maggiethecat

Great idea, fresco. And who better (and more amusing) to handle this challenge than our own NeroW, Belle of the Heartland? (Yes, Rich, Nero's a babe, not a dude!) I haven't tried Eccentric. What makes it noxious?

What an absolutely great idea for a holiday party. Damn, I wish I could make it. Dress optional, right?

54, 307. And I'm looking forward to a big bump on this thresd at the gigt-giving holidays approach. Welcome, bisou (love your alias.) I guess that the quality of a cookbook boils down to the quality of the recipes, but: I love lots of beautiful, glossy, drool- inducing photos. It wouldn't sell me the book, necessarily, but it enhances the experience.

54,257. And welcome, Holly. To your question, ludja, Southern Cuisine is neglegted in my collection, actually. I have Edna Lewis's "Taste of Country Cooking," amd "Pursuit of Flavor" the "Southern Cooking" volume of the Time-Life American series (a terrific book, ) and Joyce White's "Brown Sugar." Thassit. Where do I start? "Charleston Reciepts?"

Sandra, I am so with you on The Horizon Cookbook. I'll add most of the oeuvre of Edouard de Pomiane and Robert Carrier's (original) Great Dishes of the World. And, of course, The Time-Life international cooking series.

54, 200. Alex, I am sooo jealous. I want that book. Maybe am eG groundswell can get it reissued?

Oh, Canada! But the barkeep at Cafe Mercurio, on my last trip to Toronto, slipped me his ashtray. Talk about a welcome lagniappe.

54,199---and welcome indeed, Dave!

Snort. Splat. Spray. I love it. "Chicken Soup for the Caribbean Soul."

And from me too. 54, 037. It looks as if Ms. Cunningham will be on my Christams list, if I can hold out that long.

Pitch it here.

jhlurie from the Writer's Block Smackdown Great idea, and this time you're pitching a December Holiday Movie that revolves around food. Sappy, sour, sweet, succulent... How's about Night of the (Living) Radishes?, which falls on December 23rd, in Oaxaca, Mexico. This year, the annual radish sculpting contest (I am not making this part up---it happens, folks)has turned ugly. A British anthropologist (Alan Rickman) has discovered that the local WalMart has introduced a line of Radish Sculptures which might bring to an end the centuries-old tradition of artisanal radish scupture. He falls in love with the fiery and beautiful Mayoress (Selma Hayak) and they join together (in more ways than one! Radishes are aphrodisiac to these lovers) to convince the citizenry to Fight Back. (Think Norma Rae, Erin B. and The English Patient.) Then they find out that the radishes have their own revenge planned. These are ravenous ravening red root vegetables.

Oysters are definitely a Christmas holiday tradition in my mother's house too. We always had a bowl of oyster stew before the tourtiere on Christmas Eve. On New Year's Eve last year, my father bought six dozen oysters for starters on New Year's Eve. They sat on a snowbank until just before dinner, when the menfolk proceeded to shuck them. The gore wasn't too bad.

I am In Awe. Do you have a second fridge, or an extra freezer? Or an army of kitchen help?

I say, go ahead! There's nothing wrong with a couple of days overlap.

Oh yeah, Ronnie! I'm looking forward to a week with the sububans.

Will they deliver? Sled dogs adore moo shu pork And slobber chow mein.

For a glorious few years, HH's neighbour at the industrial park was Speed Impex, a leading importer of foreign periodicals. We had unlimited access to their dumpster, and it was almost heaven to have , weekly, free copies of Paris-Match, Country Life and the Times of London. And La Cucina Italiana and Sale e Peppe. I cling to those old mags still, and bought a little Italian-English dictionary to fill in the blanks from long-ago college Italian and three months in Italy. I'm talking the Italian version, and it's been ten years, but those magazines were an inspiration and continue to be.

Summon seventeen syllables, then smack 'em down. I'm closing this round midnight tonight, December 7th, in a time zone of your choice.

I don't know if this is a better idea, but it's something we do when we're reconstuting dried anchos and other Maxican peppers for sauce for enchilladas. Do you have one of those tall canning jars? It has to be a tall slimmish container to be efficient and reasonably tidy. If so, plunk the peppers and some of the wine in the bottom of the jar and puree with an immersion blender. It works.

Yes, there is such a thing as truly excellent decaf; I'm hoarding some in my freezer should I have guests who request it. It was a present, along with a bag of the Real Stuff, from home-roaster extraordinaire-eGull guajolote. I'm not sure where he buys his beans, and I haven't had a true side-by-side tasting with his "regular," but I cann assure you that his decaf is better than most people's Fully Leaded. Home roast that decaf!

I so agree, except maybe on the days leading up to a move. 54,035.

53,865. Great question, liamsaunt about the Christmas wishlist. Wolfert's Slow Cooking book is on mine. And about thirty others.

53,392. Way to go, Kris! Free is excellent.