daniellewiley

I always head for a jumbo Ketel One Dirty Martini - jalapeno olives. And I don't even bother shaking. Stirred - on the rocks. ETA: I'm sorry for your crappy day. I've been there, a lot lately, and it truly sucks. I'm toasting to you with my wine. :-) (my very expensive wine from the wine cooler that my soon to be ex husband left b/c his new apartment has no room. heee)

I ate SCORES of orange M&Ms b/c I thought they'd make my boobs grow. (didn't work...) I tell my daughter now that eating protein will make her hair grow faster. I'm probably half-right, but I think I exaggerate the effect. Every morning she asks if it worked, and I brush her hair out (it's very curly) so it looks longer and say, "Yes! Look how long it is!" My cousin used to tell us that milk made our muscles grow bigger. He'd drink a glass and flex his bicep simultaneously - my brother and I were amazed and would drink down our glasses right away!

Oh dear, NO! Not to be unnecessarily picky, but for those not in the US who might be struggling with weird US measurements: a stick/cube is 1/2 cup. One pound of butter (4 cubes/sticks) is equal to 2 cups. ← OK, that's what I thought!! And then I said to myself, "better check on google, because you wouldn't want to screw it up." and my googling yielded what I wrote. ARGH. thanks abra.

Hey, I bet you could make jello shots with Manischevitz. ← You know, that would probably make the damn stuff palatable. I might just have to try it!! If not, I can see it taking up space in my wine cooler for the rest of my life, as I don't plan on hosting any more bris' (not sure how to pluralize that one).

That would be cool, and a nice option for cold weather. And jello shots go well with pretty much cuisines, don't they? ← Yes, and if they don't want those, I still have two bottles of Manischevitz that no one drank at Max's bris.

Ooh, that's a good idea - I love both cuisines. Also, reading about stewed meat made me think of braising, and that would certainly be easy enough. I could maybe do a Jewish theme (I'm the only Jewish one in our group), so I could do a traditional Jewish brisket, a noodle kugel, etc. I think it would seem pretty exotic to some of our members.

Bump! I'm hosting again in February, and would like to start planning now. The Polynesian theme went very well. I'd like to once again do a theme. As a reminder, I've now done Tapas and Polynesian, and Middle Eastern is out because it is so commonplace in this neck of the woods. Bunco will be the day after Valentine's, but not sure if I want that kind of a theme. I think I prefer a regional-type thing. Some other considerations: I need to make EVERYTHING in advance. I will not have the day off of work, and I won't be home until 90 minutes prior to bunco due to my daughter's dance class. I'd consider doing Tapas again - that went over very well. I'm probably going to refrain from Mexican b/c I can't eat beans (I'm nursing and the baby gets SUPER gassy even when I eat a couple of beans or a bite of hummous). Any ideas?? I like to show off, by the way.

Yeah, that would be pretty hard. Our butter comes in sticks that are each 1/4 cup, so for 1 cup of butter, you would use 4 sticks. Putting it in a measuring cup would not be fun at all.

I think you could - it will just be a bit spicier and have a heavy smoked flavor - but there's nothing wrong with that!!

Another vote for buffet! We've been doing these a lot here (buffets are GREAT for 4-year-olds), so I'd be interested in seeing what offerings are to be had at a west coast establishment (doesn't the word establishment make a buffet seem so elegant?) Looking forward to your report, and thanks for a great week! I've loved reading about one of my favorite cities through your eyes!

My father-in-law pronounces many words his own way: Our favorite (not food-related) is motervate. "I'll come over as soon as I get motervated." Food related: vandalia onions Something that might be overhead when he's over: "Just warsh the potatoes and then add them to the vandalias."

We ate at Atlas a few months ago, and I strongly disliked it. We even had an "in" - one of the guys we were with is good friends with the chef. I got the vegetarian Asian noodle dish and it was overcooked with the flavor of a frozen Lean Cuisine.

