munchymom

A few more essential ingredients before the bird goes in the oven:

Oh no! Not improper trussing! Do you think it's going to explode? (To further scandalize any chicken-trussing purists: I bought it that way. That particular brand trims and trusses the bird before packing it, so it goes into the oven with a minimum of effort.)

Nah, I'll save it for a night when we can share it.

Hey, what's that bottle sitting on top of the wine rack? My Valentine's Day gift from my husband. There are reasons I let this guy hang around.

Time to see the kitchen: Another angle: Fridge: Freezer: Spices, oils, etc.: Booze: Wine (pretty depleted right now):

A little advance prep for dinner: Into the fridge for a few hours:

An afternoon beverage: 5 fresh strawberries cracked ice 2 oz. light rum 1 oz. Canton ginger liqueur A squeeze of lemon -all whipped up with my immersion blender. Just the thing for a sunny afternoon on the porch.

Brunch: Two eggs over easy, bacon, home fries, and wheat toast. With unsweetened iced tea.

I'm back! No, I'm definitely not a "juicer"- that's way too healthy for me. That was a Bloody Mary, garnished with one of my homemade pickled carrot sticks. Anyway. Greetings from sunny Charlotte, NC. I'm actually in a suburb just south of the city. Yes, strawberries are in season here - about two weeks ahead of schedule, due to the extremely warm weather this spring. I'm a stay-at-home mom and/or an unemployed librarian, whichever sounds better. Ordinarily my food-life is full of constraints and compromises. My husband doesn't like pork, and loathes garlic, and is usually low-carbing. My son (age 9) was an adventurous eater as a toddler, but has since become an extremely picky eater. He'd live on buttered pasta if I let him. So putting together meals is an exercise in finding the extremely small portion of the Venn diagram that contains food we can all live with. Not to mention the need to get something on the table after the kid's music lesson (7 PM) but before his bedtime (8:30.) Suffice it to say that most of the time, my food choices are not driven by what tastes the best to me. However. This week the husband and son are traveling without me - they're off to Chicago to visit with the in-laws for spring break. This means that until they return Friday night, I am accountable to no one except me, myself, and I. I intend to make the most of it. I'm throwing caution, constraints, compromises, and common sense to the winds, and I'm going to eat whatever I want. I'm going out for brunch in a little while - see you when I get back.

Good morning! My name is Christa, and I'll be your blogger this week. I'll be back in a little while with further introduction and information, but for now I have to finish off this:

For better or for worse, the "panini" ship has sailed. When speaking English in the United States, a panini is a toasted sandwich cooked in a press, no matter what it means in Italian. Just as "martini" now means "that which is served in a martini glass", whether or not gin and vermouth are involved.

I don't think everyone is laughing about this review because they're mocking a nice old lady who likes the Olive Garden. If you read the actual review it is a very well-written smackdown, written in Midwestern Nice. The best thing she has to say about the food is that it is "warm and comforting." The equivalent review in the South would be, "Olive Garden, well, bless their hearts."

Get the kind that has removable cooking surfaces that you can put in the dishwasher. It makes cleaning much less of a hassle. Size - just depends on how many sandwiches you want to grill at once.

Thin, grilled Reuben, oh yeah. I make mine on my George Foreman grill and it fuses all the ingredients nicely. I hate those "sky-high" sandwiches that it's impossible even to take a bite out of. Restaurants around here don't get it.

The day that animal rights activists have even a hundredth of a percent of the power and influence that the livestock, meat-packing, and fast-food industries have is the day that you will see pigs flying over the ice rinks of hell. Yes, there are single-issue, single-minded fanatics out there - but large and well-funded? Not so much.

When I had a child in diapers, I would wrap bottles in a layer of disposable diapers and put the whole thing in a plastic bag. I'd forgotten about the whole thing until I saw that Wine Diaper link.

When I was a kid one of my mom's go-to quick meals was English muffins, spread with cream cheese and Underwood's Deviled Ham and toasted under the broiler. I haven't thought about it in years but now I'm feeling a serious craving.

I'm really not making myself clear here, I guess, but the line I draw is "Is this imagery trying to convert me?" If so = offensive, if not = not offensive. Which is why I said at the beginning that it was the particular verse - a suggestion to pray - that made it offensive in a way that a picture of a cross or a verse that does not include the imperative mood is not. There is no way to be friendly to me while suggesting that I pray. I specifically said that I don't think anyone in this thread is explicitly saying "repent or go to hell" - but it is an implicit part of any attempt to proselytize. I don't think the Universalists are knocking on doors much these days. I think that some Christians, especially in the United States, are so used to being in a society suffused with Christianity that it's like the old saying about how fish don't know what water is. I think we have wandered a bit afield from food here, and I can't stay here all night just because "someone is wrong on the Internet!" so y'all carry on without me. If anyone has something to address to me specifically, you can send me a private message.

