While you're frying up some eggs and bacon, we're cooking up something else: a way to celebrate today's food holiday. Today, give your palate a sweet cleanse because April 9 is National Chinese Almond Cookie Day ! The slightly sweet crunch of almonds is the center of attention in this simple cookie. The taste and texture is very similar to pecan sandies . According to traditional Chinese medicine, almonds are thought to be anti-inflammatory and antispasmodic, so crunch to your health! Typical to southern and southeastern China, these almond cookies are usually enjoyed around Chinese New Year , and are given as gifts to family and friends. They are also a part of Chinese-American cuisine, often playing second fiddle to the favorite fortune cookie. In some Chinese restaurants, they are served to cleanse the palate after several courses, rather than being regarded as a dessert. Start a new tradition and make these simple, sweet treats . And if you're thinking these cookies don't carry a fortune, you'd be wrong. Chinese almond cookies symbolize coins, which is why they are a New Year tradition. More cookies, more money!

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National Chinese almond cookie day

An investigation by the inspector general of the General Services Administration found rampant abuse of an employee awards program of the agency’s Pacific Rim region, the same region that has come under fire for spending more than $800,000 on a Las Vegas training conference for 300 employees. Read full article > >

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More details on GSA employee awards store

Love is in the air in Iowa — or at least the diplomatic equivalent of it. When Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping arrived in this small town late Wednesday, carefully chosen welcoming gifts were on hand, nostalgic remembrances were on everyone’s lips and hearts all around were ready for the wooing. Read full article > >

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Xi Jinping visits Iowa, where the diplomatic equivalent of love is in the air

LAS VEGAS — A pair of hand-knit slippers, adorned with a Mormon symbol. A tiny stack of yard signs. An autographed Ron Paul placard. And a wadded, used tissue, tucked in a candidate’s pocket. Nevada had its strange moment in the political spotlight this week, as stage-managed campaigns roared through with rallies and TV ads. This was faux intimacy, done in a city where faux is a fact of life: The casinos are named after Paris and New York, and the dust-dry streets around them are named, aspirationally, for trees and oceans. Read full article > >

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Gifts and pocket fillers on the campaign trail

Seven people, who were apparently opening Christmas gifts, were found shot to death inside a Grapevine, Texas, apartment, police said.

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Seven people found dead in Texas apartment

Andy Foster from the Trading Standards Institute explains consumer rights when it comes to unwanted Christmas gifts.

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VIDEO: Unwanted gifts: Your rights

GRAPEVINE, Texas — Seven people believed to be related had opened their Christmas gifts and started cleaning up the wrapping paper when they were shot to death in a Dallas-area apartment, police said Sunday. Authorities said they believe the shooter is among the dead. Four women and three men, aged 18 to 60, were found in an adjoining kitchen and living room area when police entered the apartment shortly after 11:30 a.m., said Grapevine Police Sgt. Robert Eberling. Read full article > >

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Texas police find 7 shot to death in Dallas-area apartment on Christmas Day

Bestowing the gifts from “The 12 Days of Christmas” would cost 3.5 percent more than in 2010, according to PNC Wealth Management.

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For $101,000, the 12 Days of Christmas Are Covered

A new wrinkle in the annual question about what’s an appropriate holiday gift for a teacher: Does that gift ever cross over into bribe territory? A new Alabama ethics ruling [pdf] specifically prohibits teachers from receiving many kinds of gifts, including gift cards (and, perplexingly, hams and turkeys). Read full article > >

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Ala. teachers could receive jail time, $6000 fine for receiving gifts

Lumps of coal were big. And there was an empty popcorn box, which may, a source said, have been re-gifted. Those were among the more self-aware gifts swapped Monday night, when the U.S. Senate added a Secret Santa clause to its tradition of peculiar protocols and observations. Between votes on ambassador confirmations, 39 Democrats and 22 Republican senators ducked into the Mansfield Room and poked through large piles of wrapped presents, looking for their name tags. Read full article > >

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Senate’s Secret Santas make their rounds

After her father’s disinheritance, a daughter finds what her father didn’t mean to leave behind: the gift of clarity.

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Modern Love: What Wasn’t Passed On – Modern Love

Kate Krader ( @kkrader on Twitter ) is Food & Wine's restaurant editor. When she tells us where to find our culinary heart's desire, we listen up. The gifts you give at Christmas say a lot about you. They can say, I Love You. They can say, I Didn’t Think About You Until the Last Minute Which Is Why I’m Blatantly Regifting This Gift to You. Or they can say, I Think You’re Pretty Weird and This Gift Reflects That. So, be on the lookout for the gifts below. They say a lot. Bacon Wallet . It’s not like bacon is hard to find: you’ve probably already had a bacon doughnut, bacon cupcake and bacon-tini cocktail today. But the folks at Accoutrements seem to have thought long and hard about the last remaining non-bacon frontiers and gone for it. Hence their bacon air freshener, bacon (shaped) adhesive bandages and Mr. Bacon Bendable Action Figure. And, yes, the bacon wallet. Says one satisfied customer on Amazon: “If you’re rakin’ in the bacon, takin’ a bacon wallet is the best move you be makin’.” Mustache Egg Fryer Mold . If you got that bacon wallet as a gift and felt like something was still missing, voila: A mold that shapes your fried eggs into a handle-bar mustache. As an added bonus for the holidays, it works the same magic on cookie dough. Island Dogs, the group that distributes this inimitable piece, also offers gifts like the Three Wise Men Flask Set (those three wise men being Jack, Johnnie and Jim) and a ring that doubles as a beer can opener. Cricket LickIt Lollipops . Here’s what you need to know about these lollipops. They’re priced at around $60 for a box of 36. They come in blueberry, grape, strawberry and orange. And each one has a real, presumably not live, cricket inside. If you get sick of them, the same company makes scorpion apple suckers. The Grilled Cheesus . Maybe you saw that Glee episode where Finn thinks he sees Jesus’s face in a grilled cheese sandwich. Now that experience is yours to savor (no pun intended) every day. The Grilled Cheesus (a now trademarked name) is an electronic sandwich press that toasts Jesus’s face onto sandwiches. “Your prayers have been answered,” says the press release. More from Food & Wine : Best Gifts Under $20 Easy Food Gifts Best Pizza Places in the U.S. Christmas Cookies Best Burgers in the U.S.

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Wacky gifts for food freaks

Like most people, I enjoy receiving a great bottle of wine or a box of chocolates from friends paying us a visit over the holidays. I’m always grateful for the thoughtfulness. But there is something really special about getting something meant to be incorporated into the home. Those gifts linger and are constant reminders of the folks who gave them and of the wonderful visit that was had. Gifts for the home hang out on end tables or are displayed on bookshelves, helping to recall a special event hosted or a holiday party given. They also aren’t weighted by calories or trans fats, which seem to be around in overabundance this time of year, anyway. Read full article > >

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Vern Yip offers gift advice for the home

The Royal Mail has warned staff not to accept Christmas gifts valued at more than £30 for fear of bribery charges.

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Royal Mail festive tips warning

People are treating loved ones like catalogs or department stores, brandishing lengthy “wish” lists, demanding gift cards or boldly asking for cash.

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The Holiday Gimme Guide