Tasty placecards: Use affix the card to a pumpkin bonbon. Photo courtesy of WeddingBee.com.

For Thanksgiving dinner, it’s easy to make place cards that are good enough to eat: Just stick a card in a bonbon (preferably, pumpkin, maple or other holiday flavor).

If you’re artistically inclined, buy tent place cards at any card shop or stationery store. Then look for candies the size of a quarter: flat chocolate turkeys or pumpkins, nonpareils or colorful white chocolate pastilles. Affix a piece of candy to the left side of each place card, using a paste of 2T confectioner’s sugar and 3 to 4 drops water. The cards add fun and anticipation from the moment people see the table. Guests can remove and eat the chocolate at the end of dinner.

For other holidays, you can attach Christmas trees, hearts, bunnies, etc. If you don’t want place cards, use chocolate place settings.

Hors d’oeuvres from GoodWives.com.

Entertaining? Plan 4 to 6 cocktail hors d’oeuvres per person if you’re following drinks with dinner; 8 to 10 pieces if it’s just a cocktail party.

Some brands of frozen hors d’oeuvres available to consumers are the same brands caterers use. They’ll cook up hot and crispy in your oven in just 7 or 8 minutes. Just try the products in advance of the event so there are no surprises. Not only do you want to be sure that the food tastes as good as it looks; different ovens produce different results, and you don’t want to experiment while guests are waiting to be fed!

What’s for dinner? Take your pick, or cook them all:

These recipes are too cute for words (take a look at the pictures!). Even if you don’t have kids, you may want to whip up a few. You can have your worm sandwiches with a beer instead of milk.

Happy Halloween!

Worms: They’re what’s for dinner. At least on
Halloween! Photo courtesy of Pillsbury.

McCann’s Irish Oatmeal wants one lucky winner to enjoy a glorious experience in the Emerald Isle. Enter for the chance to win McCann’s Irish Oatmeal Body & Soul Sweepstakes, a trip for two to the Heritage Golf and Spa Resort, a 5 Star resort in Killenard, County Laois, Ireland. Enjoy luxurious spa treatments and majestic golfing on a 72 par Championship course, set within the quaint village of Killenard, County Laois. The trip for two, valued at $7,400, is a week of relaxation to look forward to!

And everybody wins, because when you go to the website to enter the contest, you can download a $1.00 coupon good for any of McCann’s healthy and delicious oatmeal products—from the elegant metal canister of traditional steel-cut oats to 5-minute steel-cut oats, 3-minute rolled oats and instant oats. We’ll be reviewing the entire line in January, “Healthy Foods Month” at THE NIBBLE.

If you like collectibles, McCann’s has just introduced a very limited edition Cookie Jar and set of 4 “Oatmeal Mugs.” Only 1,000 have been produced, so if you’re a McCann, a McCann’s fan or a collectible enthusiast, run to get them before they sell out.

Give these delicious, crunchy-textured steel-cut oats to friends who have only known softer rolled oats as “oatmeal.”

We’re about to be run out of town. We live in a big cupcake town. Everywhere we turn there are cupcake shops. Yet we turn to ordering ours from the other side of the country—Burbank, to be exact. We send Yummy Cupcakes’ Cupcakes In A Jar as gifts—and we put ourselves at the top of the gift list. We’re in love with Yummy Cupcakes. Anyone you send them to will be in love with you.

Let us explain the concept: A cupcake is not plopped into a jar. Rather, the folks at Yummy Cupcakes, creators of beautiful gourmet cupcakes, took their craft in a new direction. They layer different flavors of cake and buttercream frosting into Mason jars and top them with popular candies—Goobers, M&Ms, Raisinets, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Whoppers and other treats. There are also candies hidden in the layers below. The experience is more fun than regular cupcakes—and that’s saying something.

Cupcake In A Jar is the best way to eat cupcakes. Photo by GG Merkel | THE NIBBLE.

The cakes and frostings are better than our own recipes—perhaps because Yummy Cupcakes’ bakers are graduates of Le Cordon Bleu. Even when you think certain flavors must be gimmicky, you’re wowed—for example, with the licorice buttercream in the Good & Plenty cupcake and the citrus cake and buttercream in the Sour Patch Kid that are perfectly set off by Sour Patch candies on top.

Yet any notion that these are cupcakes for kids must be dispelled: They’re cupcakes for people who appreciate fine food. How do you eat them? With a spoon!

Herradura is the Spanish word for
horseshoe; hence the horseshoe motif
on the bottle.

This week we went to a tasting of Casa Herradura tequila, held at the new The Palm restaurant outpost in the Wall Street area. The spirits are outstanding: Casa Herradura, which is one of the world’s finest tequilas, is made the old fashioned way, in small batches in a pot still. The company was named “Distiller Of The Year” in 2007 by Wine Enthusiast magazine.

In addition to an outstanding Margarita made with Casa Herradura Silver (blanco), we tasted all four varieties neat. The difference in the varieties of tequila is in the aging: 45 days for Silver (used for mixed drinks), 11 months for Reposado (which means “resting,” as it’s aged or “resting” in the barrels for 11 month), 25 months for Añejo (which means old) and 49 months for Extra Añejo. While we liked them all, it’s no surprise that the Extra Añejo was the crowd favorite; but at $350.00 a bottle, we’ll be contenting ourselves with the more affordable Añejo.

