No. Hell no. That would break my heart. But it's New Years and we ask that silly question time after time. Year after year.

Because in truth I am happy to have your acquaintance and I hope to have it a long auld time. So I gotta keep busy. I gotta post cool stuff. And I gotta ring in the New Year with festive style.

I think a Champagne Cocktail has festive style. But it's a drink with some controversy attached. Its lineage can be traced back to 1862. It was once wildly popular as a sophisticated drink before dinner, and is the precursor to quite a few modern cocktails. However, it seems to have become a love it or leave it concoction. Opinions about its validity run strong. Especially among true believers of the grape and its almighty power.

So I leave it to you. Is a Champagne Cocktail a delightful way to mark an occasion, or is it a sickly sweet abomination that turns good Champagne into swill? Adding to the kerfuffle is the silly little fact that the Champagne Cocktail is sometimes referred to as  “Chorus Girl’s Milk”. Which doesn’t seem like a compliment either to the drink, or the girl.

But the point of the sugar cube is not so much to degrade the Champagne or to sweeten the drink, as it is to make the cocktail all the more festive. Because it makes even the bubbliest of bubblers just a bit bubblier, and that's downright festive. But this is Sippity Sup, so I have another little tip to make this tippler even more festive. I think I stole it from Martha Stewart. But you can claim it as your own.

Would you like something rich and creamy? How about Roasted Acorn Squash & Turnip Soup? Sounds good, huh?

I like creamy soups. In fact I love creamy soups. Except sometimes I seem to like them even better when there's no cream in them. Does that make any sense?

Sure sometimes a touch of cream will elevate a recipe. That's because fat binds flavors together. It creates a sum that is greater than its parts. So I have no problem with cream. But there are other fats that do the job just as well as cream. Like butter. I have no problem with butter. In fact wasn't it Julia Child who mockingly said: "If you are afraid of cream, just use butter."? Or was it the other way around? Oh well. No matter. My point is– I am not one of those people who is afraid of fat, in any form. So if fat is called for in a recipe, and I believe it will make it better, I scream bring it on. No fear here.

In fact I am far more afraid of chemically altered processed foods that are deemed "fat free" than I am of any of the fats that God gave us. Because whenever I see "fat free" printed in big bold chemical ink on my food I have to wonder what they replaced the fat with, and how the hell they got it out. Oh, and particularly– where in God's name did they put it? But that's a digression.

I wanted to talk about "health food" my way. It's not a new concept but it has certainly fallen out of fashion.

Tis the season for a cocktail, a holiday cocktail; something warm and comforting. The mere idea of a steamy mug of fragrant luxury laced with a fiery shot of a seasonal spirit is warming to both body and soul.

Hot drinks have been an essential part of our social dynamic for centuries. From festive wassail gatherings in 13th century England to serving up hot "flips" in pubs and taverns all the way through to the Tom and Jerry's of mid-century America. Nowadays warm drinks like toddys are often associated with our cool weather activities.

So I have just the thing, a crimson colored holiday cup of cheer. It is a style of mulled wine, similar to wassail, and something like a warmed sangria, though made with port. Traditionally it is scented with cloves and sour oranges, but my version has been updated just a bit. It is called a Smoking Bishop and it has come to be associated as Christmas itself.