• Seems like every food mag is doing a travel issue these days, and Bon Appetit is no exception. Their "Where To Eat Now" cover story focuses on France, Italy, Australia, and Spain.
• What is friuli?
• Here are several recipes for country cakes, including some from Greece and Ireland.
• A step-by-step guide to making Shanghai Soup Dumplings.
• You really should be using mangoes more.
• More recipes from this month: Porcini-Crusted Filet Mignon with Fresh Herb Butter, Toasted Almond Ice Cream Sandwiches, Italian Sausage Meatball Heroes, Vanilla-Date Breakfast Smoothie, and several ways to cook with wine to add flavor (and keep things healthy).
• Also in this issue: an interview with Michael Palin.

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.