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Maybe celebrate by practicing a little Hippophagy? SB

I think that is delicious, though I will only dip the crust (not the toppings part). My wife will dip any part of the pizza in ranch dressing, regardless of the toppings. ← My Grandson Zach, age almost-four, has adopted Ranch Dressing as his "Everything-Tastes-Better-With ...." condiment, replacing ketchup. SB (at least it looks better on cottage cheese! )

I've forwarded your query to my sister, who's in the restaurant/deli/catering business in Fargo. I'm sure she'll have some good suggestions. SB (liked the "flood" pun. You've been there before this time of year? )

I thought that was how you were SUPPOSED to peel a banana ← And .... because there's sometimes a small, black hard spot on the flesh at the tip end, you can just squeeze the banana off through the peel at that point when you get to the last bite. SB (does not necessarily believe that emulating monkeys is such a great idea )(matter of fact; wouldn't it be reverse-evolution?

I believe Belgian waffles were introduced by chain restaurants. It's more efficient for them because they can make more waffle faster using the same amount of griddle, saving both time and space in the kitchen, which equals more $! (Belgian waffles are about 1.5 times thicker than traditional waffles) Once people got used to eating "Belgian Waffles" the home appliance market followed. SB (prefers the thinner waffles himself )

When I seperate a banana from its bunch, quite often the peel tears at the stem end, making that the logical end to start peeling from.

I've always had very good luck with customer service calls and emails. Whether I had complaints, suggestions or odd questions I've nearly always been satisfied with the responses, plus, I've often received coupons and gift certificates without asking. Of course, I'm a real interesting person to talk to, which probably helps. SB (currently having an interesting exchange with Applebees Restaurants about their coffee service)

That could be. I was once told by the fingerprinter for the DEA that I had very faint prints. (a long story having nothing to do with food) Pretend this is [LARGE] and [ORANGE]: PERISH THE THOUGHT! SB (whew! )

I had lunch today with my Brother at an Applebees restaurant because it was conveniently located across from the construction site he's working at. I won't comment on the food, it being about what you'd expect, but they had an interesting coffee service I'd never seen before. When the server asked if I wanted another cup of coffee, and I replied in the affirmative, they replaced my empty cup with a new cup full of coffee and took the empty one away. The same thing happened when I had a third cup. What's the point to this? Is the practice unique to Applebees? SB (the coffee itself wasn't too bad )

That was my favorite part of the conversation. My Cousin Steph said it just like that was the most obvious thing in the World ! Thinking about again now, there would obviously be more overhang than you'd want to tuck into the strudel pan? Then I remembered how whenever Grandma made strudel she also had some stickey, yellow thumb-sized cookies. I've never seen a recipe for them, but they were crisp on the outside and almost still doughy in the interior. They were baked in a pan with honey, and were very sweet and buttery at the same time. You don't suppose ..... Better yet! My Cousin Steph is an inveterate picture-taker. (her daughters call her the Mamarazzi) I'll have her capture the entire event and post it here!

My Grandmother was a Serbian who came here in the early part of the 1900's from what was then part of Austria. Her strudel dough was indistinguishable from a Greek phyllo. I asked my Mother about it when I visited her yesterday. Her memory of helping her Mother, and making strudel herself and with my Sister, is getting a bit vague. But, as luck would have it, my Cousin Steph, recently repatriated from The Netherlands, stopped in while I was there. She could recall both seeing our Grandmother make strudel and helping her Step-Mother with the process. Some "tricks" she remembered were having the room as warm as possible during the process, keeping the back of the hands well floured to stretch the dough with your knuckles, and stretching it just thin enough while leaving a heavier edge along the sides that would hang over the edge of the sheet-covered table to hold the dough in tension while it was buttered and filled before rolling up into strudel. (I knew there had to be some reason this task was done on such a seemingly vast scale!) Stef also recalled how the rolled strudel, (either the standard apple or delicious cottage cheese/lemon), was then laid in an "S" shape into the baking pans by Grandma's gently lifting it from the table as a helper rotated the pan at just the right speed beneath it. Personally, I can recall how each end of the "S" contained a bit of the thicker dough "overhang" tucked underneath which, after the strudel was baked, was the perfect combination of crispy, chewy and carmelized! Stef will search through her Step-Mom's cookbooks and notes for any recipes, and we've tentatively scheduled a strudel-from-scratch making exercise for August when my Sister and another cousin from California can be present. SB (volunteered to serve as Documentarian and, of course, on the Tasting Panel )

Many of the uses already mentioned, plus snipping up meat scraps for my (little) dogs!

