Year S Day

New Year's Eve abounds with noisy, jubilant celebrations, including bonfires, firecrackers, singing, dancing, horn-blowing and the tinkling of temple bells. The next day, the activities are more somber - nursing hangovers and composing long lists of New Year's resolutions, which we promise we will keep this time. Who couldn't use a little help in the good-fortune department? Luckily, our ancestors were wise enough to pass along tasty traditions of eating good-luck foods for New Year's, delectable comestibles guaranteed to bring health, happiness and prosperity in the coming year.

Even before pressing the elevator button to the sixth floor of the courthouse, Jessie Weber and Nancy Eddy were grinning so broadly that fellow passengers guessed their destination: the marriage license office. “I'll marry you today,” a Baltimore circuit judge happily told the two women, who were among the first same-sex couples to get a marriage license on Thursday, the first day they became available under a new Maryland law upheld by voters in November. Actually, same-sex couples have to wait until Jan. 1 to wed, when the law expanding marriage rights to gays and lesbians takes effect.

With the Cleveland Browns assured of their fourth consecutive sub-.500 campaign and their eighth in the past nine years, it might be surmised that the Browns have nothing left to play for with just two regular-season games remaining against the Ravens on Christmas Eve and the Pittsburgh Steelers on New Year's Day. That's not the approach that Cleveland middle linebacker D'Qwell Jackson is taking as the Browns prepare to visit M&T Bank Stadium on...

To the surprise of many, Tandon Doss, not LaQuan Williams, was the rookie wide receiver active in the Ravens' 20-14 win against the Cleveland Browns Saturday. Doss had been inactive in the team's previous seven contests and nine of 15 games overall, but the club's fourth-round pick in April got the opportunity to play because of the absence of No. 1 wide receiver Anquan Boldin (knee surgery). “It was nice to get my feet wet again,” Doss said. “It's a whole new process trying to go out there and run crisp routes and get open.

Alfredo Simon pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings in relief of Jake Arrieta during Monday's 4-3 loss to the Mariners, and his return has boosted an Orioles bullpen that has been a big disappointment in 2011. But the circumstances surrounding Simon's absence early in the season surely leave some fans feeling conflicted. Simon is accused of shooting and killing a man in the Dominican Republic on New Year’s Day, and he is expected to go to trial for manslaughter sometime this summer.

During the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, we've started to decompress from the holidays. The day after Christmas started the recycling effort. Bags, wrapping paper and boxes were readied for Friday's pickup. Gifts that didn't quite fit or work, including one I'd previously given this year's giver, were put in a bag for Paul's Place . Although our desks are still piled with papers, as is a card table used for wrapping, movement is underway. The card table will be down before New Year's.

We got our first glimpse at the Ravens' 2011 schedule Tuesday night, and the season opener against the Steelers and a very Harbaugh Thanksgiving were two of the most notable games. I was able to sit down and digest the Ravens' schedule this morning, and here are five random observations: 1. Steelers week begins the second the lockout ends: The hype machine was ratcheted up before the Ravens’ 2010 season opener against the Jets, and it’s going to kick into another gear this year.

WEATHER: Sunny, with highs in the mid-30s and sub-freezing wind chills. TRAFFIC: Check our traffic updates for this morning's issues. TOP NEWS 'Fiscal cliff' deal approved, avoiding tax increases and spending cuts : A bipartisan plan to avoid federal spending reductions and tax increases that would have hit Maryland especially hard won final approval Tuesday night in the House of Representatives even as outside groups warned that the bill would simply delay difficult decisions for a few months.

Mark Turgeon exhaled deeply. Maryland has won six games in a row, but coaches tend to focus on spotting and correcting mistakes. For Turgeon, each mistake is like a paper cut. When Turgeon was asked today about his team's turnovers, the coach sighed. Maryland had 19 turnovers in Sunday's win over George Mason - one shy of the season high. Here's what the coach said about it: “You know, I don't know how I look to you guys but I haven't slept very well since the game ended Sunday.

It's been just about a year since the Aida Bistro folks packed up their pots and moved to their new location. The effort has evidently paid off, as business was brisk on two recent visits.   There's a spacious feel when you enter the front door into the wine bar, which boasts high-top tables where you can sit and sip and wait to be seated in the main dining room. (Or just stay right there and sip and eat.) Behind the bar is a glassed-in “cellar,” where the dozens of wines, stored in kegs rather than bottles (to reduce the carbon footprint, we're told)