $65) is structured like a dictionary. It starts with aardvark, which Dutch colonists named “earth pig” in Dutch because its meat is said to be as tasty as pork. It ends with zuppa inglese, the triflelike Italian dessert whose name […]

NEW YORK – Before we replace our musty old vices with our virtuous New Year’s resolutions, we get one final reprieve, one last night when we can embrace the drink without guilt.Champagne may be the traditional star of the party, but it’s possible to free New Year’s Eve from its French handcuffs.From sparkling wines and […]

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Ryan Seacrest, 32; Ricky Martin, 35; Diedrich Bader, 40; Mary Higgins Clark, 79Happy Birthday: Things may be a little rocky if you have put off getting your papers or particulars in order this past year. You will have to move quickly and efficiently to make up for lost time. Strive […]

NEW YORK (AP) – An album cover signed by all four Beatles as a gift for George Harrison’s sister sold Friday at auction for more than $115,000.The sale, to an unidentified buyer, was believed to set a record price for a signed Beatles album purchased at a public sale, said Mark Zakarin, president of the […]

Happy Festivus, everybody! Did you remember to bring the aluminum pole? Festivus – an alterna-holiday introduced to the public by Frank Costanza in an episode of “Seinfeld” and celebrated on Dec. 23, also involves The Feats of Strength and a wrestling match. But the most important part of the holiday, for my money, is The […]

• The Congress Square Hotel of Portland is to have a handsome oak revolving set of doors at its office entrance. The present arrangement with vestibule has always been very unsatisfactory and now that several of the banks and other buildings have found the revolving doors to be so successful they are to be placed […]

NEW YORK (AP) – John Allen clutched a handful of obscure CDs at Tower Records, pleased with finding anything worth buying as the venerable music store prepared to close forever Friday. “I’m just picking the bones right now,” said Allen, 38.Dozens of shoppers like Allen were scrambling to unearth musical gems that had been passed […]

LOS ANGELES (AP) – After spending two months ensconced quietly in an Oregon rehab program, Robin Williams is back making laughs onscreen.The 55-year-old comedian voices two characters in the animated “Happy Feet” and performs alongside an ensemble cast including Ben Stiller and Dick Van Dyke in the holiday fantasy “Night at the Museum.”He’s grateful, he […]

‘Ugly Betty’ marathon counts down to 2007 This New Year’s Eve, things are getting ugly.ABC Family will run an all-day marathon of ABC’s hit show “Ugly Betty,” starring America Ferrera as the intelligent and optimistic assistant of the head of Mode fashion magazine.The marathon will help kick off ABC’s “Be Ugly “07” campaign, which asks […]