This is overwhelming. I've read through the recipes - wow - so many yummy burgers to try - esp. Mexican burger, chicken, tuna, and a good old-fashioned classic cheeseburger has never looked as good as many of the ones right here. Here are the recipes for the Pacific Rim Burger and Warm Potato Salad with Cilantro. My motto is "you can never be too rich, or have too much cilantro." By the way, this is my third time trying to post this - the internet has disconnected midway. So third time's the charm: Pacific Rim Chicken Burgers With Ginger Mayonnaise Recipe #65297 This recipe came from Kristine Snyder, Kihei, Hawaii, and was the $25,000 grand prize winner in the National Chicken Cooking Contest. by Sharon123 4 servings 25 min 15 min prep 1 1/4 lbs ground chicken 2/3 cup panko (Japanese bread crumbs) 1 egg, lightly beaten 2 green onions, thinly sliced 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro 1 clove garlic, minced 1 teaspoon asian hot chili sauce 1 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1/2 cup bottled teriyaki sauce 4 teaspoons honey 4 hamburger buns with sesame seeds, split and toasted 4 leaves red leaf lettuce 1 cucumber, peeled,seeded,halved and thinly sliced lengthwise Ginger Mayonnaise 1/2 cup mayonnaise 2 teaspoons sweet pickle relish 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger 2 teaspoons lime juice 1 clove garlic, minced 1/4 teaspoon salt MIX chicken, panko, egg, onions, cilantro, garlic, chili sauce and salt in a large bowl. With oiled hands, form into 4 patties. Mix together teriyaki glaze and honey in a small bowl. In large nonstick fry pan over medium high heat, place 1 tablespoon oil. Add chicken and cook, turning and brushing with teriyaki glaze, about 10 minutes or until done. PLACE burgers on toasted buns and top with lettuce, cucumber and Ginger Mayonnaise (recipe follows). Garnish with additional cilantro and cucumber slices. Ginger Mayonnaise: MIX 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 2 teaspoons sweet pickle relish, 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger, 2 teaspoons lime juice, 1 clove garlic, minced and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a small bowl. My notes: omit the salt. The teriyaki sauce already has plenty. And one cup of teriyaki/honey mixture is way more than you need. I used less than half. The recipe also makes more ginger mayo than you need, but it's delicious on fish and other things. Warm Potato Salad with Cilantro: 2 lbs. waxy potatoes (like red bliss) scrubbed kosher salt 1/2 cup evoo 1/2 tsp. fine grated lemon zest 3 tBS. lemon juice fresh ground pepper 1/2 cup lightly packed chopped cilantro 2 scallions (white and green parts) thinly sliced (or 1 shallot minced) Bring potatoes to boil in large pot of salted water. Then lower to simmer. Cook, partially covered, until tender when piecered with a fork - about 25 minutes. Drain and let cook slightly. While the potatoes are warm, slice them about 1/4 inch thick (no need to peel, but discard pieces of skin that come off on their own). Put half the potatoes ina large serving bowl. In a small bowl, whisk the oil, lemon zest and juice, 1 tsp kosher salt, and several grinds of pper. Drizzle half the dressing over the potatoes. Add the remaining potatoes to the bowl, drizzle the rest of the dressing, and toss gently with a large rubber spatula to combine well. Add teh cilantro and scallions and toss gently again. Taste and add more salt as needed. serve warm or at room temperature. I better submit this before it disappears. Thanks Michelle for putting this together. Lynn. PS okay I'm tempting fate by continuing to type, but I have to mention that the idea of having oil on your hands when forming the chicken patties was fabulous. It gave the patties just enough oil to bind them and protect them in cooking. Anyone else ever heard of this technique?

Got 4 gift packages in the mail yesterday. They should arrive tomorrow. This was really fun. After looking at the goodies though I decided something from the oven was needed. So, made a quick batch of Palmiers using Pepperidge Farms. I took my time, pinched the ends well & was fussy about spreading the tops evenly. They came out beautiful perfect hearts. It was a last minute thing just before DH left to get them mailed so didn't get pictures. Here's the other gifts though... Preserved Lemons, Citrus Salt, Homemade Vanilla, & Grand Marnier Fig-Walnut Butter I'm so pleased with the Preserved Lemons. They have bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, red chili peppers, whole peppercorns, corriander seeds, whole cloves, & Kosher salt. After 30+ days they smell heavenly. I'm going to preserve blood oranges this way when they're available. "Tamaya Blue" & Blueberry Muffin Mix, World Peace Marinated Olives, & Spicy White Wine Whole-Grain Mustard The "Tamaya Blue" is a special roasted before milling blue cornmeal from Pueblo Santa Ana & I used our food storage freeze-dried blueberries, organic powdered eggs, butter, & milk. They're "Just Add Water". The olives have orange & rosemary plus peppercorns. I'll wait until just before Christmas to put the baskets together that will be given from under our tree. All in all, this was more fun than baking all the cookies, probably because it was different for me. I think I'll start planning next year's gifts soon. /tricia

href="http://www.amazon.com/Oneida-Polished-Mandolin-Interchangable-Slicer/dp/B0009HHZ20">color=#000000>Oneida Mandolin href="http://www.target.com/Oneida-Stainless-Plastic-Mandolin-Slicer/dp/B0009HHZ20/sr=1-1/qid=1198962245/ref=sr_1_1/602-7931214-1173438?ie=UTF8&rh=k%3AMandolin%20Slicer&page=1">color=#000000>Mandolin Slicer href="http://www.vermontcountrystore.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=7243&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=45&iSubCat=223&iProductID=7243&searchid=inceptor">color=#000000>Feemster Slicer color=#000000>Some others, to confuse you even more... href="http://www.blufftonslawcutter.com/products/products.aspx"> And the one I use for Cole Slaw or skinny slices of potatoes.... ( use the palm of your hand, not your finger tips ) Bluffton Slaw Cutter  Rita

Sure, Peppi. Fruit Cake 1 3/4 cup chopped candied cherries 1 3/4 cup chopped candied pineapple 3 cups broken pecans 1 cup butter 2 1/2 cups sugar 4 cups flour 6 eggs 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1 lb. white raisins 6 Tb brandy 1 teaspoon nutmeg 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon Mix fruit and nuts and 1/4 cup brandy. (I let the fruit soak in rather more brandy for some hours at least, usually overnight, and add the nuts when mixing the rest.) Preheat the oven to 275. Line a 10-inch tube pan with foil. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Sift flour with other dry ingredients; divide this in half. Stir half the dry ingredients into the batter. Mix the other half with the fruit and nuts. (If you upped the brandy just make sure the fruit isn't swimming in extra liquid at this point.) Add fruit to batter. (This takes a very large bowl or pan.) Pour into baking pan. Bake 3 hours and 45 minutes, with a pan of water on the bottom of the oven. Cool five minutes. Remove from pan. When cool, wrap in brandy-soaked cheesecloth and foil. Store several weeks.