A roundup of the best holiday sweets and snacks for your festivities. by Martha Daghlian

Throughout centuries of human civilization, people have sought out ways to combat the darkness and cold temperatures of winter: from ancient temples that aligned with the rising solstice sun to the ceremonial burning of symbolic fir trees, we have devised many strategies to brighten up the longest season. But perhaps the best solution to the winter doldrums is to have a little treat? Cultures all around the world have invented their own special cookies, cakes, and sweets to be enjoyed at this time of year, and we’ve rounded up some of our faves that are available right here in Portland!

Fancy Cake Thinks it’s a Tree

Arguably the most iconic of Christmas desserts, the bûche de noël (or yule log) predates current “is it cake” fads by well over a century. Traditionally made with light sponge cake rolled around a rich filling and adorned with cute meringue mushrooms, this whimsical faux tree echoes the ancient Celtic tradition of burning a ceremonial log at Winter Solstice and really amps up the classic holiday aesthetic. Don’t have a spare 57 hours and a background in French pastry? Let the professionals at Pix Patisserie take care of all your bûche needs with one of their glossy high concept stumps, available to order through December. Pix Patisserie, 2225 E Burnside, pixpatisserie.com

Baklava URCU ATALAY TANKUT / GETTY IMAGES

Baklava Just Like
Grandma Used to Make

Within the Armenian-American side of my family, baklava—a buttery, syrupy nut-and-phyllo pastry popular across the Mediterranean, Central/West Asian, and North African regions—is a mandatory holiday treat. I grew up on my grandmother’s recipe, which calls for walnuts only (no pistachios, thank you), an entire pound of clarified butter, NO cinnamon (how dare you even suggest it!), and a sneaky splash of bourbon, presumably a modern twist added by grandma. But TBH, I haven’t met a baklava I didn’t love, and there are a few particularly strong ready-made contenders here in Portland: World Foods Market, with locations in the Pearl and on Barbur Boulevard, makes a few varieties of baklava and similar pastries, all of which are exquisite (even with pistachios). 

Sophisticated Citrus

It’s a serendipitous fact that winter is not only a season for feasting on rich foods, it’s also the time of year when bright, refreshing citrus is at its peak. Who doesn’t love a bowl of oranges at a holiday party? In addition to enjoying fresh citrus fruit straight up (my favorite is the dekopon or sumo mandarin), there are all sorts of fancy things you can make with the help of our zesty friends: fresh grapefruit mimosas, traditional pomander balls (that’s when you poke a ton of little holes in an orange and shove a whole dried clove in each one, creating a spicy little air freshener that also kind of looks like a medieval weapon as it slowly dries up throughout the winter), hot toddies with tons of lemon. If you really want to impress your friends, try making your own candied citrus peel—it’s like a grown up version of those fruit slice gummy candies! 

Candied Citrus Peel

Cut the peel from a bunch of citrus fruits (make sure not to include any of the white part!) into strips. Blanch them three times (that means placing them in a saucepan, covering with water, and boiling for five minutes, then you’ll drain and boil them for five more minutes in fresh water, then do the same thing one more time). Then, cover them with a 1:1 mixture of water and granulated sugar. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 40-60 minutes over low heat. They should become soft and a little translucent at the edges. Drain and place on a drying rack until cool (put some foil or parchment underneath to catch any drips). Once they are dry, you can toss them in sugar for a sparkly and crunchy coating.

Candied citrus peel makes a super classy garnish for fancy desserts, and can also be used in cake and muffin recipes. Or just snack on them in between all the cookies for a “healthy” treat—it’s fruit, isn’t it??

Sticky Sweets for Lunar New Year

Lunar New Year may still be a little ways off, but I’m already planning what I’ll bring to the annual party our friends throw to celebrate this traditional East Asian holiday. A lot of the foods associated with Lunar New Year celebrations symbolize some specific kind of luck that one might hope to attract in the coming months. Noodles, dumplings, fish, and citrus all connect in some way to ideas including longevity, wealth, and unity. But in my humble opinion, treats featuring sticky rice are the star of the show. This time around, I plan to visit Li Min Bakery at 81st and SE Division, and Shop Halo Halo on 50th and SE Woodstock, for traditional nian gao (sticky rice cakes) and moon cakes filled with sweet bean paste. Lin Min’s Bakery & Bistro, 8615 SE Division; Shop Halo Halo, 4981 SE Woodstock, STE 2, shophalohalo.com

