Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Sounds like an oxymoron but, true, this would work on a kid's birthday party. What an interesting idea!

Check out my latest (Nov/08). It’s already getting great reviews:

Tried and True Recipes from a Caterer’s Kitchen—Secrets of Making Great Foods

On Amazon, etc.

Just made, they're really good. The fruity flavor really ads something to the rice krispies. What it really needs? Chocolate fondue as a substitute for soy sauce.

In another classic, "Mary Poppins", the children, Jane and Michael Banks, come up with criteria for hiring a nanny. Among the requirements were: "Never be cross or cruel. Never feed us castor oil or gruel." And the word "gruelling", which means difficult or hard, comes from the word gruel! It was first used in the book "Walsingham" by Mary Robinson in the late 1700s. She used the phrase "give him his gruel" to mean "to punish him". So even 300 years ago, eating gruel was seen as a punishment! To give someone their gruel is in the same category as cooking one's goose, settling one's hash, taking one's cake, and so on! Nice article.

Sounds a bit like congee, a sort of Chinese rice gruel with meats and vegetables in it. I've made it a few times, because it intrigued me - I have several Chinese cookbooks, and they made it sound so good, I just had to try it - and it was good. I used a crockpot, so it could cook at night and be ready in the morning. Don't know why you couldn't do the same with oats - I think scrapple is somewhat similar, although it is more solid - you make it from cream of wheat or cornmeal, and cooked bulk sausage. My dad used to make it - poured it into loaf pans, refrigerated it overnight, and would slice and fry it for breakfast in the morning. As little children, we thought this was about the best breakfast there was.

My mom would make me okayu (Japanese rice gruel) when I was really ill and when I had all of my wisdom teeth taken out at the same time. I eat it for dinner, esp. during the winter, when I have cravings for it. I mince up fried salmon, shiitake, and mustard cabbage, flavoring my gruel with miso.

Korean rice gruel is yummy too, along with kimchi, dried fishies, and other sides.

It's nothing like what's linked above. :P

We make a kind of oatmeal gruel around here for breakfast. It's basically just oatmeal, with twice as much water as the box calls for. Mix everything together cold, bring to a boil and then simmer until the oatmeal is tender and begins to thicken (5-10 minutes). Add 1/2 cup milk and sweeten to taste with brown sugar. Really tasty!

Now the secret it out...The paninis are very very good!

That house does not look very festive or pretty. Fail.