Mark Bittman's recipes are dependably good, and the above, featured in his "Minimalist" column in the New York Times was no exception. Did anyone try it? If so, how did it turn out for you?

You mix together a chopped onion , 2 TBSP of tahini or peanut butter, 1-2 TBSP fresh herbs (I used cilantro), and EVOO in the food processor until a smooth paste forms. Rub it on the chicken (I used turkey cutlets), dredge it in flour, rub the herb mixture on the chicken again, dredge again, and fry in approx. 1/4" of EVOO. Serve with lemon wedges. Fast, easy, delicious.

My family likes food gifts. My dad had the ingredients for a New England clam bake sent down to my brother in Florida. My other brother is putting Toblerone bars in the stockings.

I got my dad some duck bacon. I've never tried it, but Dad loves bacon and he loves duck, so I hope it's good.

Sort of a continuation of a thread I started several months ago about my fascination for recipes on packages. (Ritz Mock Apple Pie!)

It's my daughter's birthday tomorrow and she asked for a repeat of the cake I made for her birthday two years ago - the Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate Cake" (recipe from the package) with the Seven Minute Icing from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook.

It's a great recipe, super easy, and you'd think I'd be smart enough to leave well enough alone. But no. I saw the Ghirardelli "Grand Fudge Cake" recipe on the package, and I got curious, principally because it's made with butter (the Hershey's cake is made with veg. oil) and baked things with butter just taste so good!

Has anyone ever made the Ghirardelli cake? Has anyone ever made both, and if so, which was one the winner, in your opinion?

I'm looking at the recipes side by side and they look very similar. The only substantial difference is the 1/2 cup of veg. oil vs. 1 cup of butter. So maybe the real question is -

DO CAKES TASTE BETTER WITH BUTTER OR VEG. OIL? YOUR OPINIONS, PLEASE!!

Was it knowing how chickens are raised on factory farms?
Or was it because chickens have been genetically modified to be bigger but not necessarily more flavorful?
A grilled boneless chicken breast has about as much appeal for me as eating cotton balls.
I'd still eat my dad's roasted chicken with gravy and stuffing maybe once a year, but chicken has really lost its appeal for me.

I'm afraid that salmon might be next.

Our plans for dining out at Queen at Sheba fell through since one of our friends didn't show up, so we resigned ourselves, somewhat unhappily, to heading back to Brooklyn. When we hit High Street, first stop in Bklyn, my companion said, "Let's get out here and maybe we'll find something."

Walked down Henry Street, thought about going into Henry's End, walked by Le Petit Marche and saw two waiters out front, both biting their nails, got grossed out, and kept walking. Passed by Noodle Pudding, already crowded at 6pm.

As we crossed Hicks and Cranberry, we noticed on the corner: Jack the Horse Tavern. "Let's go in there."

I am so glad we did! What a great place, both in terms of atmosphere/decor and food/drinks. We sat at the bar. My companion had one of their "highroller" cocktails, their take on the Sazerac. Pricey, but worth it. I seem to be developing a taste for beer (again) so I had a Brownstone...mmm. For dinner we had pork loin and fish, all expertly and deliciously prepared.

If I lived closer to Brooklyn Heights, I could easily see the Jack the Horse becoming my neighborhood place. As it is now, I'm not too far away, and I look forward to going back soon.

I had a very nice evening at Kingswood recently. I had heard some so-so things about it, that it was loud, but my cocktail and meal were lovely, the decor and ambiance were wonderful, and it was not overly loud at all.

I'm not usually a burger eater, but since they were out of the Goan fish curry that night, I got their burger, and it was delish. It satisfied any burger jones I might have for a LONG time.

I would go back again. Very pleasant evening! A great date location.

I am planning a farewell dinner for a Czech colleague. We work in NYC. So far, I've found just one place, called Zlaha Praha, which means Golden Prague. It looks good - I would definitely go - but it is in Astoria, which may prove to be a deterrent to some of our colleagues. Any suggestions for a Czech restaurant, or perhaps a Hungarian place? THANKS!

I recently got a gift certificate to Picholine. Have you been there recently and if so, what do you recommend?

I'd walked by this place many times on Rivington, always thinking, "I really should try Kampuchea..."

I finally went in on Friday night, and I'm so glad I did. It was really, really good! We had crabs in rum sauce, which were delicious - the only thing that was missing were tongs and nutcrackers, which would have made getting to the goodies much easier. Grilled corn slathered with chili mayonnaise, which reminded me that I do like mayonnaise in the right setting, and this was one of them.

I'm a big banh mi fan so it was a very pleasant surprise to discover that Cambodia also has its own sandwich tradition, thanks to the French colonial presence. We got the sampler platter of sandwiches: catfish, bacon (which was the best BLT ever), grilled pork, shrimp, catfish, and oxtail, all on really good sandwich size baguettes.

Those sandwiches are going to become a serious addiction, I can tell!

One of my new favorites (one for which I haven't lost my mojo with, and if anything, seem to getting more mojo!) is Assunta's Beans from Marcella Hazan's "Marcella Cucina."

Her recipe calls for cranberry beans, which I love, but I had some dried cannellini on hand, so I soaked them using the quick soak method for an hour, and then cooked them according to Marcella's method, with water, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and fresh sage.

They were done last night just in time to eat with a vegetable gratin (a Deborah Madison recipe, which recommended serving the gratin with white beans and braised carrots). Really good.

