Marlene

And MatthewB has a complete fit when I call my vodka martini a martini And yet I persist. In the two years I've been involved with this site, it's evolved a great deal. I remember when I began here, feeling excluded, and I posted about it. It seemed like an exclusive club at the time. So I can hear and understand fist when he says it's happened to him - perhaps without meaning to. I will never be a gourmande. I hate foi gras and fish. I'm happier with a good piece of beef myself. Yes, I eat out a lot. The nature of our businesses ensure that we do. And I am fortunate to be able to afford to and to afford good materials. That sure doesn't make me any better than anyone else, because I remember a time when I lived out of my car! However, I've got a son who lives on Kraft dinner, Lunchables, and grilled cheese sandwiches with processed cheese slices. My guy is a meat and potatoes kind of guy. He won't eat what he calls "ginchy" food. You'll never find him at Trotters for example. I love to cook. And I learned so much here, and made many cyber friends as well. So Fist, I hope and believe that the "slurs" you may have received in the past have been from a very select few - forgive them, for they know not what they do

We dine out a lot. When I was pregnant, but before I was obviously so, I'd ask for sparkling water and a wine glass. (At least I could pretend I was drinking ). When my husband and I dine out, there is the (admitedly rare) occassion, that I won't want a drink. I've only noticed it to be a problem when neither of us drinks, we do get the occassional odd look. Also, I tend to drink red wine, and hubby drinks white, which means we order our wine by the glass, rather than the bottle, a practice I've noticed some servers hate. They'd much rather sell us the bottle. I also dine out a lot on business, in a fair number of high end restaurants, both lunch and dinner. And I don't always drink during business dinners. Again, with very few exceptions, it hasn't been a problem, but if I got attitude from a server, I'd most likely make an issue of it

Cool! Price point not a real issue. I'm a fan of steak of course , but really, I'll try anything except fish. And no mushrooms. Dinner could be an option once I check with hubby. One of the two nights we are there we really do want to go to Lugers since we haven't been yet.

Hubby will be in Stamford CT the week of January 26. Likely, I'll fly to NY on the Friday morning, and he'll join me in NY later that day/evening. We'll spend the weekend in NY. I'd be up for a lunch on the Friday which I think is the 30th if anyone else is interested. Flight/hotel has yet to be confirmed. but assume I will arrive early morning.

Um, for the last 4 or 5 days it's been -39C here. Somehow, I don't think my husband would be whelmed at the thought of stir frying outdoors

I have a triple sink, stainless steel. The left sink is huge and I can soak my large roaster in there no problem. The middle sink is very small and is where the garburator is. The right hand sink is slighly smaller than the left hand sink. The left and right hand sink are very deep as well. It is an undermounted to my granite counter top.

Well, three months of inconvenience compared to a kitchen you'll love forever? We lived out of our dining room during our reno, no stove, etc. And if you get the right contractor, it won't take three months.

Only you vengroff! Varmint, have you got measurements of how much floor you'll have to "replace after the cupboards come out? You could possibly get a few squares of either cork, or hardwood and perhaps a "filler" underneath if necessary to make it level until you're ready to gut. If you aren't worried about how it looks, this would work fine. Hardwood might be easier because you can cut it to fit what you need.

That could work, except once you remove the cabinets from the bottom, you're going to have to have some sort of temp flooring solution in place. Otherwise you're going to break your neck!

I've got to agree with fifi. You dont want to spend a lot of money on it now if you are going to renovate it properly later. In order to make your kitchen properly functional, it really will require demolition. Sorry. So what can you live with right now, and what do you absolutely need to change in order not to drive yourself crazy? Siding?! I did my kitchen before we replaced the windows in our house (which really needed replacing ). A kitchen is just much more important

In the interests of eating healthier, and since it's the one thing my hubby excels at, we are making more stir frys. Our current wok is cheap, warped and on it's last legs. I need to replace it. Any suggestions on a brand?

You could just move

Usually when this happens to me, it means take out Is Emma lactose intolerant or just doesn't like milk? She is allergic to the milk protein, which I understand is different from lactose intolerance. It's making cooking for her, and the rest of the family, interesting these days. Yes it is. Ryan was allergic to milk in the beginning, although he grew out of it. We had him on soy milk for the first two years and slowly started adding real milk to the soy. It took a long time for him to get past it. He loves the stuff now, but I still have to watch his intake.

Yeah me too. There is no way, even with the uniqueness of your kitchen that it should be that high. I had a few strange things in my kitchen and when they took out the tile in the kitchen and the sunroom, it was $800 to remove the tile. And I had a lot of it! My cupboards also had a higher than normal kickplate. I've seen your kitchen remember? And I still say no way.

It looks like you have to reach across on both models to get to the controls. Also, the Waring Pro has a break away cord which is a nice safety feature.

My next purchase is going to be the Waring Pro. The Delonghi only goes up to 360 degrees, and is only 1,650 watts. The Waring Pro goes to 375 and is 1800 watts.

Usually when this happens to me, it means take out Is Emma lactose intolerant or just doesn't like milk?

I looked at cork, but in the end went with hardwood. I used birch which I would not recommend as it is a little softer than I expected, but maple is perfect as is oak.

No, we just have to have an eGullet pot luck convention

Thank you so much for joining us Vickie. This is a fascinating topic! Like anyone else, I suspect there are astronauts who have food allergies. Given the fact that you are doing such long range planning, and everything is packaged, are you able to deal with specific food allergies anyone might have? Thanks! Marlene

No I know that. I remember your kitchen. Shoot, had I known this, I could've done it while I was down there.

When I met with a designer to do my kitchen, she repeatedly ignored the things I wanted, and kept trying to put her own into the design. She kept moving my kitchen sink, and I kept moving it back . And there were lots of things she said couldn't be done, like my floor to ceiling pull out spice racks etc. In the end, I sat down with my contractor, told him what I wanted, and he made it all work. For a lot less than the kitchen design place wanted too I might add. If you've got a real sense of what you want, sketch it out if you can. Then find a local small contractor. They do miracles.

Oil based beef tenderloin fondue, with onions, peppers and tomatoes for cooking as well. Crisp salad with balsamic vinigrette dressing, baked potatoes, french bread with parmesan garlic dipping oil. Dessert, individual chocolate babycakes.

I have this capresso model. Until I went with my grind and brew coffee machine, this one was a great grinder.

I lunch or dine with clients a lot, both mine and my husband's. And in my previous life, I did the same with vendors or contractors. With my clients I tend to follow their lead. If they aren't drinking, neither am I. Or, if we are hammering out the fine points of a contract, we'll wait to have a drink until that part is done. Lunches tend to be more business focused, while dinners are more socially inclined.