This year the Scene's Food and Drink Issue focuses on the little things that count: appetizers and side dishes. Here's the intro:

For your first-course enjoyment, we've curated a shortlist of some of the appetizers and sides in town that threaten to outshine the main course — which is always a good problem to have. From the rolled to the chopped, the sumptuously roasted to the flash-, deep- and pan-fried, there's a little bit of everything — even a menu of pre-meal cocktails to wet your whistle while you whet your appetite.

For many dining fans, their love for starters and side dishes eclipses any desire for standard big-hunk-of-meat entrees. That's what makes the Scene's list so delightfully welcome. There were so many choices we had to include "Honorable Mentions" and still had to leave good things out.

Check out the story here, Bites folk, and let us know what you like and what we missed.

For the Jewish holiday of Purim (taking place this weekend), bakers painstakingly make hamentashen, triangular filled cookies that resemble the three-cornered hat that Haman, the villain in the Purim story, wore. Each cookie is hand-filled and hand-shaped.

Last week Missy Sostrin made 10 dozen of these time-intensive triangular masterpieces. Sostrin is the owner of Sweets Melissa, a Franklin-based business that sells traditional Jewish baked goods, as well as cakes, gluten-free sweets, vegan cupcakes, truffles and other desserts. But since last spring, when the beloved Bellevue-based Alpha Bakery closed, what Sweets Melissa has become known for is its challah, the traditional braided egg bread.

When Sostrin lived in New York, she bought challah for her Friday night family dinners. Or, she did until one year during a wheat shortage when prices skyrocketed. She figured it had to be cheaper to make it on her own, and learned that she found the process of baking bread therapeutic. Sostrin started braiding and baking every week. When she moved to Franklin she kept on baking, and later started Sweets Melissa, which cooks out of the kosher kitchen at the Thyme Cafe at the Genesis Campus for Jewish Life in Bellevue.

After Alpha shuttered its doors, demand for Sweets Melissa’s challah grew, both in the local Jewish community but also among customers who just wanted a loaf to make tasty French toast on the weekends. Sostrin bought 1,000 bread bags, enlisted her son to help with deliveries and started baking. Customers order the braided bread by e-mail (melsostrin@gmail.com) or phone (752-0639). She bakes on Thursday nights and delivers the $6 loaves on Friday (before the Sabbath) and for Jewish holidays. Sweets Melissa is in the market for a used industrial mixer. When Sostrin finds one in her budget, she’ll expand her offerings and capacity.

Until then, she’s sticking to the basics: “I think in this 24-7 kind of world, it is nice to stop and have a tradition you can look forward to,” Sostrin says. “There’s something about the magic of bread. It is flour and yeast and salt and becomes something else.”

Many years ago, I toiled away in the bowels of the second-tallest building in all of Mississippi, pounding out direct-mail pieces as part of the marketing team for a casino. It was an interesting job (to say the least) with some great perks, including an endless supply of free food. The first Mardi Gras season of my employment yielded a custard-filled king cake from a well-meaning media sales rep in Jackson, Miss. No one else in the office was interested, so I dug in with delight.

It was sublime. A real king cake from some famous New Orleans bakery. I went back for another piece. And then another. And another. Within a couple of hours, I’d eaten three-quarters of this very large cake. Filled with custard. As I stepped over to check out the last bit, I hit "the wall." And then I hit the floor. Doubled over in pain from a belly too full of custard, flour and sugar. My co-workers thought I was kidding around until they looked in the box and realized what I’d done. It’s among their favorite stories to tell about me to this day. And, unsurprisingly, I have not had a bite of king cake since. However, I am reconsidering my boycott this Mardi Gras season.

City Paper food columnist (and Bitester emerita) Nicki Pendleton Wood alerted me of the king cakes made by Wolfe Gourmet Cakes, and a little research indicated that some of my East Side friends have been fans for a while. Baker Nicole Wolfe — a New Orleans native — makes the cakes from scratch, using premium ingredients, including naturally dyed sugars. Small and large sizes are available in plain (cinnamon brioche) or with blueberry, raspberry, lemon curd (my weakness), or cream cheese fillings.

The best plan is to order a cake directly from Wolfe (see the website for details; a 48-hour notice is generally required), but a limited number of cakes are available at Porter Road Butcher in East Nashville and at The Food Company (the cafe next to the Greenhouse bar) in Green Hills.

If you aren’t able to get one of Wolfe’s cakes, I hear from a trusted source that the cakes available at The Turnip Truck are delicious. They are also made with naturally-dyed sugars and premium ingredients. Wherever you choose to get your cake, do it soon. Mardi Gras is this Tuesday, February 12 and the king cakes will disappear as quickly as a lemon-curd-filled cake anywhere within my reach.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the South has the highest rates of obesity. This fact makes me both chuckle and shamefully shake my head. The down-home-Southern diet is exceptionally unhealthy. Even healthy vegetables, like collard greens, are traditionally simmered with the fattiest, saltiest cuts of pork like neckbones, bacon or fatback.

