The winners will be announced a bit differently this year for the 18th annual Star Tribune Holiday Cookie Contest, without the grand tasting of the five finalists at the Star Tribune building. Instead, please join Lee Svitak Dean and Rick Nelson as they discuss via Zoom the cookies that made the finals and, of course, their cookie book, which contains many of the contest winners over almost two decades. Free. Register at StarTribune.com/StribLive. (Pictured here, Espresso-Hazelnut Truffle Cookies, a 2014 finalist.)

Lee interviews Swedish chef Magnus Nilsson for launch of new book, "Faviken." The virtual U.S. "tour" begins in Minneapolis (via the American Swedish Institute on Zoom) from his home in Sweden. More info on registration at the American Swedish Institute (asimn.org). Magnus Nilsson. Photograph by Erik Olsson  

Let's talk cookies. And while we're at it, let's also talk restaurants and home cooking. Rick Nelson and Lee Svitak Dean head to Little Falls for the chat about "The Great Minnesota Cookie Book" and more.

Get in the holiday spirit at The Golden Fig, where Lee and Rick will be signing "The Great Minnesota Cookie Book."

Authors Lee Svitak Dean and Rick Nelson talk about holiday baking and the stories behind "The Great Minnesota Cookie Book." For those who'd like to bake and bring cookies to share later, please do so.

Taste all five of the 2019 winners of the Taste Cookie Contest.

Taste editor Lee Svitak Dean and and colleague Rick Nelson will tell stories of the Bundt pan over the decades -- and the sometimes wild recipes that went with it.

As the food section, Taste, of the Star Tribune turns 50, we look at the way we ate at home and in restaurants over those years.

A party for the public with birthday cake and beverages in honor of the Taste section and its 50 years, one of the longest continual food sections in the country.

A chat with Mia-Louise Sellerup of the Ribe VikingeCenter in Denmark on food of the 10th century, part of her ongoing research around Viking-era foodways. Tickets include lunch.

Book signing at Common Good Books (38 Snelling Av. S., St. Paul). Free.

Book signing at Glensheen Mansion (3300 London Road, Duluth). Free.

Chapter 2 Books (226 Locust St., Hudson, chapter2books.indieeelite.org). Free.

Book talk at Edina Library (5280 Grandview Square, Edina). Free.