Susan G

Menudo. The appearance, the texture, the lack of taste in that protein.

A boyfriend lived in a Medival House one year in college. Several guys brewed ales and mead. One large beer production turned out especially well, so they decided to name it........something catchy, because there was alot of it. Catchy, ubiquitous, medival: They named it Plague.

Rice pudding with raisins? Lemongrass chicken soup? Popsicles? What has he enjoyed so far? If he's used to eating with family, scheduling visits around mealtimes so he can talk and eat at the same time may be very soothing. Good luck! And eat!

It's all about ingredients: shallots, salt, pepper, rasberry vinegar and walnut oil, sometimes with a splash of orange juice.

I agree, Weissman, and I have another thought: How do you pay the staff equitably? Does eveyone get paid a flat rate, or is the pay dependant upon the skill level of the task involved? Speaking as a former waitress, if I had been told I was going to be rotating to the grill line in three weeks, I would have quit. I know my limitations. Isn't there another, less drastic way to get feedback from FOH? Like asking the waitstaff to come sous for a few hours a week, before the dinner rush? You think putting addicted, surly people in FOH would be good for business? Especially when they're used to a pecking order in the rigid hierarchy which they've spent years climbing? *These* people interacting all night long with a demanding public? No. Nope. Bad idea. Good chefs rarely have the temperment to cope with a four-top who keeps you running for water refills, etc.

Three articles due, home chores, cooking for 120 with a kitchen outta commission, and *posting online about it*. Uh-huh. A bubble off plumb. Best wishes to you! Hope y'all have a good time!

Oohh, I'm going to disagree with this one - it's a concept used in the 20th century, but not exclusively ours.........the royal courts of England and France were using food as entertainment for more than 600 years.

Spicy food. Any spicy food. Count me among the converted.

Whew! I'm so glad to hear I'm not the only one who has CHAOS! What maks it particularly painful is that in my pre-marital domicile, I had guests for dinner once or twice a week, and it was all about hanging out around the table, sharing food, good scotch and enjoying the company. My circle of friends (most were neighbors too) were always in each other's houses, so tit-for-tat was so out the window! Gotta clean. It's more than a dent in my social life: It's a hole in my psyche. (Where in the Yellow Pages can you find industrial-sized trash bins?)

Ugh. The mouth feel of snails and chestnut puree? Is the management counting on half-blotto diners?

Ahem. Funny this topic came up, because I woke up this morning thinking about my neighbors. They've had us to dinner twice, and my husband and I do need to invite them to dinner. My problem? My husband's bachelor pad of 12 years is still being un-cluttered - after two years of marriage. it's CHAOS: Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome. I was wondering if we could take them out to a restaurant, and then decided I have to bite the bullet, clean as well as possible, and keep my chin up. And wow them with food.

Rural New York, Protestant. When word gets around the village that someone died, the parade of casseroles and cakes and pies begins to the home of the bereaved. Rarely, the donors stop for a chat. More likely, the socializing is done a the funeral home, and the church supper after the funeral.

Roasted songbirds on a skewer in an Indian restaurant in NYC. I t was an appetizer.

I'm gonna go with refrigeration technology. I've seen the way masses of people are fed in third world cities. It ain't pretty.

Haven't been back since 1995, but this rule of thumb should work: Around Buddhist monasteries there will be shops there to cater to hungry pilgrims: These will be largely vegetarian. Some exclusively so. There's an *enormous* Tibetan Buddhist lamasery in the southern part of the city.

When the grocery bill comes in at 50% more than what I ordinarily spend, I mentally smack myself (again) for shopping-while-hungry.

Olive oil, mustard, shallots, dill, sauce.

My Mom was raised by frustrated Victorians who were suspicious of food in its raw or bloody form. Mom's generation was sure that white sugar and processed flour was the Devil incarnate. From that schizophrenic kitchen philosophy, I learned it's OK to fail. There's alot happening, life will go on - just do your best, and try not to let things get out of perspective. It's a meal, not a defended Master's thesis.

The folks were in town: A pate, sausage and cheese plate, cioppino, french bread, frisee salad, fruit salad for desert.

I thought they were candied crabapples?

It is great you are doing this; maybe it will inspire more of us to follow suit! If you don't mind me asking, is there a general service online or elsewhere to hook up interested people with military 'adoptees'? ←

In Chinese banquets I've attended, soup was always served, and it was always the penultimate course - right before the fruit. Bitter melon in chicken broth was the summer soup of choice, but springtime might have another, better choice.

So how did they turn out, Marlene?

Buckwheat waffles, NY state maple syrup, (grade B), and thick cut bacon. Red grapefruit.

I like the box mixes occasionally, especially for cupcakes, but my husband says he can taste the chemicals, so I don't use them anymore........I also don't bake cakes anymore. Baking altitude is trying enough without having spent three hours preparing something that fails. (Bitter, angry almond cake failure-maker).