Rugelach Nataly Hanin / Getty Images

Rad Rugelach

My first encounter with rugelach was at an elementary-school friend’s house, where her mom taught us to make this classic holiday cookie, originally dreamed up hundreds of years ago by Jewish bakers in Poland. Wait, is it a cookie? Or is it a pastry? You know what, I don’t care… all I know is it comes in lots of different flavors (Apricot! Raspberry! Chocolate!) and its twisty little crescent-moon shape really spices up a cookie plate. Like many delicious wintertime snacks, they do take a bit of effort to make at home, so if you’re short on time you might want to check out Henry Higgins Bagels, which contrary to their name, also serves up rugelach, babka, and challah on the regular. Henry Higgins Boiled Bagels, multiple locations, hhboiledbagels.com

Scandinavian-Style Snacks

If this list of festive treats still isn’t enough for you, mark your calendars for the 40th annual Scan Fair! This massive event, hosted by Nordic Northwest at the Oregon Convention Center December 7 and 8, is inspired by traditional Scandinavian Christmas markets. Think traditional singing and dancing, cozy knitwear, and tons of delicious sweets, snacks, and drinks–basically a massive party to brighten up the dark wintertime with some serious hygge. My most trusted Scandinavian treat advisor suggests loading up on Æbleskiver (little round pancakes, often served with lingonberry jam), pickled herring, and glögg (spiced wine punch). Scan Fair runs Dec. 7-8 at the Oregon Convention Center, 777 NE MLK Jr, get your tickets and find more info at nordicnorthwest.org/scanfair 

Today, Tufts University announced that Loring Tu, a professor in the Department of Mathematics, has made a substantial gift to name the Science and Engineering Complex (SEC) in honor of his late grandfather, Tsungming Tu, who was a world-renowned doctor and expert on pharmacology, toxicology, and medical education. Going forward, the SEC will be known as the Tsungming Tu Complex (TTC).

Private equity is more likely to look at public firms for acquisition when the target aggressively manages its earnings to meet analyst expectations, because those firms are often so cut to the bone there's more room to add value with investment.

Today, Tufts University announced that Loring Tu, a professor in the Department of Mathematics, has made a substantial gift to name the Science and Engineering Complex (SEC) in honor of his late grandfather, Tsungming Tu, who was a world-renowned doctor and expert on pharmacology, toxicology, and medical education. Going forward, the SEC will be known as the Tsungming Tu Complex (TTC).

Crypto payment gateway Alchemy Pay has acquired Money Transmitter Licences (MTLs) in Minnesota, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Wyoming.

From its ancient Mediterranean roots, mint throughout history has been widely used for its medicinal properties, as it is rich in vitamin A, C and other healthy minerals. 

The Crew Chief is the center of the Prochem restoration product line. The built in advanced power management can balance the equipment which optimizes the job site drying conditions.

Prochem says that the tool’s advanced design speeds jobs and all at a cost that’s 75% less than a traditional ride-on extractor.

Comments

Los Alamos researcher receives Electrochemical Society award for sustainable energy technology  Discover LANL

Este tipo se define en su cuenta de Twitter como 'Científico del CSIC'. Sabrán ustedes que Max Weber pronunció dos memorables conferencias en la Universidad de Munich en 1919 y que ambas fueron publicadas en forma de libro bajo el título 'El Político y el Científico'. La chusma de Podemos cree que el político era Pablo Iglesias y el científico Pablo Echeminga. Ambos han tenido como modelo la Venezuela bolivariana de Chávez y Maduro que fue asesorada por esta gente: Monedero, Carolina Bescansa, Pablo Iglesias, Errejón, Luis Alegre (y olé) Echenique y otros. Ellos se trajeron de Venezuela el nombre de un partido político, Podemos, y loa financiación para montarlo y dejaron allí sus sabios consejos a ese par de sátrapas. El último balance lo hemos conocido estos días: un kilo de ajos cuesta seis salarios mínimos y la inflación solo admite una comparación histórica: la de Alemania en la República de Weimar: el 100.000%.

During his “Closer Look” segment on Wednesday night, Seth Meyers commented on President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks for several key roles, including Fox News host and Army National Guard veteran Pete Hegseth leading the Department of Defense. “While Biden’s looking for ways to accommodate Trump, Trump’s looking for ways to tear down everything Biden did. […]

Find the latest Lovebrush Chronicles codes here! Keep reading for more.

