MollyB

Kohlrabi is very good roasted. Cut into 1/2-in. cubes, toss with some olive oil, salt, and pepper, then roast until it starts to brown and get a little crispy. (I can't remember how long it takes to cook.) I also like it sauteed in olive oil with some garlic, then tossed with some fresh cilantro when it's done.

In my experience, the time of day when you pick the blossoms matters almost more than the age of the blossom. If you want to stuff squash blossoms, make sure you pick them in the early morning, not in the heat of the day. The blossoms close when they get hit by the sun, and then it's impossible to part the petals without ripping them (at least for me!). After you pick them, you can store them in a loosely closed plastic bag in the refrigerator until you want to use them. My favorite preparation is to stuff the blossoms with a cube of Monterey Jack and some roasted green chile, and then batter and fry them. Hmmm, I think I may have to go find some squash blossoms ...

I tried the whiskey-glazed smoked chicken a couple of weeks ago, and I smoked it with apple (in my Bradley smoker), and it was great. I had trouble getting the glaze to stick to the chicken, so mine might not have been as "glazed" as was intended, but it was still very good. I'd recommend air-drying the chicken for the maximum length of time given in the recipe, and making sure that your glaze is reduced enough to achieve a good consistency. Did you try the duck ham recipe yet? I've been curious about that recipe.

I thought I'd bump this up, as I, too, just received a bottle of Argan oil as a gift, and I had never heard of it before. Can anyone suggest any recipes to use it in? kguetzow, how did you end up trying it? I haven't found any recipes that call for it, and only have the back-of-the-bottle serving suggestions to work from. (They say dip bread in it, use it in salad dressings, add some to cooked pasta, plus a few other things I can't remember.)

I tried the Spicy Korean Style Pork recipe a couple of nights ago, and it was excellent (although quite salty). The Asian slaw was great with the pork the night I made it, but, in case anyone needs to know, it does not hold up well. I took leftovers for lunch the next day, and the slaw had become limp and a bit slimy. (The pork was still really good.) If you're planning to have leftovers, I would recommend holding back part of the slaw and the dressing and tossing it just before eating the leftovers. Or maybe regular green cabbage would work better in the slaw if you want it to hold up OK as leftovers?

You might want to look at California Rancho Cooking by Jacqueline Higuera McMahan for some ideas. The recipes come from the mix of Spanish, Mexican, and native cooking that evolved as California was settled. It has a chapter on "celebration" meals, a chapter on grilled foods, and the recipes look great. It sounds like California rancho life included lots of parties, so this might be a good source for you. I've only tried a few recipes from it, but what I've tried has been very good. I recall that there's one substantial casserole-y dish, called "Chilena Pie" (or something like that) that has chicken and beef and other tasty things in it; there was also a seafood variation, too. I've wanted to try it but haven't had a big enough crowd to feed it to since I got the book! There are also a few tamale recipes in the book, one of which is a sweet dessert tamale that might make an interesting dessert for your party.

You could also try making lemon gelatin, the home-made equivalent of lemon jello. (Needless to say, it's a lot better when real lemon juice is involved.) I can't think of any other lemon dessert where you get such an intense, pure lemon flavor. If you happen to be in the mood for cocktails, you could make lemon drops. Sugar the rim of a glass. Shake together equal parts lemon juice and vodka with ice, then strain into glass. You can add a little bit of sugar or simple syrup if you want to.

I got Charcuterie for Christmas, and last weekend I finally had the chance to try some of the recipes. I made the chorizo, and it was fantastic! The mix of chile powders and hot paprika was great, and the little bit of tequila and vinegar mixed in at the end really perked it up. My bacon wasn't quite as successful. I did the basic bacon recipe with some maple syrup in the cure. I let it cure for a week, let it dry out, then smoked it in a Weber grill with some applewood. It was cold and windy, and we (or rather, my husband, as I thought it was too windy and voted for just the oven method) were having trouble keeping the temperature up, so after a couple of hours we moved it to a low-temp oven to get up to the proper temperature. When we cooked some up after it cooled, I found that it was too sweet and not salty enough (for our tastes, at least). My questions: 1) If the bacon wasn't really salty, did it not cure for long enough? I felt the sweetness from the maple syrup was really overpowering. How exactly are you supposed to tell if your bacon has cured for long enough? 2) When you use wood for smoking, do you want green wood or drier wood for smoking? We have a couple of apple trees - can we just chop off some pieces for smoking, or should the wood dry out first? I hope someone can help with my questions!

FYI, today's New York Times has an article about sufganiyot (and other fried stuff): http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/dining/21fry.html

I also had problems contacting the website customer service dept., and had trouble getting any response. I tried the website for a year and didn't want to renew it, but they automatically renewed my subscription and charged my credit card (without my consent). I think I finally had to go through the customer service dept. for the print version, saying I couldn't get a response from the website version's contact info. They gave me a refund, but were not very nice about it. (I will not be subscribing to either format in the future.)