Patrick Donohue is the proudest Indiana native you're likely to find. Seriously. No one is prouder to be from a state that so many people know relatively so little about than he is. Patrick is a native of Terre Haute and a graduate of the Ernie Pyle School of Journalism at Indiana University. Knowing this, you might think he’d be a huge John "Cougar" Mellencamp fan, a man considered by some to be the Hoosier State's poet laureate. But you'd be wrong. In a major way. | • Gallup says you are going to spend about $770 this Christmas.
• Dave Eggers, Pete Hamill and other authors talk about their favorite bookstores.
• The Washington Post's Chris Klimek has a great essay on Holiday music.
•Everything old is new again: Cast iron pans are making a comeback.
• Charleston's Sean Brock is among several heavy-hitters cooking Dec. 3 at a Sandy relief dinner in New York City.
• A NPR tribute to that most primitive -- and useful -- of kitchen gadgets: the mortar and pestle.
• A Kansas City man learned the hard way that it's probably not a good idea to let your buddy stash a dead buck in your restaurant's cooler on the day the health inspector is supposed to show up.
• RIP Mr. Food
• Reason no. 4,892 that Spotify is awesome: The new Coldplay live record is already streaming.