bellaS.F.

I make a couple of variations of what I call Cajun Meatloaf. I mix salt, pepper, cayenne, thyme, cumin, sometimes nutmeg, in a bowl. Begin to saute onions and peppers in butter and then add the spice mixture and chopped garlic. Add Worchestershire and some hot sauce to taste. Sometimes I add some frozen corn. The mixture thickens quickly. Let mixture cool. Add to meat with eggs, milk, & bread crumbs. You can also add some catsup. I do put catsup on the top but I want to try one of the glazes mentioned. I like to form a freehand loaf. The edges get really carmelized and crispy. Quite yummy.

Cutting an X in the root end before putting them in the boiling water helps.

Evabug, I was wondering about being able to freeze the smoked salmon. Does it taste good after defrosting for bagel, lox, and cream cheese, or just for cooking? (Lox, purple onions, and eggs, oh my!) The Costco near us makes a yummy smoked salmon cream cheese. They make an addictive pumpkin cheesecake, which I would never have thought of buying, but there was that freebie table. It is huge, so I have tried to cut it into serving pieces and freeze it. It freezes really well, but somehow, not much of it makes it into the freezer. Many oif the good local bakeries sell their breads there, and Costco gets the "fixins" from some others and they bake it there. Thumbs up for the bread oozing cloves of roasted garlic and the rolls (Ciabatti?) which you sometimes can get warm out of the oven. Costco has made my addiction to cookbooks something that no 12 step program will ever cure. By the way, I have read that Julia Child thinks that they have the best meat. She supposedly said something such as "it still tastes like meat". And, I read that she has been known to stand in line with one of their roittised (?sp) chickens. Do they have them in other stores? They are really wonderful. For $4.99 you get a moist, cooked bird. Great as it is, or to make soup, enchaladas, etc. Ah... sing the praises of

Wouldn't know where to start or how to end when mentioning wonderful Zins. ZAP, Zinfandel Advocates and Producers, just had their huge tasting at Fort Mason in San Francisco., on Jan. 25. (It takes place every year SuperBowl weekend.) Think of 2 large pavillion/piers and over 300 producers each pouring multiple Zins. You get a glass and a baguette when you walk in. Then you have to pick and choose what to sample, knowing that you need to make it out at 5:00. Wednesday of that week there was a seminar/tasting, (6 flights of 5 wines each, arranged by region) with the winemakers talking about their areas, soil, etc. and a luncheon, held at COPIA in Napa. Thursday night was "Good Eats" at Rosenblum, Friday night was "Blue Jeans to Black Tie" Dinner, live & silent auctions, and a winemaker at each table with his or her specialties. Four days immersed in incredible wine. Howell Mountain fruit is really nice and peppery. The nose alone is often full of pepper. Rosenblum makes an Annette's Reserve Rhodes Vineyard which is quite yummy. Scherrer fruit is great. The grower sells some to Greenwood Ridge which is quite popular. Some of the grapes he sells to his son Fred Scherrer, who we feel does the best job with it. He makes an "Old and Mature Vines" and a Shale Terrace. Shale tends to drink better when young, but is also very good. Gallo used to get some of the grapes, but I don't know if that is still true. ZAP does tastings in other parts of the country. They will be having one in Washington D.C., Boston, and, I think, New York this spring. Nothing is the size of the one here, however. There were people there who fly in every year for that week. I need to go and pour a glass of Zin!

Jaymes, made the carnitas the way you suggested tonight. WOW !!! That is going to be a standard around here. I am looking forward to making it for some very discerning friends. Many thanks!

A huge California Zin or a Syrah. Now I am really hungry!

I like their spiciness. They add a lot to dishes. Another yeah vote.

Melt butter and olive oil in a large shallow roasting pan with a nice amount of chopped garlic. Salt and pepper to taste. Put in cracked/cleaned/cooked crab pieces. Stir up well. Bake at 500 for about 12 minutes or so, till heated through. Put crab pieces in a bowl. Add some lemon juice and chopped Italian parsley to the liquid. Taste for seasoning. Pour over crab. Have some wonderful, warm crusty bread to sop up the yummy juices. A DRY Gewurtz. goes wonderfully with that. (If you can get Navarro, try it.)

nightscotsman, I will be making that dish tomorrow, ohhh how I want to taste that now! I make the figs with the blue cheese and proscuitto, I make them with just the blue cheese and some truffle honey drizzled over it after it comes out of the oven, but what I like even better is just wrapping them with proscuitto and grilling them till the proscuitto gets srt of carmelized. Whenever I make tapenade I add, when figs are not in season, dried figs and orange zest. Fresh figs and black olives make a really good spread.

If you have all of the ingredients and freezer space, make the World Famous Prize Winning Chili, freeze it in batches, and on evenings when you come home from work too tired to boil water, you can have a wonderful meal. Or make a huge batch of refried beans and then have a nacho party, or make a spicy rice with chorizo and beans. By the way do you share your Award Winning recipe?

fresh lime margaritas

If anyone cares, Chilean sea bass is endangered. Whole Floods/Paycheck out here won't carry it until it is fruitful and multiplies.

Thanks for posting that recipe Laurie A-B. It sounds great. I will try it this weekend.

Blue cheese, toasted walnuts (sometimes carmelized), and purple onion. homemade garlic croutons oven-roasted asparagus, curls of Parm., thin slices of proscuitto, Kosher salt, pepper, a good olive oil, and lemon juice (this one doesn't even need the lettuce) arugula, sauteed pears, blue cheese, purple onion

Fennel slaw made with a citrus vinegrette. Would be fresh tasting and cut through any greasiness.