NVNVGirl

One of my favorite recipes using leeks (I do believe that they're best when involved with cream ) http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/104631 Here's another recipe that is a great side dish with roasted meats: Leek and Onion Tart 2 yellow onions 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter 12 oz. leeks, thinly sliced 2 cups self rising flour 1/2 cup Crisco 2/3 cup water Salt and freshly ground black pepper Preheat oven to 400 deg. F. Melt butter in a pan and saute leeks and onions until soft. Season well. Mix the flour, fat and water together in a bowl to make a soft but sticky dough. Mix into the leek mixture in the pan. Place in a greased shallow ovenproof dish and bake for 30 minutes, or until brown and crispy on top. Serve sliced, as a vegetable accompaniment.

Sounds like my kind of evening! Life just doesnt' get any better than getting a bunch of friends together for an impromptu evening of wine, good food and good and new friends....you are blessed, you know I'm with Brad~ I'm envious!

The best traditional benedict I ever had was at the Bel Air Hotel in LA. Had one at the Kenwood Inn in Kenwood, Ca that was fabulous too. The most nontraditional one was the veggie benedict they do at the Inner Garden Cafe in Glen Ellen, CA.

Actually, I just read something recentlyabout the farmed salmon not being good for you....apparently, farmed salmon are fed fish meal that's made from smaller fish and contains large amounts of fish oil. Both ingredients may be contaminated with industrial pollutants, including PCB's and dioxin. Farmed salmon contains 16 times as much PCB as wild salmon (according to the Environmental Working Group in Washington, DC, a consumer organization). They say that if you're going to eat farmed salmon, do so no more than once a month! That was news to me...I was eating it like once a week at least

In Rancho Mirage, there's a place called Shame on The Moon. Same people own a place in Palm Springs called Blame it On Midnight Sort of odd names for restaurants, but I love the song. The restaurants are also delightful.

One of my favorite way to cook pork chops (and I love pork chops any way!) is to stuff them with a mixture of : 1 cup marie callendar's cheese and garlic croutons (but you can use any kind you like) 2 Tbsp. dried minced onion a bunch of chili powder Melted butter to mix it all together Stuff that into the chops, close with wooden toothpicks Melt a jar of apple jelly in a pan and mix with lemon juice....to your taste, but I usually use the juice from one or two lemons. Then I grill the chops, basting them with the apple jelly/lemon juice mixture. Best cooked indirect method, turning about every 10-15 min if they're really thick. The basting mixture sort of caramelizes on it....yummy! The stuffing recipe originally calls for chopped peanuts in it too, but I tried it once and didnt' care for it.

6 Weeks...and I LOVE wine...in fact, it's about the only alcoholic beverage I drink ...I occasionally have a Margarita with Mexican food or rarely a Martini....where I live now, sometimes it's hard to find a decent wine by the glass and I'd rather drink soda water and cranberry than drink crappy wine. The weird thing was, that when I started back drinking wine, it all tasted bad to me . What a huge disappointment! That's ok tho....I kept at it and now it's starting to taste better ...but I'm surprised that after drinking at least one bottle of wine a day for probably the last 20 yrs, that it didnt' just come right back to me. I have significantly cut back because I figured it just isn't that healthy to drink that much every day.....wow....what a concept!

OMG that must be why I don't like swordfish to begin with....I KNEW there was something about it that made me gag. Thanks for the visual, Katie,

Pesto and goat cheese stuffed chicken breast Lemon Rosemary Rice Beringer SB Not very balanced, but it was good

This might be a little too far out, but you can use granite squares or maybe slate and set them on something (I've seen bricks used) and a candle like they use for chafing dishes under it. Also, I think you can heat rock salt and set dishes in it and it will help keep things hot.

Although all the fish is so fresh there in any restaurant, you can always go down to the harbor...it's just off the Queen K highway as you are going into town (Kona) from the airport. My favorite places to eat there (aside from the big hotel restaurants on the Kohala coast which are all FABULOUS) in town are Bubba Gumps (you can watch the sea turtles if you sit outside on the deck), Huggos (not Huggos On the Rocks), maitais and pupus at the Kona Inn, and Roy's at the King Shops. At almost any grocery store there, they sell incredibly fresh poke of all types in the meat/fish dept. The Safeway on Henry Rd is one of my favorites, but the Sack-n-Save in Lanihau Center is also very good. Have a great time....it's almost Ironman time! If you're there on Oct. 16th don't miss it...you're going to be competing with a lot of triathletes and their families for reservations and space, so make sure to secure your reservations for anything that you really want to do! If you aren't aware, there will be thousands of athletes there for a couple of weeks before and after the race...plan accordingly if you aren't one of them

I haven't made it to Wong's main restaurant either yet....have done the Pineapple Room and it was fabulous (even tho it's sort of in the Macy's store). We had excellent service and the wine selections were great. If you're in Honolulu again, do check out John Dominus.....beyond compare!