Artist Suki Summer is making a splash with her bold new single, "Nothing At All." Blending the rough edge of 70s rock with the lively sounds of 80s synth music,…

L.A-based Nigerian-American rapper/songwriter Quinja closes out the year with the Amapiano remix of her single "West Jewel." The original version was released in late 2023  before her debut project and…

Content Warning: Incredibly ugly upcoming U.S. Politics. Stephen Miller and Donald Trump's public promise for a "bloody story" - plans for sweeping raids and mass deportations of 10 to 20 million people living in America are expected to start when Trump assumes office and begins on day one.

People living all across the United States, from farm camps in the backwaters of Florida to the ethnically diverse neighborhoods of major cities will likely be greviously impacted. Currently it is expected that the combined utilization of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), National Guard, local police, trained and armed civilians and possibly even the US Military will take part in the raids to capture legal and illegal immigrants. Sympathetic police departments will have their funding slashed if they don't participate in the raids. Surprisingly, some research suggests a majority of Americans support mass deportations and concentration camps, which was reflected in the election results. Whether the popular support continues after it begins depends on the effectiveness of ICE and the Department of Homeland Security's indoctrination and propaganda programs that they have already been preparing for this moment, as well as the mass media's whitewashing of the proceedings as an "affordable housing program," among other things. So the question is, what can we realistically expect? ICE's "Citizens Academy" program offers up some clues...

The academy trains civilians to operate multiple firearms, use lethal force, perform surveillance on immigrants, and conduct raids while also acting as a public relations initiative to try and sway public opinion about ICE, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the HSI unit of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). "We ran Border Patrol Citizen Academies back when I was an agent as well," Jenn Budd, former Senior Border Patrol Agent, whistleblower, and author of Against the Wall told Unicorn Riot. "The entire goal is to indoctrinate locals into why it's okay for us to violate people's rights." The training materials that show where to strike people with batons to subdue them are but the tip of the iceberg in terms of violence. While the ICE presentation on using force contains the "Monadnock Baton Chart" (presumably named after baton manufacturer Monadnock) showing the degrees of damage inflicted on a suspect based on where they're struck with a baton, the majority of this part of Citizens Academy training covers when to use deadly force.

What could happen to the people swept up? The program is generally portrayed as mass deportations, but already it has become clear that many countries (even Mexico) are expected not to welcome the tidal wave of migrants. Instead, the prison-industrial complex which is being flooded with investment money is gearing up to build large scale prisons and camps to house them. Many of these migrants can be expected to be kept there for years on end, with the Supreme Court supporting indefinite detetion of immigrants, an affirmation of long standing U.S. policy. Slavery in America is still legal in the prison system (even California voter's just reaffirmed) and many companies could stand to make a lot of money off of the cheap workforce. The prior Trump administration focused on breaking families up, but this time they promise to include everyone in the family, no matter the immigration status, even denaturalization of American citizens. How will it be payed for? The operation is projected to cost upwards of $300 billion or much more and this has frequently been cited as a major reason that the invisioned plans will falter. If Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE) plans for freeing up $2 trillion of the yearly federal budget succeeds, there appears to be plenty of money to reallocate. Even without these slush funds, Trump has already declared that the operation has "no price tag." Some recent and historical parallels In China, many Uyghurs have been put into forced labor prison camps for decades now, and the Xinjiang region has long been at the technological vanguard of state of the art large scale surveillance and population control research and development. American and Western tech companies can take what they have learned in Xinjiang and finally bring it home for wide spread use domestically. During the Holocaust, many "good Germans" helped to report their neighbors, and already Americans are arguing whether it is ethical to call in ICE on theirs. America has a long history of anti-immigrant campaigns and attacking ethnic communities, including Operation Wetback in 1953-54, the Japanese Internment Camps during WWII and tracing back to events like the Trail of Tears and traditional American slavery, to name a few. Hoping for the best While the years of preparation for Project 2025, combined with the GOP's complete control of all of the branches of the federal government suggests things are going to be harder to stop. It is good to remember that for all intents and purposes this will be an unimaginable kakistocracy and the revolving door of grifters is likely to spin even faster than it did during the first Trump administration. Major logistical questions remain - how fast can they actually scale up, for example, or deal with the massively inflated costs, bribes and outright theft chipping away at the budget. The chaos caused by replacing 50,000 federal employees with largely incompetent hacks while gutting government agencies left and right alone will likely slow down any plans significantly due to the complex and tightly coupled systems that make up the US government. Fortunately the ACLU and many other organizations and Democratic state governments vow to legally fight back against the upcoming operations. And lastly, it is likely that there will be large scale public action. Whether it is in the form of protests, strikes or imaginative work arounds for whatever crackdowns that are coming, there many Americans who will push back.