See, I know that some Christians feel compelled to spread the Good News. And that is precisely why any Biblical quote that seems to be evangelizing is in fact suspect to me - because I don't really want to hear the Good News when all I want is a meal in a restaurant. Because implicit in the Good News is the Bad News that if I don't happen to go along with it, I will suffer in Hell for eternity. (Note, I am not saying that you in particular or the restaurant owner in question have that belief, but many proselytizing Christians I have met do, and so the threat comes along with the promise simply by association.) When I go into an Asian, Middle Eastern, or Kosher restaurant there are sometimes religious displays, but they do not have the intent to convert me. Christians who see themselves as spreading the Good News have precisely that intent, and I don't care for it at mealtime. That said, I've been interested to see the various reactions, I'm glad at least a few people see where I'm coming from in finding it unpleasant. I don't think it's "bashing" or "bigotry" to not want to be evangelized at a restaurant. I was especially sympathetic to the person who said that it would be acceptable in certain contexts, because I kind of felt the same way but didn't really know how to verbalize it. If the restaurant had been a barbecue or soul-food or down-home country cookin' restaurant, I wouldn't have been as surprised as I was (and I might have even thought it added to the "authenticity".) This was an upscale restaurant in a fancy shopping mall, and I'm not sure why that added to the discomfort I felt, so I admit I probably have some cultural prejudice of my own in the mix. In any event, I won't be returning to that place, but I'm certainly in a minority in this part of the world and I have no doubt the restaurant will be successful without my patronage.

I'm certainly not saying what other customers should do - just my own reaction to the plaque. In the case of the Bible-reading car repairman, I'd be happy to patronize his business if his work was good. (Heck, as a librarian, these days I'm happy to see people reading just about anything.) I would choose not to use his services if he decided to accompany every estimate and bill with a proselytizing statement, which I would find annoying and offensive.

Just to be clear, it wasn't a piece of paper lying down on the host stand that I had to crane my neck to see. It was a plaque displayed upright on a support, like a picture frame, facing the customer. The clear intent was that anyone literate who approached the stand would read the verse. Trust me, you would have noticed.

For the record, I'm not bashing Christians. In this neck of the wood, probably at least nine-tenths of the restaurants I patronize are owned by Christians. I don't have any problem with that. If the owner had chosen to keep his favorite scripture on his desk in his office, great. If it were stitched on a sampler and displayed as a wall hanging - less great but I wouldn't make an issue of it. Having it displayed at the host stand as the first thing that guests see - I feel like it's a big sign pointed at me saying "YOU DON'T BELONG HERE". Asian restaurants with altars don't bother me. I think a Christian equivalent might be to display a cross, which I also wouldn't have a problem with. I don't mind people observing their religion, and I don't mind people displaying things that make the statement "I am observing this religion". Where it gets sticky for me is when they display things that say "YOU should observe this religion," which is what that Bible verse communicates to me.

I noticed it on the stand because it was right there. Facing forward. Impossible to miss. It was literally the first thing I saw as I walked in the door, and to me that suggests proselytizing. It was an exhortation to pray, not just a generic Jesus Loves You statement. I didn't copy it down, just remembered the chapter and verse and Googled it afterwards (the only Bible I have in the house is the Revised Standard, which renders it as "Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God." which is rather less catchy.)

I went today to a new restaurant I had been eager to try, and the food was great. The only disconcerting thing was, right on top of the host stand was a plaque about 5 x 7 inches emblazoned with a Bible verse. It was Philippians 4:6, "Don't worry about anything, but in all your prayers ask God for what you need, always asking him with a thankful heart." (Good News translation). If it had been hanging on the wall I wouldn't have given it a second thought; if it had said something like "God Bless You" or a verse like "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth" I might have rolled my eyes but wouldn't have reacted otherwise. This particular verse - an instruction to pray - was the very first thing one sees as one walks in, the first impression the owner wants to give. As a non-Christian, it bugged the heck out of me. Obviously, it's the restaurant owner's choice to make, and if he doesn't want my custom oh well, but doesn't it seem if not hostile, at least unwelcoming?

Piggybacking on this question: I will be in Seattle for a few days this July (on either side of an Alaska cruise) and would love to have some good cocktails while there. But since I will have the family in tow, I can't really go to bars. Are there any restaurants in Seattle which both serve excellent cocktails and will welcome a well-behaved, seafood-loving 8-year-old?