KateW

Ahahahaha I know exactly what you mean. I used to make these for my boyfriend and I but I discovered (gasp) you could make REAL lasagna, or chicken and whatever sauce and it would be cheaper, and healthier. I still have a couple "Helpers" sitting in my cupboard but I don't see myself using them anytime soon.

I'll try them both. Didn't see them at the grocery store yet as of yesterday. I'm trying to stay on a diet and while I wouldn't drink these all the time, they might be a nice splurge when I'm sick of no-calorie drinks.

I thought nobody else was going to say milk but sparrowgrass did. I just feel nauseous after drinking it, even soy milk, so it's not the lactose thing. Maybe I'll try the almost-frozen trick. I didn't see cilantro yet. I just don't get that. It's sort of like saying "Yeah I love to drizzle some Dawn over my food every once in a while, just to get a hint of that flavor...mmmm!"

That has GOT to be a sin, albeit a very good one. Is there just guacamole in there? What are the red bits?

I've lived in NB for just a couple years and my fiance, who is from North Dartmouth, and I both find the area really lacking in anything beyond chains. I second Antonio's of course. What about Ma Raffa's, or Riccardi's, if you want Italian? Rosie's is good, but I never see many kids there. They're not great, but they're good, based on what's available.

Solea is new to me. I will certainly check it out. Have you been to Dali In Somerville, MA? How do the two compare? Jim No, I haven't been to Dali yet =( My mom just moved to Lexington which is really convenient to Waltham so we've been enjoying the restaurants there lately. I know, I know, Somerville isn't that far away either... I'm really a big fan of the tapas idea; a big assortment of all different kinds of food at one meal. I wish more places would do that, instead of making appetizers actually meal-sized (and beyond).

There's a place in Waltham Mass. called Solea that serves tapas, hot and cold, and some entrees, and I thought it was very good. I've only been there once but it was packed. Its website, http://www.solearestaurant.com/, says it "embraces the romantic spirit of colonial South America while honoring its southern European culinary heritage". I went to Spain on a school trip in high school but sadly I don't recall experiencing tapas. Check out the website and I'll get a couple other recommendations and that pack of mules.

Have you considered doing a sort of "good eats live" tv show or tour where you could perform shows (new and/or old topics) in front of a live audience and have them ask questions during or afterward? Sometimes when I watch your show I feel like I could use a little more info on something (of course I can't think of any of those instances now). Thanks! I love your books and your show.

I've been to fewer restaurants that have cloth napkins *and* burgers, unless they're lamb burgers or gourmet burgers, and then they're probably not slathered with condiments. At the fast food places I (rarely now) go to, they give you a big stack of napkins and then they also have dispensers. Sounds redundant to me--I think it's the best idea to give you a couple, see how you manage with that, and then make it an option to ask for more at the counter. Maybe they should have a "bring your own napkin" thing, along with "bring your own spork", because they always seem to mess that up too.

I gotta say, it's a pet peeve of mine when fast food gives you a stack of napkins even when all you got was say, one sandwich. You're given one napkin at every other restaurant type in the world that I know of. Why does fast food bring out the slob in us? (Where do I begin?) When you order a burger at a sit down restaurant, do you still expect 12 napkins?

I don't think anyone has mentioned this, and I'm sorry if I missed it, but if you order the dressing on the side, you can dip each piece of salad into the dressing and get that "evenly coated" effect. Also you end up using a lot less dressing than if you gloop the whole dish onto the salad. Most of the restaurants I go to (low end, I sadly admit) put the dressing on the side as is, and I don't go out of my way to order dressing on the side. If I'm at a high end restaurant, chances are their salad isn't going to come with ranch dressing glooped on top. I don't mind a lot of a *good* dressing. I enjoy entree sauces with gusto. And no, I don't trust people in kitchens. I've gotten orders screwed up too many times to be trusting. It's just human error. It's too bad not everyone who works in kitchens can be a culinary school grad and/or actually care about what they're doing. Surely you must have gotten more interesting requests than "dressing on the side". Do we have a thread for that?

Who me? Never heard of her. Dinner a couple nights ago was pasta and chicken in peanut sauce. Very good. Actually I'm trying to lower my carb intake so my portion was chicken and tofu in the sauce. I'm trying to follow the South Beach diet but I keep goofing up (why on earth can't I eat carrots?) I got a cast iron pan and I'm anxious to try it out but I'm just not in the mood for burgers or steak... Tonight I think maybe fish. I dunno.

I have her cookbook, but I have to admit the only thing I've made from it is the ginger lemon fizzy drink. It's really good though.

I thought "SWEET, we have a Sarah McLachlan thread?" until I realized you're probably talking about the "What we listen to in the kitchen" thread. But there are so many ways we could talk about Sarah; her cookbook, her song "Ice Cream"...well anyway. Just a thought.

The way I read it is that it actually was a lime. The passionfruit I'm less surprised about.

The salmoriglio came out well! I'll post more in my thread in Member bios.

It's not an upscale place or a "real restaurant" for that matter but at my internship at the racing track we usually have no real meal per se. Once in a while chef will make omelettes in the morning, or if a purveyor came in with some free samples he'll give us that. (Sara Lee came in Monday and today we had a caramel cake type thing.) Sometimes we'll go down to one of the concession stands and make our own food at the end of the day. Chicken sandwiches, burgers, soup, basically anything we want to make and it's free. It's really not a bad deal.

*smacks forehead* of course! That's going to be the sauce with the swordfish at my wedding! Now, here's another issue I should have mentioned before. I can either make the sauce ahead of time, and kept room temp, and reheat in the saute pan with the other ingredients, or make a real fast sauce a la minute.

I had to look up avgolemeno sauce but that sounds really nice. I'll whip up some at home tomorrow and try it. I've tried the dish with tomatoes in it and didn't care for it. I actually did want to incorporate lemon juice into it but a simple spritz didn't taste right. Thanks!

I just want to brainstorm ideas--as some of you may know I'm at an internship in a kitchen at a racing track and I have to develop a special. I have decided to make one of my favorite meals, swordfish with Greek olives and capers over pasta and topped with fresh breadcrumbs. Chef wants me to make a sauce with it--I don't really want to because that's not how I do it, but I am open to it. I am making this to order this weekend and am looking for ideas. I was thinking a butter sauce, but that seems so French to me, and this dish is Meditteranean. What should I do? I agree it is a little dry without sauce. do you think I should just swirl in a little butter? I saute everything together and then put it over pasta. Thanks...

If I really don't enjoy a meal at a restaurant, I let someone know. I'm not usually picky unless there is really something wrong with it. One of the few times I sent something back was at an Italian chain restaurant (no, not Olive Garden =)) where I got something like chicken and broccoli with pasta and a cream sauce. The "sauce" was like someone had poured warm milk over the whole thing. It was so nasty. So I sent it back. Anyone I'm out to eat with would do the same thing, so I don't feel bad sending it back.

My favorite thing to cook when I'm alone (usually Monday nights) is a swordfish steak with olives and capers in a butter sauce. It's easy and I find it gets better every time I do it. (I'm pretty new to cooking fish at home.) I used to put anchovies in it too but that's way too salty.

But still, you gotta wonder how many sodas you have to drink to equal two straight days of sitting in soda.

1) if that's true, it's already too late 2) I've heard that's a myth anyway 3) there are other acidic things that stay in your mouth longer than a liquid, right?

So did you crack it open and try it after taking the pic? And does that say 45 calories?