If you’re headed to Guadalajara, take the “tequila train” into the country for a tour of the hacienda and your own tequila tasting with a tequila-dispensing mule (honest!).

While the entire dinner at The Palm was delicious, we were most excited to discover this easy new appetizer, made in a salt-rimmed Margarita glass:

- Tiny dice of cantaloupe
- Jumbo white lump crab meat
- Tossed in a dressing made of lime juice, orange juice, a splash of tequila and a hint of jalapeño
- Garnished with a fresh basil leaf

The basil is such a wonderful flavor counterpoint that we might top the crab cocktail with strands of shredded basil instead of a single leaf garnish.

We recently spent a Lucullan feast of an evening at Screme, a new premium gelato chain in New York City. We tried every flavor in the place—28, to be precise. That’s the Screme way: You can taste as much as you like. We felt O.K. about that, as Screme claims 1/3 fewer calories and lower fat than regular gelato. They say they can produce such a creamy product with these advantages because of its “absolute freshness,“ which they say allows them to use less fat.

Screme, the American version of Aldo’s, the largest gelato chain in Israel, is the second international premium gelato chain to settle in our town in two years (the first was Grom, from Italy).

What makes a gelato “premium?”

A few of Screme’s flavors, made fresh daily.

While everyone will claim that his or her brand is “the best,” here’s the secret: The best gelato is made daily, or in the case of Screme, several times daily, from the fresh ingredients. For example, strawberry is not made from strawberry purée from a pouch, but from fresh strawberries. Worse, with the growth of chains and products sold to anyone who wants to sell gelato, there’s gelato mix that comes in a package that’s poured into a machine. The difference in taste is huge. One tastes generic, the other tastes like it’s worth a long drive.<

Gelato may be what a gelateria is known for, but don’t overlook the sorbets. Bursting with fresh fruit flavor, we liked them even more. The Mojito and Passionfruit were ab fab.

If you have a jones for the sweet and frozen (guilty a charged—ice cream is our favorite food category), sorbet is the better choice. There’s no dairy, fat or cholesterol, it has more vitamins and antioxidants from the fruit, and it has significantly fewer calories. It’s lighter, livelier and more refreshing. While we’re inculcated from childhood with the idea of ice cream, try more sorbet and see if you agree.

Back to Screme: There are currently two locations in New York City (one in the lobby of Madame Tussaud’s Wax Musuem on 42nd Street in Times Square—no admission fee required), one on Broadway and 69th Street), with a third location on East 64th Street opening soon. National expansion is plan. A sugar-free gelato is on the way. The products are certified kosher.

Try new approaches with salad favorites. Instead of tearing up romaine to toss a Caesar salad, for example, cut hearts of romaine in half and give each person an elongated romaine “boat.” Shave large curls of parmesan on top, and spoon the Caesar dressing over it. Replace croutons with slices of baguette garlic toast on the side. And since not everyone loves anchovies as much as we do, offer the more mild bottarga (dried cod roe), pancetta or prosciutto as an alternative. It’s a handsome presentation that tastes as good (or better!) than the original.

• See a photo of this “deconstructed” Caesar salad.
• Find more salad ideas.

The U.S. Open runs through September 13. It has an official cocktail, the Honey Deuce, created by sponsor Grey Goose Vodka. If you’re watching the Open today, mix up a Honey Deuce and toast along with the crowds at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows. You’ll save the $12 it costs at the Open, although you won’t get the souvenir cup.

Here’s the Honey Deuce recipe; it makes one drink:

Ingredients

Honey Deuce: the official cocktail of the 2009 U.S. Open Tennis Championships.

Preparation

1. Freeze melon balls: Place them in a the freezer in a single layer in a sealed plastic bag, for an hour or overnight.
2. Fill a chilled Collins glass with ice. Add vodka, then pour in lemonade to half an inch below the rim.
3. Sprinkle raspberry liqueur over the top of the ice, so it slowly trickles down.
3. Garnish with melon balls, speared on a long cocktail pick if you wish.

Not just for salads: Cucumber is a
sophisticated sip. Photo courtesy of Dry
Soda.

As with a dry Martini, Dry Soda is a brand that delivers less sweetness: a 12-ounce bottle of our favorite Cucumber Soda has only 45 calories and 11 carbs. Cucumber soda, you say? It’s wonderful, just like a refreshing glass of cucumber-infused water (or in this case, cucumber sparkling water with a touch of sweetness).

You’ll feel cool as a cucumber with a glass, whether sipping or pairing with foods. Cucumber Dry Soda is a natural with gazpacho, grilled eggplant and other vegetables (and many vegetarian dishes), Mediterranean foods, salmon and tandoori. As a cocktail mixer, it marries with citrus vodka, tequila and of course, cucumber gin.

If cucumber isn’t your thing, Dry Soda’s other flavors include Juniper Berry, Kumquat, Lavender, Lemongrass, Rhubarb and Vanilla. We have other favorites among these, as well.