Just when I thought that the gluttony has come to an end, I'm forced to loosen another notch from my belt as I prepare to make my Winterlicious reservations.

This year's Winterlicious is running between January 27th and February 9th, and gives foodies the opportunity to experience some of the city's best restaurants at a fixed price for three courses of either $15 or $20 for lunch and $25 or $35 for dinner.

The over 120 participating restaurants will start taking reservations to the general public on January 12th. But those lucky enough to have an Amex card have Front of the Line privileges and can start making reservations tomorrow and Wednesday.

Here are some of blogTO's recommendations for Winterlicious picks:

Continuing in the vein of my inherent laziness, I decided to do a quick Google search on what options I have if I want to eat out on Christmas day this year.

From experience, I know there's always the Korea Town area on Bloor, between Bathurst and Christie for reliable dinner fare. And there's also good ol' dependable Chinatown, where a good number of the restaurants are usually open.

But what else? Well, the Royal Canadian Yacht Club has two seatings for Christmas dinner. Sadly, I think you have to be a member or be accompanied by a member to attend this $55.95 per person meal.

The Fairmont Royal York has dinner for $89 per person. And to be all posh, the price includes valet parking.

Apart from that, Google doesn't offer much else in the form of useful info on places to dine. As for me, I think I'll try and find me some Peking duck (RIP Champion House) a la the Christmas Story.

(By the way: The Christmas Story is playing at the Royal at 608 College St., tonight at 7pm)

Image courtesy of Publication Perfection.

Growing up in a first generation Japanese household in Toronto, we never did the big festive family dinner thing. My father claimed to not like birds (oddly, he claimed that his father was a chicken) and my mother didn't know what to do with a frozen block of turkey anyway.

In fact, we went to Korea House every year for Christmas dinner.

Around the time I turned 10, my mother discovered the Festive Special at Swiss Chalet. She and I would make a few trips every year because we liked the stuffing and the cranberry sauce, not to mention the free Toblerone bars.

When I turned 16, I decided to make a full-on Christmas turkey dinner from a discounted frozen turkey, because it was mutilated and missing various parts. It was crazy hard work, but my mother still talks about that turkey dinner with fondness to this day.

At work, we have an awesome client who sends us holiday gifts. Sure, we get the same thing from them every year. But when it's a massive box of Wickerhead chocolate-covered popcorn, my mouth is stuffed full and there's no room (or inclination) for complaints.

Wickerhead is a Toronto-based company offering a strangely appealing concoction of popcorn (looks like caramel corn) with Belgian chocolates - milk, dark and white.

When I try to describe what these popcorn treats are like, I'm often met with blank or puzzled wordless stares. But let's just say this, they are legal crack.

Image courtesy of Wickerhead website.

Wickerhead Co.
Available by special order
416-693-5980

Any time I'm at the Eaton Centre and find myself needing sustenance, I head over to Sushi Q's for a quick bite.

It's cheap to begin with: $3.99 for avocado, cucumber or salmon rolls. There are also single servings of California rolls, various nigiri sushi and combos (sushi and bento boxes) all at prices under $10.

But the time to go is toward the end of the day when all the day's goods are sold at 30% off at all Sushi Q locations. At the Eaton Centre, the discount starts at 6pm, but there are a couple of locations downtown on the Path (one under the TD Bank at Queen and Bay, and the other under (I think) York and Richmond) which start their discounts at around 4pm.

Heck, especially at this time of year, every bit of savings help.

Little known Ganong Canadiana chocolate facts (well, little known at least to me): 1) Ganong Bros. is Canada's oldest candy company, started in 1873. 2) Ganong created their original Chicken Bones in 1885. 3) The head office and manufacturing plant is located on Chocolate Drive.

All this and more I learned at the 5th Annual Chocs-O-Fun, hosted by Bryana Ganong.

With wine glass in one hand, and the other busied with sampling chocolate after chocolate, I chatted and conversed more about chocolates than I ever have before.

Ganong's newest product is Fruitfull au chocolat, fresh fruit jellies covered in dark chocolate. I'm not a big fan of jellies to begin with, and now I also know that they don't improve with the addition of chocolate. But what I did discover to my pleasure is the Delecto line, specifically Ganong's version of Turtles made with cashews. Honestly, forget Turtles - Delecto is the way to go. I haven't stopped eating them since. And hence, the holiday pounds start a mountin'.

Image courtesy of the Ganong website.