Welcome to this edition of Dimanche (That Means Sunday), a roundup of things that caught my eye this past week.

This week was a little hectic with holiday parties and plans. I had a great time getting tea and pastries with my colleagues and spending time with my family, but today, I was ready for some solitude. My boyfriend and I drove an hour out into the country and went on a long hike through Klondike Park, one of my favorites places to hike in rural Missouri.

I took the lead when we hiked since my boyfriend had never been there before. I noticed as I went a long the trail that it was easy. It’s not a particularly challenging trail but it was even easier than I remembered.

I realized that it was easier for two reasons: One, my body has almost completely recovered from all the injuries I incurred earlier this year. Two, I know the trail almost by heart. It was an exciting thing to realize. I used to come to the trail a couple years ago and tiptoe around parts, scared that I was going to fall or slide over some rocks. Now I can practically do the trail with my eyes closed.

The next week is full of more holiday parties, last minute projects, and work obligations. When things get particularly stressful, I’ll return to the peace of the trail. And as this year wraps up and a new one is around the corner, I’ll return to the realization that I had while hiking today. If you do challenging things enough times, eventually they get easier. And once you get through the obstacles, you’re rewarded with something resembling bliss.

Without further ado, here is Dimanche:

I finally tried the pizza at Louie and it was un. real. I’d highly recommend heading over the restaurant in DeMun and trying it soon. I got the butternut squash and fontina combo and it was so delicious. I’m still thinking about it a day later.

I always hear about new restaurants opening in Chicago and I want to make a trip up as soon as possible to check them out. This new one from Stephanie Izard, chef and owner of Girl and the Goat, sounds like a place I need to visit soon. “Tiny Goat” is opening above Little Goat, an upscale diner close to Izard’s other restaurants. If you’re in Chicago and you’re looking for a place to celebrate New Year’s, this could be your spot.

Every year around this time, the CDC puts out its warning against eating raw cookie dough. Every year, I ignore the warning and eat dough, and I’m still alive. “Say No to Raw Dough!” is probably my least favorite public healthy announcement. Read opposing sides of the argument in this Washington Post story.

I had the pleasure of meeting Tony White from Tony’s Family Farms this week. Tony’s business supplies St. Louis area restaurants with fresh produce year-round including glasshouse and greenhouse tomatoes. He brought me a shipment from a farm he works with in Chicago called Mighty Vine and the tomatoes are so good. I used a bunch to make homemade tomato sauce on Friday. Look out for the recipe on the blog later this week!

I’m a big fan of Sylvia Plath so it was fun to read this comic about her earlier this week. You might be thinking, “Sylvia Plath and comics? What?” The comic is just another way of telling a story about a book of Plath’s letters, which was recently published by Harper Collins. I learned a lot about Plath from reading the story, which is basically just drawings with short captions. Check out the comic in The New Yorker.

I just discovered Basically and I’m obsessed. It’s a website from Bon Appétit that answers common cooking questions. This story about powdered sugar might come in handy during holiday cookie baking. Also there’s a recipe from brown butter wedding cookies at the end.

I love hearing about what people in the local food industry are doing. This interview in Sauce Magazine features Suman Shekar, who oversees process improvements and quality assurance at Companion, a popular bakery in St. Louis. I liked what Shekar had to say about working in the food industry and the dedication it requires. Check out the full interview on Sauce‘s website.

Last but certainly not least, Epicurious found a bunch of Gourmet‘s old holiday recipes and everyone freaked out. Gourmet, a once thriving food magazine, went out of business a while ago to the disappointment to pretty much everyone. So it’s a big deal that Epicurious, a now thriving food website that makes recipes available to the masses, has some of Gourmet’s holiday secrets. Read this blog post for more information.

Enjoy your week! Here’s a song to get you started.