A month or so ago he dropped a note that he was trying to put together a holiday cookbook from his site.

Knowing some of the people who have items at JayTheJoke.com, I wasn't sure the cookbook would ever become anything.

But there it was earlier this week, posted here.

And behold, yours truly received top billing, for whatever reason.

My submission was ``Wrapped Dove Breasts on the Grill,'' fresh bone-in dove breasts with jalapeno halves wrapped in bacon and grilled.

A typical plating is pictured above from a few years ago.

Long-time readers know food and the outdoors top my list of interests, right up there with baseball and the weather.

In another life, I can't decide if I want to come back as the late Billy Martin, Pat Bruno, the food critic for the Sun-Times, or Tom Skilling, Chicago's weather guru. You can't make up how giddy Skilling gets about storms, and I love it.