Collard greens are rich in Vitamins K, A, and C and contain high levels of fiber, calcium and iron. Collard greens are even cancer-preventative because they contain glucosinolates, which are organic sulfur and nitrogen compounds. These compounds lower our cancer risk because they encourage our body’s natural detox and anti-inflammatory systems. Collards also lower cholesterol better than broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cabbage. And what do we Southerners do with this superfood? Boil all the nutrition out and add copious amounts sodium and pig fat.

I offer an alternative to this Southern tradition that is just as tasty. Instead of boiling the collards for hours with pork, substitute smoked turkey and cook for 30 minutes (detailed recipe below). This revision ensures you and your family don’t compromise nutrition in the name of tradition this holiday season. You can enjoy the Southern flavor and maintain a svelte frame for the New Year. We can have it all ya’ll.

No doubt you're already familiar with Meatless Monday, the initiative started in 2003 that encourages people to make healthier choices for themselves and the environment. It's been gaining in popularity over the past couple of years, thanks in large part to food bloggers. Now, Turtle Island Foods would like you to also add a Tofurky Tuesday to your week's meal planning.

If you don't already know what Tofurky is, it's a fairly large product line of vegan meat alternatives. The most recognizable is the Tofurky Roast, a popular alternative for veg*ns for holiday meals. But there are also deli slices, ground Tofurky, "not dogs" and sausages as well. Turtle Island also makes tempeh, a product made of fermented soybeans. The smoky maple bacon is a delicious bacon substitute for BLTs.

Generally speaking, I'm not a huge fan of fake meats. Some products end up having a ridiculously long list of barely pronounceable (or understandable) ingredients in order to mimic the texture and flavor of meats. To me, that's a bit creepy. But Tofurky uses organic, non-GMO soybeans and environmentally safe processes to turn those beans into tofu and tempeh. And the lists of ingredients are a lot more straightforward than even a lot of actual processed meats. Plus, they're really good. They're an excellent source of lean, cholesterol-free protein.

Even better, Turtle Island Foods is one of a shrinking number of independently owned, but widely available health food product makers (Amy's Kitchen and Daiya are other notable large, independent food-producing companies). It’s frightening and disappointing to find out that so many vegetarian and “organic” food makers are owned by huge conglomerates that can make one wonder about the veracity of their claims and exactly what their profits are supporting. The Cornucopia Institute has a graphic that shows the ownership of the popular “organic” food companies.

So, if you’re thinking about adding Tofurky Tuesdays, you can sign up for a “care package” on their website to get you started. They've also got some great recipes for getting creative with Tofurky. Me? I’ve already got a Tofurky roast and gravy thawing in the fridge for tonight’s dinner.

Years ago, between my picky-eating teenage years and my picky-eating vegetarian years, I loved pork lumpia. I had a friend who was Filipino and every once in a while, her mother would make huge batches of lumpia and she'd have friends over to share. It was a big deal because lumpia are a bit labor-intensive to make; they're essentially a variant of Chinese spring rolls brought to the Phillipines by early Chinese settlers.

So my curiosity was piqued when I heard about Leap Year Lumpia, a small operation formed by some folks of Filipino ancestry who recognized the clear need to fill this void in the local food scene. (Aside: still need a Venezuelan place, please. Arepas!) Unsurprisingly, they quickly discovered that people really like lumpia.

And then I heard the best part: they make vegan lumpia! They offer both vegan and beef lumpia (with shrimp and pork in the works), which you can order directly from them in 24-piece packs. The Local Taco in Sylvan Park has been featuring the vegan lumpia as a special, and The Corner Pub in Green Hills is stocking the beef version. I'll be checking The Local Taco's Facebook page frequently to see if I can get some of those vegan lumpia. A couple of people have left positive comments, so perhaps they can find a permanent place on the menu.

I thought I could ignore it. Last week, a friend in Memphis posted a picture on Instagram of macaroni-and-cheese pizza. The photographer’s review? “Kind of OK.” All right, moving on.

But today, Betsy Phillips tweeted that her brother got one. It’s becoming a thing. Clearly, it’s getting closer to me, too. It knows what I like and it knows where to find me. Maybe I should try it? To get more information, I employed the use of a top-notch research tool. I believe the lay term for it is “Google.”

Google provided a lot of links, primarily for recipes. No, I’m looking for Tony’s Macaroni & Cheese Pizza. A better search yielded a link to this very informative and entertaining review from The Impulsive Buy.

The review starts with the author trying to determine just how this thing came to be. He imagines some Mad Men-style scenario whereby the evil genius ad man comes up with the winning ad and tells the client to create the product.

As much as I would love for this to be true, it’s probably not. The more likely scenario is that it’s the result of hours of focus groups and product marketing coming up with ideas for “product line extensions” that will “enable the company to benefit from synergies.” How do I know this? I worked at an advertising agency {mumble} years ago and spent the next {mumble} years in corporate marketing. Somewhere, there is not a smarmy ad man, but a smarmy middle manager taking credit for this idea from a sad and lonely marketing research analyst.

