Dates wrapped with bacon and stuffed with fontina. Photo: Brown Eyed Baker.

Fontina-stuffed, bacon-wrapped dates. The description alone is enough to make one's mouth water.

It is probably a safe assessment to say that if you want to make everyone in the room like you (aside from vegetarians, of couse), this is exactly the kind of hors d'oeuvre you make for a party. And according to the Brown Eyed Baker, who made these, we're right. "This is quite possibly the most amazing appetizer I have ever made," she wrote. "I have never seen anything gobbled up by a crowd so quickly."

While this particular combination of fruit, cheese and meat is nothing short of culinary genius, let's be honest here: No matter what had been wrapped in that perfectly pink bacon, we'd have eaten it -- wouldn't you?

[Via Brown Eyed Baker]

Some Web sites just appeal to you, and it's not because of the buzz, the pictures or one little thing specifically -- it's the whole package. This is why I fell for Sugarlaws. For the first time, I not only loved the site and recipes I saw (like so many other excellent blogs out there), but I found myself putting aside all my other plans and looking through the entire site, page by page.

And now Katy, who runs Sugarlaws, has put up a recipe that not only looks good, it's structurally and texturally smart -- Sage and Caramelized Onion Risotto Cups. These little finger foods meld flavors and textures in what looks to be the perfect package -- the flaky texture of puff pastry with the rich flavor of onion, the creaminess of risotto, and the crispy bite of fried sage.

I know this is something I have to start paying more attention to in my cooking. Melding flavors is one thing, but it's a whole other level of taste and experience to think out textures. Now I just need to have a party so that I have an excuse to make these!

Each Thursday, we round up a selection of scrumptious links from our friends over at YumSugar. Here's what they've got cooking this week.

• The growing trend of culinary kids is encountering a wee bit of backlash.
  
• Do you rip recipes out of your magazines or save the whole issue if there's something you like?
• The combination of turkey, manchego and pear butter sounds like a inspired sandwich with a nice sweet/savory attitude.
• Food Network's Sandra Lee is getting another show on the channel. In this one, she'll be focusing on affordable edibles.
• Skittles turns their homepage over to a feed of Twitter comments about the brand and the media goes crazy.
• Hosea wins Top Chef and refuses to apologize for his victory.
• Looking for a few good appetizer recipes? Here are five that go great with wine.

Never one to let a minor entertaining opportunity slink by un-feted, The Martha has thrown together a list of 55 snack foods for your Academy Award's party this Sunday (you ARE having an Academy Awards party, right?). Highlights include Baked Artichoke Dip with Winter Crudites, Chicken Liver Pate with Sauteed Maple Syrup Apples (mmmm!), Toasted Brioche Rounds with Creme Fraiche and Caviar, Endive Boats with Marinated Vegetables, Mushroom Polenta Diamonds, and Ham and Gruyere Thumbprints.

Oh yes, and then there are eleven different popcorn and snack recipes, from chili-lime popcorn to olive oil Chex mix, and nine different couch-friendly desserts.

One of my favorite things in the world is a thick wedge of pâté de campagne - rustic French pork pâté - served with crusty bread, coarse mustard, and a little jar of pickles. The buttery pâté is cut by a bracing smear of mustard, given body and crunch by the bread. And digging cornichons and pickled pearl onions out of the jar with a tiny fork and popping them, whole, in your mouth, is just plain fun. This combo makes a great dinner party appetizer because, like roll-your-own sushi, it gives guests something to do with their hands while they get to know each other (and you put the finishing touches on the lamb chops). But I admit I always thought pâté was something you bought, at exorbitant cost, at your local chichi market, not something you made yourself.

But a New York Times story about a new book, Terrine, by Stéphane Reynaud, has me ready to bust out the pork belly and a rectangular pan. The book includes recipes for terrines of all types, from pork head to chicken and lemon, to vegetarian zucchini with cream. Check out the article for two free recipes.

First off, that's not some chapter from a "how-to spice up things in the bedroom" book. It's a recipe from Martha Stewart.

Cheese balls are old hat. You can go to any supermarket and buy a variety of them now. But these put a nice twist on the usual cheese ball recipe that might intrigue your Super Bowl guests (go Pats!). It uses a base recipe for all three of the different cheese balls, and then you add some flavor combos, including cheddar and cranberry, Roquefort and walnut, and goat cheese and scallions.

