Kate's Global Kitchen: Cozy Recipes for New Year's Eve

Famous Last Words:
The Lighter Side of Food

It's time to lighten up—and I don't mean dieting (that comes in January). I thought I'd wind up this tumultuous year with a few laughs at ourselves and how we eat. Humor is, after all, the food of the soul—a good way to dispense with the old and break in the new. For our die-hard recipe seekers, don't worry: I've got more than just food for thought—included below are some favorite recipes for a cozy New Year's Eve at home.

Best wishes for a Happy New Year from all of us at Global Gourmet!

Kate Heyhoe
The Global Gourmet

Once during Prohibition I was forced to live for days on nothing but food and water. —W. C. Fields
The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for 30 years she served nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found. —Calvin Trillin

Part of the secret of a success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside. —Mark Twain

I will not eat oysters. I want my food dead—not sick, not wounded—dead. —Woody Allen

My mother is such a lousy cook that Thanksgiving at her house is a time of sorrow. —Rita Rudner

What my mother believed about cooking is that if you worked hard and prospered, someone else would do it for you. —Nora Ephron

Food is an important part of a balanced diet. —Fran Lebowitz

I don't even butter my bread. I consider that cooking. - Katherine Cebrian

The trouble with eating Italian food is that five or six days later you're hungry again. —George Miller

I no longer prepare food or drink with more than one ingredient. —Cyra McFadden

When you don't have any money, the problem is food. When you have money, it's sex. When you have both, it's health. If everything is simply jake, then you're frightened of death. —J.P. Donleavy

Mothers, food, love, and career, the four major guilt groups. —Cathy Guisewite

Give a man a fish and he has food for a day; teach him how to fish and you can get rid of him of the entire weekend. —Zenna Schaffer

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime. Teach a man to create an artificial shortage of fish and he will eat steak. —Jay Leno

Eat a live toad the first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day. —Unknown

Never eat more than you can lift. —Miss Piggy

The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age. —Lucille Ball

Cockroaches and socialites are the only things that can stay up all night and eat anything. —Herb Caen

Man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them. —Adlai E. Stevenson Jr.

The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not. —Mark Twain (1835- 1910)

When women are depressed, they eat or go shopping. Men invade another country. It's a whole different way of thinking. —Elayne Boosler

Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first. —Ernestine Ulmer

I do not like broccoli. And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I'm President of the United States and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli. —George Bush, U.S. president, 1990

I have a great diet. You're allowed to eat anything you want, but you must eat it with naked fat people. —Ed Bluestone

The second day of a diet is always easier than the first. By the second day you're off it. —Jackie Gleason

My mother's menu consisted of two choices: Take it or leave it. —Buddy Hackett

Researchers have discovered that chocolate produces some of the same reactions in the brain as marijuana...The researchers also discovered other similarities between the two, but can't remember what they are. —Matt Lauer, on NBC's "Today" show, August 22, 1996

I went into a McDonald's yesterday and said, "I'd like some fries." The girl at the counter said, "Would you like some fries with that?" —Jay Leno

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana. —Groucho Marx

Most turkeys taste better the day after; my mother's tasted better the day before. —Rita Rudner

Thought: Why does man kill? He kills for food. And not only food: frequently there must be a beverage. - Woody Allen

When you get to fifty-two food becomes more important than sex. —Prue Leith, British chef/writer on cookery