Just because it's cold out...

• Well, and because Top Chef semifinalist Sam Talbot, who grew up in Charlotte, is on it: A hot list. (Photo from photobucket.)

• Beer thoughts this week, the 75th anniversary of canned beer, here.

• The Chicago Trib does 2010 trends -- could it really finally be the year of stevia, which Charlotte's Peter Reinhart has been talking about since, maybe, 1975?