Vincent Orange, fighting Kwame Brown for Gray’s seat, went with a smaller Cadillac SUV than his competitor. What, he couldn’t afford an orange paint job?

It is truly the most wonderful time of year — for caterers, that is. D.C. knows how to feast. Between all the holiday/non-denominational/winter solstice parties for every single nonprofit/government/lobby/press room in town and our own personal holiday events, the humble art of bringing a homemade dish to any event has fallen by the wayside. Personally, I’ll be bringing a dozen Krispy Kreme jelly doughnuts to a Hanukkah party this weekend.

On the other hand, there is something about the holidays, according to local washingtonpost.com food blogger Kim O’Donnel, that compels even the most novice of cooks to pick up a whisk and chef’s knife.

“They’re out of practice yet embark on complicated cooking endeavors that stress out the nicest, easy-going people,” O’Donnel said.

In her new book, A Mighty Appetite for the Holidays: Kitchen Tricks for the Feasting Season, O’Donnel tries to take the stress out of this cooking season. Her compact 80-page book is a collection of food tips and a few dozen recipes gleaned from the past eight years of her WaPo blog, A Mighty Appetite, and live web chat, What’s Cooking. A library of how-to videos are also available online.

O’Donnel will be at home design store Tabletop tonight from 6 to 8 p.m. to sign copies of her book amid a chocolate truffle and sparkling wine tasting.

Filed Under: art, cooking, design, events, food, government, Hanukkah, holiday, holidays, Kim O, kimo, kitchen, krispy kreme, krispykreme, library, people, wine, wine tasting,