Holiday-Flavored Macarons, Charlie Brown at Worlds of Fun & Other Weekend Possibilities

Winter has its own food group. Dive into hot chocolate and caramel popcorn and all the foods that let you add a bit of cold weather insulation at WinterFest. Decorate cookies with Mrs. Claus, pop by the North Pole or catch Charlie Brown’s Christmas Spectacular. The winter-themed celebration runs through Dec. 31 at Worlds of Fun.

Want to make gingerbread houses without sacrificing your architectural precision to the whims of small children? You’re in luck. Annedore’s (5000 State Line Road, Westwood Hills, Kansas) has a series of gingerbread workshops ($50 for two people) over the next two weekends. It’s all ages on Saturday and Sunday, but Friday nights at 7 p.m. are for those 18 or older. Annedore’s provides the gingerbread, icing and candy, and you channel your inner Frank Lloyd Wright from there.

Preparing macarons requires the patience of the most saintly among us. I’m referring, of course, to the colorful and delicate French-biscuit kind of macaron, rather than the dense, coconut kind known as a “macaroon” that merely masquerades as a cookie. Covet Bakery owner JC Gregg is holding a macaron pop-up with holiday-appropriate flavors, like gingerbread, eggnog and candy cane from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Olive Tree (7044 W. 105th St., Overland Park, Kansas) on Saturday.

A poke place has opened inside the Freezing Moo at 13123 State Line Road. Urban Bowl Grill and Poke lets you top rice, quinoa or zucchini noodles with grilled chicken, steak, tuna or salmon. And then you sundae-bar it with vegetables, fruits, sauces (Sriracha, honey wasabi) and crunchy bits of bacon, cashew and toasted coconut.

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Bambu Desserts and Drinks (3920 Rainbow Blvd., Kansas City, Kansas) is holding its grand opening from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday. The shop, which serves Vietnamese drinks, began with a single location in San Jose, California, a decade ago. There’s a vast array of jellies, tapioca pearls and other mix-ins that you can use to flavor a drink with coconut water or milk as its base. Bambu also has Vietnamese coffee drinks (iced coffee mixed with sweetened condensed milk).

Good cookbooks are like old friends. You’re always glad to see them, and you can pick up right where you left off the last time. Make some new friends with some oldies but goodies at The Friends of the Kansas City Public Library’s 12th annual Pre-Owned Cookbook Sale from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Plaza branch (4801 Main St.).

Get out your crock pot, North Kansas City. Velo Garage and Tap House (1403 Swift St., North Kansas City, Missouri), a bike shop and beer bar, is holding its second annual chili cook-off from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday. You can enter your dish and sample the work of other contestants in the traditional (beanless), homestyle, vegetarian or chili verde categories.

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The pub crawl meets the scavenger hunt in KC Crew’s Bar Hunt from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday. Teams of four try to solve clues leading to each of the pub crawl’s next stops.. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 on the day of the Bar Hunt.