It is a nice feeling -- that familiar clean slate we get when a new year begins. A simple trip to the grocery store can seem like a way to begin anew: Maybe you'll buy a pineapple, some scallops, a new kind of crackers, or a shiny new Pyrex baking dish. Don't be jaded about starting over! Revel in this feeling of newness and relax into the joy of small changes.

Sausage, Pineapple and Borscht

There are some things we like that for some reason we forget to keep in the house, or we just don't think of buying. Beets, for example -- we really like them but we don't cook with them nearly enough. Same with fresh pineapple -- it's so lovely, especially in the dead of winter. Sausage -- we've got that one covered, but sometimes we settle for so-so when we could buy spectacular.

They don't make them there; they bring them in from Chicago. Still, the Washington area has not had a good Polish market since a Silver Spring one closed a few years ago. Now, Kielbasa Factory in Rockville is here, The Washington Post reports, selling the real-deal stuff: pierogi, blintzes, pickles, and even some sweets. And, of course, the pork and veal sausages.

Borscht is "comforting enough for the coldest nights," says The Boston Globe. We love the sound of this "sweet and earthy" preparation: "start with roasted beets - for the best flavor, wrap them in foil and cook them in a hot oven - and a meaty broth of lamb, pork, or beef, flavored with caraway seeds, if you like, and fleshed out with some combination of tomatoes, shredded cabbage, dried mushrooms, beans, carrots, and cucumber." With some "hearty black bread and a hard-cooked egg," this is a great winter dinner. The Globe writer suggests drinking some icy-cold vodka with this, for extra warmth.

With "sweet strawberries and ripe peaches ... months away," why not buy a pineapple? TWP writes about the new, sweeter-than-ever variety of pineapple that came on the scene in 1996 and changed the game completely. It's deep yellow and, producers say, always sweet due to reduced acidity. If you enjoy pineapple and you read this, you'll want some right away! It's a nice antidote to the winter blahs, and a wedge of it on a rum drink can make summer (or a tropical winter vacation) seem not that far away.

Heat: Invisible and Oft-Misused

Before we natter on some more about delicious foods to try, check out this Curious Cook "think piece" from The New York Times (who else?). Titled "The Invisible Ingredient in Every Kitchen," it is about ... no, you can't guess ... heat. Not as in chiles; as in fire. It's slippery, elusive; it's the reason many cooks prefer a charcoal grill to a powerful Weber. This piece contains some interesting information, so don't skip it just because it sounds science-y and dull. "We’re often aiming a fire hose of heat at targets that can only absorb a slow trickle, and that will be ruined if they absorb a drop too much." Some of it you'll know, but there are surprises.

To segue into the use of that tricky flame, here's a delicious idea for a pork roast: the "classic Puerto Rican pork roast called pernil" which takes a long time to roast, but your oven is doing all the work, as the piece's title says. To make pernil, this Times piece says you can work a bunch of spicy ingredients into a paste, rub it all over the meat, and cook it for hours on low heat. It's an easy way to give pork some big flavor, and it can feed a crowd, too.

Creamy Shellfish, Winter Greens

Yum: This cute little story about a pan roast will inspire you to make one, and make you the teensiest bit nostalgic for cooking with family over the holidays (many of you will beg to differ, no doubt). Melissa Clark's Good Appetite column never fails to make us want to try whatever she has written about. In fact, she casually mentions fried oysters with tartar sauce in this column, and it sent us immediately to look up a recipe to try in the near future. The recipe Clark uses calls for "simmering oysters (or clams, lobster, shrimp, scallops or a combination) in heavy cream and butter flavored with clam juice, Worcestershire sauce, celery salt and — to give it that reddish color and sweet tomato je ne sais quoi — Heinz chili sauce, basically ketchup with spices." Gin lovers: Be sure to read the whole thing.

Hardy and hearty: Winter greens are a good thing, The Boston Globe reminds us. Kale and other greens are in season right now, so don't neglect them just because that bagged mache lettuce is so cute and tender. Toughness is underrated! Take the time to treat these vegetables nicely, and they'll reward you with flavor and nutrition.

Flying Pigs, and Cold Treats in a Cold Town

Also out of the Globe, we have a tip about a new Boston-area business, When Pigs Fly Bread Co. -- which has opened two doors down from another carb-tastic emporium called Kickass Cupcakes (!). When Pigs Fly has been around for 15 years and originated in Maine; New England grocery stores stock their luscious-sounding specialty breads.

For health-conscious ice cream eaters, there are some new kids in town up there in the cold northeast: BerryLine, a frozen-yogurt company, just opened in Cambridge. It's a trendy business -- one we have written about before in these "pages" -- and sure to succeed with money- and nutrition-conscious people milling around on every corner.

Beyond Henckels, and 'The I Hate to Cook Book'

People are funny about knives. Some really, really like them. We met one Damascus, Va., resident at a birthday party who frightened us with his love for the things; we know of an Annapolis dweller who throws them for relaxation, and still another in our zip code who sings the praises of his Chinese cutlery. However, we are a sad case when it comes to knives. Ours are so dull that some are barely usable, and even a nice new knife sharpener might not save them. That's why this N.Y. Times article comes in handy right about now, and it confirms it: the Asian cutlery has it.

Friends, before we bid you goodbye for the day, we'll leave you with another zinger from Alex Witchel. This came out in the Sunday N.Y. Times magazine, so it isn't fresh news, but in case you missed it, here is a link to a celebration of cookbook author Peg Bracken. "With her what-the-hell humor, Bracken hit the nerve that vacillated between boredom and desperation in the home kitchen while also offering savvy advice on the insidious malevolence of small-town entertaining." This woman, born in 1918, was completely ahead of her time, Witchel says: "Bracken had the nerve to say then what so many women felt: They liked cooking fine, as long as they didn’t have to cook all the time." Amen, sister.