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Heat

Michael Mann returns to the mean streets of his underrated Thief and Manhunter with Heat – a sprawling crime epic with a to-die-for cast.

by Joey O'Bryan

Bad Kids Go to Hell

This Texas-made high school comedy that’s based on a comic book mixes elements of The Breakfast Club with Scoobie Doo with uneven results.

by Leah Churner

Lay the Favorite

Stepehn Frears’ latest – a Las Vegas comedy starring Bruce Willis, Rebecca Hall, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and others – opens exclusively at the local dollar house.

by Marjorie Baumgarten

Mrs. Santa’s Book Bag

Jewish Holiday Cooking by Jayne Cohen (Wiley, 592 pp., $32.50)   What makes certain foods Jewish? With the Jewish culture’s geographical reach – from South Africa to Austria – can there be just one definition? For author Jayne Cohen, Bubbe’s (Grandma’s) sacred holiday recipes create the common bond. This, her second cookbook, includes both traditional…

by Amy Kritzer

Mrs. Santa’s Book Bag

Japanese Farm Food by Nancy Singleton Hachisu (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 400 pp., $35) For anyone who relishes the beauty of cooking with the vibrant flavors in fresh farm food, or has a penchant for Japanese culinary culture, Japanese Farm Food would make a cherished holiday gift. Written as a culinary-infused love story about both her…

by Jessi Cape

Quote of the Week

“Elections have consequences.” – The Rev. Jayme Mathias, to the revamped AISD board of trustees as they discussed the future of IDEA Allan

by Chronicle Staff

Mrs. Santa’s Book Bag

India: The Cookbook by Pushpesh Pant (Phaidon Press, 960 pp., $49.95) Culinary scholar and professor Pushpesh Pant is a recipe columnist and author of 14 cookbooks with experience in TV production, but more importantly, he has spent the last 25 years collecting, testing, and editing authentic family recipes from every region of the Indian subcontinent.…

by Mick Vann

Headlines

� City Council meets today (Thursday) with a heavy agenda of controversy, including Austin Water cost overruns for Water Treatment Plant No. 4 and a proposed incentive package for Visa – and those are only the headlines. Expect a long meeting and a brace of postponements. See “Beside the Point: All the Arguments That Fit.”…

by Chronicle Staff

Mrs. Santa’s Book Bag

The Lebanese Kitchen by Salma Hage (Phaidon Press, 512 pp., $49.95) Phaidon Press is known for its traditional culinary bibles of national cuisines, including Spanish, Italian, French, Indian, Greek, and now its newest addition, The Lebanese Kitchen. The author, Salma Hage, is a 70-year-old grandmother from the mountains of the Kadisha Valley in northern Lebanon…

by Mick Vann

Mrs. Santa’s Book Bag

The Brown Betty Cookbook by Linda Hinton Brown and Norrinda Brown Hayat (Wiley, 192 pp., $22.99) Although it might initially appear that this is a cookbook of recipes for the dessert Apple Brown Betty, that is not the case. The Brown Betty Dessert Boutique in Philadelphia is one of the nation’s leading bakeries, garnering attention…

by Kate Thornberry

Day Trips

The shine is still on Lawrence Ludtke’s most recent (and final) commission – the JFK Tribute in Fort Worth

by Gerald E. McLeod

Mr. Smarty Pants Knows

Gangnam style? What about Gangnam history? Forty years ago, this district of Seoul was called Jamwon-dong and consisted mainly of farmers working in cabbage fields and pear orchards. Since 1964, Smokey Bear has had his own ZIP Code: 20252. During World War II, Hershey’s cranked out 24 million chocolate bars a week. Unlike the movie…

by Mr. Smarty Pants

Mrs. Santa’s Book Bag

Dinner, a Love Story by Jenny Rosenstrach (HarperCollins, 336 pp., $29.99) Rosenstrach, a former editor at Real Simple and Cookie magazines, founded her blog, Dinner, a Love Story, with the intention of being the reader’s “dinner doula,” providing encouragement to harried parents (or anyone, really) who find themselves at a loss when facing the demands…

by Melanie Haupt

Mrs. Santa’s Book Bag

Glow: Tastes From a Tiny Boathouse by Karey B. Johnson (Glow Boat House Press, 90 pp., $14.50) If you’ve eaten at Glow Restaurant in Rockport, Texas, here’s your opportunity to re-create some of chef Karey B. Johnson’s signature dishes. If you haven’t made the pilgrimage, this is a chance to see what you’re missing. Either…

