lesfen

Pardon my ignorance, but what is the proper way to eat a bagel?

My mother makes this dip that is simply cream cheese blended with crappy jarred salsa with some "fixins" (i.e. shredded lettuce, tomato, cheese, green onions, and black olives) on top, served with Fritos. It's cheap, simple, straight outta the church social, and I can't stay away from it once she puts it out. I can't imagin what someone outside of the family would think if they came in and saw all of us hovering over the table, silently devouring my mother's taco dip.

Crock Pot pot-roast with Lipton's Onion Soup Mix. Walking into the house and smelling that smell will buckle my knees to this day. Love it!!!

I can't think of a particular phrase that he repeats, but whenever I watch Rick Bayless I keep expecting him to pull out a one hitter. First time the man of the house watched with me, his exact words were, "how high is THAT guy?!?!"

Sigh... is it Friday yet? Well, when it is, I'm going to "ruin" some perfectly good brandy by pouring it over ice and adding some Diet Cherry Coke. Made by accident during the mean times and it just kind of stuck with me.

After we had finished a meal at a local Mexican joint, a cockroach fell from the ceiling, onto our table. We trapped it under a glass and called the waiter over and his response was, "oh, yyyeah." End of story. Now, I've worked in many kitchens and I know how hard it is to keep the bugs out, no matter how clean your place is... but if one of those critters makes it's way out into the dining room, you should have some sort of apology on deck, doncha think?! I never went back because I figured if Skippy had that sort of reaction to cockroaches from above, I'm guessing the place was chock full of them.

Jager is about the only shot I can take anymore, but only if it's really cold. REALLY cold. It doesn't burn and the aftertaste isn't completely unbearable. I am big fan of the Jager Bomb/Jager Blaster, tho'. I think I'd rather have it like that than straight up. I'm kind of a puss tho'.

Let's start with the fact that you could lose a finger on the cardboard trying to open the box to expose the jagged blade of death. Then you get to the delightful contents... One brand sticks to almost anything, but also sticks to itself, rendering it impossible to work with. Plus if you don't align the product with the blade at the right angle, with the wind blowing from the South, it will stretch and you'll be left with this odd tail hanging off of your bowl. Another brand sticks to glass, and only glass. Don't even try it. Foil is ok, as long as you don't drop the roll and dent either of the ends. I've gotten to the point where I put almost everthing into those sliding zipper bags, just so I don't have to deal with those tubes!

I could care less about carbs, but I do love pork rinds. My boyfriend had never tried them so I offered the bag to him. He leaned forward to smell the bag and I jerked it away and shreiked, "Nooo!! Don't smell them!! You'll never try them if you smell them first!!" During the low fat craze, we used to joke that we were gonna open our own restaurant and call it "Just the Skinz". Nothing but breaded, deep fried, greasy chicken-y goodness. Hey! That's the side! Sure, you can be good and order their boneless, skinless chicken strips... just get the skin on the side!

Fast, easy, and spicy. No, it's not me (well, maybe), but it is the etouffee recipe that I use: • 1 pound fresh or frozen peeled crawfish tails or shrimp • 2 large onions, chopped • 1 cup chopped celery • 1/2 cup chopped green sweet pepper • 2 cloves garlic, minced • 1/4 cup cooking butter (or oil/margarine, if you must) • 2 tablespoons butter or crawfish fat (once again, oil/margarine, if you must) • 4 teaspoons cornstarch • 1 cup water • 1/2 cup tomato sauce • 1/2 teaspoon salt • 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper • Hot cooked rice In a heavy saucepan cook onions, celery, green sweet pepper, and garlic, covered, in butter about 10 minutes or until tender. Add butter, or crawfish fat, stirring until melted. Stir in cornstarch. Stir in crawfish or shrimp, water, tomato sauce, salt, red pepper, and black pepper. Bring mixture to boiling. Reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, about 5 minutes or until crawfish are tender or shrimp turn opaque. Serve with hot cooked rice. I usually put out some nice crusty bread and butter to sop up what's left in the bowl. I usually have to double or triple this recipe because it's so damn fast and simple that I can serve it whenever we have a crowd. It says it yields 4 servings, but those are some skimpy servings. Plus, the leftovers are tasty.

Couldn't hurt. Of course you'd have to share the winnings...

You know, I'm kinda surprised that they don't have those already. That's a pretty good idea.

Gosh... seems like a daunting task. Think of a side dish that will stand up to greasy, salty chicken parts, AND maintain under heat lamps/over steam trays for days at a time.

Rock hard, cold butter. Lettuce in guacamole.

I've been whining this whole time about the Carrabba's in Canton, OH. I didn't even realize that this was a regional board. Oops. I'm a dork. Oh well, like beans says...

Birthday party of 14 for 7:30 pm. Called in at 2:00 pm. To me, that's a reservation, but if you want to call it "call ahead seating", that's fine too. "No Problem!" was the chipper reply. Either way, the wait was excessive and uncomfortable. BTW... the man of the house says that I'm being a brat. We did have a great time with our friends that night... that's really what's important. When my birthday rolls around we're going to DiLulo's.

In fairness, I have not given Carrabba's a second shot in another location. Perhaps in another location I will get my reserved table in a reasonable amount of time. Perhaps in another location I won't have to stand with my face in a stranger's armpit (I'm short) while waiting over an hour for that reserved table. Perhaps the calming beverage that I drink to distract me from said armpit won't get knocked out of my hand by a passing waitperson... not their fault, after all I, and about 50 other people, am in their way. Perhaps my seafood entree will come with a generous portion of seafood. I am not a patient person, but I am not an unreasonable person either. If I have a reservation, I expect a table in a reasonable amount of time... 20 minutes? I expect that if I do have to wait, that I can do so in a bar area where I don't have to fight for a seat or even a place to lean. I shouldn't have to feel like I have wandered into a mosh pit while someone is trying to pass me my glass of wine from the bar. I'm sure that the people that own Carrabba's/Outback are awesome people. I'm sure that they love food just as much as I do. All I'm saying is that chain dining has certain pitfalls that just aren't worth the mediocre food and utterly annoying atmosphere. That sangria was damn good... but not good enough.

I'll be doin' a kitchen crawl to all of your homes!

Sounds like a viscid mess! I owe you a dime. Actually, it wasn't sticky or slimy... it had some sort tomato and basil "sauce" on it but it was so watered down that you would never know it was there, except for the occasional chunk of tomato or strand of basil.

We went to Carrabba's for a friend's birthday and I was unimpressed. I thought that since my friends were so geeked about it that it might be ok. I ordered some sort of spicy seafood pasta dish that was watery and flavorless. 1 mussle, 2 shrimp, and a handful of those teeny-tiny "scallops", thrown in for good measure. Even here, in the heartland, there are dozens of wonderful Italian restaurants with better food and value. Between the two of us, I think we spent around $60, which isn't too bad, but it would have been better spent somewhere else. Somewhere where I didn't have to stand shoulder to shoulder with the minions for an hour, despite having a reservation in place. I will give them props for their Sangria tho'! Smooth and spicy. I really enjoyed that portion of the evening.

I don't mind the talking at all. I kind of enjoy the company and the chatter. What I DON'T like is the "helping". I would rather do it all myself than to watch someone chop clumsily with my precious knife or season something that doesn't need seasoning. You can stand in my kitchen, sip my wine, and talk my ear off... just don't touch anything.

Awesome... thanks!

That was... disturbing. Yes, I think that's the best word for it.

Is that Teaberry gum? Man, what happened to that stuff? I loved that stuff!

Great... now who's gonna clean the coffee off of my monitor?