I admit it, I'm one of the seemingly few people who enjoy egg nog. Sure, it seems gross, all those raw eggs and that pale yellow color. But I love it. The problem is, I invariably feel terrible for drinking it. All of this (except the eggs and the pale yellow color) also applies to braunschweiger.

All year long I try to watch what I eat -- with middling success, admittedly -- so when I'm eyeing up the egg nog in the supermarket each December, I look for the smallest container I can find and I tell myself I've been good; I've earned a treat.

This year, I even bought the "light" variety, which doesn't taste quite as good, but isn't so bad. So, why, every time I take a sip of said egg nog, do I feel terrible?

Well, it's the eggs, for one thing. And the cream. And the milk. All that fat and cholesterol. And the sugar. It just seems so sinful and wrong. Maybe it's because when I drink the nog, I drink it alone. I don't know anyone else that likes it. So, in my solitude I have nothing to think about besides egg nog's yumminess and artery-clogging-ness.

What I like about it, beyond the flavor, is that it's one of the few things in our "everything when we want it" culture that you can only have during a specific time of the year. And that makes it seem special; like something you should enjoy in a certain setting. It conjures very specific images and feelings.

Yesterday, I discovered Silk's "Nog," which is soy milk nog. It's vegan, so it has no eggs. While it it's a little less viscous and less yellow than egg nog, the flavor is pretty close. And with two grams of fat (no saturated fat) and no cholesterol, Silk Nog is a great alternative.