By Matthew Rowley

NEW, COOL BOOZE: Maderas PX

Dos Maderas PX is a blend of aged Barbados and Guyana rums. After basking five years in used bourbon barrels under the Caribbean sun, it's shipped to Jerez, Spain, for five more years in two different sherry barrels. A grand sipping rum that makes me want to reach for a snifter and a cigar rather than limes and a shaker.

BAR INGREDIENT: Elixir Vegetal

Made by the same Carthusian monks who distill Chartreuse, Elixir Vegetal is a heady blend of 130 herbs that can be used as a stomach tonic or - by those in the know - as spectacular cocktail bitters. Greg Boehm at Cocktail Kingdom now imports the elusive 142-proof bottles, complete with their little wooden containers.

BAR TOOL: Silicone mold for making ice balls

Despite the hype among cocktail geeks, large balls of dense ice really do help cool drinks with less dilution than everyday ice cubes. I especially like them in spirituous whiskey drinks such as an old fashioned or just a few fingers of good bourbon. You can carve them by hand or take the easy route and get a silicone ice ball maker from MUJI.

MUST-HAVE BOOK: Punch

Only one booze book ranks as a must-have this holiday season: David Wondrich's Punch: The Delights (and Dangers) of the Flowing Bowl. Wondrich breaks down the history and methods for making old-school punch and interprets them for modern tastes and ingredients. Punch has been cropping up in bars from London to Los Angeles; with this under your belt, you'll understand why.

TheZenchilada.com's "Proof of Life" columnist Matthew Rowley is a freelance writer who lives in southern California, where he maintains Rowley's Whiskey Forge, a sporadic blog about food, drinks and the people who make them. Find him at http://matthew-rowley.blogspot.com.

Chicken, eggs ... At TheZenchilada.com, we can never get enough of a good thing, so we were intrigued by this egg-based coconut custard steamed inside a squash, as delicious as it is beautiful. Inspired by Santa Fe artist Beth Surdut's travels in Indonesia, it brings the colors and flavors of fall to the table in a way that is "more exotic, more multisensory than pumpkin pie."

Squash Match is part of a series of paintings and recipes that Beth calls Art from the Kitchen. The inspiration for the series came from looking at bountiful piles of beautiful veggies at farmers markets all over the world, the inveterate traveler says, "and I thought, 'Why not paint the major ingredients of the recipes I was creating, including the hands of the cook?' "

Beth is selling the original paintings on silk in the Art from the Kitchen series, as well as taking orders for color prints. She is also open to commissions from chefs or home cooks who would like her to create images for their signature recipes. For more information, send an e-mail to info@bethsurdut.com

SQUASH MATCH

(Serves 4)

You can bake the custard in one large kabocha squash or pumpkin, slicing it like a pie to serve - or you can prepare several smaller sugar pumpkins, serving them whole or sliced in half. For the most silken custard, do not use "lite" coconut milk. To make the custard more sweet than savory, add 1/2 cup of sugar to the mix. Very granular sugar substitutes will also negatively affect the texture of the custard.

1 kabocha squash or similar-size pumpkin, or 2 to 4 smaller pumpkins

5 eggs

1 cup coconut milk

1/3 cup coconut palm sugar or white sugar

Pinch salt

Pinch ground cinnamon

Pinch ground cardamom

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Prepare a steamer large enough to hold the squash above the water, and add enough water to last for 45 minutes. (If water runs low before the custard is fully cooked, add more boiling water to the pot.) Cut a circle around the squash stem to make a lid. Set the lid aside and scoop the seeds and pulp out of the squash.

In a bowl, beat the eggs with a fork until well-blended, adding the coconut milk and remaining ingredients as you go. Pour the mixture into the prepared squash shell.

Place the filled squash in the steamer and set the lid next to, but not on, the squash. Cover and steam for 45 minutes. Test the custard with a fork; if it is still runny, re-cover and cook 5 to 10 minutes longer, or until custard is fully set.

"Is That an Egg in Your Pocket or Are You Just Glad to See Me?"  - a selection of Beth Surdut's raven drawings and writings - is featured on pages 58-59 of the Fall 2010 edition of TheZenchilada.com.  Folks in Santa Fe can catch Beth's ravens (and a movie) at The Gallery at The Screen throughout December 2010.

By Patricia West-Barker

Some like it hot - recipes and restaurants on the cutting edge of the culinary world. Others like it cool and classic - cafes, dishes, diners and yes, even dives, that have stood the test of time. If you count yourself among the latter, and you are living or traveling in New Mexico, you could have a lot of fun checking out the state tourism department's just-launched online Culinary Treasures Trail. 

The Culinary Treasures Trail promotes independent restaurants that have been in operation for at least 40 years. The list, currently numbering 75, runs the range from elegant, high-end venues like The Compound in Santa Fe to traditional New Mexican outposts like Rancho de Chimayo and Del's Restaurant in Tucumcari and the deliciously funky Chope's in Mesilla. Some venues include recipes, old photographs and menus past and present with their listing. Others offer just the facts, ma'am. And all are worth exploring. So the next time you plan to travel to any part of New Mexico, hit the Culinary Treasures interactive map before you hit the road. Odds are good you'll something on the trail to appeal to your appetite - and your sense of adventure.

While you're homebound, you may want give this twist on the standard holiday pecan pie a try. The recipe is from Kathy Knapp, owner of the Pie-O-Neer in (you guessed it!) Pie Town, a tiny community that sits on the Continental Divide in west central New Mexico. Award-winning cookbook author (and curator of the Culinary Treasures program) Cheryl Alters Jamison has tested it and pronounced it good.

PECAN-OAT PIE FROM THE PIE-O-NEER

(Makes 2 pies so good you'll be glad to freeze one)

2 unbaked pie shells

3/4 cup sugar

1 stick butter (1/2 cup)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup dark Karo Syrup

1 cup light Karo Syrup

6 eggs

1 cup old-fashioned oats (not quick-cooking)

2 cups toasted pecan pieces

Cream sugar and butter in mixer. Add spices and mix well. Gently mix in both syrups. Blend in eggs, one at a time. Do not whip. Stir in oats until just blended. Cover bottom of unbaked pie crusts with pecan pieces, saving a few for decorating top of pie. Pour half of mixture into each pie crust. Sprinkle remaining nuts on top and bake at 350 degrees for approximately one hour. Pies can be a little jiggly in center; they will set up when cool. Do not over-bake.