…well, not really. We do have one species, our only venomous snake on the prairie, but one species of venomous snake is more than enough for me.  I don’t think I have to worry much about finding one here in my little prairie city, according to the information here, as they seem to like a much different climate than my yard, or should I say oasis, offers. I wasn’t worrying about them for any specific reason, though poisonous venom may have it uses for some people– no, I was merely contemplating the upcoming stuff-your-face event called Christmas, and the intricate art of baking, which I’m not that fond of, versus the art of hor d’ouvres making, which I’m fond of, and happened to read a post over at Maud Newton that focused on The Great American Writer’s cookbook. Here I should add, is where the rattlesnakes slither into the post; at Maud Newton I stumbled upon an actual recipe for rattlesnake. The art of catching/skinning/gutting all sounds so, everyday, matter-of-fact. The writer’s cookbook reminded me of a conversation at colony this summer about the idea of a ballet cookbook. As someone remarked, quite cleverly, how does one make lettuce interesting? Well, how about some rattlesnake?

This made me think that people have been keeping their best writerly appetizer recipes hidden from me. Well, because of the unavailability of venomous snakes, I would like y’all to share with me your favourite appetizer recipe. If you know me you can email me, if not leave one in the comments section. I will call these clever additions to my cookbooks as The Rattled Recipes.