I believe the reason I thought of these is because over the weekend I bought Lays Loaded Potato Chips, the ones that haven't everything you could possible put on top of a baked potato in a chip. They're OK, I guess, though I think that there's a limit to how much flavor should be put in a potato chip.

These Baked Potato Bites come from Rachael Ray's magazine, and they look quite tasty. They're red potatoes sliced into rounds and topped with sour cream/cream cheese mixture, bacon, and chopped chives. Who says you have to have just potato chips on Super Bowl Sunday?

This cheese dip recipe has been in my family for years. My mom made it all the time when I was a kid. If I remember correctly, she got the recipe from my one of my aunts. It's really easy to make and it goes fast, so make plenty of it.

Your shopping list for chile con queso must include some kind of white melting cheese. I use two eight ounce blocks of pepper jack. I know there are better cheeses out there for melting purposes but pepper jack is what we've always used and I don't want to be one to break tradition. You'll also need one large tomato or two smaller ones, an onion (I use yellow sweet onions), one four ounce can of diced green chilies, about a quarter cup of milk and and the same for a beer of your choice. You'll also need tortilla chips for eating the cheese dip.

To make this chile con queso, dice the onions fairly small and sweat them with the diced green chilies in vegetable oil until they are tender. Add the diced up tomatoes (I like them a little chunkier) and let them cook just a little bit. Cut the cheese up into small pieces and add that on medium low heat, letting it slowly melt all the way. Traditionally, the last thing to add is a little milk to smooth everything out. However, I recently found out that adding alcohol helps homogenize cheese mixtures, so now I add a little bit of beer. The best way to eat chile con queso is to pour some over tortilla chips. Keep the cooking vessel over low heat for best continued service as it re-solidifies quickly.

Some kind of cheese dip is traditional for any Super Bowl party. You don't have to make one using any kind of cheese "product" for it to be good and easy. Chile con queso is an easy dish to make and, best of all, is made of real, unprocessed food. Hopefully your family will love it as much as mine does!

It's too bad Frank DeCaro isn't on The Daily Show anymore. I miss his movie reviews and other commentaries.

But he has a web site, and it's not just another star site with the latest news about what he's up to, he actually has a really extensive list of recipes from celebrities! It's really well done, because you can search by the week, by the name, even by the type of meal it is.

You can make Paul Lynde's Diet Waffles, Andy Warhol's Ghoulish Ghoulash Stuffed Cabbage, and even Burt Reynold's Beef Stew. Or maybe you'd like Tony Randall's Crunchy Turkey Wraps or Vanna White's Layered Pea Salad or Moby's Pan Bagna. Whatever food you're in the mood for and/or celebrity you're interested in, there's something here for everyone. I'm going to try Richard Deacon's Bitter and Booze, which sounds like the ultimate booze dessert to drown your sorrows. Deacon wrote a microwave oven cookbook in the early 70s which I'll have to track down.

These avocado and chili pepper-shaped serving bowls are just the thing to present your favorite salsa, guacamole or other dip at your SuperBowl party. The covered bowls are made out of ceramic and hand-painted to add the vibrant colors that almost make them look real. Each one includes a cover, a coordinating serving spoon and recipes.

For hot dips, a, electric chip and dip set might come in handy. It has an electric power base that will gently heat the included 22-oz. stoneware crock in the center of the serving plate, ensuring that every dip you serve stays pleasantly warm regardless of how long you need it to sit out. The power base has an on/off switch so that it doesn't have to be left on all the time.

If you want something that is specifically designed for the big game, check out the Wincraft Super Bowl XLI Snack Helmet, which includes a realistic, logo-bearing helmet with two snack bowls: one on top of the helmet and one inside the facemask. It's best for serving chips, pretzels or other dry snacks, but the uppermost bowl has a lid if you choose to use it for a salsa or dip that might need to be covered.

If you are hosting a Super Bowl party at your house this weekend, the last thing you want is to be stuck in the kitchen while everyone else yells at the TV and eats all your food. I've made a quick list of items you can prepare ahead of time, which will leave you with more time to cheer for your favorite team.

