Shermar

If you remove the stem and a good part of the center vein, you won't have to chop as much.

My roomate and I had Southwestern Turkey Soup made with leftover turkey, turkey stock,tomatos, spinach, mashed potatoes, mushrooms, peas, and carrots. Seasoned with garlic, onions, pepper, sea salt, red pepper flakes, sage, bay leaf, and rosemary. The secret ingredients are light condensed milk and chopped hard boiled eggs. Crumbled southwestern white corn chips and fresh chopped parsley as garnish. The salad was baby mesclun greens with dried cranberries, dried apricots, walnuts, and goat cheese with a parmesan vinaigrette. Snow? What snow?

What Tommy said

In the past I have made Rosemary and Olive Oil cookies. Definitely for adults only and not for everyone. Very disconcerting contrast from what the eye sees to what the mouth expects to what they really taste like... Served with after dinner drinks, they work very well.

WOW! Sounds wonderful...I'm printing this one!

I was planning to do a duck when I thought I would be cooking for two but now, at the request of my Beau's daughter and the possible addition of two more people, I will be doing four Cornish Game Hens. The meal will be preceded by chicken livers sauteed in Port and shallots. The side dishes will be garlic mashed Yukon Golds, gingered sliced carrots and sauteed spinach. There will be rolls from Make My Cake. There will be fresh cranberry sauce with ginger, apple and orange zest. The dessert will be an apple crostada with vanilla ice cream. Champagne will see us through it all. In the past I have made regular turkeys, Thompson Turkeys and, if I were cooking for a crowd this year, I would have tried my first brined turkey(thank you egullet) but this year less seems to be more.

Very powerful!!! Keep adding water and steeping for a couple of hours. Watch out for the cloves...a few go a loooong way !

This is a terrific cake. I've made it so many times that my newspaper clipping of it has almost faded. Thanks for the link. Now I can print a fresh copy. Steep some slices of unpeeled ginger, with a few cloves and some strips of lemon peel. Strain and add honey. You'll have a lovely ginger tea. Great when you have a cold and the process perfumes the whole house.

Pace Picante Sauce-Hot and Tostitos Hint of Lime Tortilla Chips. Not esoteric but very good when the chips are down

Suvir....soupir...

And waiting and waiting

oooooh! oooooh! Recipe?

It cannot be denied!! A good time was certainly had by all!!

That's it! I'm printing this thread. So clear! So concise! Thank you all!

I'll play too. The sociologist in me can't resist. Perhaps some larger trends will be revealed. What was your family food culture? African-American, suburban middle-class American 1950's/60's Was mealtime important? Dinner was extremely important. We ate as a family every night at 6pm. Was cooking important?/ Who cooked? Yes, my mother was a very good cook. She was not well so she started teaching me the basics when I was about 8. I took over the cooking as a teenager. My father had a few "specialities" turkey soup, grits(real, not instant). Penalties for elbows on the table? I was physically chastised for any breach in table manners. Were restaurant meals common, or for special occasions? Both. We dined out casually once a week. We dined in special places for special occasions. Did children have a kiddy table? I'm an only child. As much as my mother may have wanted to quarantine me she couldn't, in good conscience, do it. Instead when I was very young she would not let me use the good china or crystal at the formal table. It was always easy to find my place, it had a Flinstone jelly glass. First sip of wine? I was probably about 10. Also my first sip of bourbon in a whiskey sour. By 12 I had been taught to bartend for my parent's parties. Pre-meal prayer? Absolutely! Rotating menu? Fish on Fridays and we weren't Catholic. We never had my favorite meals often enough and the meals I didn't like seemed to come around too often. Replicated today? I'm single, no kids. Not as often as I would like.

OOps. A state of expectation is not a bad thing...

Beau, not yet husband At 6'6" he's bigger than most people period How could I have forgotten the American Goat Cheeses? They were the first things I tasted, that's how.

I brought a selection of four leafy greens: Collard Greens, Mustard Greens, Kale, and Dandelion Greens. I prepared one bunch of each variety by sauteeing them in EVOO with finely minced garlic until wilted. Salt and pepper(in identical amounts) were the only seasonings. I included uncooked examples,washed and shredded for tasting and whole leaves on their stems for visual recognition purposes. The Dandelion Greens and Mustard Greens were the most popular. The evening was great fun. Our hostess, CathyL, was gracious, the company congenial and the setting ideal. There were so many things to taste, Dijon mustards, ham, smoked fish, potato chips, corn chips, salsas(My beau liked Stupid Hot-no surprise there), Cheddars (Wilfrid, so dreamy), salamis, baguettes, apples, jarred tunas, macarons, blue cheeses, and Tarte Tatins. I tasted things in no particular order. I remember returning to the smoked Sable, the salamis, hams and cheddars more than once. The Fauchon macarons were my favorites.

In a thread a while back Little Italy dining spots were discussed. Il Cortile has always been a favorite of mine. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

The Grill used to have wonderful baby back ribs (which you couldn't get in the main room) back when I was a frequent customer a decade ago. Controlled chaos was the norm then too.

Monterrey Jack cheese and green seedless grapes!

I use the Wick Fowler mix but I seriously season the meat with adobo, chopped onions, minced garlic(alot) and jalapenos. It is better the next day but there are rarely leftovers. There's a native Texan in my household who loves it!

I'll bring index cards for labeling purposes.

Am I still coming early to help you prep?

Vodka Gimlet--bracingly cold-for ordinary cold weather Makers Mark--neat-for bitterly cold weather