NEW & NOTEWORTHY.COOKBOOKS: Just in time for Christmas cooks is ``Food for Friends: Homemade Gifts for Every Season'' (Ten Speed Press; $19.95), by Sally Paisley Vargas, and ``Bon Appetit The Christmas Season'' (Conde Nast-Clarkson Potter; $29.95), compiled by the editors of Bon Appetit magazine. Both are filled with appealing color photos and lots of wonderful ideas for holiday parties, special dining and gifting. Vargas, a former chef and pastry chef, includes baked goods, candies, homemade liqueurs, jams and marmalades, condiments, preserved fruits and gifts for the host. Many of the creations sound inviting - and easy enough to turn out in a jiffy for last-minute holiday gifts. Bon Appetit includes a wealth of suggestions for festive parties, from a Yuletide Dessert Party to Tree-Trimming Buffet, Christmas Breakfast and New Year's Day New Year's Day, among ancient peoples the first day of the year frequently corresponded to the vernal or autumnal equinox, or to the summer or winter solstice. In the Middle Ages it was celebrated among Christians usually on Mar. 25. Open House. They are plenty of tempting main courses, starters, soups, salads, candies, cookies and more. You'll even find some Christmas projects included - things like pomanders, fresh herb place cards, Christmas centerpiece, an easy gingerbread house and a topiary topiary Art of training living trees and shrubs into artificial, decorative shapes. Topiary is known to have been practiced in the 1st century AD. The earliest topiary was probably the simple development of edgings, cones, columns, and spires to accent a garden scene. tree. - Natalie Haughton Gingerbread hearts: Want to decorate the tree with gingerbread cookies? Now you don't even have to make them. Simply pick up a package of Gingerbread Holiday Hearts (baked with holes already in the top), tie them with red or green ribbons and hang them on the Christmas tree. If you feel so inclined, you can write names on them or decorate with store-bought icing. Surprisingly, the cookies taste delicious! Let guests and kids eat them off the tree. They're inexpensive - 99 cents for a 4.4-ounce package of 10 hearts - at Trader Joe's. They're made in Sweden for Andre Prost prost interj. Variant of prosit. Inc. - N.H. `CHOCOLAT': Chocolate lovers shouldn't miss ``Chocolat,'' a film with Juliette Binoche (Vianne) and Johnny Depp (Roux), opening in Los Angeles on Dec. 15. It takes place in a French town in the winter of 1959. After Vianne (Binoche) and her child arrive there, Vianne opens a chocolate shop. She temps the local townspeople with her irresistible confections (many look wonderful on screen), and the resident nobleman and self-appointed leader of the town, Comte de Reynaud (Alfred Molina), tries to run her out, fearing she will ruin the town. Outsider Roux arrives and joins forces with Vianne to liberate the town. A confrontation takes place between those who prefer traditions of the past and those who revel in their newly discovered taste for pleasure. The comic fable is about how just one taste of life's pleasures can change a person, a relationship, a town. It's funny and fun - and will give the holiday season a lift. If you love anything chocolate, you're bound to enjoy this film. - N.H. Freebie There's nothing like adding a little prosciutto pro·sciut·to n. pl. pro·sciut·ti or pro·sciut·tos An aged, dry-cured, spiced Italian ham that is usually sliced thin and served without cooking. to a dish for elegant flavor. Now you can get several ideas in the leaflet Prosciutto di Parma Presto. Among the recipes are White Pizza With Arugula arugula or rocket Yellowish-flowered European herbaceous plant (Eruca vesicaria sativa), of the mustard family, cultivated for its foliage, which is used especially in salads. , Prosciutto and Roasted Pepper Napoleans, and Penne With Grilled Vegetables and Prosciutto. The imported Italian ham is great in appetizers, salads, sandwiches and the like. For a free copy, send a stamped, self-addressed, business-size envelope to: PDP (1) (Plasma Display Panel) See plasma display. (2) (Policy Decision Point) See COPS and XACML. (3) (Programmed Data P Leaflet, Lewis & Neale Inc., 49 E. 21st St., New York, N.Y. 10010. - N.H. DINING OUT Chef-owner Nick Georgopoulos brings back moussaka mous·sa·ka n. A Greek dish consisting of layers of ground lamb or beef and sliced eggplant topped with a cheese sauce and baked. [Serbo-Croatian, from Turkish mussakka , spanakopita spa·na·ko·pi·ta n. A Greek spinach pie made with layers of phyllo and a filling of seasoned spinach, onions and scallions, feta, and sometimes eggs. and avgolemono soup to Simi Valley again with the recent opening of his Greek House Cafe, 2375 Sycamore Drive. Banking on good takeout business to supplement the small returns from his tiny 25-seat, seven-table dining room, chef Nick promises generously portioned gyro sandwiches, lamb and chicken kebabs, spinach pies (spanakopita), cheese pies (tyropita), stuffed grape leaves Noun 1. stuffed grape leaves - well-seasoned rice (with nuts or currants or minced lamb) simmered or braised in stock dolmas dish - a particular item of prepared food; "she prepared a special dish for dinner" (dolmades) and house-produced baklava. He makes an assorted platter of hot appetizers for two ($9.95) that includes spanakopita, tyropita, calamari, kefte (meatballs), dolma dol·ma n. pl. dol·mas or dol·ma·des A fruit or vegetable, especially a grape leaf or cabbage leaf, cooked with a filling of ground meat, herbs, or rice. [Turkish, filling.] and hot pita bread. His cold appetizer plate ($8.95) offers all the Greek traditional dips, feta fet·a n. A white semisoft cheese usually made of goat's or ewe's milk and often preserved in brine. [Modern Greek (turi) pheta, (cheese) slice, from Italian fetta, slice cheese, Kalamata olives and tabouli (chopped parsley and bulgur bul·gur also bul·ghur n. Cracked wheat grains, often used in Middle Eastern dishes. Also called bulgur wheat. [Ottoman Turkish bul salad). All items are priced under $10, even the house combo dinner ($9.95) featuring pastitsio, roast lamb, dolma, tyropita and spanakopita. The Greek House Cafe is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and from noon to 8 p.m. Sunday. Information and takeout orders: (805) 955-9899. - Larry Lipson CAPTION(S): 5 photos Photo: (1 -- 2) no caption (``Food for Friends'' and ``Christmas Season'') (3) no caption (Prosciutto di Parma Presto) (4) no caption (Juliette Binoche) (5) no caption (Gingerbread Hearts) |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion