It’s here — our comprehensive food, wine and beer pages, and just in time for the holidays. Now you have all the Erie Times-News and GoErie.com food content in one place. Dining in? Check. Dining out? Check. Recipes? And how!

Plus we have all the news you can use on beer, wine and cocktails. You’ll also find videos on how to make our latest recipes! Blogs, newsletters and food reviews — it’s all here in one place. Click on the links below to take a look at our delicious food pages.

• This is where to get started! Food home page: http://www.goerie.com/food
• Look up our latest reviews of area bars and restaurants: http://www.goerie.com/food/reviews
• Hungry for lunch? Shop here! Check out the daily deals, and y’all come back — daily– because it changes all the time: http://www.goerie.com/food/downtown-lunch
• Marnie Mead, Jennie Geisler and Rhonda Schember are among our most famous chefs at the Erie Times-News. You’ll find their recipes and much more right here: http://www.goerie.com/recipes
• Would you like to share your own recipe? And join our cookie contest? Submit a recipe right here: http://www.goerie.com/recipes/submit

Enjoy our updated site, and visit often!

Pam Parker is the editor of Lake Erie LifeStyle, Her Times and House to Home at the Erie Times-News in Erie, Pa. She is the mom of three, stepmom to three and step-grandmom to one.

Saturday, April 7 is National Beer Day, called to my attention by KRUPS, the coffee maker people who also dabble in a kitchen appliance that makes beer.

Where did Beer Day come from? Prohibition, of course!  On April 7th, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Cullen-Harrison Act. It ended the 13 years of alcohol prohibition in the United States.

Now onto beer-making. The KRUPS BeerTender is compatible with Heineken, Heineken Premium Light and Newcastle Brown Ale. It has a handy LED temperature indicator, signaling when the beer reaches its optimal 37.4° F serving temperature – for up to 30 days after tapping.

It costs around $150 — got our attention — here it is:

It’s appropriate food for thought, today.

There were years that I gave up chocolate for the 40 days of Lent. I even got my kids to do it with me a few times. After a few of those adventures, my family and co-workers (at several different companies over the decades), begged me to never give up chocolate again. I obliged.

I’ve also given up wine, beer and vodka. Not all within the same 40 days, mind you. All but one kid in the Eckert-Parker brood is over 21 now, and I am guessing I won’t get any company on a liquor-less Lent.

Chocolate and booze are optional sacrifices, but meat-free Fridays have been an almost lifelong habit. After all, meatless Fridays were a part of life when I grew up — not just Lent. We ate tuna casseroles, meatless pizza and fish sticks, fish sticks, fish sticks ever since I can remember. I maintained meatless Lenten Fridays raising my kids. When they got old enough to read the rules on Lenten sacrifices, they realized that they didn’t have to do the meatless thing until they were 14. I told them it was a tradition, and we weren’t breaking tradition.

I did draw the line at fish sticks though. I’ve permanently given up fish sticks, but McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish on Ash Wednesday and every Friday for the next month is all right with me. Last year was a beerless lent, and I think it’s time for a repeat — a time-honored tradition my parents started. One thing’s for sure. It won’t be a chocolate-free lent.