But I digress. The more important part of The Impulsive Buy’s post was the actual review.

Fish sauce is something you might not think about very often, but it should be a secret weapon in just about any home chef's pantry. Although it's not especially pleasant to sniff straight out of the bottle, fish sauce is a favorite ingredient to many Asian cuisines, particularly in Vietnam and Thailand. Made from the extract of salted fermented anchovies, just a few drops of fish sauce can add a delicious note of umami, the savory hidden fifth taste, into many of your favorite dishes.

My home-grilled burgers have taken on a whole new level of awesomeness since I started adding a tablespoon of Red Boat Fish Sauce to a pound of ground beef before shaping the patties. A dash of fish sauce in a scrambled egg adds subtle saltiness and basically turns the flavor up to eleven without overpowering like soy sauce might.

Why have I been using Red Boat? I discovered this product at a seminar by Chef Ed Lee during the Cochon event in Memphis. Red Boat was developed by a first-generation Vietnamese immigrant named Cuong Pham. He had been disappointed by the availability of good fish sauce since moving to the States and parlayed the money he made working in Silicon Valley into creating the best version he could produce.

Pham invested in a small factory on the island of Phu Quoc, long known as the source of the finest fish sauce in Vietnam. His Red Boat has a higher nitrogen content than other inferior sauces, which is an indication of the amount of proteins which lend complexity and richness to the sauce.

In last week’s Best of Nashville issue, I mentioned The Corner Market Catering (along with Lazzaroli Pasta Shop) as the best dinner at home. Corner Market has been around for a long time and is quite popular for well-prepared take-home dinners as well as catering, as the name implies. So I was surprised to see it left out of the listing for best caterer in the readers' poll. That’s not to say I disagree with the readers; on the contrary, Copper Kettle’s catering is outstanding and possibly even better than their in-restaurant fare.

So it seems to me that Nashville must really be lucky to have some great catering companies as well as markets that specialize in takeaway. I was curious to find out what some of the other options are, and I decided to narrow it to those that specialize in small orders. Specifically, caterers and takeaways that make it easy to pass off their food as your own. Occasions such as a new neighbor, new baby, hospitalized relative … a homecooked meal is a thoughtful gift, but my vegetable lasagna is getting a bit tired and I’ve never baked a casserole in my life.

So I posed the question on Twitter and got some great feedback. Publix, Something Special, The Picnic, and Puffy Muffin were all mentioned. Peanut Butter Paradise also noted that food trucks would be a good option and Coffee, Lunch replied that they have hummus, salads, and baked goods for takeaway. But I was most intrigued by the mention of McCabe Pub and their bulk menu. Not only do they have a huge list of desserts available along with their casseroles, but they will prepare the casseroles in your own pans. That, friends, is genius. “Oh, I just threw this little ol’ broccoli casserole together for you. It’s a secret family recipe. I hope you enjoy it. Let me know when you're finished with that casserole pan.” That is much better than scooping tray after tray of Stouffer’s frozen macaroni and cheese into one of your dishes to make it appear homemade. Though Stouffer's does make a damn fine mac-and-cheese (and it’s probably what you’ve had in many restaurants).

Any other tricks tips for serving or giving great homemade food without all the labor?

Bitester Nicki Wood pointed me in the direction of this short documentary, In Queso Fever: A Movie About Cheese Dip a couple of weeks ago (though it was produced several years ago). When I posted about it on my blog’s Facebook page, she made the startling revelation that she had never experienced cheese dip until college in Dallas. What? How was that possible? I mean, cheese dip has just always been around. Everywhere! Hasn’t it?

According to the documentary, notsomuch. It’s largely a regional phenomenon that’s strongest at its epicenter in Little Rock (!!!) but has spread its way from there, particularly with the rise in popularity/ubiquity of Tex-Mex restaurants. Where I grew up in Memphis, you just did not have a party — no matter how chi-chi — without Ro*Tel (cheese dip). In fact, I thought Ro*Tel was just a name for spicy cheese dip until my teen years when I discovered that it was the brand of canned diced tomatoes and chilis added to Velveeta to get the ultimate party cheese dip.

Also, Memphis-area Tex-Mex restaurant chain Pancho’s produced and sold its cheese dip (along with Tropicale dressing and salsas) through local grocery stores. It was always a suitable substitute for Ro*Tel at a gathering. You can still find it in the refrigerator of most any good Memphian at any given time. I buy Pancho’s dip every time I go back home to visit. I’ve even brought some back upon request for commenter/blogger loveandnachos, who also became a fan of Pancho's while dating a Memphian in college. I've also introduced it to my husband, who can now clear out a container like a Memphian. But he likes it heated. No. That's not how you do it.

For more about Pancho's (and a recipe for the Tropicale dressing), check out this post from a couple of years ago on my site. In the meantime, did you grow up with cheese dip? Did they have it in Kentucky? Alabama? Is it some kind of Delta poutine? I just can't imagine a childhood without it. By the way, it's really good on fries.