RECIPE: Caviar Smoked Salmon Sandwich

Thanks to our friend Ordway, who always gives us a tin of Petrossian caviar for Christmas, we typically have a caviar lunch on New Year’s Day—our first indulgence of the New Year. Sometimes we just eat it from the tin with a spoon. Other times we spoon it onto slices of Yukon Gold potatoes with…
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TOP PICK OF THE WEEK: Pacific Foods Organic Beans

Proust had his madeleines; we had our mother’s baked beans: made in an old-fashioned glazed ceramic crock, topped with strips of bacon. They were so good, we have never been able to eat canned baked beans—overly sweetened and one-dimensionally bland. But thanks to Pacific Natural Foods’ new line of USDA Certified Organic beans in a…
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TIP OF THE DAY: 11 Exciting Bloody Mary Garnishes

New Year’s Day is also National Bloody Mary Day. So today’s tip is: Find a new garnish for your Bloody Marys, and change it up every year. A celery stalk garnish and optional lemon or lime wheel was de rigeur 20th century. Savvy hosts replaced them with a fennel stalk for the new millennium (there’s…
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Chocolate Caramel Shortbread Recipe With Sea Salt

We couldn’t close out the year without a batch of buttery shortbread. This recipe, from Spice Islands, adds creamy caramel, a dark chocolate ganache icing and a sprinkle of sea salt. The recipe includes cashews. You can substitute another favorite nut (macadamias, pecans, pistachios, walnuts) or omit the nuts entirely. This type of bar cookie…
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RECIPE: Thai Shrimp Appetizer

Shrimp wrapped in pretty puff pastry. Photo and recipe courtesy Campbell’s.   We’ve been playing around with puff pastry this week, and are making these Thai Shrimp Spirals to go with the Champagne tonight. Marinated shrimp wrapped in tender puff pastry and served on skewers with a dip, they’re a fun and tasty food. Prep…
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