As the cold and dreary days of late January and February approach, the thought of a bowl of hearty and warming soup becomes especially appealing. When I was a kid, my Aunt Gertie, who loved to cook, would often talk about hot beef borscht with garlic — a dish that she remembered from her childhood. Although her taste memory of it was vivid, she was never able to make a version that matched the one she remembered.

Ethan Fixell is a beer, wine and spirits writer and educator from New York City. He contributes to over a dozen different publications, though he most frequently writes for Food & Wine, Men's Journal and Quartz.

Picture this: You’re a new sous chef clocking 55 hours a week and bringing in $40,000 per year. Suddenly, as of January 1, 2017, abracadabra! You’ve magically found yourself with an additional $450 per week (approximately $23,000 per year) in your pocket. Holy Wolfgang Puck! Did you just win the lottery? Were you an heir of a distant aunt who just died?

Forward, always forward. That’s the email signature of a friend of mine and the message never fails to resonate with me. The dawn of a new year acts as a slightly arbitrary but nevertheless symbolic occasion to take stock of one’s goals, past and present. As a cook, I see the arc of my career as a series of obstacles surpassed, an upward trajectory of constantly changing ambitions. Whether a student or seasoned professional, I think it’s crucial to keep leaning forward.

When I first started at ICE nearly six months ago, I could barely contain my excitement at the prospect of everything I would learn in the weeks ahead. From mastering basic knife skills to preparing the perfect Lobster Americain, I was ready to go with guns blazing. However, as I sautéed, roasted and braised my way through modules one through three, I began to feel a creeping sense of unease as our class approached module four: the pastry module.

Good friends and great (bubbly) cocktails make for a spirited celebration, whether a birthday, bachelorette, Valentine's Day or New Year's Eve. That’s why ICE and People Food teamed up to bring you these three Champagne-based drinks: the classic Champagne cocktail, a French 75 and a rosemary-infused pomegranate sparkler.

In 2016, we cooked, baked, mixed and tasted a ton of delicious recipes at the Institute of Culinary Education. Our chef instructors and beverage pros shared their expertise and gave us step-by-step guides to making some of their favorite sips and eats.

Why would one of the successors to an empire of bread and pastries in Spain travel all the way to New York City to study pastry arts? That’s the question that many have posed to Pablo Moreno (Pastry Arts ’17), grandson of the founders of Mallorca Pastelería, a household name for bread and pastries in Madrid, and pastry student at ICE.