[speaker001:] do you have any special menus that you like to use when you're entertaining
[speaker002:] well I don't entertain that much anymore unfortunately but uh
[speaker001:] yes but we dream
[speaker002:] if hum
[speaker001:] we dream though
[speaker002:] oh yes well I mean you know like for holidays the family gets together so uh I guess you'd call that about the same I mean I don't have dinner parties but uh uh I have family get-togethers
[speaker001:] yes well
[speaker002:] uh and I I guess it's about the same thing so uh
[speaker001:] are you a traditional cook
[speaker002:] well no no I in fact I love to find different things uh I'm always searching for recipes that are different uh some things are traditional okay uh we always have turkey for Thanksgiving but uh uh there but I always try to add at least one new dish
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] uh I find it uh interesting to
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] vary it
[speaker001:] I do to
[speaker002:] so that uh uh but uh uh well I you know it you can do a lot of things the meat is is pretty standard usually I mean you pick a different kind of you pick whatever kind of meat you're going to have and um
[speaker001:] sure
[speaker002:] you uh can do a a a few things with it you know but uh but I mean as far as salads or vegetables there are so many things that you can do these days that uh
[speaker001:] then you can oh yes
[speaker002:] it makes it quite a challenge and it depends on whose coming too
[speaker001:] yes
[speaker002:] uh for a holiday family get-together I don't make any you know I'm not real picky about exactly what it is but if we're just getting together uh you know for a family uh dinner then I try to keep it as uh fat free and as cholesterol free and you know all that other stuff as I can
[speaker001:] yeah I have a son-in-law who is a wonderful cook and uh my daughter reads cookbooks and he cooks but uh for the last few years I have uh had something different for him every holiday uh for Christmas or Thanksgiving whichever one they're with us and uh I think the two that have been the biggest hits uh I think one of them came out of the Martha Stewart cookbook you're familiar with Martha Stewart her all of her culinary delights and it was it wasn't all that you know yummy and it it wasn't a lot to eat but it was interesting caramelized caramelized onions
[speaker002:] right oh yes um-hum oh interesting
[speaker001:] and uh you cut them in half and turn them over with the cut you know don't peel them or anything and turn them over with the cut side down and you bake them like two hours and a half on about two seventy five or something like that
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and then when you know until they're kind of well not really burned they call them caramelized and then you uh you mix up this little uh mixture of cranberries and sugar and a few nuts and uh a little bit of liquid and then you bake that for about thirty minutes and then you it's just a really pretty condiment really actually
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and so then you just eat the insides you know the few layers of onions that didn't get hard or anything and then uh then that filling but that was interesting and another interesting one that he liked so well was turnips I've always had a neighbor or two that had wanted to bring me turnips well who not many people like turnips
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] but I did a casserole using half turnips half potatoes Swiss cheese milk and butter and just baked them and it is absolutely wonderful
[speaker002:] hum
[speaker001:] if and the secret is using half potatoes
[speaker002:] right yeah I could see that would be then it wouldn't be such a an overpowering flavor you know it would be uh just just a flavor but not you know the real strong that's the only thing turnips have such a strong flavor to them now I love them raw but
[speaker001:] and that Swiss oh I do too oh especially so many people like them to dip in vegetable dip too I think
[speaker002:] yes now you know speaking of vegetable dip I was introduced to uh to to something by a girlfriend of mine recently that I never would have dreamed of because of you know usually when you think of a vegetable uh tray you think of uh uh broccoli or cauliflower and and celery and the the you know standard things have you ever tried using raw sweet potato
[speaker001:] uh-huh no well I'm glad to hear about that
[speaker002:] try try it I was she she I picked it up I thought it was carrot at first you know we were she just had a veggie tray and I picked it up and tasted I said gee this doesn't taste like carrot she said it isn't
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] so I took another one just to see if I could figure out what it was and I couldn't and she told me it was raw sweet potato and um it is it I do I do not like sweet potatoes cooked
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] I do not like them at all uh I really do enjoy them raw it with this it's it's not a real uh strong flavor it's just kind of light flavor
[speaker001:] well I'll be darned and you've eaten them do you know when I was growing up my mother wouldn't let us eat raw sweet potatoes she said they were poison
[speaker002:] hum oh my goodness
[speaker001:] so so we just you know raw potatoes yes if she was peeling potato and we were you know she'd we'd want a piece and uh but she wouldn't never let us so I suppose that is a myth isn't it
[speaker002:] right  oh yes uh um I hope so because of I've sure eaten a lot of it since I was first introduced to it uh
[speaker001:] yes yeah you're still alive and kicking
[speaker002:] yeah but uh uh people are quite surprised to find out it's just not one of the things that you would think of of putting on the vegetable tray uh
[speaker001:] no and it is colorful too
[speaker002:] it is colorful adds a lot of color to your tray
[speaker001:] well I have spent the last twenty years in Oklahoma and so I've had a wonderful time with Mexican type dishes the Santa Santa Fe influence as well as the Tex-Mex and I have so many wonderful recipes and
[speaker002:] oh I love that uh-hum uh
[speaker001:] my family here I we're originally from this part of country
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] if I do any of those casseroles especially they will say um this is sort of spicy
[speaker002:] yes I know it's funny but see I'm originally from California and my my husband was from New Mexico and uh the first
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] ten years we were in Maryland my sister-in-law mailed us care packages of chili peppers and uh things that you couldn't condiments that you couldn't get for Mexican cooking here Spanish cooking you know that uh uh and now of course I can get them all here
[speaker001:] yes um-hum
[speaker002:] you know here in Maryland too because it's become popular out here too and they have several Mexican restaurants but when we first moved here twenty years ago we c ouldn't find any kind of you know
[speaker001:] finally the Taco Bell started springing up
[speaker002:] except for yes uh well we have several uh very well uh Chi Chi is uh very nice restaurants that uh serve uh uh real good you know Mexican food but but I know uh I have visited my sister-in-law in New Mexico once or twice and um it is
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] it's it's always refreshing because it's so she always fixes something different that I've you know not had so uh I need to try a few more recipes and but you're right anybody that tastes it even the mild they are so surprised that it's uh that spicy
[speaker001:] uh um-hum um yeah they really don't my friends and relatives really don't like it very well
[speaker002:] hum-um not if it's spicy now you have to either go completely you know and let them add the uh like the salsa or the sauce to it um or um
[speaker001:] uh-huh well it
[speaker002:] well it depends on what you're making if you're making enchiladas it's hard to do that but uh it's well it's hard to let them add their own you know just to make it spicy you can even the enchilada sauce is a little bit spicy
[speaker001:] really um-hum well it's been fun talking to you
[speaker002:] well it's nice talking to you
[speaker001:] and uh good luck in your uh entertaining or cooking or get-togethers or whatever and dream on
[speaker002:] oh yes uh well you too you too thank you um-hum bye bye
[speaker001:] bye-bye