Seduce me with...

HALLIE EPHRON: ... fish.

Smoked fish to be precise.
I'm not a sweets person, though dark chocolate is nice, and I always have room for a really good macaron. But my favorite treat in the world is a great piece of smoked fish -- smoked salmon or trout or whitefish -- preferably with cream cheese on a piece of pumpernickel bread from Russ and Daughters in Manhattan.

For desert, a piece of chocolate babka please, like the ones my mother-in-law used to get in Flatbush -- there's a close match available at Arcade Bakery in lower Manhattan. Find an insider's guide to NYC babkas: The Best Chocolate Babka in NYC, 2015 Edition.

So what's your weakness? A creamy chocolate truffle? A glass of aged Zin? Icy fresh oysters? Seduce you with... what?

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: Oooh, I liked smoked fish, too, Hallie -- whitefish salad or smoked salmon, especially on a good New York bagel. Also love pate. And olives. And good cheese with fruit. (I'd rather have a cheese plate at a restaurant than dessert....) And a nice glass of wine and the occasional martini.

LUCY BURDETTE: Since I'm on a low-sodium, no alcohol diet right now (sigh), a lot of things look delicious! I love smoked trout, used to make an easy, elegant hors d'oeuvres by mixing dill and lemon zest into cream cheese, and then putting about a teaspoon of that on an endive leaf with a piece of smoked trout on top. Sadly, smoked trout packs 670 to 680 milligrams of sodium into a 2-ounce portion. Another favorite, hot pepper jelly cheese puffs.

But I did make a delicious low-sodium almond cake for Easter, and found some yummy homemade caramels at the Key West Artisan Market yesterday. For now, that will make me happy:).

RHYS BOWEN:  If you want to seduce me offer me a spread of oysters, crab claws, cold lobster and a glass of prosecco and I'm yours. I'm also not big on sweets. I do love Creme brûlée , and Cadburys chocolate before it was bought by Hersheys.

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, what a lovely question. Pizza. (Completely. Extra cheese and pepperoni.) Bluefish pate.  Steak with blue cheese. Prosecco, absolutely. Really great red wine.  If you offer me something sweet, it;s easy for me to pass. But guacamole on a  salty chip? Yes, indeedy.  How about a yummy crusty baguette with unsalted butter? AND red wine. Oh. I swoon. (And toast with peanut butter.)

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Add me to the Prosecco-lovers' list. For me, the seduction factor is the combination of food and place.

Fish and chips is a tasty meal anywhere, but batter-fried haddock and hand-cut fries sitting on the deck of a seafood joint on the Maine coast - that's heaven. Ditto a traditional ploughman's lunch with sharp cheddar, crusty bread, softened butter and pickle chutney served in a dark London pub with a half cider on the side.

In New York City, it would be something cool and new in the Village, like Cuban-Carribbean fusion or authentic Korean, followed by a cab trip to midtown to catch a show. In the Bahamas, it would be conch, conch and more conch, served at a shady table planted in white sand, chased down by ridiculously fruity drinks. 

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Funny, there are no big sweet eaters here. And we all are very much on the same page. I love smoked fish. (I had the most fabulous smoked whitefish dip at a funky little restaurant in central Florida when I was touring with the Todds. We ate it at every meal.)

I love pate. (I dream of chicken liver pate from Carluccio's in London). Love English sharp cheddar cheese and pickle (chutney) sandwiches. Oh! Oysters and Prosecco! Yum. Crisp white wines and maybe, very occasionally, a small glass of really, really good red wine. Maybe with a good French baguette and Stilton. Charcuterie, with salami and prosciutto and olives.

And one last seduce-me-with-- fried oysters from Pappadeux (a family-owned Texas based chain) with their creole coleslaw and hot French baguettes. Yum...

HALLIE: It's very hard to put this blog to bed and go into my kitchen where I am making noodle pudding for dinner when now all I want is a dozen oysters, a glass of Prosecco, and an enormous white fish chub. 

What are you lusting after?

How do you say HOORAY??

HALLIE EPHRON: I have three bottles of champagne in the fridge. Two containers of caviar. I'm waiting for a reason to celebrate, even though I routinely tell aspiring writers DON'T WAIT. Celebrate every milestone along the way!!

