9 Must-Have Culinary Picks For February

Launched last month, Williams-Sonoma Open Kitchen, brings the clean lines and utility of a restaurant kitchen to your home. With everything from a sleek Y peeler ($10) to a set of sturdy steak knives ($150), there are plenty of options to trick out your kitchen. But what I most covet are the delicate, whisper-thin tumblers ($24-30).

La Boîte Orchidea Hot Chocolate ($18) blends Éclat Chocolate's 54 percent cacao with La Boîte's Orchidea N.34. While we don't exactly know what orchid root tastes like alone, we can detect the subtle szechuan pepper and zesty lime. It's a conversation piece that's worth sipping on with guests on cold Winter nights.

Feb. 5 marks the eighth World Nutella Day, created by Nutella fans. Last year the day was nearly destroyed when Ferrero SpA, the makers of Nutella, sent a cease and desist letter to Sara Rosso, the creator of the World Nutella Day website. But the case eventually dropped. Nutella fans are free to share their virtual love of the chocolate hazelnut spread once again.

I can't think of many folks who wouldn't be thrilled to receive a box of Früute's cookies for Valentine's Day. With sleek, cheeky packaging and a lineup of fabulous flavors — our favorites are Salted Caramel, Lavender Noir, and Raspberry Rolls ($9 each) — they're absolutely gift-worthy.

If tuning into the Olympic Games leaves you with a hankering for borscht, blintzes, and other Eastern European nibbles, you can do no better than Anya von Bremzen's Please to the Table: The Russian Cookbook, the definitive guide to Soviet cuisine. It may be out of print and carry a relatively hefty price tag ($63 and up) but it's worth it if a Russian feast is what you're after.

I'm not usually a fan of bottled cocktail mixers, but I'll make an exception when it comes to Owl's Brew, a line of sweetened tea concentrates crafted for mixing with everything from tequila to beer. My favorite of the trio has to be Pink & Black ($16), a tart blend of black tea, hibiscus, lemon, and strawberry.

If Netflix and Amazon can have original TV shows, why can't brands? Chipotle plans to, as the company will air Farmed and Dangerous, a four-part comedy series, on Feb. 17, exclusive to Hulu. Of course, the show will deal with farm ethics. An agro-business sells petroleum pellets to cattle farms, but there's one minor setback: the pellets cause the cows to blow up! Though we love us some Chipotle burritos, we're wondering if the show will become a new favorite sitcom or will come across like a cheesy, drawn-out social campaign.

Bleak, bitingly cold February days absolutely call for a mug of hot cocoa. And a mug of hot cocoa is always better when marshmallows are involved. Treat yourself to a canister of Plush Puffs's ingenious Mugtoppers ($7) — disc-shaped marshmallows tailor-made for hot chocolate — and you may never look back.

For the first time since the Summer controversy, Paula Deen will appear live to do a cooking demo at Samuel's Grand Manor in Williamsburg, NY, on Feb. 8 at 3 p.m. for $60 a ticket. All eyes are likely to be on Paula to see how (or rather if) she behaves.