This is my last post devoted to the The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper series, but it is most assuredly not the last time I will reference the cookbook or follow its recipes in my kitchen.

The book is a wealth of valuable information and amusing quotes that I have even referenced at work: I am not a vegetarian because I love animals, I am a vegetarian because I hate plants. -A. Whitney Brown (from page 146).

One Sabbath after church, my folks and I were hanging in the kitchen and my dad pulled out my mom's "Light Olive oil" and Paul's and my "Extra Virgin" and asked the difference. From reading How to Eat Supper I was quickly able to point out that Mom's olive oil (anything "light") goes through more processing in a factory. However, mom still holds that she likes the flavor better. But even How to Eat Supper has an answer for that, too:

Olive Oil Golden Rule #4: Buy for flavor

(from page 11)

Wines and sherries are popular additions to sauces and salad dressings. Some religions frown on drinking alcohol and therefore are against using the alcohol for flavoring. Ironically, it seems nutritionists and other individuals argue about whether or not the alcohol burns off. However, my education was that alcohol does not burn off. In my own mind I questioned "Why add alcohol if it 'burns off'? If the flavor comes from the alcohol and the alcohol burns off, why add it to begin with?" Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift, the authors of this book, answered that question for me and dispelled the myth that alcohol burns off.

Wine is a powerful flavor booster because alcohol opens up flavors that neither fats nor water release. Also, red wine is high in umami, a chemical component of some foods which heightens flavors.

(from page 64)

So, now you have the facts. What you do with them is up to you, but at the very least, the next time you are eating fondue and the cook or other guests tell you the alcohol in the beer burns off, you can look very smart. . .or rude, so be careful how you say it.

I can't share all the information I learned from this cookbook or I would never finish this post and move on to other cooking adventures. But, I can recommend that there are tons of wise ideas from these nice ladies. They tell you why to turn the oven on immediately when you walk through the door in the evening, teach you how to measure seasonings in your hand, and tell you how to use pasta cooking water in your sauce to go on the pasta. I have truly been enlightened.

Incidentally, if anyone knows of a non-alcoholic fondue recipe, I'd love to have it.