Food

Still searching for holiday gifts? Don’t despair. Cookbooks are the perfect solution for food lovers. Many foodies love to curl up with a good cookbook – some actually cook from them, too. To get your hands on any of these books, first call your favorite local bookstore and see if they have one in stock. They can generally get one to you pretty quickly.

Women’s and Children’s Free Restaurant - Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 4:15-5:45 p.m. and Fridays, 12:30-2:30 p.m. with take-out from 1-3 p.m. St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, 1620 N. Monroe St. (509) 324-1995. Tasteful Thursdays - Hosted by the Moscow Food Co-op. Held every Thursday in December. Enjoy live music while sampling the co-op’s wine and beer, fruits, veggies, entrees, baked goods and more. 5-7 p.m., Moscow Food Co-op Cafe, 121 E. Fifth St., Moscow, Idaho. (208) 882-8537.

We have a couple of restaurant requests this week. First up, Ron Roper of Spokane called about the mushroom soup he’d enjoyed recently at Cyrus O’Leary’s. Could we get the recipe?, he wondered.

Food plays a central role in our holiday traditions. It just isn’t Christmas if there’s a certain cookie missing from Santa’s plate or there is no marzipan to share (and hoard). Perhaps your Hanukkah rituals would feel hollow without the flavors of a familiar recipe passed down year after year. One taste or smell and memories of past celebrations come flooding back. Tell us about your favorite holiday foods and we may use the information in an upcoming story. Send a note, no later than Thursday, about the tastes and traditions that make your holidays complete to: lorieh@spokesman.com or Lorie Hutson, Features Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210. Call (509) 459-5446 or fax to (509) 459-5098.

Main Market Co-Op organizers inviting support for downtown venture

Maybe some things really are as simple as they seem. Take the Main Market Co-op slated to open in downtown Spokane sometime around fall 2009. Based on a basic doctrine that everyone deserves good and healthy food, the Main Market Co-op will, as part of their mission statement says, "nourish the community ... and contribute to a healthier and more resilient Inland Northwest."

Main Market Co-op Membership Promotion

Women’s and Children’s Free Restaurant - Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 4:15-5:45 p.m. and Fridays, 12:30-2:30 p.m. with take-out from 1-3 p.m. St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, 1620 N. Monroe St. (509) 324-1995. Tasteful Thursdays - Hosted by the Moscow Food Co-op. Held every Thursday in December. Enjoy live music while sampling the co-op’s wine and beer, fruits, veggies, entrees, baked goods and more. 5-7 p.m., Moscow Food Co-op Cafe, 121 E. Fifth St., Moscow, Idaho. (208) 882-8537.

When you head out to those holiday parties, don’t go hungry. An empty stomach makes those high-fat appetizers and sweets even more tempting, but eating a bowl of this healthy, hearty soup beforehand can help curb your appetite and leave you some calories to spare.

Just as millions of Americans may hate, say, shredded coconut, black licorice or white zinfandel, there are those who hate fruitcake. But many in that number just hate bad fruitcake, which can be bad for so many reasons.

Though the calendar says it won’t officially be winter for another 11 days, this year’s winter beers started showing up a good 11 weeks ago. Still, it’s a proven scientific fact that they taste better the closer you get to the holidays. (Or maybe that’s just the effect of mounting seasonal stress.)

There are plenty of party nibbles in the freezer section that can help in a pinch. But Pillsbury Savorings should be a last resort for your holiday spread, food panel tasters say. The flaky pastry bites received a woeful two-star rating from our volunteer tasters. That’s a poor ranking on our five-star scale.

Orange flower water, orange zest and cream are the decadent ingredients in Kristen Craig’s top hot chocolate milk recipe. The Spokane woman won the $500 prize in a recent contest sponsored by the Dairy Farmers of Washington.

A recipe in the story about holiday gifts from the kitchen in last week’s Food section contained a mistake. The recipe calls for baking powder, not baking soda. Here’s the correct version: