"So....how about those [insert baseball team name here]?"

Sometimes you are stuck eating with people who aren't talkers. We've all been there. You struggle to think of something/anything to talk about it. That would be the perfect time to break out some conversation starter napkins. They're filled with questions to get the conversation going so you don't have to:

• Which is more important, intelligence or common sense?
• What kind of business would you love to start?
• When you were young, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Be careful, though - getting ketchup on your napkin could be a quick conversation killer.

The napkins are $6.99 from Calliope Boutique.

[Via Oh My That's Awesome]

Last Saturday, I had an opportunity to help a friend do some cooking for a dinner party. We had a terrific time in the kitchen, but the stand out moment was when I got a chance to taste the Risotto with Butternut Squash and Leeks we made (thankfully I was able to get her to confess that the recipe was from Epicurious). It was one of those dishes that makes time stop for just a moment, as your taste buds struggle to identify the chorus of delicious flavors before giving up and simply surrendering to the rapture of the moment. It was that good.

So good, in fact, that I decided I had to make it for myself so that I could have more than a few bites. I stirred it up Monday night, in my bright green knock-off Le Creuset pot. I couldn't wait for the rice to cook, knowing that I would soon have an entire pot of heaven all to myself. Finally, when it was all done, I served up an indulgently large bowl and settled down at the table with a spoon and book. It was so good. Perfect for a fall dinner party or for just eating by yourself, on a Monday night, when you want to be just a little extra nice* to yourself.

*I omitted the whipping cream. I like to treat myself, but I do not need to eat a half cup of whipping cream by myself this week.

Like Adam and Meg before me, I was recently given the opportunity to sample some of the foie gras from Mirepoix USA, arguably the best distributor of foie gras in the country and certainly the most accessible. Unlike my fellow bloggers, however, I opted to go for the already prepared Whole Duck Foie Gras w/ Armagnac Au Torchon Style instead of starting from scratch with the whole duck liver. I invited a group of friends and family, ranging in ages from 10 to 80, over to share the foie gras. For most of them, it was their first experience with the product and everyone seemed excited about the impromptu dinner party. Almost everyone had some prior knowledge of the controversy that surrounds the delicacy, but any pangs of conscience were overridden by hunger pangs and curiosity. That may be a bit of an overstatement, so let's just say that no strong feelings either way were expressed.

Having encountered it more than once in a restaurant, I am not a complete neophyte to foie gras, but I had never before prepared it or served it at home. I opted to serve the foie gras in two ways. First, I served toast points with slices of foie gras and fig preserves. The liver is very fatty (obviously) and the jam serves to lighten the heaviness of it on the palate, as well as to add some dimension to the flavor.

There is more than one way to cook a turkey, just as there is more than one way to cook just about every other type of meat, but because there is some pressure on Thanksgiving to produce a big, beautiful bird for family and friends, it's hard to know whose advice to take when prepping the turkey for the big day. If you roast it, should you brine if first? Should it be braised? Can you cook it in the microwave?

To answer these questions, you can take a look at the Turkey for the Holidays guide from the University of Illinois. They cover everything from turkey-cooking techniques, which includes guides on eleven good techniques and reasons to avoid a few bad ones, to turkey nutritional information and turkey history and trivia. Aside from the cooking techniques, which might be the most useful tips on the site for cooks, the turkey carving instructions are going to be helpful even if you buy your bird. The site seems to be a great Thanksgiving resource overall, and anything that helps decrease holiday stress really is something to be thankful for

At the very first Halloween party I can remember, which was when I was about 7, there was a series of boxes, covered in black cloth, with holes cut out so that you could reach in and feel whatever was inside. There were eyeballs (peeled grapes) in one box and brains (slippery cooked spaghetti). I can't recall if there were any others, but I was not alone in my refusal to stick my hands into the mystery boxes. The idea of touching some mystery substance, especially an icky one, was not appealing at all.

Now, I know perfectly well that they were just grapes and noodles and, like so many others, actually enjoy a good scare from time to time. To this end, the best thing to do is to throw a Halloween party, since the even event makes it socially acceptable to scare people a bit. Atmosphere is easy to achieve with a trip to just about any party store, but the food is more difficult. Fortunately, there is a whole guide to making a really creepy Halloween dinner that will have your guests feeling queasy for at least a course or two, even though the food tastes good. Alien Autopsy Shooters or Eyes in Blood Sauce, anyone?

Click past the jump to see a video of the dessert heart being carved up.

via grow-a-brain]

When the menu for Bill Gates' dinner party with the Chinese President Hu Jintao was published, it sparked a lot of interest. Local ingredients, regional favorites, the overall low-key menu selection... etc.,  were all widely praised, but the vast majority of the interest in the menu was focused on dessert. The Seattle Times was inundated with requests for the recipe of the Rhubarb Brown Butter Almond Cake that was served at the dinner. Of course, they complied with reader requests and obtained the recipe from the chef. Just to make sure it was as good as it sounded, food blogger Molly, of Orangette, made a batch of mini cakelettes using the recipe. I can only imagine the taste, but if it's even half as good as it looks, this recipe makes one fantastic cake. The full recipe can be found here, and the cakelette recipe can be found at Orangette.

Gaping Void, an English blogger charged with promoting the South African wine brand Stormhoek through non-traditional channels, has launched a US promotion.

Entitled 100 Dinners, the idea is for bloggers across the states to host a dinner party and in return he will send some wine samples to drink on the day. Obviously certain states - those living in the stone age - are not going to be able to participate due to arcane shipping laws, but for the others...

On New Year's Eve, 1853, sculptor Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins and comparative anatomist Richard Owen threw a party to celebrate the life-sized dinosaur exhibit on the grounds of the Crystal Palace in London. Owen not only invented the term "dinosaur", meaning "terrible lizzard", he created many images of what he imagned to be very advanced creatures and supervised sculptor Waterhouse Hawkin's construction of 33 of them. The dinner party, to which 22 scientists were invited, was held inside a life-sized mould of an iguanodon. I wish I knew what was served!