Congratulations to Merrill for winning her second A&M Holiday Smackdown with her recipe for Mulled White Wine with Pear Brandy! And Amanda may have lost, but she still gets a Q&A for being a good sport (read on below).

Winner's Q&A with Merrill
- How do you plan to celebrate your victory?
- Gleefully, with lots and lots of hot toddies.
- In what other contests do you think you could take Amanda?
- Anything revolving around butter. Or cheese.
- In which ones would she trounce you?
- Anything having to do with Meyer lemons. Also, pretty much any sort of baking contest.
- What's the best thing you've tasted recently?
- My mother made a delicious butternut squash puree for Christmas: it just had butter, maple syrup and orange juice/zest, and it was topped with some toasted pecans. Simple but perfect.
- Describe your most spectacular kitchen disaster.
- Right after I moved into my current apartment (about 4 years ago), a pot of oil I'd been heating on the stove for deep frying spontaneously combusted when I lifted the lid (NEVER heat oil with the lid on, people!) and created a column of fire. It was so hot that I couldn't get close enough to it to put it out (mistake #2: having only a mini fire extinguisher on hand), so I called 911. In the seven minutes it took the fire truck to arrive, the microwave above my stove had melted into a grotesque, Dali-like sculpture, and my kitchen cabinets had totally scorched, filling the entire apartment with a layer of dark soot. (Even the medicine cabinet in my bathroom at the other end of the apartment had a fine layer of soot inside it.) I couldn't use my kitchen for 3 months.
- What's your least favorite food?
- Fishy/slimy seafood.
- Who is your culinary hero?
- Amanda! And Laurie Colwin -- I love that she cooked simple, great food -- nothing too fancy -- and she really had such a great writing voice.

Loser's Q&A with Amanda
- So, how does it feel to lose the A&M Smackdown 2 years in a row?
- I bow to the master.
- How do you plan to console yourself?
- I plan to drink loads of Merrill's hot toddies, until I can no longer remember that I lost.
- In what contests do you think you could take Merrill?
- Well, let's see. Nothing with cheese or creme fraiche. She'd school me for sure. But maybe scallops -- she doesn't like scallops! Weak spot!
- In which ones would she (continue to) trounce you?
- See above.
- What's the best thing you've tasted recently?
- Spicy minced duck salad at Kin Shop, Harold Dieterle's new restaurant in Manhattan.
- Describe your most spectacular kitchen disaster.
- This contest. Clearly!
- What was on the menu at your last dinner party?
- It was an engagement party for Merrill and (now her husband) Jonathan. Merrill's ricotta crostini. Corn soup. Slow roasted cod with romesco. Roasted potatoes. Peach tart.
- What's your least favorite food?
- Caviar
- Who is your culinary hero?
- Johnny Apple and Merrill
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