…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.
manageable imaginations 
I almost stepped on a rattlesnake once. It was sunning by a picnic table at Red Rock Coulee. H got great pics of it while my heart was busy trying to slow back down. Alas, I have no appetizer recipes.
ditto appie recipes… they don’t alas, interest me
but how about espresso shortbread? that should appeal to writers… I just made a bunch for the Raving Poets I’m going to visit in E’town next week… I’m holding a salon de sznn noel
B: Were you singing the Badger song? Oh here’s a snake? Did you post the pics at any time? What no appetizer recipes? I bet H has them all hid from you.
Sznn: Et tu Brutus? Ok espresso shortbread will do. I make a mean whipped shortbread. Have fun in E’town.
Ha! I love that song! But it was before the badger and blog days.
Nope. No appetizers in the Schmidt house. We don’t entertain and I’d just eat them all and balloon, so hey, best to skip them. I sure loved the spread you put on at the muse party though. I ate so much!
espresso shortbread! Mmm. Sounds nummy!
Thanks B for the thumbs up on the muse party.This year’s was fun too, although we missed you guys. There’s still a bit of Absinthe left, though a few avid party goers were doing their best to kill it. I think the Absinthe won.
espresso shortbread
4 cups flour
1 cup icing sugar
1 lb butter (room temp)
1/4 c ground espresso beans (must be fresh)
1/4 c cocoa
throw all of these together and knead the bejesus out of the dough (you may have to do it in two batches because of volume)… knead it until it looks the texture of almond paste (marzipan)… roll into long rolls and freeze, then cut in 1/4 ” slices, top with a chocolate chip and bake @ 350C for approx. 5 – 8 minutes (or until firm… don’t over or undercook)
T, substitute a ton of cheddar cheese, sliced almonds, take out the sugar and cocoa and espresso, add a pinch of cayenne, salt and you will have sms’ delicious ‘cheesy bits” as an appy…
Excellent! Thnx Sznn! I will try both recipes out!
Ah, lettuce come to the aid of appetizers for writers….(okay, bad pun)…
Easy Thai for Lazy Writers–
small pot of cooked sticky rice, still warm
tamari sauce
bunch o’ fresh mint /grated fresh ginger if you can
cucumbers/carrots cut matchstick-sized
and — lettuce leaves! (iceberg, romaine, Boston, whatever)…
actually, you can throw anything in here, but this combination works nicely
Grab a lettuce leaf, put some sticky rice in it, add cucumbers/carrots/mint, sprinkle with grated ginger and Tamari,
roll up the lettuce… and there you are…
p. 38 Lettuce Praise Women’s League Cookbook
Awesome Lorri! A lettuce recipe! I will definitely try it, as I love lettuce wraps!
this is morphing into colony cookbook… hi Lorri, all the best and tnx for the lettuce recipe… I’m hopeless at lettuce and wraps so you’ve just solved 2 probs.