Sourdough bread, swiss cheese, and the parmesan crust on the outside...actually, to be honest, I only eat grilled cheese sandwiches with tuna in them...so it's actually a tuna melt.

Sushi on Sunday at Hibachi in Rancho Mirage...their filet mignon volcano is to die for as well as their shrimp tempura roll. The Asahi beer wasn't bad either. Mexican food at Del Rio's in Palm Desert on Friday~ had a tacoburrito that was delicious. Hubby had an enchilada ranchera he said was the best thing he's had there (we eat there regularly) Shame On The Moon in Rancho Mirage~ had salmon that was just perfect. Everything they serve is delicious.

That's revolting! Although, I had a friend a long time ago who worked in the meat dept at a grocery store and she wouldn't eat ANY fish and cited this same reason. But I've eaten fish for a long time and I've never gotten sick from it. I've also never seen any of these worms, so that makes a huge difference. I think if I saw them, it might be the end of fish in my diet. I love pork too.....I suppose it's better that the worms are crawling out instead of staying in the food you've cooked Ahhhh....another wrinkle in my day....I was preparing to grill stuffed pork chops

I was thinking this more worthy of whatever the free doorstep throw-away bird cage liner local paper is down there. This man is an idiot. A dangerous idiot that lesser fools consider an "expert". :shudder:

I'll be in that area this summer, Russ. Is this the place? Another great place in that area is River's End in Jenner. Excellent food and drinks and a great environment. If you're up to it, Mankas Lodge is also open for dinners....a very special place and a little off the beaten path....it's sort of a well kept secret but it's very romantic and the food is as good as any IMO. You can check it out here: http://www.mankas.com/mankas/home.html Mankas is located in Inverness on Tomales Bay....

I'll totally agree with all of those..if you go to Wappo, be sure to have the chili relleno if they're still on the menu..and don't expect the regular heavy batter covered things....I think Wappo is only open for dinner; not sure. The others are open for lunch and dinners.

Oops...I forgot to add that the BEST burger I've EVER had in my life was at the Hotel Bel Aire. I don't care how much it costs, it's worth it and if I lived in LA, I'd be there once a week for one....it's the first thing I order when we visit....well, sitting in the bar...it's almost like fast food, isn't it?

Actually, there is an Amici's in Palm Desert...no I take it back...it's Rancho Mirage; but it's not a fast food place it's a fairly nice restaurant and it's delicious. One of my favorite places up N. CA was Hi Tech Burrito for a fast food fix, but guess they don't exist down here There was a place called Skip's Cabana Club (interestingly enough is what's now Amici's) that made the best prime rib sandwich for lunch. I miss them. There's a little chain here in the desert called "Goody's" ....I love their gyros, and Arnold Palmer's has great homemade potato chips that they serve with a blue cheese dip. Other than that, we are living in a fast food wasteland here

Suzanne ~ you might try cocktail.com also. I know I have a website that has what you're looking for, but will have to go through my bookmarks. Good luck!

Oh my gosh! We had those in CA too! I totally had forgotten about them, but my mom used to order it when she was too busy to cook or they were going out for dinner. It was truly dismal chicken (and everything else that came along with it)! My favorite takeout chicken chain is Chick-Fil-A; I'm not big on fried chicken these days.

Stone, I've found some good buys on some of the wines TJ's offers. But you do have to be willing to experiment. Check out The Fearless Flyer when it comes out, take a small glass and corkscrew with you and buy a couple of the ones they are trying to blow out....take them to your car and taste them (then recork and put in a bag in your trunk, hehehe). If they're good, go back and buy a case or two. I can't recall the one I got such a great buy on last year, but it was some Calif. red wine and it was great....unfortunately, it sold like hotcakes! I rarely find any great deals on wine at Costco...altho I have seen Treana Red table wine for around $25 or so there. Usually grocery stores have better prices on the stuff they've got on sale. Cheers!

Tonight it will be: Pan-seared Tuna with ginger-shiitake cream sauce Lemon Poppyseed noodles Artichokes Grilled Goatcheese-stuffed Grapeleaves set on a bed of sliced tomatoes and basil with Lemon olive oil-thyme marinade drizzled over Peachy Canyon Zinfandel