NVNVGirl

Have you checked Ebay? They always have tons of those cookbooks up for auction. I myself wanted The Good Cook series and obtained almost the entire set in just a month or so....and of course, now there are complete sets up for auction, but to tell you the truth, there's a couple of volumes I know I'll never use, so I am very happy. I have seen tho often, the Foods of the World series (i'm sorry...or whatever it's called . If you go there, just type in the name of the series with quotes around it....you'll often find lots of them available! Good luck!

Just an aside here ~ soybeans are harvested only once a year I believe and you can buy them frozen in almost any grocery store (at least in CA you can) if you don't have a friend who farms and grows them. They taste as good as fresh (or very nearly so) and cook in 5-6 min in the manner described previously. Be sure to use kosher salt on them, regular table salt isn't as good! Enjoy...they are one of my most favorite snacks!

My husband, no matter where we are or what we are eating, rarely puts the napkin on his lap...occasionally he puts it over one leg....and EVERY SINGLE TIME, he spills or drops something on his pants or his shirt....then gets totally pissed off as if it's the most unlikely thing that could have possibly happened to him. OH...sorry....how'd I get on that subject?....you were talking about women's breasts

Yeah, what tommy said! I just did a salmon edamame pasta salad that rocked. But my favorite way to eat them is still just boiled with kosher salt........

One of my favorite pizzas is cheese (guess it's mozzarella..whatever they use at the pizza places), lots of garlic and pineapple. And sometimes add anchovies to it. And goat cheese, basil and roasted garlic, grape tomatoes

I want to come to your place to eat and drink! This is my favorite type of PN....lush and full; not sweet or thin and beautifully balanced. So difficult to find, and even more unfortunate, so costly. Thanks for this review...will have to check it out on my foray this afternoon to the wine shop! BTW, your meal sounds heavenly!

Oh man, you're killin' me! Love chicken livers with chives! All the rest sounds good too! Last nite had fried calamari sprinkled with fresh parmesan and lemon with a sriracha aoli.... YUM!

Nigella has a great recipe for zucchini fritters with mint and feta. Frances Mayes (IN TUSCANY) has a great recipe for zucchini with lemon pesto. Let me know if you want the recipes and I'll type them out for you.

MM ~ I have thought about that rubber ringy stuff....I guess part of the problem is that we've got this gorgeous looking place and don't want to make it look industrial (believe me, I have learned the error of my ways on this house) at least, not too obviously. I have a couple of small rugs, but I am all over the kitchen (maybe it is a little too big but I sure have a place for practically EVERYTHING I want in here!) and they just dont' seem to help. I'm not being a whiner really, my passion in life is cooking and entertaining, but I am really able to just hobble around after being on my feet for several hours cooking....I would NEVER ever have imagined that granite is so incredibly hard on your entire body ...just not something you take into consideration when you buy your first home and the model looks so great with all the granite. Duhhhh...we know now, and I'll never do this again. But for the time being, maybe some sheets of that rubber ring stuff and some attractive rugs over it at least around the island and the stove? Am I the only dummy who's done this?

Oh dear! Now I AM in a quandry! We just had this place built less than 3 yrs ago and spent a fortune for the granite flooring (well, it sure LOOKED great in the model), and I can't even imagine what would happen if I told my husband I need to remove the floor and start over! I was hoping it was maybe something I could just put down like a mat or something. Altho, I am so jealous of your cork floor.... live and learn (but how come I can't do it a little more inexpensively?? And I'm all for Martha Stewart do it yourself projects, but I lean a little more to the fabric bookmarks and the sand filled book weights....flooring is just a little too over my head, LOL! Altho....find me a good D I Y course on repairing damage done by Moluccan cockatoos to wood doors and window frames and I"M all ears!!!

I'll go along with Melkor's suggestions and add a couple more...Angele and Celadon. Both right next to each other in old/new downtown area (near ZuZu's too)and on the Napa River. Don Gio's is the most consistent place I think I've ever eaten and I've eaten there a lot....and it's in a lovely spot too for being so accessible. I love the atmosphere at Angele and the food is pretty darned good too. You can check out their menus and wine lists if you like at (www).angele.us; (www).bistrodongiovanni.com; (www).celadonnapa.com; (www).zuzu.com; the parens are so that I'm not providing a direct link...some places don't allow direct links and I dont' want to piss anyone off. Have a great trip!

I have made the chile from the March/April issue of Cook's Illustrated magazine several times. It's excellent basic chili billed as "supermarket ingredients, deep flavor" and it's right on. My husband loves it and he's a chili eating machine...said it's the best he's ever had. Very basic, but very good. Would be happy to post the recipe if it's permissable or provide the link to it if it's online.

Suzanne ~ OMG, I had to check out that pluot recipe....I am on my way to the grocery IMMEDIATELY to get some, LOL! Holy moley, that looks absolutely incredible! So add that to what did you cook tonite for me Thanks so much for posting the link!

Wow, now I wish I had checked this post before planning dinner....that chicken looks just beautiful, Helena! Gonna have to try that soon! Tonite we'll be having Chicken breasts with a sundried tomato and garlic crust, spinach, basil and ricotta puree, orzo pilaf with green onions and parmesan and probably lemon sorbet. Hope it all turns out; dont' get too much of an opportunity to cook for hubby.

Forgive my misspelling...make that NegrA Modelo

I like a lot of the microbrewery's beers from the Pacific Northwest...so many of them! But I also love Anchor Steam and Negro Modelo.

