Drown your nausea in this Syracuse-area imported beer news.

Excellent info and timely as I lead a small tour to the delights of Syracuse this weekend. Cross border monk's night out. Just ales and quiet. Sure. That'll be it.

a friend of a friend's mom made chocolate cookies with saved chicken fat.

For the daring: Mexican Chocolate Chicken.

Let's just be clear - this was not about mole sauce.

Whaddya think lard was, traditionally? Now we liposuction helpless corn, but years ago... :)

My policy: lard good for pastry but not other sweets, <i>schmaltz</i> not good at all. Prove otherwise. Compare and contrast. Pop quiz on Friday.

My mom sometimes put in turkey fat in her oatmeal cookies instead of all the butter - they were very good.

Oh...my...God. The secrets of the nation are coming out now. How do you figure that out as a cook? Did that make oatmeal cookies a post holiday treat only?

Well, turkey fat oatmeal cookies only came out after holidays - yes. Regular ones for the rest of the year.

I thought it was bizarre too but hey, the tastebuds gave the okay.

Listen, being a Scots immigrants' kid I can hardly point fingers about this stuff but the legacy of our Canadian pioneer meat cookie baking heritage is surprising. Where generally did your mother come from, Don. My meat cookie story comes from the Kitchener area.

1 hour northwest of Kitchener - my Mom was born in Holland though. If I remember, I'll ask her where she came up with it.

You wouldn't be talking the swingin' Wingham area. We may be talking the same clan.

One of my aunts puts peanut butter in her spaghetti sauce. She says it give it texture and cuts the acid taste. And one of my uncle's favourite snacks is mustard and raspberry jam sandwiches. He tried everything to have me taste one butâ?“I think not!

It's still kind of scary to think I share some genes with them, though!

1 hour northwest of Kitchener - my Mom was born in Holland though.

Is that Holland, Michigan or Holland, Holland?

Likely, Holland as in Netherlands as there is a big community there. A lot of Dutch farmers moved there like the Annapolis Valley after the mid-50s floods in the Netherlands.

How bizarre! Turns out those "chocolate cookies with saved chicken fat" and my moms oatmeal cookies with turkey fat were the same ones!

This after a few e-mails back and forth.

It's a small world!

(BTW, Holland, Europe)