Pouncy

I'd go for the mozzarella, bacon, onion, garlic, and spinach, with a light smaer of sauce underneath.

Stupid Pasta Trick is pasta, butter, McCormick's garlic and herb spice blend, parmesan, and occasionally some bits of beef, corn, or peas. It's the Nobody wants to Cook dinner. (Or at least until I went on this low carb diet!)

When I was younger, I generally ordered off the appetizer menu and got a side dish. My brother on the other hand, is still eating fettucine alfredo at upscale places. We spent three moves explaining to each hotel staff that really, all he's going to eat is cheerios, PB&J, or plain pasta with butter, while I was ordering clam chowder, cobb salad, and calamari at 8.

I only manage to plan menus for special dinners, but map out the prep and shopping a few days in advance. The rest of the week, I try to find time to stop at the stores (military commissary, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, the meat counter at the Mexi-mart up the street...) and grab 2-3 days of meat, come home, freeze it and pull it out as I have time each morning. Sadly we are not as much of a veggie house as might be good for us.

My grandma makes a lime jello salad with fruit flavoured mini marshmallows, pistachios, apples, maraschino cherries and cool whip. It MUST be molded in a Pyrex dish the shape of an apple or it's not authentic. The only ones in my family who can eat this are my mom and her brothers, b/c they grew up with it. Or try Wacky Cake, that Depression-Era recipe with vinegar baking soda and margarine.

I keep Trader Joe's Creamy Basil dressing in my fridge for use on scrambled eggs, along with Newman's Own Caesar dressing. Both are multipurpose and seasoned just about right for me. Occasionally I'll mix some pureed sundried tomatoes in the creamy basil, too.

When I drag people around for foodie and wine trips, we hit up Chateau Ste. Michelle, then head out to Fall City and get lunch or dinner at Small Fry's in Fall City, then head up to Snoqualmie Falls, and then Snoqualmie Brewing Company. Not the most wine-oriented of itienararies, but it's entertaining. When you go to Snoqualmie Brewing Company, be sure you don't accidentally walk into the Christian cafe next door! Me being used to Stone Brewing Co. down here in San Diego, it was a bit of a surprise.

I have a genetic weakness for the potato in all of it's many fried, baked, boiled, mashed, whipped, roasted, and sauteed forms. Seriously, tatertots with all sorts of spices on them, Tim's Cascade Potato Chips, Terra Salt and Pepper chips, Walker's Ready Salted crisps, duchesse potatoes, I love em all. Clam strips - I've been able to down huge quantities and not get sick of them. Balsamic mushrooms and onions. Vanilla Coke, Henry Weinahrd's Root Beer and Snapple Rspberry Iced Tea. I'll crave something, go nuts on it and then not be able to eat it for weeks or years afterwardswithout getting a yucky feeling on the back on my tongue. Like when I was eating French's Fried Onions as snack food, or had a pack of almonds every week for a year. 8 years of cherry-flavoured Septra has ruined cherries for me, and I'm pretty picky about minestrone soup.

My experiences thus far: _dorms_ The girl and I pretty much got our separate food (we had meal plans) and asked to mooch. The unauthorized mooching occured mainly w/my stash of laundry quarters. We were pretty cool about sharing, and she'd get me back for her half if I did a real food run. _1st roomie_ We went to the grocery store together and split the bill right down the middle, 50/50. When my boyfriend moved in, he started chipping in as well. We ate the same things (Kraft Mac N Cheese, Diet Coke, Snackwells Devils Food Cookies), so there wasn't a whole lot of disparity. _boyfriend n' me_ This is where the boy and I became foodies. From Food for Less to Trader Joe's to Whole Foods. We generally split it 50/50 when I have the $ to do so (me being a student and him being full-time employed by the Navy), and when he's gone, I pay for my own food (Ramen and Humboldt Fog, you can see where my priorities lie!) _boyfriend, me n'roomie_ The roomie eats his own food. The inventor of the Stupid Pasta Trick , he eats oatmeal, Kudos, pasta, and iced tea. When we cook, he'll eat it most of the time, but doesn't keep any of his food int he kitchen. I don't get it. When his wife is home from her post in South Korea, they go out to eat and leave the leftovers in the fridge until she leaves. I'm the cook, and the cause of the mess, generally. The roomie empties the dishwasher (my most hated kitchen chore), and the bf takes the trash down after a few days of prodding. We get along all right.

