"I have only two words to describe these," Tom said when he tried my Friday night brownie experiment: "Hot damn!"

He — the most disciplined eater I know, a former vegan and vegetarian, a man who enjoys food but treats it more like fuel than entertainment — proceeded to eat two of them. This is unheard of! You should have joined us for dinner just to witness it!

I was in a reasonably new store at Kerrytown last week, which sells only oils and vinegars. It's called Fustini's, and I'm proud to say that it is a Michigan-based chain (with other stores in Holland, Petoskey and Traverse City). Oh, it's open and bright and the staff is wonderfully welcoming. There are small vats on display, with little plastic cups just waiting to help you sample the wares. And truly, you could sample every single item if you wanted to — I've managed to get through about half of the offerings already without any effort to shoo me away.

(To read more and to find the fabulous recipe, click here.)

Mary Bilyeu has won or placed in more than 60 cooking contests and writes about her adventures in the kitchen. The phrase "You Should Only Be Happy" (written in Hebrew on the stone pictured next to the blog's title) comes from Deuteronomy 16:15 and is a wish for all her readers as they cook along with her ... may you always be happy here. Check out her blog -- Food Floozie -- in which she cooks, reviews restaurants and generally enthuses and effuses over all things food-related. Or send an e-mail to yentamary@gmail.com