by MM Pack

NCAA Volleyball Tourney

The third-ranked Texas Longhorns (25-4 on the season) host the NCAA Regional finals this weekend, playing No. 14 Florida (27-4) on Friday; then perhaps sixth-ranked Southern Cal (29-5) for a spot in next weekend’s final four in Louisville. The Horns are led by sophomore outside hitter Haley Eckerman (pictured), the 2012 Big 12 Player of…

by Nick Barbaro

Mrs. Santa’s Book Bag

Pecans: A Savor the South Cookbook by Kathleen Purvis (The University of North Carolina Press, 104 pp., $18) I really appreciate cookbooks that don’t jump all over the kitchen or the map. There is definitely something to the adage, “Do one thing, and do it well.” This compact little book focuses tightly on the the…

by Gracie Salem

Mrs. Santa’s Book Bag

To Have and Have Another: A Hemingway Cocktail Companion by Philip Greene (Penguin Group, 293 pp., $24) Let’s be honest. If you are of a certain age and you don’t love, refer to, or acknowledge Ernest Hemingway as having an impact on your life, then maybe you don’t read. And if you don’t drink, then…

by Gracie Salem

Mrs. Santa’s Book Bag

Wines of the Southern Hemi­sphere: The Complete Guide by Mike DeSimone and Jeff Jenssen (Sterling Epicure, 592 pp., $24.95) Wine writers usually split the universe into New World/Old World categories. The New World wines are generally fruitier, less long-lived, a good deal cheaper, and easier on the beginning drinker’s palate. Old World wines are the…

by Wes Marshall

The Luv Doc: Real Swinging Versus Imagined Swinging

LuvDoc, My wife and I have been spending a lot of time with a fun couple she met through her spinning class. We really like spending time with them but we think they might be swingers. When we go out to dinner they always make allusions to sex, etc., and it makes us a bit…

by The Luv Doc

Mrs. Santa’s Book Bag

CookFight: 2 Cooks, 12 Chal­lenges, 125 Recipes, An Epic Battle for Kitchen Dominance by Kim Severson and Julia Moskin (Ecco Press, 320 pp., $29.99) This is a lovable book with a dumb title. There’s no fighting, no “epic battle for kitchen dominance” à la Food TV. It’s simply a joint project of two New York…

by MM Pack

Mrs. Santa’s Book Bag

The Epicurious Cookbook by Tanya Steel & the editors of Epicurious (Clarkson Potter Publishers, 400 pp., $27.99, ) Although crowdsourcing makes me a little uneasy, one thing I have to admit is that it seems to produce really great cookbooks. Epicurious.com is the most award-winning food site on the Web, and probably the one I…

by Kate Thornberry

A Royal Affair

Palace intrigue, bodice-ripping, and revolutionary thought: If only this costume drama about Danish monarchs behaving badly delivered on its promise.

by Kimberley Jones

Food Events

� Food Palooza at Cherrywood Art Fair In addition to original artwork by more than 100 artists, live music all day, and kids’ activities, this year they’ve got a food-truck court with Bake Austin, Elixer Coffee, mmmpanadas, Fresh Off the Truck, and more. Sat.-Sun., Dec. 8-9, 10am-5pm. Maplewood Elementary, 3808 Maplewood. � Glass2Plate Seasonal Farm…

by Virginia B. Wood

Mrs. Santa’s Book Bag

The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook By Deb Perelman (Knopf, 336 pp., $35) Deb Perelman is a home cook after my own heart, negotiating a tricky balance between an abiding love for magical configurations of butter-sugar-flour and the acknowledgment that some creatively prepared proteins and veggies have to work their way onto the menu every now and…

by Melanie Haupt

Hitchcock

Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren keep things interesting but there’s more here about the marriage and partnership of Hitchcock and Alma Reville rather than a good backstage look at the making of Psycho.

by Marjorie Baumgarten

Mrs. Santa’s Book Bag

Baking books were a hot commodity in the publishing world in 2012, with over 20 titles covering everything from pies and doughnuts to gluten-free vegan pastries. I’ll have to admit I’m not the audience for the large number of gluten-free recipe collections, and I was pretty choosy about the other titles I kept throughout the…

by Virginia B. Wood

Playing for Keeps

In this all-too-predictable romantic comedy/drama, Gerard Butler plays an ex-soccer star who ultimately reunites with his ex-wife and son, whose team he coaches.

by Louis Black

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