I've been attending several holiday parties and really enjoying the fact that I'm not doing all the cooking.  I do love to cook, but discovering new food combos through other people's recipes is a real pleasure (most of the time).

The inventiveness of people in their potluck party foods never ceases to amaze me.  I would not have considered putting sweet potatoes into a black bean salad, but they were the absolute right complement to a slighty spicy dish and addied a nice dollop of color as well.  The white chocolate chip cookies were studded with sweet chips, but the little red nuggets I took initially for dried cranberries turned out to be dried cherries, and it just elevated the entire cookie.

My sister has a knack for simple dishes that seem a lot more complicated, given their full flavor.  Maybe it's not rocket science to add feta cheese to a block of cream cheese and top it with some great fresh herbs, but it's a cracker or bread spread that lets the individual flavors soar. It's nice to have a twist on the standard dip and chip offerings that are going strong where I live.

The other interesting aspect of potlucks is how certain dishes suddenly are seen everywhere.  I think of the quintessential pistachio pudding/canned pineapple/almonds/marshmallow creme fluff that surfaced many years ago and is still wildly popular, with various flavors of pudding subbing in for the original green version.  It's really dessert, but everyone serves it as a salad course, and I guess that's okay, because it does have pineapple in it.  But where did it come from?

The other night, I saw a lovely platter of sauteed baby bok choy, with an arrangement of  thinly sliced disks, each sporting five or six small holes.  I had never seen anything like this:  was it edible?  Oh yes, it was lotus root, and those little holes serve as straws, of a kind, to bring in water to the body of the lotus plant.  They are indeed edible, and though not strongly flavored, they were an attractive tan counterpoint to the green and white bok choy.  Another interesting possiblity for future cooking adventures.

Every time I return from a potluck or a party where someone else has furnished the food, I have new inspiration and new energy to lift my daily cooking a notch or two.  Even the predictability of a church dinner (big  cheesy ground beef casserole, rolls and butter, green salad, chocolate brownies) can deliver a surprise now and then.  I think fondly of a fabulous rhubarb and strawberry pie, when I was fortunate enough to be at the front of the line when it appeared, and have since tried and tried to duplicate its spring-fresh flavors and light-as-air crust. 

In this season of giving, food is one of the best gifts we can bring to others.  It doesn't have to be elaborate or exotic, but if it's prepared with care and a soupcon of creativity, it just soars.  And even if it's same old same old, giving food is warmly received.  Always. 

It's much more than a name change: The Market at Fairhaven (formerly Southside Food Pavilion) is like a new store, adding over 23,000 new items, special products and departments, with a superior selection of food.  It's a major renovation resulting in a prime destination for people who enjoy preparing and eating great food.

The Market believes "made here is better."  The store offers the best in quality beef, gluten-free products and made-fresh soups.  It features several signature product lines, including the popular DaVinci Classic subs, a Wing Bar with chicken sauced to your liking, Boars Head meats and cheeses (with no fillers, artificial colors or transfats), over 640 gluten-free items (the largest selection in the area), Certified Angus and restaurant quality prime beef, a full-service meat  and seafood case, made-from-scratch Deli entrees, salads and more.  Under its own Taste of Italy and Taste of Asia banners, the store has creatively grouped hundreds of items for these cuisines, including many unique to this area.  It's a store for people who love great food.

The store's own chef will be daily demonstrating how to prepare simple, vibrant dishes.  A wine specialist provides not only inspired recommendations, but also competitive pricing on an impressive selection of wines.

Mornings at The Market are better, because breakfast is being served from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. daily.  Made to order choices include pancakes, biscuits and gravy, and a hearty egg scrambler dish, each for $1.99

Seniors (55 and older) receive a 5% discount Monday through Thursdays, from 7 to 10 a.m.

The store has been recognized by the Washington State Department of Agriculture as a certified organic handler of produce, one of the few in the area.  Building on its commitment to sustainability, The Market encourages customers to bring their own grocery bags, wtih a rebate going to ReSources, the community's environmental organization.  It sells its own organic cotton, Fair Trade reusable shopping bags and wine carriers.

Customers visiting The Market will be pleased to note that free WiFi and comfortable seating adjacent to the Deli are still available, along with terrific values on everyday grocery items, too.  The addition of self-service, along with full-service checkout counters, maximizes the convenience factor for busy customers.

The Market hosted a grand opening, with food samples and special sales, beginning December 16.  If you love great food, you'll want to visit the new Market, just off Interstate 5 at Old Fairhaven Parkway.

It's December 9th already, and I've only begun to think about my holiday cookie baking.  Every year, I pore through my recipe folders, sifting through holiday cooking magazines, and considering the many choices of cookies I could produce.

Then, like the way I tend to cook, I circle back to the tried and true cookie recipes I make every year:  we're talking about kiss cookies, wreath cookies, fudge and shortbread.  These are the mainstays of our holiday cookie plates, but I can't stop there.  I need to add a few more varieties.

The fact is, I do love to bake, and I find I can whip up a batch or two of cookies very easily after work.  I love to try new recipes.  So, over the years, I have added many new items to the cookie plate.  There's been the biscotti/mandelbrot years, with candied ginger and white chocolate, or pecans and dark chocolate.  Rugelach has become a favorite, too, although the cream cheese dough, the rolling, the spreading of the apricot jam or the cinnamon filling seem more time-consuming than they really are.  I have added Italian ricotta cookies to the mix, and they are always a big hit: so festive with the white buttercream frosting and the red and green sprinkles.  Cut-out cookies, either sugar cookies or gingerbread, are really satisfying to make and add such holiday flair to the whole cookie presentation, and are well worth the additional time to carefully cut out, frost and bake.  I tried lechkuchen once, a hard kind of molasses-based cookie with candied fruit, but no one liked it and I never tried it again.  The wreath cookies, the old standby of cornflakes, marshmallows, green food coloring, butter and cinnamon red hots, are especially beloved by my family.  Same with kiss cookies, the peanut-butter-based cookie topped with a Hershey's kiss.

My mother used to make pink ladies, or pink ladyslippers.  They are an almond-flavored, crescent-shaped cookie with a dollop of pink frosting on the end.  Somewhere along the line, I lost the exact recipe, and I haven't been able to exactly replicate that great taste.

I made some shortbread last night, and it looked rather plain to take to some friends, so I dipped the ends in bittersweet chocolate.  Simple, rich and entirely satisfying.  

One other thing about Christmas cookies:  it's great to have lots on hand to share with neighbors and visitors, but once the holidays are past, I really don't want to see them again for another year.  How about you?  Do you have a favorite cookie tradition?