Happy weekend, fellow cooks and food-lovers. How’s the candy situation in your house this weekend? I’m thinking about making a batch of homemade peanut butter cups, since we weren’t around for Halloween. Or a big pot of chili with pumpkin and beans. What about you? What’s cooking in your kitchen this weekend? (Don’t forget: the clocks turn back an hour on Sunday, so that gives you some extra time for the kitchen.)

It’s just about time to start thinking about Thanksgiving, and we have some good things coming your way next week on that front. Until then, tell us: What’s cooking this weekend in your kitchen?

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Looking at the big pile of dishes in my sink, you might wonder why there are so many chopsticks in there. Did I recently have a dinner party for eight and serve stir-fry? Nope. I was simply cooking for myself day-to-day, using one of my favorite go-to utensils for anything from stirring the French press to eating pasta.

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There might be something to be said for reinventing the wheel. After all, when it comes to…say…chicken pot pie, is the way we’ve always made it really the best? Or is there a way to make that pie crust crispier, that filling even more savory, that chicken more tender? In Maximum Flavor, Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot make no assumptions about the foods we cook every day. Some of their findings might take you by surprise, some might stretch your whole concept of “home cooking,” but they will always result in a tasty meal.

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Halloween might have been yesterday, but I’m guessing that many of you still have a party or two in your weekend plans. This means another chance to gross out your friends with a tray of “blood”-rimmed Manhattan cocktails, bowls of frog egg pudding, and even a crunchy marshmallow spider or two! When you’re ready to take off the costume, come home to a warm bowl of spiced lentils topped with a baked egg and a leftover peanut butter cup of your very own.

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I started yesterday morning by devouring a few thick slices of Pan de Muerto with my morning coffee. If you haven’t had this treat, imagine an airy Portuguese bread topped with an orange powdered sugar. It’s a thing of beauty. But as I stuffed it into my mouth I paused and realized, “D’oh! It’s already Halloween.”

If the hallowed day caught you by surprise yesterday too, maybe you can make up for it today with a impromptu Dia de Los Muertos celebration. Fridays are better for parties anyway. Here are some tips and recipes to help you celebrate tonight.

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• Chicken may never be the same again. – Cambria
• What if, instead of hearing a chime when you got a text message, you smelled corn soup or Korean BBQ? A Japanese company is making it happen. – Anjali
• I’m tired after carving one pumpkin; imagine carving all of these! – Emma
• The extreme makeover marketing campaign for one of the most-loathed vegetables. – Faith
• Watch a behind-the-scenes look at the Sriracha Factory (which despite the scare is staying open by the way). – Ariel

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