lala

Statistics will also show that these people are also more likely to be no fun to be around and have a generally unpleasant life. I'm not sure that eating/drinking everything in sight automatically makes a person more fun to be around. Unless of course, one celebrates with eating contests.

I read that this morning, while eating my scrambled egg whites and whole wheat toast... I'm not at all sure how she came up with 50 holidays, but perhaps she celebrates at the drop of a hat. Let's see, these are the big holidays that warrant special eating for me: New Year's Eve My Birthday Friends' birthdays Fourth of July (waffle-fest at my house!) Thanksgiving Christmas The odd wedding Funerals (although that's more for drinking) That's not to say that I don't celebrate more, but I do try to watch it when I do, and compensate for eating dessert by having a salad for lunch. Guess I'm not making those special, calorie laden dishes for President's day or Groundhog day. And I'm not pigging out to the max on my listed days, either. Well, except for the stuffing on Christmas. And Pumpkin pie. As with many things in my life, I'm sure that what I do isn't the norm (birkenstock wearing, subaru driving, farmer's market going kind of chick) for America. And I wouldn't be surprised if she's right. Diets usually fail, and this could be one reason why.

I absolutely agree with raising the prices and not changing the dish/meal. The customer can easily understand paying a dollar more, but (rightfully) gets miffed when that side is missing, or the portion shrinks. I'm for 'normal' or, smaller sized portions, too. We're served far too much food in the US. It's obscene. This is part of why I like the new tapas trend. I can get what I like, and not be stuffed. When I order in a regular restaurant, I just look at it and know I won't be able to eat it all.

Just had another thought...Trader Joe's Punjab sauce. Hey, great ideas, everyone! Thanks! This really helps... Jensen, we must be on the same wavelength. I just bought a jar of that. It'll be opened after I finish the Trader Joe's Red Coconut Curry sauce (which is pretty good...) Love TJ's... great prices on all those veggies that I eat, good selection of cooking sauces for when I'm tired!

Bombay mix. Used to get it at a health food store in Covent Garden. It's an Indian mix of nuts, noodles and crackery things, all moderately spicy and quite addictive.

Ok, here's my challenge: white meat. Yuck. What do ya'll do with turkey breast? I've always preferred the dark meat, but have loyally sworn off for the duration. I'm tired of the stir frys. What's something quick and delicious? One of my constraints is time: I started a gym membership (good for me!), and now I get home after my workouts, it's 6:30, and I'm ravenous! Thus, stir frys. What else is quick, about 6 points and tasty?

Seattle has it's own charms, but it's a quiet little city, not a big blockbuster metropolis. Much as I love Seattle, it's not a 'Top Tier' city, in any aspect, so it can't be compared to NY, SF, London, Paris, etc. I used to live in SF and London, and have been here in Seattle for 12 years, but still miss various restaurants/dishes that I enjoyed in those cities. That said, for a city of our size, with our ethnic makeup (not nearly as diverse as NY) I think we do pretty well. And yes, I think that Seattle may be underrated on the national scene. We're not at all well represented in the food mags, most of which are published out of NY. As well, our overall style of cooking is simpler, so if someone is looking for high-falutin 'cuisine', they will simply have more choices elsewhere. I do think that we have a marvelous bounty of raw foodstuffs, so what you do get is usually incredibly fresh. We just don't have the population or income level (more families here vs. high income singles who eat out more in NY/SF) to support the high end places. We may not have the best pizza, but I know a place that makes 6 kinds of pickled herring.....

No 3 point Sacher Torte mit Schlag? Noooo.... really? Damn, I loved Vienna...Demels....I actually (when I was a Pastry Chef, many moons ago) went there every day and tried almost every pastry. Now... it's NF yogurt and fruit. *sigh* Where's that packet of equal I brought.....?? (...wandering off into the staff kitchen) Actually, the sugarless fudgesicles are pretty good, and Dreyers (maybe only in the NW?) makes great frozen juice bars, 1.5 points each. "Each of us approaches the "lifestyle" thing in a different way. I'm not giving up ANY food, or food group, forever, and that's that. But what I am willing to do is stay within my points most days, and exercise a lot. I eat all my Flex and all my APs, and don't think I could survive otherwise. But then, I cook for a living, and have to taste everything I prepare for others. I'm another vote for making a permanent eG WW presence happen. I'd love to have some foodie WW friends to play with!" Yes! EGWW!!!! Real food! I actually have had to curtail my EG useage. Reading about all the food made me too hungry My problem with WW is that it's strictly calories, and all fats are equal (bad). What about evoo? And while I know salmon IS fattier, it's all GOOD fat? Yet, they don't account for that at all....

