nibor

Randi, this thread is one of my favorites. It is a real primer on cooking for others, cooking for the elderly, and cooking on a budget. It also paints an unsparing picture of the drama, pathos and existential despair that is all too familiar to many of us with elderly parents. So thanks. And keep bitching! nibor

Hello? Anyone? ← Typically for this type of recipe I would use a Zin or Cabernet.

Don’t want to brag but people say my cc cookies are the best ever, and you are almost there: Increase the flour to 2 ½ cups, and decrease both the white and brown sugar to ½ cup each. Bake until the edges brown. Don't skimp on the chips and nuts.

Reading about the cluttered kitchens of elderly parents brought back memories. I can add some irony to the pile. I am not a clutter person. But after my parents died I simply could not part with many of the objects we grew up with. So I now my closets are crammed with boxes full of things I would never buy, and will never use, like cut-glass pickle dishes and relish trays, the set of “good china” mom only used when her mother visited, etc. Too bad I don’t have any kids to foist this stuff off on.

I just unpacked my car after a 4-month work-related relocation. The kitchens in furnished rentals are always very basic, so I took along two knives, my Le Creuset dutch oven, and my spices. I came home with the same, plus a nice covered glass casserole and some plastic storage containers that I had to buy while away to be minimally functional. I really hated throwing away the duck fat I had collected over the summer, but didn't think it would fare well during a 13-hour drive across the desert.

Ask your local public health department. I don't know where you live but in the US these are usually at the county-level.

My intestinal tract reacts to "chilis" (the species Capsicum annumm) - from the mildest paprika to the hottest jalapeños - as if they were poison. Sometimes I will only be part way through dinner when the skin starts peeling off my lips. The cramps and diarrhea come later and often last well into the next day. Could this kill me? I don't want to know. I try to avoid chili but it is so ubiquitous, and can be hard to detect if it is added, for instance, as a just pinch in a sauce. Wait staff tend to assume I just can't take the heat, and steer me wrong/blow me off about 90% of the time.

Why don't you come back home to California? The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and people are into good food.....

We have spent a lot of time in Santa Fe recently. Our favorite restaurants here are not typical New Mexican (I can't eat chilies), but if regional cusine isn't a priority, you might think about: Trattoria Nostrani www.trattorianostrani.com La Boca www.labocasantafe.com

I don't know what she is doing, but also wish her the best. I love her cookies.

We drove in and out of Switzerland numerous times in the last year (from Germany and Austria) and never even had to stop at the border. We are Americans. Our car had French plates.

I have used the catering service where I work for this type of luncheon, maybe their menu will give you some ideas: (http://www.ucicatering.catertrax.com/) I emailed a list of choices to the attendees ahead of time and let them order what they wanted. They were so appreciative, particularly the vegetarians. Someone upthread mentioned Mexican. I would stay away from spicy food. Older people in particular (and even some of us not-quite-older ones) can't eat it. I would have to skip lunch entirely if that was all you served.

My complaint about these types of lunches is that they are often very high carb. Bready sandwiches, chips, fruit and cookies. Argh. My favorite option is a chicken caesar salad that doesn't skimp on the chicken.

Why don't you call the market and ask them?

This may be one of those things where you either get it or you don't. I find all perfumes icky and irritating, and wonder why the perfume industry even exists. The thought of eating the stuff is incomprehensible to me. But given that about 99% of soaps, lotions, beauty products, candles, etc., are purposefully perfumed, I know I am in the minority.

Sweet. Your mother did a good job raising you.

Woodbury's: http://www.woodburyclams.com/

The Kitson boutique is across the street from Cedars Sinai Medical Center, which provides a list of nearby lodging in all price categories for visitors and family: http://www.csmc.edu/11980.html It is a lot of fun to eat at the restaurant at the Getty Museum. The view is incredible.

Why don't you cut the batch in half, make them both ways, and find out?

Plastic grocery bags = cat litter disposal bags. I would like to be as green as possible, but what else am I supposed to put the cat crap in?

Did the lamb twitch about? When I was little I spent a couple of weeks every summer on my grandmother’s farm. I was in the barnyard one day when uncle came out of the henhouse with a chicken. He told me we were having it for dinner, and he then chopped its head off with an ax. The cut was clean, but the chicken’s body, well, it ran around a bit, like a chicken with its head cut off. I don’t remember my reaction but I am sure I did react, because I remember the farm side of my family laughing at me.

Hummingbirdkiss is right on. You can easily “not see” the poverty of the Hispanic and Native Americans who wait on the oh-so-precious Santa Fe crowd during a brief visit, but I see it because I have family there, and it makes me cry for my country. The high school drop-out rate in Santa Fe is over 40%. Some of these people don’t have running water. I have been to many third-world countries - it doesn’t mean this isn’t sad. Tip big.

The Los Angeles Times recently had an article about cooking videos with lots of links: http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo...0,3695408.story

I have a hard time thinking about this area with a "must-do" attitude in mind. It is so beautiful. Slow down and breath it in. Stop at a farm stand. Chew on a piece of grass. Take a nap alongside a lake....mmmm must do....

Santa Fe is very touristy too. It depends on what you personally like to do for fun. SF is great for shopping and eating. The Grand Canyon is something else.