Susan G

I'm skipping the card bit and moving right to dinner-as-present: Apps of shimp cocktail (hate peeling the little buggers, but the presentation is so much better that way ) .......baked stuffed clams; leg of lamb with rosemary and garlic slivers under the fat; mashed potatoes, steamed beets with butter - and a chocolate mousse cake from the bakery that did our wedding cake, topped with chocloate-dipped strawberries..........which I need to now remove from the wax paper!

It's been awhile since I froze heavily-fatted dairy, but I'm thinking you should be fine! Plenty of time for it to thaw, too!

Fresh baby beets with greens Steamed spinach Asparagus I have been known to make Parkerhouse rolls just so I could use them as a vehicle for butter - and called it dinner!

Fig sauce over gorgonzola.

I understand there's a cultural component to what we like or are offended by: If one doesn't grow up with a spice it can be harder to like it later. Somewhere I read that a law enforcement technology firm was doing international studies on repellent odors, to develop new crowd-control gasses. In Japan, the scent that was considered most obnoxious? Cinnamon!

No, I usually do a half-and-half combination of the flours; (thanks for reminding me!) The fully buckwheat-floured ones have a texture that goes well with the sour cream and caviar filling, but detracts from the vegetable or fruit textures of the others. Don't be intimidated! This is honest-to-god comfort food: Easy to make, and hard to screw up!!

Happy New Year everyone! (Gong He Fa Cai!) What are you making for tonight? I'm cooking for friends - - most of whom dislike seafood (so no whole, steamed fish!) and the menu is: cucumber pickles peanuts fried with chili oil golden needles in sesame oil lotus root potstickers (pork only - sigh) BBQ pork buns (OK, not so traditional, but I had to beef up the menu somehow!) bok choy with mushrooms (ditto) hot and sour soup mandarin oranges

Fillings? I like to make buckwheat crepes and use: Sour cream or creme fraiche and a dollop of grocery-store grade caviar Mashed strawberries, and whipped cream with vanilla sugar Spinach and ricotta, with a handful of grated gruyere...........

Hard to find a stone Malawry left uncovered, but here's my favorite: I chop the stems and leaves into 3" lengths and use a steamer for five to ten minutes (depending on quantity). Lately I've been using Devon butter on the finished product. Soooo good!

For me, it's not a derisive laughter, it's a bemusement that the creative process begins and continues along such different paths: Both groups (the gourmets and the engineers) are seeking to create. Both are therefore artists. But the supplemental values both hold in additon to wanting to create are diametrically opposite. One wants to be lost in the creative process, working with whimsy and passion; the other subsumes passion into precision. Reproductability of creation is more important than the experience of pleasure of producing. Or do I misunderstand?

Unagi Mackrel Toro Tako Fresh salmon (not smoked) Spider rolls.........because there's something very satisfying about the crunch of small crab legs.

I completely sympathize with getting caught off guard: My first instinct is to go over-polite too........ Perhaps a compromise could have been suggested: "What if we put the Cool-Whip next to the plate, so those who want it can serve themselves?" Yikes! As a hostess of a pot luck I would *never* alter a contribution from a guest!!

I am *so* sending this site to my husband and to my uncle, mechanical engineers, both. "Smoking Points Of Various Oils" - oh, I don't know whether to laugh or cry! The explanation of ingredients? I clicked for "Beets" and up popped a picture of a lovely supermarket display and absolutely no mention of the various way to prepare them! The forums are also good for a laugh..............they're like clueless eGulleteers!

I live *right next door* to where I work. Sweet commute, eh? I bought the house for that very reason............ I use slow-cookers about once a week for pork roasts or pot roasts, and then after that supper, apportion meals into tupperware or gallon baggies. Broccoli/ beets/ carrots are steamed in bulk for future sides. The best part of my lunch break? Hanging out with my pets!

OK, here goes...........(takes a deep breath) Sonic drive-through for a cherry limeade, tater-tots, and a hamburger with mustard. Breakfast burritos with bacon and green chile.....a regional specialty. At Whole Foods or Wild Oats I treat myself to a cinnamon raisin danish to eat on the way home (if my German Sheppard isn't in the back - because I hate to share this!) Dominos pizza with mushrooms. In NYC: Sabbretts hot dog with the works. Preferably in front of the Met. With a Dr. Brown's cream soda. (Chazerai and yet kosher!)

Everything sounds delicious! But what about the last course: soup? Some sort of pickles? Are you sticking to strictly Catonese dishes, or are other areas to be represented too?

I second the cherry tart idea: Individual servings, great presentation, and not too difficult to mass-produce. Have you thought of boughs of cherry tree blossoms near the cake station? I bet there are lots of Japanese or Taiwanese suppliers for the fake stuff!

My friends tease me about this, but there's only one cereal I want in the morning as I'm sloowwly waking up: Cheerios, with 2% milk, a little sugar, and some sort of berries. Any other meal can be adventurous..........the weirder, the better. But breakfast? I don't want to think before I *have* to! (Maybe I should start drinking coffee?)

Yeast waffles, NY maple syrup (Mom's my supplier) and sausage.........with a blueberry and sliced strawberry fruit salad. My day is so set to be a good one!

Another sure sign: You've had a hell week, work stress up to the eyeballs, and the way you really, really, really want to decompress? Getting into a Zen state chopping vegetables, making soup. Or your favorite Indian recipe (four hours, three cutting boards and two spice grinders). Comfort. Food.

Tapioca pudding with mandarin oranges, almond and vanilla extracts.........comfort food.

You realize most of your time, money, and psychic energy are going towards acquiring, preparing, and planning the ingredients for the next meal.....and the food industry isn't your profession. All your friends and family give you cookbooks/le Creuset/ Williams-Sonoma gifts as presents. You realize the happiest part of the holidays - -the part you will best remember years from now - is the food you all shared together.

On Cerrillos Road (the south side of Santa Fe, and about 15-20 minutes from the town square or plaza), there are a host of chain hotels that are dying for lack of tourists at the time of your arrival.......I think if you Google "Santa Fe, hotels, Cerrillos Road" you should get a comprehensivelist of *very* reasonably priced places to stay. My best friend and I had lunch today at the International Cowgirl Hall of Fame - which I agree is a must-not miss - and I have to recomend the appetizer of Cabeza de Ajo..............it's two heads of roasted garlic served with an acidic green salsa, melted jack cheese, and small rounds of garlic toast. Ohmygod it's good! Hope you have a good trip!

It will be two years ago this May.........we had our reception at The Bishop's Lodge in Santa Fe. I vaguely remember a plate of cold appetizers (all the passed hot ones had been eaten while I was in wedding photo-poses); but I do know shrimp, smoked salmon, and crab cakes were among the dainties I missed; The sit down dinner for 100 was roast lamb, garlic mashed potatoes, (vegetable napoleans for the non-carnivores); our wedding cake was a multi-layered chocolate cake with apricot or raspberry filling, decorated with berries. Gorgeous! What I especially loved about the reception's location was the gorgeous old cottonwoods, the purple mountains in the distance, and the cost was 60% less than downtown Santa Fe venues! (Oh, and I was treated like a princess by the staff there; not something I would have suspected I'd love!)

Around New Mexico, carne asada is also marinated in red chiles and garlic.