Because you don't want your next of kin (much as you may adore them) drinking a toast to your memory with the champagne you never broke out.

My favorite foods for celebrating are champagne or prosecco (which seems less likely to give me a headache.) Shrimp cocktail. Lobster. Caviar. Fresh mango. Grilled lamb, served rare with egg-lemon sauce. Or a steak that someone else cooks. Rare. With bernaise sauce.

What are you go-to foods to celebrate and what does it take to get you to pop the cork? Eat out or eat in? And do you get dressed up??

RHYS BOWEN: We always used to go out to celebrate but we are finding it harder and harder to get a meal as good as the one we cook ourselves. Too often we spend a lot of money and are disappointed.

Champagne and oysters are always top of the list. Also I love lobster (but won't cook that myself and actually feel guilty eating it.) Scallops, jumbo prawns when they have flavor. Lamb--rack, leg, tiny chops all fabulous. For dessert--if I'm eating out it's creme brulee. At home something that someone else has cooked, or strawberries flambe over ice cream.

I've had plenty to celebrate this week--apart from leg of lamb on Easter Sunday. I finished the first draft of the next Molly book, City of Darkness and Light, AND my Amazon rank went to #8 in mystery and thrilled and #26 overall. Of course it didn't stay there, but it was good while it lasted.

And Hallie, you'll be celebrating all next week with your fabulous new book!

HALLIE: So fantastic, Rhys! Sounds like it's time to unpack the tiaras! I'll wear one, too!!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I'm always looking for excuses to celebrate! I do keep champagne in the fridge, or proseco (like you, Hallie, it's less likely to give me a headache.) And like Rhys, I love champagne and oysters, but there's nowhere very convenient at home to get good fresh oysters.

Also, like Rhys, we don't do fancy restaurants much these days, as it's usually both really expensive and disappointing. Maybe I should start stocking caviar...

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Yup, I'm a prosecco girl, too! I don't usually think about celebrating with food, for some reason. (Although all your lists sound delicious and I will happily join you.)

I think about this from time to time, because I'm a saver. Oh, we'll save that champagne for...something. But if you save, the line always moves, and nothing is ever important or special enough. So for instance, we got a lot of wonderful wine from my mother's estate. My first thought was to save it for  "special occasions." But then I decided--no. We're drinking it NOW--and we do, and we toast my mother every time. 

Yes, there's a lot to celebrate. More to come!


JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Like Hallie and Debs, I love champagne now even more than I did when young, because it doesn't give me a headache. That's worth celebrating right there! When I got onto The List for the first time, Ross pulled out a beautiful chilled bottle of Dom Perignon, which we matched with take-out Greek pizza. For me, the essence of celebrating is a delightful treat you wouldn't otherwise get, which, in my case, is take-out pizza. 

The other thing we like to do as a family? Watch movies. The celebratory feeling comes from knowing you've already accomplished X, and therefore can kick back with a film and kill an evening absolutely guilt-free.

ROSEMARY HARRIS: We're a Be Here Now kind of household - and not just because my hubby was instrumental in the publication of that book. The snow has melted! Yippee! We're not sick!! Woo-hoo!! And we tend to celebrate these landmark occasions with champagne or prosecco.

There's something about that pop.. the bubbles and flutes...
On the food front...not so much. All the food I used to think of as celebratory - creme brulee, pate - I don't eat anymore. These days a big bowl of buttered popcorn could do the trick.

But I digress... to go with the bubbly, caviar or smoked salmon with capers on tiny pumpernickel bread works nicely for me.

LUCY BURDETTE: Hooray for you Rhys! such great news...and can't wait for Hallie's book to pop! I'll come to dinner at any of your places, except when you're serving lamb....

For me, it's all about the cake:). Chocolate cake, yellow cake with whipped cream and strawberries, those are the top contenders for a celebration at our house.

HALLIE: This is reminding me that guilty pleasures are another way to celebrate. Bring on the hot dogs and sauerkraut, Cheetohs and barbecued potato chips! And while we're at it, how about a chocolate malted milkshake. Once in a while, why not?

When you're celebratory, what do you do, what do you wear, and most of all, how do you toast your own good fortune?