As everyone who had the bad luck to be in our office right before Christmas already knows—thanks to mass emails begging for a pudding mold, an instant-read thermometer and/or a food processor—this year I decided to make a plum pudding. (I can’t help it. I grew up in New England.)



Here’s a tip for other recovering East Coasters: Dried citron is damned hard to find, at least if you try the usual “gourmet” suspects, like Sur La Table, Williams-Sonoma, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. Whole Foods did have some very nice candied lemon, but who really came through? Good old Safeway.



What Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s did both have, though, was really pretty holiday bags. So pretty, in the case of Whole Foods, that I saved one from last year. Honestly. (It’s the red and silver one.)

Guest blogger Christine Ryan is 7x7's executive editor.