MomOfLittleFoodies

(emphasis added) NOOOOOOOOooooooo..... ← That's what I told my mom when she told me. Made me glad I never go "home" for Thanksgiving. ← Mind if I ask your race or ethnicity? --Sandy "click the link in my prior post" Smith ← My mother's family is Japanese-American, my father's family is Caucasian. I don't go "home" for Thanksgiving because "home" 400 miles away, and my husband rarely gets the day after Thanksgiving off. My sister lived in the South (Jacksonville, FL) for about 5 years, and developed a taste for things like deep fried okra, boiled peanuts, sweet tea, grits and velveeta. We did grow up eating Kraft Mac N Cheese though... Mom used to put sliced weiners, chunks of ham, or a can of chili in it. Her sister, my late aunt Ivy, used to put 2 whole bunches of cilantro into her Kraft Mac N Cheese, turning in Mac N Cheese that made a journey to Chernobyl and back.

(emphasis added) NOOOOOOOOooooooo..... ← That's what I told my mom when she told me. Made me glad I never go "home" for Thanksgiving.

Fruit and veggie trays Pita chips and hummus tortilla chips and salsa a cheese tray and crackers All of which can be bought at somewhere like Costco

The only kind of ceviche I've had is a shrimp based one. Shrimp, tomato, cucumbers, onions and a touch of citrus... yummy.

The closest I've been to a country store are the produce stands that dot the roadside up and down I-80 and I-5. I wouldn't know what hoop cheese is if it reached out and bit me though.

My mother only serves bread when it's something where bread is integral (sloppy joes, chili dogs, burgers), when she's serving beans as an entree, or when she's serving spaghetti or lasagna. My maternal grandmother only served bread with Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. However plain steamed rice was present at every meal... even spaghetti. Mom says that my grandfather always insisted on the rice (they're Japanese) My paternal grandmother had rolls on the table when we'd come over for dinner. She almost never served rice or pasta... always potato and bread as the starches. Typical Sunday dinner type of fare... entrees like ham, roast meat or fried chicken, mashed potatoes or potatoes au gratin, 2 veggies, rolls, olives, pickles. My mother-in-law always has bread for the holiday dinners, often made from scratch. Not so often for the more causal family dinners. edited to add- the in-laws are also Japanese-American, but are less "rice centered" at meals than my grandparents are. I serve bread with some meals... when I'm serving soup or a bean dish as an entree, for instance. Where I run into trouble is that when I buy a nice loaf of bread to go with dinner, 60% of the time the kids have devoured it before dinner is on the table.

I'm so sorry for your loss. Give yourself time to grieve... as much time as you need, no matter what anyone says.

One of my husband's favorite meals growing up was something his mother calls "sato joyu weenies"... hot dogs and brocolli cooked in a sweetened soy sauce mixture. I vaguely remember my mom doing the same thing a few times.

I went to look in my oil/vinegar/mirin/shoyu shelf in my kitchen after first reading this post, and realized that I have far too much in there. I'll have to go through it after the kiddos are asleep.

I guess I'm not hard core foodie enough, but my kids get fast food once every 2 weeks on average. When you have a child with food allergies, and you need a fast meal that doesn't involve calling restaurant managers or waiting half an hour to get your food, the speed and predictability of walking into a McDonalds or Taco Bell is ideal. I can walk into any McDonald's in America and know that my kids can eat certain things off the menu. I can't say that for real restaurants. When we have the time, my kids prefer stuff like going to the local Pho restaurant, the local pizza joint, or to a taqueria. My kids were about 10 months to 1 year old when they got their first fast food.

I can't eat the stuff... my grandfather always used it as catfish bait, and the smell reminds me of those nasty smelling cheese flavored marshmallow bait things. That said, my sister puts Velveeta into the Green Bean Casserole that she makes for Thanksgiving.

I don't really understand the concept of food miles, but I've come to the conclusion that shopping at the farmers market doesn't necessarily mean that the produce I'm getting is any more local than the same types of produce that I'd get at the supermarkets at any given time of year. At the farmers market I go to, the local vendors are the prepared food vendors, the guy that sells honey, the florists and an olive stand. The vast majority of the produce vendors are coming from 35 to 215 miles away.

Hmmmm... what I like on hot dogs Chili (no beans) with cheddar shredded cheddar, dill pickle slices, mustard (Caspers got me started on that) mustard only mustard with dill relish NO ketchup, no turkey dogs. I prefer beef or beef/pork/chicken mix weiners.

In the section of the greater Los Angeles area that I grew up in (East San Gabriel Valley), I didn't see chow fun on the menus too often. I never had it until I moved to the Bay Area. I'm not Jewish though. When I was growing up, almost all of the family dinners for my mother's family were at Chinese restaurants (kind of confusing since the family is Japanese). Typically the order was some kind of spicy shrimp with those little red chilies of death, combination fried rice, pork chow mein, sweet and sour pork, crispy fried chicken and wor won ton soup.

It should be interesting to see how this works out. I still probably would not let my peanut allergic child eat these, but it would make things less fearful for me.

E sounds kind of like my grandmother. My parents moved in to take care of her when she couldn't really manage by herself anymore, and egads was she picky. She'd complain when Mom served rice or pasta more than once a month.

This reminds me of those lovely green "salads" that they used to serve with school lunches when I was in grade school. Very few kids actually ate them (they were just lettuce dressed in oil and vinegar), and the garbage cans always looked like a greasy head of lettuce exploded in there.

shoyu ramen nori umeboshi vinegar lemon juice (frozen in cubes in the freezer) olive oil bacon dried pasta rice kosher salt peppercorns garlic chili garlic sauce canned diced tomatoes brocolli onions chicken stock

I would have taken sausage, peppers, brocolli florets, garlic, olive oil and some chili flakes, cook those together, and serve it on french rolls with a salad. I do something similar with sausage, peppers and mushrooms occasionally.

I think you're jumping to conclusions. It sounded like the OP was wondering if the meat in those tacos was of dubious quality given the price.

The Americanized instant yakisoba is lousy stuff. Very bland.

Here in the US, the easiest one to find is the variety made by Eden Foods. When my oldest was allergic to soy, we used it as a substitute for small amounts of soy sauce because it has a similar salt content and tang to it. It's something like $3 for a 10oz bottle.

Wow... that's a rundown looking 7-11. I live about a mile from 2, and ours don't look that bad. The Wawa looks like the TA Travel Centers that pop up along trucking corridors than the average convenience store here in CA.

Any school that participates in the free and reduced school lunch program gets cash subsidies and commodities from the USDA... not enough to run the entire program, but it's something. Most public school districts in CA participate in this program. The income limits are pretty high.

It's a cold cheese sandwich, using government commodity cheese. Out here in California that means waxy, nasty, salty American cheese. I guess the school my kids go to is stricter about it... they only let you get to -$2.25 (the price of one lunch), before they give your child a milk/fruit/veggie tray. They generally stamp their hands or send home a note when the kids use their last fully paid lunch. My kids are usually pretty good about telling us. Granted, my kids only buy lunch once a week on average.