I've been hosting a vernal equinox party for about 50 guests for the past six years straight. I always send a packet of seeds with a spring poem as part of the invitation. Your ideas sound dead-on. Here are some of the things I've learned and am planning: No matter how much I think I can accomplish it, I cannot be trusted to babysit hot hors d'oeuvres in my oven once my guests arrive (and there's a drink in my hand). Therefore, my hot food choices are limited to the following: a chaffing dish full of falafel, which I make, fry and freeze weeks in advance, and pop into the oven and park in the chaffing dish before guests arrive, a crockpot full of meatballs with some sort of savory sauce, and an assortment of hot dips in a little tri-section warmer I have. (Costco makes a to-die for dip with truffle oil on it.) I also get half of a large smoked salmon (right/left as opposed to front/back). (I used to get a whole one, but it never got eaten). I display it on a cedar plank, near an assortment of crackers. I like the egg/Easter/Eostre connection, which is the heart of the Equinox celebration, so this year I'm making little egg salad toasts with caviar (homemade mayonnaise, shallots, thyme, s&p, chopped egg, with 1/4 tsp of caviar spooned on top) (Cost Plus World Market carries a very affordable Capelin Caviar (tiny black eggs) that worked well for this... I think one 3.5 ounce jar was enough for about 8 eggs worth of salad and a standard baguette). Trader Joe's started stocking these little prune and walnut disks near their nuts and fruit. They are quite tasty, and have the structural stability of a cracker. They come 12 (or 16?) for $1.99. I'm going to cut them in half to make them bite sized, and top with some blue cheese crumbles and a honeyed walnut. Rather than an assortment of spring flowers, I buy about 100 cut daffodils from Trader Joe's and put them out in my crystal vases. But I've learned that guests love to bring cut flowers to a spring party, so I have a couple extra vases on hand, and save some "prime real estate" for the gifted flowers. Because I can't resist showing off my home-cured pancetta, and because I love avocados more than a person should, I like to make Avocado, Feta and Pancetta Bruscchetta. A couple of my helpers also make some dishes that have become favorites: R will help me with everything else, but will also make Vietnamese spring rolls, and E will make her dolmas with very garlicky yoghurt sauce. I have some little chocolate shotglass molds, and make a ton of them weeks in advance. Then I take plain old pudding mix and substitute homemade whipped cream for half of the milk, pipe it into the cups and top with a raspberry or blueberry. They look very elegant, and can be made the morning of. I also serve Costco cream puffs and some of their little bite desserts. I avoid all of their fillo-based hors d'oeuvres like the plague as I've not been impressed. It doesn't...

I've never been too careful with that "slow stream" of oil and never had any issues, so I'm not surprised that you can just dump it all in at once. I'll ttry it next time. As for egg safety, my understanding is that salmonella is very rare, something like 1 in 20,000 eggs. And while it can be found inside US eggs, it's far more common on the shell, just like the rest of the world. I wonder how many people carefully wash their hands and whatever else touches egg shell every time they handle an egg. Or how many people get sick from soft cooked eggs, which are not cooked enough to pasteurize them. In short, I don't worry about it a bit. I've never in my life gotten salmonella from eggs, and I lick the fork every time I make an omlette or scrambled eggs because I love the taste of raw eggs. I'm far more concerned with the safety of handling/cooking raw poultry, ground beef, etc. If you're concerned or are cooking for people with high risk, I suppose you could use pasteurized eggs.

Ah, but Cathy, you can show your appreciation. Just eat some piggy and think of Grandma and everything she taught you. She'll know..... Madonna, I think some people are meant to be farmers. I'm happy just going to the farm, playing in the dirt, messing with my animals, building something. I go home tired and dirty and achy and it feels so.......GOOD, if that makes sense. I know others think I'm completely bonkers. You can always come on up and play in the dirt with me, I got lots of dirt! plllog, I agree, no one should really eat a deep fried Twinkie, but I'm on the fence about the bacon cheesecake. (grin) And that most definitely is a lard crust. jkom, it's amazing what a person is capable of when they are hungry enough, isn't it? Actually, the reason I grow my own food is because I really, really like animals. If I didn't care about their health or their welfare or their treatment, I'd just buy grocery store meat. I have to admit, though, that the bunnies ARE awfully cute and fuzzy and that's why I don't raise them to eat. Yeah, I know, I'm soft. (sigh) jasdip, I know the price of meat is going up. And up. The pigs are getting PED, new to the United States and they have no resistance to it. It's nearly 100% fatal to piglets and millions have already died. The beef herd is smaller than it's been since the 50s because of the ongoing drought in the West. I don't think it'll get better for a couple of years, unfortunately. dcarch, if something is going to kill me, it might as well be bacon, LOL. Ann T, I think I just get tired of hearing how we should all eat sprouted grains and air. I know some people only eat to live, but taking all the enjoyment out of the acts of cooking and eating isn't living. All things in moderation, of course, and that definitely includes moderation. The bacon is just the way I like it, with quite a lot of lean but enough fat to make it bacon, and an old fashioned cure and smoke that takes 3 weeks. It was worth the wait. islay, I'm glad you approve, I've often thought that I'd like many of the things you post. The only thing missing is dessert. Any suggestions? :-) Annie

I made tofu mayo yesterday but didn't use any oil....but added a bit of wasabe prepared mustard to add a little flavor. I also used three kinds of vinegar.....first batch I used blueberry vinegar, second batch, white wine vinegar and third batch, apple cider vinegar. I liked to flavor of the blueberry vinegar the best....very subtle flavor. Thanks for sharing your recipe. It will be a life saver for my DH and I since I am pre-diabetic and he is facing a quintuple bypass surgery in the very near future. The no fat tofu mayo will be perfect for coleslaw and other salads calling for mayo.