ilively

Dear Son has new GF in Iowa ... closest 'city' is Omaha (an hour drive, or so). Wants to take her out to a nice restaurant. [He's flying in from East Coast] V. Mertz was suggested but quick google and reading reviews panned it for bad staff, and slow service, even tho the food was listed as good. What do the locals suggest?! Ida

I'm two weeks from a Gastric Bypass (RNY). I've read lots of books. I know the complications. I just want to know if you foodies (for surely I am a foodie) still enjoy the good foods that you were eating before. I had the most wonderful dinners in Chicago at the Pump House and North Pond. I absolutely loved the steak I had at Emeril's in Orlando. I've had divine food at Tavern on the Green in Manhattan. Have you survivors done the full-on gourmet meal at some of your favorite restaurants after your surgery -- when you're in the 'you can eat anything' stage -- I can't imagine drinking a protein shake at any of my favorite places without the urge to kill everyone who was eating 'real food' at the time. I'm currently reading Before & After by Susan Leach. I purchased it about a month ago, along with several other surgery books, and high-protein cookbooks. I chuckled when I saw it mentioned early in this thread, since I just decided to check on here for a Gastric Bypass thread on here as I read her descriptions of several meals.

Okay. I'm here to stretch your minds. I'm headed to a quilting event in Paducah, KY and would love to find a nice place to eat. I've already found "Pizza by the Pound" which proclaims having a 'challenge pie' for those of you who love to consume food, but not necessarily taste it. (It sounds a lot like Beau Jo's restaurant chain in Colorado.) Any suggestions?

I've been looking for a Truffled Macaroni and Cheese recipe ever since I had it at Mama Maria's in Boston last year. I've found 'similar' but not 'exact' ... NO panko, YES bacon. What do list members have to say/share? Ida

Munchos. Are they only an 'East Coast' thing? I love the odd potato crisps. But, I only eat them when I really crave salt ..otherwise, they taste like a 'salt lick' to me. I'm "fortunate" that our vending company keeps Munchos in supply at my work. FatGuy .. if you need a source in Central PA, I'm willing to mail a box or two to you.

I'm headed to NYC for a girls weekend mid-September. Would love FUN, FUNKY or OFFBEAT. (I can't imagine that there's ANY of those in NYC?! ) Suggest away!

I have reservations here for next Thursday (9 days) .... i'll report on it.

Alton is featured in the current issue of GUIDEPOSTS. He talks about starting Good Eats, and there's a nice bit about Feasting on Asphalt and his new friends the Patels.

i watched all 4 episodes, and found them amusing at least. I'm now looking for DVDs for my son who missed most of them by going away to Navy Boot Camp -- to become a Submarine chef. I know Pikes Peak is the local thrill, but I don't understand why they didn't go up Mt. Evans -- the highest paved road in North America. It's higher, and the road is paved. I prefered Mt. Evans to Pikes Peak when I visited in 2004.

Well, he's in the air. He's scheduled to arrive at O'Hare in about an hour. We'll be out for graduation in about 8 weeks.

For my birthday my hubby got me ... okay, okay ... he allowed *ME* to get tickets to a Cookin' Camp directed by Johnny Nix, host of the popular Campfire Café television cooking show. We'll be at the Hagerstown/Antietam KOA August 25-27. I've been a fan of Johnny Nix ever since I caught his show on RFD-TV a couple years ago. The show promotes easy to prepare gourmet recipes cooked entirely over an open fire. Hubby has declined to take the cooking class(es) with me. He said that he'd tour the battlefield and surrounding area. Of course, that was before we discovered that the Kamping Kabin (that's pretty "princess camping for a die-hard boy scout leader) will have WIFI access. That adds "just hang out at the Kamp" to his list of possible activities.

I have no doubt that there will be times he'll want to quit. Haven't we all felt that frustration in our lives at some point? He learned last week that his A-school is changing from Hyde Park to Great Lakes/Chicago. He wasn't real happy about that, but signed the paper acknowledging the change. Unfortunately, that means he won't be training at the CIA .. which was the original A-school destination.

I've used this recipe many times while out camping with the Boy Scouts (and Cub Scouts). This is easy enough that even the little guys can do it -- just monitor them around the pot of boiling water. A few tricks I've learned: 1) squish out all air -- for some reason the eggs cook quicker this way 2) don't put in too much cheese, or your omelet will be 'runny' 3) Find a stick (wooden spoon?) that will fit across the top of your pot and use SPRING-clothes pins to secure the bag to the stick -- this helps prevent the bag touching the metal and melting. We generally use quart bags -- they're heavier than sandwich bags, and have success. Alternatively, we've used gallon-sized bags (to feed 3-4 boys), with success, too.

For the entire list of James Beard winners, go to: http://www.jamesbeard.org/awards/index.php How many of you ate at these places, read these books? How many of you PLAN to, now that the winners have been selected?

My father was excited about shelf stabilized milk when he made a trip to Spain in 1987. Even then he saw the advantages of it. Anytime my family goes camping, I purchase Parmalat (or similar shelf stable milk) to take with us. While drinking warm milk takes some getting used to, it's great not to have to worry about keeping ice in the chest to keep things cold. [We tend to purchase our evening meat just before we retire back to the campsite to prepare dinner.] Dear Son continues to prepare for the Navy. We're now just over 3 months left of DEP before he ships out. He's deep into learning lingo, ranks, ratings and ribbons. It really isn't just the individual -- the whole family is learning. I know know my Alpha Bravo Charlie's and can quote at least some of the General Orders of Sentrys -- number 7 is my favorite. ;-) Upon recommendation of the chat-boards at Navy.com, I'm reading Honor, Courage, Commitment: Navy Boot Camp by JF Leahy. It follows an integrated (male and female) squad through arrival to graduation at Great Lakes. So far, I'm still on 'arrival' (the P-days), but have learned a lot. For some of you old salts, it would be a great 'I remember that' book.