Lita

I'd much rather see her shopping in London than NYC. Not that there's anything less than wonderful about NYC (wish I were there!), but it just has too much of a "what the fuck?" distraction factor about it. You leave a flat in London, and *poof* you are shopping in Manhattan. I am glad she is finally on FTV, at least, as we've never been able to get the Style Network.

I can't imagine having high fat/high carb dinners like that every night, but it could be worse: at least the kids are getting some protein! It's probably healthier than the "I need you to love me" sort of dinner that I might fix my kids every now and then: homemade crepes with Nutella and slices bananas (and a glass of milk). My kids get "fish fingers and spaghetti" type dinners every now and then, mostly when I am too tired or stressed to cook and my husband is working late. Marion Winik wrote about serving her boys their beloved Yellow Dinner, which consisted of Shake 'n' Bake pork chops, canned corn, bottled applesauce, boxed macaroni and cheese, and Poppin' Fresh rolls, all blobbed on the plate in non-adjacent circles. This is about what I do, something gimmicky (kids love gimmicky) yet comforting and easy to fix. (I also include the part where one of us at the table has the adult's version of the yellow dinner: a single glass of chardonnay. ) I don't think that children take to processed foods naturally, as such, but they do go through a very long phase of liking only simple foods, like plain pasta with butter and scrambled eggs. Our boys enjoyed foods like roasted garlic, moussaka, onion tart, and feta cheese during their second year on earth, but sometime during their third year their tastes became extremly limited. Kids' taste buds start developing and tastes seem especially strong to them--like a really skunky egg or fishy fish might taste to an adult, like tasting mutton when you were expecting lamb. At that point, they demand a simplification of their diet to only things like melon balls, grapes, string cheese, chicken nuggets, spaghetti with butter or marinara sauce (maybe), French fries (but no other type of potatoes!), pancakes, waffles, cheese pizza, scrambled eggs and crisp bacon, meatloaf, plain cheeseburgers, hot dogs, mac 'n' cheese, and mild cheese enchiladas. In time, they eventually reexpand their palates, as long as adults encourage it. With my boys, I never stopped trying to give them our more complicated foods, but mostly started off with the simplest new foods, like chopped romaine and cucumber salad with ranch dressing or mild pan-fried fish with a wedge of lemon. Over time, they've been eating more and more of mom's foodie meals--and more complicated salads (e.g., mixed baby greens with dried cranberries, pistachios, and maple vinaigrette). I try to engage them in helping me cook, and they will eat just about anything that they helped make. Before I had surgery, six months ago, I took them to a dinner assembly place and had them help me prepare 24 dinners to put in our freezer. They had such a good time and because they felt vested in the meals they ate everything we made there. Since then, they will at least try anything I make and eat most of it, including things like quiche, spanokopita, pan-seared scallops, and sausage lasagne, which was previously deemed "too many ingredients" and "too spicy." They will eat just about any vegetable I fix, and love all fruits. I do think that "fish fingers and spaghetti" parents are often afraid to try serving their kids healthier, more adventurous foods for fear the children will reject it. As to parents lying and responding that they serve better meals than they actually do, for many people, their good intentions of doing something must count the same in their head as actually following through with it

I watched two episodes, then deleted my Tivo season pass. It's embarassing that she doesn't bother to learn even a few simple words in the language of the country she's visiting--e.g., "Bonjour."

Late to this thread, but I would avoid Heitmiller's steakhouse like the plague. The steaks might be good (although I remember mine being pretty fatty), but the atmosphere, sides, drinks, and everything else is grim. For example, the salad dressings for your warm, limp iceberg salads are in squeeze bottles on the tables. Our waitress looked like she'd rather be any place other than serving us. We're still looking for a really good place to stop for a meal along this route, and have decided to limit our search to Waco for now. I'd like to try Lake Brazos Steakhouse and Dock's Riverfront. Has anyone been to these places? BTW, here's a link to a thread I started some time ago on another board asking, "For those times when you are travelling and aren't able to research places to eat, are there any good chain restaurants in Texas?"

OK, I may get skewered for recommending a Colorado-based Tex Mex restaurant that just opened an Austin location (301 San Jacinto), but here you go: http://riograndemexican.com/ When we lived in Fort Collins, Colorado, there was great celebration at the end of the school year when the college students left town and we could actually get in there to eat with less than an hour wait. It’s a wonderfully noisy place and family-friendly (if you don’t mind your kids witnessing margarita swilling). Their margarita recipe is a tightly-guarded secret. I think they might have some Rose’s lime in them? Or apple juice? <scratching head> Whatever is in them, THEY ROCK! I love their chiles rellenos. Their food can definitely hold its own in Texas. Please report back if you go. We haven’t been to the Austin location yet, but I think we’ll give it a try tonight.

The cookbooks I've never used would be ones put together by church ladies (or schools or whatnot) that someone gave me as a gift. Cookbooks that I had and made recipes from but gave away because they were so bad or uninspired? That's more interesting: The Rogers Gray Italian Country Cookbook, Vegetarian Planet, and several Frugal Gourmet Cookbooks (inherited).

I went on the Friday during spring break at 1:30 for lunch and a little shopping. After queuing up and eventually finding a parking space and making my way into bowels of the store with my two boys, I pretty much turned around and left and went to Central Market. If there had been half the people there it might have been doable, but it was just a total CF. I was also peeved at their tea selection. They had no regular-old loose leaf black tea (e.g., English Breakfast, Yorkshire Gold, Typhoo) in tins. CM South Lamar has the best selection and CM North Lamar has a tolerable selection, but Whole Foods must be have something against a proper cup of English tea! (edited for typo)

BKs have stopped carrying the new baguette sandwiches. RIP. Now they have "fire-grilled" shrimp or chicken garden or Caesar salads and a new fried chicken filet sandwich.

They're back... http://www.clorders.com/altoids/shoppe.html

I hate that, too, and usually tell them why, "Please leave my plate until my companions are done eating so they don't feel rushed."

It was OK, but tasted like fake smoke. I liked that it was lowfat. I tried it before I knew of the Bayless connection, so please forgive me.

Speaking of sleeping with the enemy, Bob Greene (exercise physiologist and Oprah's fitness guru) is partnering with McDonald's now: http://www.mcdonalds.com/countries/usa/wha...2003/index.html Quote: “At McDonald's, we have a longstanding commitment to our customers, proven food quality and a strong social responsibility record,” said Ken Barun, McDonald's Corporate Vice President who leads McDonald's Healthy Lifestyles activities. “We are thrilled to partner with Bob Greene. He not only shares many of our same values and commitments, but he also is a strong leader in the campaign to promote healthy, happy active lifestyles.”

Tripel is really much different than white beer. Higher gravity, for starters, and generally not so overtly spicy. I did not mean to suggest that white ale and trippel were the same thing. If you like white ales, I think you would also enjoy trippel ales.

Lauren, I picked up her Family Style cookbook recently and have been catching her show more regularly, and I would move her to my favorite list.

Have you ever tried New Belgium Brewery's Trippel (pronounced 'triple') Belgian-Styler ale? If you like Belgian white ale, you would love this one. It's my favorite U.S. microbrew.