By Sylvie Bigar

As the frenetic holiday season begins, a few chefs took time to reminisce about their culinary roots.

Venison in SWITZERLAND

While Johan Svensson of Aquavit prefers to take it easy with meatballs and ice cream on Christmas Day, Lidia Bastianich performs her magnum opus of the year – with the help of a few generations of women in her family. Four top New York chefs tell the Resident what they’re having for holiday dinners, and regardless of having the day off, they’re all still obliged to cook.

The New Museum means big changes for the Bowery. Get used to it.

By Heather Corcoran

The New Museum of Contemporary Art opens its Bowery location this week, capping the area’s decades-long transformation from slum to mini-Soho.

By Elissa Gilbert

“If we were in any other vehicle, we’d be upside down right now.”

Our guide, Cody has steered us through Hell’s Revenge to park the Hummer at a crazy angle against a slick, rocky hill. Through the open roof, the dark sky looks as if someone emptied a salt shaker of stars on it. The Big Dipper is right over our heads.

From design-savvy clocks to dream vacations, here are eight great gift ideas for your jet-setting loved ones. —Alysha Brown

Taschen’s new book, “Great Escapes Around the World” makes finding your next luxe getaway as easy as turning a page. $50. taschen.com

By Talia Berman

To get a table at Blue Ribbon Restaurant in Soho, one must wade through the crowd at the seven-seat bar to the host standing guard in front of a huge round booth in the middle of the room. The leather seat back obscures a view of who sits of this table, but the other diners can catch a glimpse of the people dining luxuriously around this throne of a booth.

By Cotton Delo

It was shaping up to be a sleepy afternoon last Thursday in St. Luke’s Hospital’s emergency room on the Upper West Side. Doctors in blue scrubs were tracking their inventory of patients on computer screens and flipping through charts until paramedics called to advise that a patient who’d been impaled in the pelvic area was on the way.

By David Germain

If you’re already groaning at the prospect of spending time with your own lovable but annoying family over the holidays, think twice about seeing “Dan in Real Life.” Do you really want to donate time and money to hang with someone else’s annoying relations?

Gobble Up Thanksgiving Dinner
If slaving over a turkey for hours in a hot kitchen seems unappealing, turn to one of these caterers or restaurants that will leave you as stuffed as a turkey.—Kerri Fortune

If you’re looking for an island vacation that involves a bit more than beach bumming, Puerto Rico is just the place. Aside from its unspoiled coastline, the U.S. territory, approximately the size of Connecticut, is home to one of the most charming and lively cities in the Caribbean, lovely Old San Juan.—Alysha Brown