Where I work, we don't have cubicles, but a small prep kitchen for the few baked goods our shop sells (Cornish pasties, shepherd's pie, raisin scones). I've got a few packets of apple cider mix, a jar of macadamia nuts, and a thing of Happy Family Indonesian ramen stashed away in the kitchen for days when I just can't take the smell from the surrounding restaraunts anymore! One day I brought in a California Pizza Kitchen BBQ Chicken pizza and baked in in our miniscule oven, and it was the best work lunch I'd ever had. Smell is not really an issue for us, anything we make doesn't smell nearly as pungent as the onions we bake for our pasties and pies. We have a Meditteranean bakery behind us, Shakespeare's Pub and Grilleto one side, a gyro place directly downstairs, and Saffron, Su-Mei Yu's restaraunt downstairs and to one side. It's olfactory torture, and we're all sick to death of what we bake, even though it's free or discounted.

Seeing as I live in San Diego... _Cheap but fantastic:_ -most local hole in the wall taco shops (mine is Humberto's at 25th and Broadway) -Point Loma Seafoods -Mona Lisa's Italian Deli -Gen Lai Sen Chinese food, but mostly for their egg drop soup, the best I've ever had! -Mardi Gras Deli and Market -Garden Grill's gyro sandwiches -Bennigan's for potato soup (eveything else is decent but overpriced) -Pizza Port for pizza, beer, and great caesar salad. Go for lunch and avoid the screaming hordes of rugrats and drunken surfers. _Not too bad in terms of price_ -Sushi Itto (my favorite gyoza in town, good miso, great rolls!) -South Park Bar and Grill -Shakespeare's Pub (get the sausage roll and apple crisp) -The Field, an Irish pub in the Gaslamp -La Sevilla for tapas or paella (the paella gets pricy but delish) -Lotus Thai Cuisine (my favorite phad thai!) _Wallet-Ouchies_ -The Sky Room at La Valencia in La Jolla - French, expensive, jacket and tie required -Blue Point Coastal Cuisine - For this, I forgive the Cohns for the Corvette Diner -Asti's Ristorante -de'Medici (3 out of 4 roomates agreed this was good - my boyfriend said it was a ripoff and his meal was not of sufficient quality. They took us at the last minute on the last reservation and the service was great, so I'd go back, but he wouldn't) -Tratoria La Bocca - fantastic gnocchi, steak, and carpaccio, I am dying to go back _Guilty Pleasures_ -Cinnabon at Horton Plaza -California Pizza Kitchen at Fashion Valley -The Spaghetti Factory in Gaslamp -Momo Sushi Buffet in Gaslamp -McDonald's at Lindbergh Field (they have such a high turnover that the fries are always crisp and fresh, not sitting under a heat lamp for half an hour) -Rubio's on College Avenue for the crispy shrimp tacos -Night and Day Cafe on Coronado

56, all stuffed in one little Target bookshelf...

Just about anything would be better than I've got now! I have 2 levels of dream kitchen, the first serious attempt at a kitchen remodel (this requires me to have a decent size living space first), and the I'm a millionaire kitchen. _First shot_ -BIG side by side fridge/freezer with filtered ice maker and slideout shelves, chest freezer and spare fridge in the garage. -U shaped counters with movable island (but must have locking wheels, unlike the one at my work!), electrical outlets on each wall -Pan drawers, and pantry with slide-out shelves -Nice big microwave for melting butter and other odd jobs, mounted over the stove -Good exhaust system so my vegan friend can come in the house after I make steak without throwing up -a dedicated appliance counter for my cuisinart and kitchenaid -tile floor - SO tired of sticky linoleum! -BIG dishwasher that can hold broiler pans and such -pegboard ala Julia Child to hold measuring cups and spatulas and such - I have a mini version now and it works SO well! -HUGE spice rack with doors to keep the spices from UV damage - got to be able to accomodate the weird sizes of jars that I wind up with -A sugar/flour drawer: deep drawer divided down the middle, sugar bin on one side, flour on the other. My grandma has this, and it's why I want to buy her house! -GAS stove with 4-6 burners, wide enough to accomodate a few large pots and pans and most importantly level! (A feature not available in San Diego rentals ) -Wall mounted knife rack with good knives (though I do have a fairly decent hodgepodge of knives) -Kitchen TV so I can watch Food Network, Cartoon Network or the news while I cook -Bookcase for all my cookbooks _The millionaire kitchen_ -The same basic layout from above -6 burner cooktop -Second sink next to fridge -Beer/wine storage (cellar and in-kitchen fridge) -Professional ice cream machine (gotta have the froyo!) -Deli slicer -Kitchen computer with my recipe program and internet hookup -Breakfast bar -Second oven (or an Aga) -And most of all, cleaning staff! Seems like a bit much now that I look it over, but I love to cook!