CATCHY COOKBOOKS FOR CHRISTMAS
Here are some rather unique gift ideas for y'all who collect these things:
"Fannie Flagg's Original Whistle Stop Cafe Cookbook" - The author of "Fried Green Tomatoes . . ." takes up where Jessica Tandy and Kathy Bates left off. Recipes include solid Southern fare, like Mississippi mud cake, crackling corn bread and chicken and dumplings. I wonder if there's a secret barbecue recipe.
"Coyote's Pantry" - by Mark Miller and Mark Kiffin. Miller, the prolific marketer of Southwestern food and recipes, is back with a follow-up to his "Coyote Cafe" of four years ago. In between, he's opened Red Sage in Washington, published wonderful posters (of peppers and such), bottled salsas and is about to open a restaurant in Las Vegas. A large selection of barbecue ribs and marinade recipes is interesting. Reviews give this one a plus - it's a far more "cookable" book than most chef-directed recipe collections.
And finally . . . right up there with Aunt Bee's Mayberry Cookbook:
"Mary Ann's Gilligan's Island Cookbook" - by Dawn Wells. OK, with a name like Ginger, you'd think that glamour babe could cook - Nay! It was cute Mary Ann who could cook. Some sample recipes from this one-of-a-kind book: Weenie Linguine, Lagoon Lasagna (not named after Farmington's finest) and Lovey's Broccoli Brooches. This is not a joke.
PIZZA METER
Domino's Pizza spokesman Tim McIntyre says traditional polsters have no realistic sense of what's really going on in the country. His yearly Pizza Meter is a rather whimsical method derived from Domino drivers going into millions of homes - to collect money and some of the following assumptions:
- Hey, that's why they call him Bubba: In the first year of Bill Clinton's administration, pizza orders to the White House were 31 percent higher than George Bush's highest year (1990); and meat topped pizzas are up a shocking 69 percent.
- Eat 2, 3; Eat 2, 3: Over the course of this past year, California Domino's Pizza franchises had over 100 requests for after-midnight deliveries to Fat Farms and Health Spas.
- Homes with aluminum siding order pepperoni on their pizza 31 percent more than those without it.
Victorian homes are 21 percent more likely to order a veggie-topped pizza.
Homes with at least one broken-down car in the driveway tip 8 percent higher than other homes.
- Professional bias:
The lowest tipping offices:
1. Lawyers
2. Investment bankers
3. TV studios
The highest tipping offices:
1. Advertising firms
2. Nonprofit organizations
3. Military bases
REMEMBER THAT RECIPE?
The one Aunt Bee told you about last week . . . Chocolate Mint Sticks? Remember? The one that said PEPPER instead of PEPPERMINT? Well . . . it's back! It also has two eggs. (Can you believe it?)
Of course, all these left-out ingredients are merely a test to see if y'all are reading TIDBITS . . .