Nicole Aloni

Last week I flew to Chicago (and environs) to film several videos for Sam’s Club. One piece was on how to make holiday wine choices for gifting and dining. In the second one I showed some Chicago moms how to bring the tradition of handmade gifts to life in their kitchen by utilizing their Cooking Club to create sweet holiday gifts.

By the way, if you aren’t familiar with the Cooking Club concept, you should be. I’m a big fan and as a result I’ve been writing and teaching about them a lot lately. A Cooking Club is a great strategy for getting the most fun out of an afternoon with friends and the most value out of your food budget. It is essentially a group of a few friends or family members who pool their money to shop for and prepare a week’s worth of meals in one afternoon—or, in this case, holiday baked goods.