Christine Dabney > wrote:

>Heya folks,

>I am planning a southern style dinner of sorts for a few RFC denizens
>in northern California next Friday. They know who they are..so I
>won't mention names here right now...

>I am serving a few southern appetizers...sort of amuses, as such, and
>I keep on thinking that a Southern cocktail would be good along side
>them. Not a huge cocktail, but in a shot glass proportion... Just a
>taste, just to compliment. Not to get anyone drunk...
>
>I am going through the books I brought with me..and I am coming up
>short. An old ex rfc'er that I am in contact with gave me some
>ideas..but I am still looking...
>
>I want something that reflects the spirit(s) of the South. Something
>that will rev up appetites...but won't be so spirited as to kill them.
>I am looking to pair these with Pecan-bacon pralines, and an appetizer
>that is a riff on pimento cheese. These will all be very small
>portions... I want them to compliment these appetizers...and reflect
>the southern heritage.
>
>Any of you Southerners out there got ideas? Or any non-southerners
>with good ideas will be welcome too.

This is tangential but since I know the South mainly through
literature I have long been intrigued by some of the booze-containing
cakes that are mentioned, such as the wine cakes discussed in
"A Confederacy of Dunces", or the whiskey-containing fruitcake
that was central to the plot of Truman Capote's "A Christmas Memory".

The fruitcake is probably pretty easy to track down, but I've
never seen an authoritative description of "wine cakes".

Steve