"I asked the waiter for a dozen Portugaises and a half-carafe of the dry white wine they had there ... As I ate the oysters with their strong taste of the sea and their faint metallic taste that the cold white wine washed away, leaving only the sea taste and the succulent texture, and as I drank their cold liquid from each shell and washed it down with the crisp taste of the wine, I ... began to be happy and to make plans."

- Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)

I found this amusing... New York Magazine's eggnog
reviews this season are all over the map.

This Month:
Ronnybrook was "chemically" and "singularly hideous"
Organic Valley "took top honors"

Last Month:
Ronnybrook was "The hands-down champ"
Organic Valley was "lackluster"

I really wonder how they picked a chemically taste out of something that's made on the farm with no preservatives. Switched testing cups, perhaps? Personally, I'm a big 'nog lover, so if it's not homemade, I'm all about the Ronnybrook. mmm... farmers' market fresh and creamy.

It's true. That sugarplum vision dancing in your head may not necessarily contain any plum. Mark another tally into book of mythology and misdirection. If there wasn't egg in the eggnog and fruit in the fruitcake, I'd lose all faith in tradition.

That said, a sugarplum in the right hands is not prohibited from contact with plums. It just so happens that the word has changed from a sugary little fruit to a sugary little treat.

Here's the recipe you see in the photo above.

Sugarplums!

Chopping the almonds and fruits beforehand won't be necessary if you have a food processor. These treats keep well in a tin or a pretty box lined with parchment or wax paper and make a nice gift. They might last up to a month, but you shouldn't need to find out, since they're tasty and tend to disappear.

1/2 cup toasted almonds, chopped
6 oz dried figs (or dried prunes), roughly chopped
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp grated orange zest
1/2 tsp almond extract
about 1/2-3/4 cup turbanado sugar

Combine toasted almonds, chopped fruits, cinnamon, cocoa and almonds in a food processor or mash with a mortar and pestle. Mix until blended and paste-like. Add the honey, orange zest and extract. Pulse or stir until well mixed. Pour the sugar in a small bowl (cereal bowls and soup dishes work well). Scoop teaspoons of the fig paste and roll in your hands to form 1-inch balls. Roll balls in sugar.

Makes about 20 sugarplums.

Late breaking note: Leslie Harpold's excellent Advent Calendar also included a bit on sugarplums yesterday. Sugarplum Zeitgeist!

Damn. This thing is so Wallace & Gromit. I love it.

What's not to adore about wakin' to bacon?

One of the most vexing aspects of "eat, drink and be merry" hedonism is the knowledge that many of our neighbors simply don't have the opportunity to participate.

Delightful food blogger Pim has taken the initiative to organize the second annual A Menu for Hope raffle — a benefit for the victims of the recent Kashmir earthquake.

Food folks from across webland have ponied up prizes ranging from custom wine and food tours to cookbooks and chocolates. Donations starting at $5 get you in the game. I'd go a step beyond that and recommend that you calculate the amount you generally spend on a night out. Just stay in, eat light and donate.

I'm offering:

a t-shirt (your choice of color and size) with the sleek, snazzy chefbunny logo (be the first on your block to get one!) as well as

a copy of James Peterson's Essentials of Cooking — a top-notch technique guide that (had I read it earlier) might have saved me the $20,000 I dropped on a culinary school education.

Inform friends forthwith... A Menu for Hope II runs through December 23, 2005.

A recipe for Nicomachean Eggs (with deepest apologies to Aristotle)

Every egg has a purpose or end. Since a good egg is a tasty egg, and a tasty egg is a fresh egg, one's eggs must be fresh — indeed, they must be consistently so. Our ultimate end is eudaimonia (happiness), which can only be achieved over a long, lucky and healthy lifetime using such things as fresh eggs — keep in mind... only after one is long dead can one can be judged to have achieved eudaimonia (in egg cookery or otherwise).

That said, good eggs must be prepared by a virtuous cook. Said cook should possess high-minded virtues (arete): courage, moderation, generosity, pride, tenderness, affability, honesty, wit and justice.

Just as a cook embarks upon a quest for the golden mean between behavioral extremes, practicing cooks should avoid excess in their eggs. Good eggs should be prepared through a thoughtful exploration of the spectrum ends: salty, sour, sweet, bitter and meaty.

Step one: Assemble the most virtuous ingredients.

vinaigrette ingredients:
zest and juice of one lemon
1 tsp honey
2 tsp fresh oregano, chopped
1 pinch freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
1 pinch salt (to taste)
1 T olive oil

filling ingredients:
2 tsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, sliced thin
3 cups washed baby spinach

omelette ingredients:
5 eggs
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp olive oil

Step two: Cook cleanly and efficiently, with love and respect.

Whisk together vinaigrette ingredients, adding olive oil drop by drop to emulsify. Taste for balance. Add a touch more honey, herb, salt or oil to adjust flavor. Set aside.

Whisk together eggs, pepper and salt in a separate bowl. Set aside.

Heat a sauté pan or skillet on medium-high with 2 tsp olive oil. Add garlic and saut&eaucte; 30 seconds. Add spinach and sauté. Remove from heat.

Heat 2 tsp olive oil in a 12" skillet over medium-high heat, tilting pan to coat evenly. Add eggs to hot pan, tilting to create an even layer. Lift set edges with a thin spatula to allow uncooked eggs to flow underneath. Fill with spinach-garlic mix and roll over about a third of the omelette. Tilt omelette in pan onto a plate and fold over the remaining portion.

Drizzle with vinaigrette.

Step three: Serve with due haste to those high-minded friends with whom you share a mutual respect.

Special Note: Since cooks learn virtue over a lifetime of exploration, it is advisable to first mimic virtuous action with the knowledge that with time and effort, real understanding will eventually shine through and replace the pantomime with truly virtuous cooking.

Three products I'm wild for (that also happen to have have meltingly cute packaging):

MarieBelle:
aztec dark hot chocolate

Laloo:
goat's milk ice cream

Ike & Sam's:
kettlecorn*

(*Limited range of sale... if you happen to live in the Tri-state, pick it up at Garden of Eden shops in Manhattan and some Key Foods and C-Town stores on the Upper East Side.)

"The breakfast slimes, angel food cake, doughnuts and coffee, white bread and gravy cannot build an enduring nation."

-Dr. Martin H. Fischer (1879-1962)

Zucco dishes it up schnazzy.

I realize this is one of those far-from-controversial opinions. Proclaiming a love for hot chocolate falls along the lines of revealing a long-held affection for large-eyed puppies. That said... wouldn't you agree that it's still about the best thing winter has to offer?

Ice Skating and Hot Chocolate
From this week's Manhattan User's Guide:

Skate: Sky Rink at Chelsea Piers
Hot Chocolate: Le Gamin, 183 9th [21st] 212.243.8864

Skate: The Pond at Bryant Park
Hot Chocolate: The Pond Snack Bar

Skate: Rock Center Rink
Hot Chocolate: Cafe SFA at Saks.

Skate: Wollman Rink
Hot Chocolate: Serendipity

Skate: Lasker Rink
Hot Chocolate: Hungarian Pastry Shop, 1030 Amst [110th/111th]

Skate: Riverbank State Park
Hot Chocolate: You’ll have to fill your thermos for this one – Jacques Torres perhaps...350 Hudson [King] 212.414.2462