As is somewhat obvious, I’m not all that traditional when it comes to Christmas dining. This is my Christmas Eve lunch - a plate of veal liver, sauteed baby spinach with garlic and whipped potatoes. Deliciously warm and comforting, a bite of bliss, just what I needed to cap off the last minute shopping nightmare. Hope you cozy-up to something warm and delicious today. Merry Christmas.

Maybe I’m out of step with this one, but it’s really cool. A friend gave me a truffle and issued a challenge: guess the filling. I said “chocolate.” “Duh.” “Well, they taste a bit like Oreos; what is this?” It was indeed Oreos. Crushed Oreos and cream cheese whipped together form the filling and then they’re coated with chocolate. Pretty slick cheat if you ask me. I rounded up a recipe and my 13 year-old made truffles to give his teachers for Christmas. This is how it’s done: a 1 pound bag of Oreos, 8 ounces of cream cheese and 1 pound of good quality melting chocolate. Crush the cookies in a food processor, beat in the cream cheese until no white is visible. Form small balls and place them on a wax paper-lined cookie sheet. Let the balls chill for 45 minutes. Melt the chocolate over a double boiler or in the microwave. Dip the balls in chocolate and return the coated truffle to the wax lined cookie sheet. Allow chocolate to set at room temp or chill in the fridge. Store in an airtight container, refrigerated. P.S., you can also melt some white chocolate to drizzle over top to create a fancy squiggle. It’s easy, dip a fork into the melted chocolate and drizzle away.

My oh my, I thought I’d tasted great empanadas (meat pies), but then my friend Anthony traveled to Argentina and picked up not only a few empanada tricks, but a hook-up for some seriously delicious empanada wrappers. Make no mistake, all empanada wrappers are not the same. Argentine dough is particularly flaky, rich-tasting, and aromatic. The baked wrappers hold a nice crunch and just when I thought all hope was lost for getting these special wrappers in the states, up pops gauchogourmet.com so I can re-create delicious, flaky Argentine meat pies at home. Make the PORTUGESE MEAT PIE filling (you can make the crust too if you want), put a fat dollop of it into one of the Argnetine empanada wrappers, and you’ll have some empanada lurve all your own.

A friend tipped me off to a story about snail caviar being produced in Soissons, France. According to the story, snail caviar tastes completely different from sturgeon eggs - “woody, salty, with a hint of rosemary, well suited to nutty ingredients such as truffle.” Since production this year was experimental, and therefore low, the purveyors expect to produce about a ton of snail caviar next year. I’d love to try snail caviar, so I hope we get some in the US.

My pal Chris DeBarr is a great chef and he is forever talking about, making and foisting-upon-me Muhammara. This morning I was reading Clotilde Dusoulier’s blog Chocolate & Zucchini and saw her post (with the alluring image above) and now I must have (make) some. What is Muhammara? It’s essentially a Middle-Eastern spread, made from roasted bell peppers and walnuts, but it also includes pomegranate molasses and some cumin, chili powder and garlic. Clotilde’s recipe calls for cashews as well as walnuts - I can’t wait to try it. Muhammara is best served on flat bread or pita, but I love Clotilde’s suggestion to plop it atop “thickish slices of cucumber.”

According to the UK’s “Daily Mail,” the world’s most expensive Christmas cocktail is found at hot London nightclub, Movida and it will run you a cool $71,011.50. Dubbed the “Flawless,” the drink contains, “… a large measure of Louis XII cognac, half a bottle of Cristal Rose champagne, some brown sugar, angostura bitters and a few flakes of 24-carat edible gold leaf…But the real extravagance is an 11-carat white diamond ring - which can be found at the bottom of the glass.”

Because the cocktail is so over-the-top, customers who purchase the drink will have two security guards stationed tableside as the drink is prepared and all the way through to the very last sip.

I’ll take two please…yea right. FYI, according to the Guiness Book of World Records, the world’s most expensive cocktail is a $1400 Mai Tai served at the Merchant Hotel in Belfast. The notable ingredient is 17-year-old J. Wray Nephew rum from Jamaica that is called “history in a bottle” because it is only one of about six bottles in existence, available to the public. The Merchant Hotel locks their bottle in the hotel safe at night.

For the second day in a row, I have been gifted with conical-shaped, bright green fingers of pickled okra. The Tabasco Spicy Okra were poking out of an excellent horseradish-inflected Bloody Mary made by my friend Laura Drumm of the The Tabasco Country Store on Jackson Square. The okra are tangy, tart and tender pickles with a soft, but definite snap. Today, another Bloody Mary crossed my lips and therein were some twisted, gnarly-shaped green beans and long, tall, pods of okra. Both the beans and okra (okra pictured above) were pickled in-house by Chef Mike from Dante’s Kitchen, where, “putting up” foods has become quite regular and his stock of jars now fill cabinets, closets and wall shelves above the bar. Mike’s pickling spice is slightly sweet with a spicy edge of clove and a easy garlic kick that’s addictive. Not only are these pickles great in cocktails, but I think I’d dice them up and mix in some good deli mustard for a relish to top grilled hot dogs or spicy sausages - wouldn’t that be amazing?

This recipe for HOMEMADE SWEET AND SPICY PICKLES is perfect and you can sub beans or okra or even baby eggplant for the cucumbers called for in the recipe.

While at my favorite deli having a toasted pumpernickle bagle and a glass of fresh squeezed Louisiana orange juice, the chef, Kelly, brought me a cup of drinking chocolate as a “taste test.” Made with Spanish Suguimar chocolate “a la taza,” the warmed chocolate whisked with milk has a silky texture and the flavor is a wash of cocoa, balanced, smooth, excellent. Check out the Suguimar site.

A friend of mine swears that McDonald’s newest McSkillet Burrito is delicious, a must-eat, and then the famous and infamous site The Impulsive Buy gave it a 4 out of 5. The only complaint I’ve heard is that towards the bottom of the burrito it’s all potato and cheese. I’m not really a fast-food gal, but maybe…

New Orleans weather is mystifying. It’s December and today the temperature reached 80 Degrees!! Cold, hot, cold, hot - everyone’s got some kind of sniffle or full-blown congestion. With scratchy throats all around our house, it’s soup time and I’ve had a hankering for hot and hearty minestrone. Minestrone is a thick soup composed of seasonal vegetables, beans and pasta (sometimes rice) and is considered “cucina povera” (poor kitchen) because it’s usually made with leftovers as an inexpensive way to feed and fill. I love the homeyness of minestrone and the tomatoey broth is an all-time comfort-favorite. The brew pictured is loaded with zucchini, carrots, squash tomatoes, white beans, fat macaroni pasta and loads of dried herbs. A dusting of Romana to finish and crusty bread to go alongside…ahhhh.