I combined the leftover beans with some tuna in olive oil and some chopped red onion for lunch...om nom nom...

I'm always fascinated by recipes given on food packaging. The mother of them all for me is the Ritz cracker "mock apple pie." I contemplated that one many, many times...how was it possible to make a cracker taste like pie?

Finally in college for our dorm's weekly wine and cheese party, I made the mock apple pie. People ate it, but they would have probably eaten styrofoam after all the cheap wine and *ahem* other things that they had consumed.

I recently bought a package of fair trade turbinado sugar. It has a recipe by Marcus Samuelsson for "Marcus's Coconut Cookies" which looks good. I love coconut, and I've had good luck with other recipes by Marcus Samuelsson. I know it's not tuna noodle bake with canned mushroom soup, but it ought to be pretty good!

I've noticed an upswing in the use of slow cookers...maybe because I use one, too!

I went to a dinner party and the hosts served beef brisket that they had cooked in the crock-pot. They used a recipe they got off (I think) a southern food web site. The sauce was made with dark beer and a little brown sugar. It was delish.

My brown rice and chorizo is cooking back home. When I get home tonight at 6pm, the house will smell good. It's a Spanish rice dish that I got from "Not your mother's slow cooker cook book," which has lots of good recipes.

I've also adapted the long cooking, traditional Italian red sauce for the slow cooker, and it is mighty tasty.

What are some of the things you like to make in yours? Are there sites and cookbooks that you like?

I've heard again and again that it's a good idea to switch to the smaller fish that haven't been overfished, and which are also goldmines of healthy oils. I really love fish, so I decided to start eating more sardines.

I had a few cans of sardines in the cupboard, and I considered cooking them the way my Malaysian neighbor used to, in a spicy tamarind sauce, but I didn't think my 7 year old was quite ready for that. She's not big on hot/spicy foods...yet.

I also had a head of fennel in the fridge, so I decided to make Sicilian-style pasta con sarde. I'd always wanted to make it. I sauteed the fennel with olive oil and garlic, threw in some pine nuts, and then a can of San Marzano tomatoes, some raisins, basil, a splash of white wine, pepper flakes and the two tins of sardines, and let that simmer away for 30 minutes. When it was done, I stirred in a half-pound of cooked pasta. Green beans on the side tossed with fresh thyme.

Shorty grated some Asiago on hers; I sprinkled dried bread crumbs on mine for the authentic Sicilian topping. It was very, very good! An easy, relatively fast, delicious dinner that my kid will eat.

Next time I will add a few anchovies to enhance the sweet/salty/fishy contrasts.

...it is damn sad, and I'm not sure if you can get it back. You've just got to move on to new dishes.

I mark the passing of two particular Lady Marmalade favorites. I used to make a vegetable stew with chickpeas, eggplant, tomato, and spinach. I learned how to make it in India, and it was a great dish to take to potlucks in college or to feed a crowd. It was a zesty, spicy, soul-satisfying main dish. Sometimes if I felt ambitious, I fried up some pooris (puffy Indian breads) to go with.

Somewhere along the line, I stopped being able to work my usual alchemy with the sauteed eggplant, the coriander and the cumin, the cooked-down tomato. I tried again about a year ago, but I just can't make it work anymore.

Same thing with caldo verde, the Portuguese soup made of potatoes, collards and chourico (or its Spanish variant, caldo gallego, the same thing, but with the addition of white beans or chickpeas). Some Portuguese-style cornbread (broa na fuba) on the side, that was a wonderful meal. A while ago, the potatoes started to taste/feel chalky, and I haven't been able to make it anymore.

*sigh* I suspect it's a matter of one's palate changing.

Over the weekend, my dad picked up a package of Bisquick three cheese biscuit mix. I was skeptical from the get-go, since neither he nor I eat many processed foods, but he reminded me that Bisquick is often (from his point of view) a useful product.

They did smell good as they baked in the oven.

But they had a terrible bitter, stale baking soda taste. I didn't notice that they were particularly cheesy. The mix had tiny squares of some kind of dried orange-ish cheese in it. Overall, weird and icky.

I'm heading down to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania for my great-aunt's 100th birthday! I haven't been down in about ten years, when my grammy died, and I was thinking it will be nice to get re-acquainted with some of the regional specialties. (But not scrapple, LOL)

First and foremost, I want to pick up a nice big sack of John Cope's toasted dried sweet corn so that I can make stewed corn or just eat it out of the bag.

Since it's not new year's day, I guess I won't be getting any pork and sauerkraut, but definitely lots of pickles and chow-chow are in order. I remember we used to get fasnachts - I think they're like doughnuts, but I'm not sure.

What else can I try (or re-try)?

A well-meaning co-worker gave me a jar of mussel salad, which broke on the way home, so I was off the hook, hating to throw away food, like I do, but not craving to eat mussel salad. Stupid me, I lied the next day and told co-worker that I loved it. So he gave me two more jars.

I still have that hating to throw away food thing. These two jars of mussels in vinaigrette are sitting in the cupboards of my cubicle. *sigh*

I'm thinking I might make a marinara sauce, throw in some anchovies, and then when the sauce is just about done, add some chopped parsley and the mussels. Or maybe a variation on tapenade, with the mussels rounding out (okay, I'm not sure if these mussels can really do any rounding out) the tuna. But if anyone else has any other bright ideas, tell me. PLEASE.

Food guilt, oy.