See, it's so personal. I love getting kitchen towels, and don't really care what's on them, as long as they're pretty. And evoo, etc. And flowers (I'm of the 'dump 'em in a bucket' school of thought if I'm busy, or I show the giver where the vases are and ask them to fix them up for me if I'm still working "Oh, I'm at a critical point here, would you mind plopping them into a vase for me?" And I agree with the point about the too-fragrant flowers. Yeeuucchh. Lilies. My neighbor gets them the next day. I like to give something that the hostess can use at another time, depending on what she likes. I've brought gardening baskets with seeds and tools, wines, and chocolates and books (together, for a rainy Seattle afternoon). I always emphasize that it's for them, for later, so they don't feel compelled to serve that wine or chocolate that night.

The Chinese restaurant where my friends and I are regulars comped us once, and we didn't like it. They just brought over some corn soup, when we had already decided to order a different soup, so we had to be polite and eat something that we didn't want. However, being regulars there gets us a higher level of service, as well as the ability to order off - menu. We can still get our favorite dishes that were taken off the menu years ago (lack of popularity, except in my group, apparently!). They know our tastes, and really take care of us, and we can't ask for more than that.

Hmmm...I think it's after labor day that they go to weekends only?... Give 'em a call to be sure, wouldn't want to give you the wrong information, and falsely deprive you!

You may want to subscribe online to get started. They have a 3 month plan for about $50 (?), that I used to get the jist of the thing, then I cancelled. I found it helpful in figuring out what the plan is, how many points I can eat, and what the portions are. It has the nuts & bolts without the public weigh ins, and rah-rah aspect of the meetings.

Oh, oh, oh!!! Grilled tomato slices (baste with basil vinaigrette), corn on the cob, and grilled salmon...mmmmm...... a great WW summer meal.

I'm using WW, too. I agree, that many of their suggestions, and posts on the board are for unnatural foods (nonfat cool whip? ugghhh), and I prefer to make my own meals, using real food that I would normally use anyway. Not to mention that their boards have some of the bitchiest posts I've ever read, and I just got tired of the negativity. I actually cancelled my online subscription, as I 'get' the idea, didn't like the site, don't care to spend the $$, and find it tedious as all get-out to go online to log everything I eat. However, the plan is working for me, and I'll be doing it for a while. I'd love to get the EG feedback/suggestions/recipe swap for WW! My breakfasts and lunches are fairly rote, but I have more time to cook dinner, where I usually make stir frys or grilled veggies, etc. Tons of veggies. I also cook brown rice in a big batch and freeze it in portions (cooking one portion at a time, at a 40 minute cooking time doesn't work for me). I've also gotten into whole wheat pasta and Wasa Whole Grain crispbread. Yogurt cheese, tomatoes and basil on the Wasa...mmmmm.... I've lost 9# so far, and seem to be plateau'd. Anyone have suggestions for this?

Thanks for the tip, ghostrider! I'll definately put Beale St. in the folder. 5 Islands is only open on weekends in Sept, which, unfortunately is not going to work on this trip. ( I had a fantastic place all picked out to stay, too...). It'll go into the 'next time' folder!

While not currently applicable, a tip that's been mentioned on EG before is that you can freeze wine for future cooking. This is great if your'e single, or just not wanting to finish that bottle, but not wanting to waste that last glass. You can either freeze it in a container, adding more as you go, or in ice cube trays, which is great if you regularly use wine to deglaze a sauteed item. Warning: the higher alcohol wines will not freeze all the way through, and will be a bit slushy, due to alcohol's anti-freeze properties.

Yep, we're growing our own restaurant row down here on 5th ave...