Suzanne, considering that probably about 90% of everyone who was around us was gay, I just felt that it was an incredibly amazingly stupid thing to say aside from his obvious asshole-itis. We coulda been killed! I've tried to make better choices in my life since then, esp when I fly across the country with someone

AHA! I knew there was something out there that might help me out! Where do I get this cork? I've never seen it before. Does it come in big sheets or what? I'm clueless

I use the plastic bags for the kitty litter (sometimes I need to double them since a lot of them are sort of hole-y) and I use the paper ones (love the Trader Joe paper bags with the handles) for recycling...then take them to the garage where recycling bin is and dump and reuse if possible. For the person who thinks the plastic garbage bags by glad and Hefty are a ripoff....we live in a Planned Urban Development (country club) and we can put out as many bags of garbage as we want as long as they aren't over 50 lbs each. I have animals and large parrots and I am very happy to donate to the Glad/Hefty coffers....No way do I want to be hauling 4 different garbage containers in and out and in and out....it's all in your perspective I think. In normal circumstances, I don't think I'd be buying so many plastic bags for garbage.

Pineapple and mint, no doubt about it....grilled with lime, pepper, honey and mint....one of my most favorite things in the whole wide world !

I'm not sure how many stores they have now, but I really like Palomino..which I believe, started in Seattle. I've only been to one, but several times and everything has been good about it...reasonable prices, really really good food, great service, and lovely environment. I'll go along too, with all the Quizno fans! Wow, I didn't realize you could get such a great sandwich at a chain place! Another good thing about moving from N. to S. CA! And one thing I must admit I am missing down here in the desert....oh..make it two things....Jamba Juice (my all time favorite) and Hi-Tech burrito.....man, I miss those things! There's a Jamba Juice in Palm Springs, but I want my daily fix!

Nigella Lawson's zucchini fritters...it's another mint thing that sounded a little odd, but oh, man......what a great way to sacrifice a few zuchs!

OH MY GOD..it makes me cringe to remember this, but I was having a lovely, almost perfect dinner with my ex-bf at the restaurant at Little Palm Island.....it couldn't have been more perfect....except that the service was a tad slow, but it was such a gorgeous place and I was so in love .....I couldn't have cared less, however, my bf was not getting the attention he thought he was worthy of and was in a huff over not getting our dessert by the time the 9 PM ferry went back to Little Torch Key....even tho we could have taken the 10 PM one....everything seemed ok till we got to the hostess stand where he told her (and this is verbatim) "this is the worst fucking service I've ever had"....I felt like I'd been mysteriously transported to some horror flick....we got onto the ferry (where all the other passengers had heard his comment and one of them (a smart ass, but I thought he was pretty funny) said "so, how did you like your dinner?".....and he proceeded to tell them (verbatim and I'm not kidding)...."What you PEOPLE fail to understand, is that I spend more money entertaining people in restaurants in a year than you MAKE"....OMG...I was horrified and wanted to climb into a hole and pull the earth over my head..... But then it got even better....we were at the Tides in South Beach having cocktails on the front patio and he asked the waiter for a margarita on the rocks....to make a long ugly story short, he didnt' like his margarita and proceeded to tell the waiter that he KNEW that it was the wrong drink and he must have thought he was some dumb tourist and didn't know any better and he wasn't going to take that kind of treatment from any FAGGOT! Double OMG....I told him then and there...this is it buddy...you don't treat people who are trying to help you that way and I was outta there THAT NIGHT. Gosh, guess I shoulda known when he was so awful to the Little Palm people. And then I'm sure almost everyone has a story about a child at a restaurant....my little 3 yr old nephew I took to a local place in Yountville where I know everyone at the restaurant concerned...I'm just going to get something to go and sit down to have a glass of wine while I wait....for SOME reason, he chooses that time to ask me, in front of the bartender and several other lucky diners, "Aunt Seana, how come Mommy has hair on her potty thing?" UGH!....Maybe that's why i don't have kids...... or a boyfriend

Wow, Melkor, do you live anywhere near Palm Desert??? I wanna be with you when the big one hits, LOL!You've got the whole disaster thing put into perspective in my book....champagne to wash down whatever has been cooked in the brick oven! I wonder if I have a brick oven built in the backyard (and it's on the list at the moment) if it would be usable in case of disaster. And I do have to laugh at everyone who has said that one of their emergency items is a "manual" can opener....I've got ONLY a manual can opener; man, does that make me feel so out of it!

This is a great thread, whoever started it! Ever since 9/11, I have tried to maintain supplies "just in case"....cash like several other people said in small bills and lots of change, I have gallons of water on shelves (I've dedicated the hall coat closet to emergency supplies other than food), paper napkins, toilet paper, baby wipes (no, I don't have a baby, but for cleaning up hands if they get dirty), lots of canned food that can be eaten without cooking...fruit, veggies, chili, and crackers, canned fish, chips, cookies, power bars, powdered protein mixes and of course, GU. I have two of my large athletic bags filled with a couple of pairs of socks, t-shirts, sweatshirt, jacket, gloves, old running shoes, baseball cap, (and I'm embarrassed to admit, some of my favorite cologne..well, I mean, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!), hair thingys, and just essential stuff in case we have to take off which I have packed for myself and dh and stored in our closet. And then the usual....batteries in fridge, flashlights, old telephone, battery operated radios and boomboxes (plus external speakers for the cd player....hey, I've gone thru some floods and it's much more fun with music!), and I've always got tons of candles all over. Plus I've got carriers for all my animals and extra food for them . I'd love to have a campstove and lantern and a few other things, but my husband thinks I"m insane and going overboard.....I say, better safe than sorry......