Beebs

Biscottis are holiday-gifting life savers. I absolutely love them because I'll make several batches in advance and have them on hand for impromptu guests, hostess gifts, etc and they won't spoil. I make mine extra-dry and hard, for dunking in *ahem* boozy eggnog.... The recipes I've been using never seem to dry out as much as I like, so I'll turn off the oven and leave them in for an additional 45-60 mins after the second bake. Last yr's biscotti list was fig anise, coconut & lime, toffee pecan, and almond. Would like to try a gingerbread-type flavour this yr, if anyone has a recipe to share. Does anyone have any slicing tips? I want to make each biscotti thinner, but they usually crumble if I slice any less than 3/4 inch thick.

I went to a Thanksgiving dinner where someone brought yams mashed with roasted garlic. I really liked it, as I'm also not a fan of sugary marshmallowy yam dishes. Yams are tasty roasted with chipotle or smoked paprika, crushed chili, and a squeeze of lime and chopped scallions at the end. Might not be make-ahead enough for your purposes, but the combination of flavours is delicious.

Kalamatas and Nicoise. And blue cheese stuffed green olives.

Yes! Hot dogs + melty gooey cheese is sooooo good! Nigella Lawson has a delicious recipe for mini hot dogs baked in a sauce of honey, soy, hoisin & sesame oil till it gets glazed & caramelly. Makes a tasty & quick party snack.

Hi Sohoskiracer - Can I ask which store you found the single glasses? I'm in your neck of the woods and wouldn't mind buying a couple smaller rocks glasses. TIA!

Boxed mac & cheese with cut up weinies... Pigs in a blanket! I'm making these for a party this weekend, with cocktail weiners.

I generally prefer tea. But I'm picky about my tea and I find that it's easier to get a decent cup of coffee than a decent cup of tea. So it's tea when I'm at home or the office, and coffee the other times.

Caprese salad made with perfectly ripe heirloom tomatoes, and plenty of crusty bread to sop up the juices.

Ok, I was starting to be convinced that cheetos and yogurt MIGHT not be so bad. Yogurt is close to sour cream, you can use sour cream to make french onion dip, and cheetos in french onion dip sounds kind of good. But the idea of cheetos blended into yogurt has grossed me out so much worse than when the whole conversation started. Add some taco seasoning or a couple spoonfuls of salsa, maybe it'll taste sort of like that jarred nacho cheese sauce - into which you can dip Cheetos.

Asian supermarkets carry yogurt sodas. I think Calpico is one such brand...? Not offensive, but I don't love it. Okay.. but what if we re-imagine it as an iced English Black Tea, Coconut Milk, Yogurt drink sweetened with Condensed Milk? Or how about an Earl Grey infused simple syrup stirred into a nice thick, plain yogurt? Ok, I'd eat those. Tea + yogurt in the right circumstances can likely be interesting dessert-y applications. I have seen green tea yogurt - imagine it must taste like green tea ice cream - and yogurt "bubble tea" is available here too (don't know if there is any actual tea in it though). But I think I'd still prefer a spot of milk to my English Breakfast than a dollop of yogurt!

I was re-thinking Cheetos + yogurt this afternoon. I don't have either at home, so I dipped the Whole Foods version of Cheetos ("Cheese Curls") in sour cream, and it is good. So I am changing my mind - Cheetos + yogurt should be quite delicious! Although I'm still not convinced that yogurt over a bowl of Cheetos would be worth eating. Ok, here's an offensive one - yogurt stirred into your morning cup of tea. I defy anyone to make that taste good!

Yogurt with fruit crumble, pie, strudel, tart or anything else of the fruit+pastry variety is tasty, especially vanilla yogurt. I won't eat yogurt + watermelon or citrus fruit, although other folk do and it's perfectly normal. A small dollop of plain yogurt on smoked oysters eaten on a cracker sounds weird, but is actually delicious. Like creme fraiche + smoked salmon. Yogurt + sushi sounds vile. I have not tried it, nor do I intend to. Cheetos + yogurt...nevermind the taste, but the soggy squishy-ness of the resulting mess is a turnoff.

My husband brought me back Luxardo maraschino wrapped in bubble wrap in his luggage. TSA had unwrapped it, opened the sealed bottle (!!!), and rolled it back up in the bubble. We were more concerned about leakage than breakage. Anyway, I keep a stash of old (clean) tube socks for this purpose. Shove a bottle inside a few layers of socks, plastic bag, you're good to go. Unfortunately doesn't work well for odd-shaped bottles.

Coffee Crisp. Mmmmmmm...... Actually, I'll eat those year-round, but just prefer the snack-size ones so I can eat more of them.

Delicious in potato salad. Best with a tangy vinaigrette dressing instead of the mayonnaise-y type.

How about a cold left-over spaghetti sandwich? My mom would make a sandwich out of cold left-overs like spaghetti or navy beans or potato salad, but in these instances always one slice of bread folded over. Mmm, carbs and carbs. I'll raise your carbs with more carbs - the Stuffing (Dressing) Sandwich. Leftover turkey bread stuffing between two slices of squishy bread and a drizzle of leftover gravy. YES! One more month till Canadian Thanksgiving! Back to pizza.... I bet a turkey dinner pizza would taste really delicious...gravy, turkey, stuffing, cranberry, on top of a pizza crust.

Is it idiosyncratic to eat a couple bites from the point of the pizza (with knife & fork), rip off a chunk of crust and eat that, eat a bit more from the front, then the crust, and when one-third of pizza+crust is left, pick it up and finish it off?

Also Novo Pizzeria & Wine Bar (Burrard & 5th) is opening this weekend, I believe. They've got a wood burning oven. Planning to give them a try in about a month's time, when they've had a chance to settle in.

Yeah but you can never write off an ingredient until Mexican cooks have had a shot at it Tell me this doesn't look delicious? (Yes some of the cuts in their are Bofe / lung) LOL - I'd certainly give that a try - I never turn down something new! The lung congee was a turn-off was I think the preparation. It was essentially boiled, and had a really soggy, spongey, flabby boiled texture to it - didn't like the way it felt in my mouth. Now YOUR way, on the other hand, don't sound soggy, spongey, flabby & boiled - they look really good, I'll definately snarf a couple of your lung tacos down! Pass the beer!

I've had pork lungs in rice congee once. Bleh. Never again.

I love the flavour of miso + maple syrup together. Sounds weird, tastes great.

"Life is short. Eat dessert first." Don't know who to attribute this quote to, but it's on my coaster at my desk!

Why not randomly shuffle the plates around every month or couple months? At some point all your plates will be receive an equal amount of usage.

This is absolutely brilliant, genius. I do this when I make homemade ketchup, but it has never, ever crossed my mind to fry tomato paste for tomato sauce. I am so making spaghetti & meatballs this week! Reason #87 why I love eGullet!

This sounds freakin' delicious!! Shoot...I have neither vanilla ice cream nor stout, and I want one right. this. minute.