Ha, maybe that explains something I experienced about 14 years ago! I was a freshman at Vassar, about 30 minutes away from the CIA, and a bunch of guys from the CIA came to our school to party. I guess they heard that we had wayyy more women than men. Well, they were horrid! Hitting on EVERYONE, and they completely vandalized our dorm. Here's the funny thing - they vandalized the dorm with FOOD! We had ketchup and mustard all over our bathroom walls!!

Oh man, I so want to go to this (and with my parents in NY, I'd even have free babysitting!!) You can bet I'll be checking flights every day for some miraculous last minute deal. At the very least, I'm looking forward to seeing the photos!

Danielle - when someone keeps coming by and fondling your stuff, it does not mean they like your stuff. It means they like you. (Hope he is cute and nice. . . ) ← He's married, not cute, and incredibly annoying. Thus the extra loud iPod. My friend Mike thinks he is fondling my food as an excuse to talk to me because he wants to "save my soul." I'd be very excited if a cute guy came by and fondled my food.

Count me in on the Cubicle Gourmet cookbook. I always have lots of supplies at my desk. Currently, I have Kashi Strawberry Fields cereal, tupelo honey, EVOO, kavli crackers. We have this new guy who is freaking me out. I guess my food selections are exotic to him, and everytime he walks past my desk, he fondles my food and asks bizarre questions about it. He wanted to know where I got the Kashi. I said Kazmeier's (local supermarket - not gourmet, not health, just plain 'ol market). He said, "Oh, is that some fancy health food store?" I walked into a meeting a few minutes later and he was talking about my cereal. I felt violated. Then, I brought in those crackers for my chicken salad, and he picked up that box. "Ah, more health food?" "um, no, just some crackers." I've taken to wearing my headphones with the music turned up very loudly. He hasn't stopped harrassing me about my food - I'm hoping he'll soon take the hint. Lord knows what would happen if I extended my condiment collection with some Sriracha.

ooh, sounds like fun! We ate at Big Kitchen in North Park - that IS North Park, right?

I think Northwest does, but I usually use those miles to visit my folks in NY or go on a great trip. However, I did use my Amex miles to purchase a digital camera (which is food-related, since I use it only for food and kids).

We went to Filippi's two summers ago for dinner with our (then) 2.5 year old. The food was terrific, but my favorite part was that they gave her a dish of raw dough to mess around with while we waited. Way more entertaining than a crayon!!! And, if I recall, we ordered cheap Chianti in a basket and were able to decorate it so they could hang it from the ceiling.

Danielle! Whatever happened to "Olive Garden Girl?" ← I was right all along. She turned out to be certifiable.

About 10 years ago, I brought a boyfriend to brunch with my family. I think it was at Zoe, in New York. Anyway, we were looking through the menu, and he whispered in my ear, "What's a fritatta?" sigh. It was basically all over at that point.

Oh this is exciting!! I always enjoy reading your posts, and San Diego is one of my very favorite places. Would you mind sharing what neighborhood you are in and where you will be going? We've stayed mostly in Pacific Beach on our visits, but I've also spent a fair amount of time in La Jolla and Coronado. Any chance you can venture out for an Acai energy bowl? That was one of my favorite treats last time we visited.

I think this rice dish sounds outrageously good. It's on my short list of things to make: Click!

(raises hand) I don't! I used to, and found it too tart for my taste. Cooks' Illustrated published a recipe a few years back that suggested adding a pinch of salt. The salt does wonders!!

My best friend read some book that breaks up all food into green light, yellow light and red light food. Green light is anything you can eat in unlimited amounts. These are nutritious foods - fruits, veggies, certain proteins (like, not hot dogs) Yellow light is anything you can eat in moderation - fries, ice cream, hot dogs, etc. Red light is something with zero nutritional value. These are once in a while things like gummy bears, fruit punch, etc. I think wholesome is anything green light. Honestly, I'd probably call pasties green light (aka wholesome), b/c if Dylan wanted to eat 2 or 3 of them, I wouldn't stop her. Better than eating a bag of jelly beans.