New Salon every Friday – and you’re invited
C’mon in and help yourself to tasty resources
Hosted by Barbara J Nosek
Cocktail Hour Buzz 
sundowner snacks, drinks, chat, and . . .
whenever I can, related resources & goodies on Amazon
whether for a crew, or for two, or just for you
♦♦♦ Phooey on the calendar. Stir up {OK, or shake} these “Gin Cocktails for Year-Round Sipping.” Fill the glass with, e.g., a warming Spiced Maple Gimlet, refreshing Concord Grape Fizz, or the season-spanning Felicitation Punch, 10 in all. Food & Wine
And then, serendipitously, saw another tasty possibility on “Valerie’s Home Cooking” on Food Network.
Valerie Bertinelli’s cantaloupe gin fizz
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♦♦♦ A couple of articles here and there started me thinking about what a great and easy 
appetizer hides in a grilled cheese sandwich. Make ’em, cut ’em in fours, done. But the real magic here is all the possible variations. Tomatoes, bacon and additional cheeses have earned classic status. But what about ham, egg, salami, pepperoni, pureed veggies, grilled onions, avocado, chopped olives or gherkins, and combos thereof.
Our version adds in charred bell pepper strips and fresh parsley, and also reprised here a griller we’d made with spinach puree – that was created as a regular sandwich but just needs a whack! whack! and voila! snacks. Meanwhile, grilled cheese goes wild right here on one of our favorite sites. AllRecipes
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♦♦♦ Please note I have not tried this {well not totally}, but sure find it interesting enough to pass along. The wine.com site, mainly a really big online store, has a link on the page to connect with Your Personal Wine Concierge, where you can “Chat with our wine experts for tailored recommendations or explore curated guides in the ‘Discover’ Menu.” So what happened – I inadvertently engaged the link and I can tell you their response was immediate. Nice.
Top rated wine books that are currently discounted ♦ wine decanters
{all on Amazon}
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♦♦♦ How cool is it to find an snack-y intersection between cute and easy. Talking here 
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♦♦♦ Food talk. Thinking for an enhancement or to cover up an oopsie, and in the process adding a welcome note of freshness. “Parsley makes everything pretty” – Ree Drummond on her Food Network Show, Pioneer Woman
Ree Drummond cookbooks ♦ Drummond’s page on Food Network
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1880s. It’s basically sherry and sweet vermouth, with some preps adding in orange bitters or an orange garnish. And some, somewhat roguishly, adding club soda, turning it into an Adonis Spritz. The link takes you to a full page of possibilities, where among the selections you’ll see a youtube entry calling it “a must-try cocktail.” 
become with smaller slices and maybe sans the egg. But mostly because it’s just so full of flavor, exactly as you’d expect from a Bobby Flay creation, loaded with bacon, hash browns, onions, peppers, cheese, salsa and chives – and deserved another time in the spotlight. 
cream cheese layer and the flavor bombs that are cherries,
and it’s destined to be a crowd pleaser. And, yep, it’s big enough to serve a crowd too. As you can see, I used a rectangular pan instead of the springform, though. Great for breakfast of course, but add a big scoop of ice cream and it transforms right into dessert. You really do want to let it cool completely before removing it from the pan. 
fame. But here they’re joined by more good stuff – bacon, chives, parm and seasonings, cheese stuffing, sour cream topping. And it’s an easy prep. Ingredients that are few, familiar, likely already at hand. No complicated techniques. And a pan probably pretty much all of us already own. And by varying its platemates it can move from breakfast/brunch to lunch to dinner. Btw, also a great opp to use up leftover mashed. 
three pieces, each blended with food color, then formed into “balls” that are slightly flattened and baked. The finishing 
touch is a sprinkling of sanding sugar. “Fessing up, I did use refrigerated dough. Then, this Painted White Chocolate Bark comes not surprisingly from Trisha Yearwood who just excels at making food fun. The chocolate mingles with different colors of candy melting wafers, all merrily swirled together into these edible works of art. 
Loaded Vegetarian Nachos
like little snow balls, quick freeze, dip in melted chocolate, refrigerate, done. They are so, so, easy to make and that might be the bad news because, mercy, they are rich and even luxurious. And they’re fun, the round shape ready to become sports balls, funny heads, bling, and in fact star pastry chef Buddy Valastro turned them into pretty eyeballs. As an alternative, you can just pat the mixture into a pan and use the chocolate chips to make a ganache frosting, as seen here. Like the richest ever brownie. 
served cups of this chili gratis to their patrons. I don’t know the dates of operation for those establishments. The family was sort of vague about that. So, this was passed down to me by my Aunty Peggy who actually won a recipe contest with it conducted by the Chicago Tribune. I do like a bit more chili powder and a couple of tablespoons of cumin. And depending on the heat level in the chili beans, I may add some hot sauce. It’s even better with such toppings as cheddar, sour cream and a bit of green onion. 
pretty plate. It all began when I cam across this magnetic headline :
Lasagna Bites
tradition though with pretty much classic lasagna ingredients. It calls for ground turkey, but notes the original used
ground beef, and so did I. As you can see, its versatility carries it all over the hours. A great appetizer for sure. But also, send it morningside with a poached egg, so satisfying for breakfast or brunch. Add some sides and it moves right on in for lunch or dinner. 
with one layer that blends in melted chocolate chips & a second one of sweetened peanut butter, each separately whirled in the food processor till silky smooth. I did add a drizzle of melted chips, also cut the prep in half and used a deep dish pie plate. FYI, Amazon offers a ready-made chocolate peanut butter cheesecake, quite showy but also quite pricey. What you might find surprising though are all the other choc/pb items on the page including even coffee.