This is a funny entry from my dog-eared copy of the Silver Palate cookbook first published in 1979. The Silver Palate, as many of you already know first started as a tiny 400 sq foot takeout mini-gourmet shop on the upper West Side. It was founded and run by two diminutive super cooks, Sheila Lukins and Julie Rosso. They were very successful introducing New Yorkers at first (and subsequently much of America) to new and exciting food concepts, recipes, tastes and a whole new way of looking at dining in. They published this book and it grew into one of the best selling cookbooks of the last part of the 20th Century.... The Ladies had an acrimonious split up after some years and the last thing I remember reading about them was a very funny piece in The Wall St. Journal which described how Sheila Lukins after being hired by United Airlines as an in-flight meals consultant, couldn't quite translate her Silver Palate recipes for 6 into lasagne for 50,000! Any way, as you read this excerpt, try and imagine how far we've come as a food, fedex & wine-loving nation in the past 25 years! and the small debt we all owe these silver palate folks for doing their small part to pave the way for us to today be able to get daily deliveries if we want them of ramps, morels, white asparagus, guanciale and slab bacon just to mention a few things I for one would have trouble living without not to mention the way they easily make our wines shine at the table!

"When we opened the Silver Palate a few years ago, we had to scramble to find shallots. Our sole source for them was this farmer in New Jersey who made only infrequent trips into New York City. What a wonder then that, after a while we were finally able to order them from our produce vendor as easily as celery. In fact, we've even now begun to spot them in markets around the country, further evidence of the increasing availability of hard-to-find ingredients."

"The distinctive flavor of shallots falls somewhere between that of garlic and onions, and yet is more sophisticated than either. There are three kinds of shallots; red, greenish- white, and purple which is considered the best. Use them as they are used in the great French haute cuisine dishes, for example. They are versatile favorites in our kitchen.

We think if you try them, you will like them too!"