When I lived in London, I frequently popped into the National Gallery, where the restauarant had excellent, fresh sandwiches and soups. Did the same thing at the Victoria and Albert, however once they started charging admission, it got trickier. I made friends with a gaurd who worked the door closest to the restaurant, and she let me in for lunch. They have a lovely cellar restaurant, with seperate stations, hot and cold. Nothing like a smoked trout salad while listening to a string trio! Here in Seattle, both the Seattle Art Museum and Frye have good restaurants. I've gone to the Frye just for lunch - inventive salads and sandwiches and excellent desserts.

My introduction to Greek food was when I was four, in Greece. I remember staying up late (for a little American kid), and having dinner on a restaurant patio while looking up at the Acropolis. Damn, but I Loved those fabulous round, bagel-like sesame breads sold on any street corner! On Mikonos, where we stayed for a few weeks, we were minor celebrities - it was the 60's and the tourist glut hadn't hit yet, so we were a novelty. The local fishermen loved to get my brother and me to eat all the 'wierd' stuff that 'Americans' wouldn't eat, starting with octopus. We loved the traditional Greek way of the customer going into the kitchen to see what was cooking, and select their dinner by what looked good to them.

Thanks for the tips. A pub in Castine will make him very happy (All I could find in searches was 'fine dining' in the hotels, but there were NO reccs for any of these on any food sites!). Thanks!

My Brother's birthday is on Christmas day, my Mom's the day after. So growing up, we had Christmas dinner on the day, and Birthday Day the next. Somehow the tradition began that my Brother could choose any dessert he wanted, and budding chef sister would make it. It began simply enough with German Chocolate cake. Then it morphed into the most insane things he could find - some sort of chocolate confection with long chocolate curls around the edge, to resemble a log fort when I was 12. Crocumbouche (sp?) , complete with spun sugar and sugared flowers when I was 13. I still have sugar burns from the Medieval castle gingerbread extravaganza a year or two later. All those stained glass windows, you know.... Nowadays, for my own birthday, I'm really happy with a freshly cooked dungie and bottle of pinot gris at the beach!

When friends are sick, of course chicken soup is the best. I made a huge batch when I was in Oregon taking care of my friend's family as her Dad was dying in hospital. First thing I did was get a couple of chickens and toss 'em in a pot. Lord knows I've served food in many places, but for sheer gratification of being in the right place at the right time, nothing beat taking over the hospital kitchen at midnight to heat soup and make toast for them (very small town, and hospital, you could do things like that). He died a few hours later, and her Mom still thanks me for the comfort of soup and toast that night. In my mind, it was a privilege to be able to do that for them. After the soup, made chicken and dumplings, a near - perfect comfort food. In the Midwest, where I'm from, it's all about the casseroles. When we arrived just after Grandpa died suddenly (Minnesota) we found his fridge already stuffed with several casseroles, chicken, and potatoes, and the dining room table awash in homemade bread, cakes, and pies. When my friend was going through chemo, it was grilled cheese sandwiches, soup, and bread pudding. mmm...bread pudding.....

I've done my research, have a folder bulging with fantastic restaurant ideas for my trip to the Mid Maine Coast and Mt. Desert in September...however, they're all for seafood restaurants, and hot dog shacks! Since we'll be touring the coast, with 4 nights on Mt. Desert, can anyone steer me in the direction of good restaurants, lunch and dinner that may not feature seafood, or that have noteworthy land animal entrées? I ask because my traveling companion is now declaring that he's not even sure that he likes lobster. But he's my Dad, so I can't shoot him... Ideas? We're looking at Brunswick, Bath, Rockport (most likely Primo's, but any suggestions....), Castine (have a room booked, haven't seen a single restaurant recc for this town - is it a black hole?), and Mt. Desert. Thanks for any and all help!

....again, as I said, there were several large parties when I was there...I can only report my experience. These large parties were lined up against a wall, seated in regular chairs, not leather booths, and every word they shrieked bounced against that wall and out into the room. I know that quite often, large groups go to lunch for a party, and this happened when I ate there. I just wanted to warn people about the fact that this restaurant is not designed to absorb the noise from this type of situation. It's not going to keep me from going again, although I would hope that the service would improve, and the pantry cook would season things better.

eeexxxxxeeeelllleeennnttt...... thanks!