Faron, the Nytimes had a fascinating article about what food items people do Google searches on by state. Interesting how many of them in the West I had never even heard of! Some I can do without, like Snickers salad. Speaking of salad, two thumbs up for the warm lentil salad I posted about. We had a party last night and that was one of the items. It was excellent. Here is a link that might be useful: Warm lentil salad with grapes, feta and mint

Mabel, for the carrots, I reduce 1/2 cup of spiced rum and 1/2 cup of water to about 1/4 cup and add it to taste to 1/2 cup of browned butter and drizzle over previously cooked carrots with a sprinkle of lime zest. They reheat great in the microwave. DURGIN-PARK BAKED HAM 1 (5 to 6 pound) smoked ham 3/4 cup fresh orange juice 1/2 cup dry sherry 1 cup honey Whole cloves 1 cup packed dark brown sugar 2 Tbs. dry mustard Trim the skin from the ham, leaving a thin, even layer of fat. With a skewer, poke the ham all over at 2-inch intervals. Place the ham in a large resealable plastic bag, and place in a large shallow pan. Combine the orange juice, sherry, and honey; pour over the ham and seal the bag securely. Marinate in the refrigerator for three days, turning the ham every 12 hours. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Remove the ham from the bag, reserving the marinade. In a shallow roasting pan, with the ham fat side up, score the fat in a diamond design and stud with cloves. Insert a meat thermometer, making sure it does not touch bone. Pour all but a tablespoon of the marinade over the ham. Bake for 1 1/2 hours or until the meat thermometer registers 130 degrees. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, mustard and the tablespoon of the reserved marinade and brush the exposed portion of the ham. Cover with a tent of aluminum foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until meat thermometer registers 140. Remove from the oven and allow the meat to stand for 10 minutes; then thinly slice and serve. 10 to 12 servings.

Here is the recipe for Tiramisu, from Bice Ristorante in Chicago; courtesy of the Infant Welfare Society cookbook. 4 cups strong coffee or espresso, cooled (I find I have extra of this mixture so you can probably cut it down) 1/2 C rum 1/2 C Kahlua 3 C sugar, divided 3 packages (24 each) lady fingers (the hard Italian style) 4 C whipping cream 2 lbs mascarpone cheese Strega liqueur, to taste (I skip this) 1 t vanilla 7 eggs, well beaten Cocoa powder Powdered sugar Chocolate shavings Line bottom and long sides of a 15x10" jelly roll pan with parchment paper or flour and butter bottom and sides of pan. (I just use a regular glass baking dish 9 x 13 or largest I have, and use a couple as needed; I skip the parchment and the flour/butter.) Combine coffee, rum, Kahlua and 2 C sugar in bowl. Dip lady fingers in coffee mixture. Cover bottom of the pan with lady fingers. (Note, if you have the soft lady fingers and they fall apart, just line the bottom of the pan with lady fingers and sprinkle the espresso mixture over until they are fairly moist.) Cheese layer: Whip cream with mascarpone cheese, 1 C sugar, liqueur and vanilla. Add eggs and mix well. Spread half of the cheese mixture over the lady fingers. Dip the remaining lady fingers into the coffee mixture and layer over the cheese mixture. The fourth layer is the remaining cheese mixture spread over the lady fingers. Chill. To serve: sift powdered cocoa over the top, then sift powdered sugar on top. Top with chocolate shavings and serve. Note: Here's how I make chocolate shavings; either from Martha Stewart or New Basics. Melt good quality dark chocolate and paint it in a thin layer onto the bottom of a smooth bottom pan. Cool in refrigerator for just a few minutes (until no shiny melty spots show.) Run a small metal spatula along the bottom of the pan in thin strips to form curls. If the chocolate shatters and crumbles into little bits it's too cold; let sit at room temp for a minute. If it smears, it's too warm and needs to be chilled a bit more. HTH!

I'm paying attention because I need ideas, too. We have done the appetizer thing for a few years because we have people coming and going during the day so it's hard to plan for a sit-down meal. Also, I don't have a table big enough for the 12 people who might be here at one time. I agree that the appetizer thing, constantly pulling stuff out of the oven in an attempt to have a "steady stream" of apps, can get to be a pain. What I should do is say "we are eating at 2:00" (or whatever) instead of telling people to show up whenever they want...