Find another name for your mass deportation agenda, Mr. President, because Aurora, Colorado, is a safe haven for immigrants who are prospering in a community that has embraced their culture, heritage, and sometimes their tenuous legal status.

SEPM union that represents magazine staff in France alleges that the search giant was going to start testing a scheme under which it would remove from search results some articles from media with which it was clashing over rights for use of online news.

A view of the dry, lifeless and empty Atacama desert in Chile, South America, suddenly changes to one depicting large telescopes in gigantic domes atop a 2 600m mountain.

Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni had no sympathy for illegal miners trapped in a shaft in Stilfontein, saying it is not the government's job to retrieve the bodies of criminals, and law enforcement officers' lives should not be risked to help criminals.

“Fox NFL Sunday” analyst Michael Strahan has apologized following the volcanic outrage he unleashed by appearing to disrespect the national anthem during a ceremony honoring veterans, saying it was an […]

The post 'So Far From the Truth': Michael Strahan Addresses National Anthem Controversy That Left Many Viewers Furious appeared first on The Western Journal.

The son of a high-ranking ex-financial official in Ecuador who was a Florida banker says he's guilty for his part in a international multi-million dollar bribery and money laundering scheme which involved his father.

A new exhibition at the author's home in Chawton, which has never previously displayed all six first-edition books together, is part of preparations for the author's 250th birthday celebrations

iQOO Neo 10 series is confirmed to debut in China soon as a follow-up to last year's Neo 9 family. We have heard multiple rumours regarding the processor and fast charging capabilities of the iQOO Neo 10 and iQOO Neo 10 Pro. A newly leaked schematics offer us a good look at their design. The leak also reveals the display details of the iQOO Neo 10 lineup.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde says he is confident that the people will push the ruling alliance Mahayuthi to victory with a "thumping" majority in approval of their work over the last two-and-half years. The Congress's promises - the upgr

The Chemical and Non-Metallic Products Senior Staff Association of Nigeria has decried the policies of the Bola Tinubu-led government, saying that they are adversely affecting chemical and non-metallic products in Nigeria. National President of the association, Mr Segun David, made the remarks at the opening session of the 29th Annual National Management/Industrial Relations Seminar on

Read More

Al-Nassr defender, Aymeric Laporte has commented on reported interest from Real Madrid for his signature. The former Manchester City star has recently been linked with a move to Real Madrid next year. Speaking on the development, Laporte said he can’t ignore the Spanish LaLiga champions. According to him, it is nice to be linked with […]

Transfer: You can’t ignore them – Laporte on Real Madrid links

[allAfrica]

My Chemical Romance fans are in for a nostalgic thrill next summer.The rock band announced they’ll perform their iconic 2006 album The Black Parade in its entirety on a North American stadium tour starting July 11, 2025, in Seattle. The tour spans 10 cities, including major stops in Los...

Buckingham Palace sets Changing of Guard ceremony to ‘Gladiator’ themeAhead of the Wednesday world premiere of Gladiator II at the Odeon Luxe in London’s Leicester Square, the Buckingham Palace had a special theme set for the Changing of the Guard ceremony.A special recital of...

Former MLB star catcher Jonathan Lucroy opened up on "OutKick the Morning" about his refusal to kneel during the national anthem in 2020.

Yurika Kubo, Daisuke Kasuya star in anime from Liden Films

MindaRyn performs "Remaining Story" theme song, specifically written for video

Highlights: Pregnant women using nail polish, makeup, and hair dye show significantly higher PFAS levels in blo

For the first time, the UN Climate Change conference of the parties will welcome Tourism Ministers, placing the sector firmly within the COP29 Action Agenda and providing a high-level platform for dialogue – at the initiative and joint leadership of the State Tourism Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism).

Musk and Ramaswamy have to find ways to cut down on government spending and overall bureaucracy.

13.11.2024 MINI PUSHKARNA, J:

I.A. 14145/2023 (Application under Order XXXIX Rules 1 & 2 read with Section 151 CPC, 1908)

1. The present application has been filed on behalf of the plaintiffs under Order XXXIX Rules 1 and 2 of Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 ("CPC") seeking interim injunction for restraining the defendant from manufacturing, selling, offering for sale, advertising and/or promoting by using the mark/ trade name „ALDER BIOCHEM‟ and any other mark/ trade name/ label/ device that contains the trademark BIOCHEM.

Talking about Priyanka Chopra, Arjun admitted that she was already a big star when they made the film.