Holiday Search: A Recipe For Couch-Potatoes

Art imitates life, and vice versa, they say. But in the 21st Century, search behavior may be a better mirror. In the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving - the face-stuffinest holiday - and to Black Friday - the shoppinest one - searches are what you might expect: all pumpkin pie and Playstations. Hitwise drops us a line to say that visits to websites in the Food and Beverage category, which includes recipe sites, increased by 17.5 percent the week ending November 18, compared to data taken a year ago. That week in 2005 belonged to the recipe search, jumping nearly 66 percent, with a strange tilt toward the just $4,000. Or you can, like the rest of us playing the poor-man's console, spend