Vegetables: Whether you are making a crudités platter or using them in other dishes, cut your vegetables the day before. Just make sure you wrap them separately and keep them refrigerated until you are ready to use them.

Dips: If you have been following along, we've been posting a Dip-a-Day here at Slashfood, and almost all of them can be prepared the day before.

Trader Joe's sells some pretty good premade hummus blends in their refrigerated section. I am a particular fan of both the spicy hummus and the tomato and basil hummus, but since so many popular dips are of the spicy variety, I decided to recreate the tomato and basil here as part of our Super Bowl dip-a-day feature.

Since I am a firm believer that dips should be simple - especially if they're for a large party - I went with canned tomatoes. I used Muir Glen and if you use that brand as well, you have a couple of options. The recipe below calls for the plain whole peeled tomatoes (easy to find in other brands, as well), but if you prefer, you can opt to buy their Tomatoes with Basil and eliminate the need to buy fresh basil to add to the dip, streamlining the recipe a bit. The choice is yours, but it's easy and tastes quite addictive either way.

Super Bowl Sunday is just over a week away. Almost everyone tunes in to the main event, whether they're watching the actual football game or just the commercials, making it the most-watched few hours of television all year. The Super Bowl is also one of the biggest snacking days of the year, and while pizza, hot wings and chili all popular choices, nothing flies off the supermarket shelves faster than chips, salsas and dips. You're probably better off using those store bought chips if you're going to be entertaining a crowd, but homemade dips can be even tastier and not much more difficult to make than store-bought. Here are eight great ideas for your Super Bowl munchies from around the blogs, but we'll be counting down a Dip a Day until the big game here, too:

• The Quick and Easy Artichoke dip from Simply recipes has four ingredients, is served hot and is ready in under 15 minutes.
• Mango Salsa has a fresh, Southwestern flavor from mango, corn, red onions and chilies.
• Similar to the salsa above, this Black Bean Salsa has corn, onions and peppers mixed in with black beans, for a heartier dip.
• Roasted Strawberry and Tomato Salsa is another fruity, but savory, dip. It features deep flavors from the roasted berries and heat from chipotle peppers.
• Susan's Artichoke Hearts and Roasted Red Pepper Dip is almost like a variation on hummus, made with tahini and blended until smooth, though it includes no beans.
• Spinach Parmesan Dip is always a hit at parties. Serve it with crackers or blue corn tortilla chips.
• French Onion Dip (pictured) is made from packet mixes all too often. Even though it's easy to use the pre-mixed spices, those versions won't compare with this homemade one.
• Too Many Chefs' Spicy Peanut Sauce is a great choice for dipping crudites, providing something a little different from standard ranch-type dips. It can also double as a dip for chicken wings.

A recipe that is easy and convenient is always going to be welcomed by a busy chef, but if you're really passionate about cooking, sometimes nothing but the very best will do. And when you're looking for gourmet eats, there is no one better to turn to than a gourmet chef. Francois Payard's newest book, Bite Size: Elegant Recipes for Entertaining, contains a collection of stunning hors d'oeuvres that will be the star of any party and tempt even the most jaded palates. The sophisticated tastes are highly refined and, in most cases, are quite time consuming as a result. This might put off cooks looking for something for guests to nosh at a casual gathering, but they are the perfect way to start off a dinner party or a more formal cocktail party, especially if you want to impress.

The book is divided up into chapters according to the focus for each of the "little bites" it presents - meat, vegetables, cheese, etc - and Payard also provides some general hosting and serving tips. The dishes range from Lamb and Tomato Chutney on Cumin Wafers, Sweet Corn Madeleines with Caviar and Crème Fraîche, and White Anchovy and Tomato Crostini to Crab and Mango Salad in Apple Cups and Cauliflower Panna Cotta with Salmon Roe.

More than likely, if you're going to a cocktail party to ring in the New Year tonight, there are going to be lots of little luxurious things to eat. The standard celebratory niblets always seem to be caviar with all the trimmings, some form of foie gras, and truffled shaved on something.

In keeping with the theme of lovely and luxurious, Bea of food blog La Tartine Gourmand made a Duo of Vegetable Mousses and Tuna Tartar in preparation for her New Year's Eve celebrations. Each one is served in an individual glass, stacked first with a celery root puree, then spinach, then the fresh tuna tartar on top.