Stars Offer True Shape Of Christmas
What kind of Christmas cookies are the big stars at your house?
Stars, if you’re typical. That’s the most popular cookie cutter shape (26 percent), barely edging hearts (25 percent), according to a survey by the Land O’Lakes Holiday Bakeline. Rounding out the ranks are trees (16 percent), angels (14 percent), bells (5 percent) and stockings (2 percent).
But cookies, stars or not, are outshined when it comes to the most popular wintertime treats. If they could only have one holiday goodie for the rest of their lives, one in three people polled said they’d pick pumpkin pie, with fudge (27 percent) nudging out frosted butter cookies (26 percent) for second place. (Fruitcake registered a surprising 8 percent.)
Whatever you’re baking, if you need help, experts are available at the Land O’Lakes hotline (1-800-782-9606) seven days a week, from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. PST.
If it’s recipes you require, and you have a computer, try the Land O’Lakes Web site at www.landolakes.com, or a new all-cookie site at cookierecipe.com.
Memory lane
If you’re in the mood for some culinary nostalgia, “Curiosities” may be just the ticket.
The plastic-bound, 56-page book by Cocolalla, Idaho, cookbook collector D.B. Gray bills itself as “a compendium of nearly 300 unique, delectable, indedible and just plain weird recipes from 1831 to 1931.” There’s everything from jellied celery to slumgullion (a bacon/corned beef concoction) to rinktum tiddy (a tomato-cheese spread), along with old ads and advice columns.
The book is available for $9.95, plus $1.50 shipping and handling, from “Curiosities,” Rafter-four designs, P.O. Box 40, Cocolalla, ID 83813. For more information, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope, or visit the Internet site at www.netw.com/~rafter4/cookbook.htm.
Performance art
Hayden Lake chef and cookbook author Susan Mitchell is presenting free cooking demonstrations each Saturday and Sunday through the first weekend of January at Super 1 Foods in Coeur d’Alene.
Programs run from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with demonstrations at the top of each hour. For more information, call (208) 765-2285.
Helping hands
Aurora Northwest Rotary Club members will collect food donations for their annual Christmas food basket distributions to the needy Saturday and Sunday at the Wandermere Albertson’s supermarket, 12312 Highway 395.
Pre-filled grocery sacks are available for purchase and donation for $9.99. For more information, call 533-3682 or 466-1144.
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