I suspect there's something about the elasticity of the dough that it can only be stretched thin enough when done to large dimensions? Kind of like how it would be hard to make a hand-tossed 6" pizza crust. When I see my Mom tomorrow I'll ask her is she remembers any of Grandma's "tricks".

For most people this is true, but I live in a tiny NY apartment, and I do not have a table that I can walk all the way around. Actually, I don't even have a table that is ever completely clean (as in nothing is on it). ← But you have a floor. So you can just dump everything that's on the table under the table. ← Or, move the table and make the phyllo on the floor! My Grandmother used to put both leaves in her dining table, then put a form-fitted cover over it which I suspect she'd made out of old bed sheets. She could stretch the dough by hand so thin you could read a newspaper through it! My Mother and Sister have tried on several occassions to make phyllo, more for tradition's sake than anything else, but they had a hard time working fast enough to get a consistent thinness like Grandma used to. SB (wouldn't even dream of trying it himself )

And, of course, there's milk toast, celebrated by none other than MFK Fisher as ""an instinctive palliative". SB (and toast crusts make your hair curley! )

That's a great story indeed, in both topic and telling. If you want to get just a wee bit fancier, try these!

Although it's not specifically dedicated to the act of parents and offspring dining together, this song still contains some pretty good advice that could be applied to that topic. Pay particular heed to the line about both generations feeding each other on their respective dreams. What could be more nourishing than dreams? SB (old hippie )

In that case, I more or less "inherited" a few drawers full of GF's Mother's stuff, since GF rarely cooks herself. The most useful items are a small fork with three sharply curved tines, a serving spoon I've found to be just the right size for adding flour to my mixer, and an odd plastic spatula sort of piece, with oblong holes in the blade portion, that's the best thing I ever found for mixing quick bread batter. (its intended use, and shade of red, make me suspect it was originally a Betty Crocker promo item.) When my own Mother moved into a senior's apartment cemplex last year after my Dad died she left behind virtually all her kitchen equipment, utensils and dishes. My Sister and cousins chose things for personal or practical reasons, and we gave some to the woman who had provided home-care for my Dad. Of what was left, my Brother took most of it to his farm/hunting camp. I felt uncomfortable with the idea for some reason, and only have a couple bread pans, an original edition Pyrex measuring cup, and a set of little translucent plastic Jello molding cups we had for as long as I remember. SB (sorry both his Grandmothers passed away before he started cooking )

Oh yes. I agree with that. I spend hours and hours each day with my kids. If they are not at school, and not doing something else that is one of their chosen activities, they are with me. *But* there are often times that we do not sit down at a table and eat together. We might set out food in the kitchen and wander through the house nibbling on it. We might choose to eat different things at different times. We might eat fast food, driving somewhere in the car. We even *want* to go out a lot, for often we are at home, together, the three of us. I would count these as "eating together". I was going by the standard set forth in one of the studies that compares "teenagers who have two or fewer family dinners per week with those who have five or more". Depending on the age of the children, and taking into consideration the demands our society puts on the time of both adults and children, five dinners might be considered a lofty goal, but "two or fewer" seems to me would indicate a problem inherent and/or developing? "Eating together" is, of course, neither a direct cause or effect of family problems. SB (true to character, hiding his visage behind shades )

"ay, there's the rub" - Hamlet I hold the field of "Journalism" in even lower regard than "University Studies". On the scale of What Parents Could Realistically Worry About, I think this should rank fairly high. The obvious "solution" to this "problem" is having children and parents WANT TO eat with each other. I believe other "studies" have indicated that many children would like to spend more time with their parents in various activities, including eating? SB (stern )

Neither. I'll give my dollars to the local Food Shelf and Salvation Army Meal Program. SB (not a big fan of university "studies" )

That's a great opening line! Do we mean literally "inherited", as when somebody who's died wanted you to have it, or just "ended up with" more by accident than design?

You can add egg white or yolk to just about any yeast bread. Or make as egg wash. SB (and yes, dogs like eggs )

Oh damn! I thought maybe it was me?

Dave, the World's Best One-Eyed Left-Handed Former Rodeo Bull Riding Butcher at my now defunct local market used to tip me off whenever he had an exceptional piece of beef come through. In fact, usually he and his wife Rose, who worked at the check-out, had tried it the night before. I'd reciprocate with a nice gift at Christmas, and every summer when Dave took a week off to do "a little work around the house" I'd have a friend of mine who drove a beer truck deliver a case right to his house. SB (misses Dave ... and the little market )