Marlene

I'd like to be able to do this too My other goals include: making ceasar salad dressing right in the bowl, instead of using my hand mixer make a souffle. I've never tried when my son asks at bedtime "what's for dinner tomorrow" be able to answer him with "dinner will be ........" instead of "I don't know, I haven't got that far yet" Try serving my guests something other than Prime Rib every time

You haven't met my husband! There are more canned goods downstairs than I can count. That we never use. He's got to buy a six pack of tomato paste, when one will do He keeps telling me "you know, if the big one hits, we're set". What the hell are we going to do with two dozen cans of tomato paste when the big one hits? I suspect his compulsive stockpiling of canned goods come from growing up on a farm in the wilds of Saskatchewan, where they could only get to town once month or so

John, you're not economizing, you're getting older

So did I

Pretty soon, every country will ban every other country's food and we'll all be stuck eating only what we produce internally.

Montreal also makes some of the best bagels in the world and also Montreal Smoked meat. I was there last year for a few days and had no trouble finding shopping bargains. We welcome you to Canada, eh!

Too funny! I can relate to this since my son did exactly the same thing the first time we took him fishing. In the end, he'd eat anything but the fish!

Marlene, those are a couple/three nice accomplishments under your err.. belt. Thanks for the "riot" comment. This party needs to be fun for my guests and for me. woodburner My favourite ones are when my guests dress for the theme. I usually had small prizes for best costume. You really will have fun!

I planned a party for 5,000 people once based on the theme of Travel the Trans-Canada highway through food. We had a buffet station for each Province and Territory featuring a food native or famous from that region. The dessert buffet had something from each place. I've also hosted murder mystery parties and planned the food around the settings. Other theme parties include St. Patrick's Day - a Taste of Ireland for 1,500 people, Feasting in Medieval England for 30 people, and several others. Theme parties are a riot. For the murder mysteries and the Feast everyone came in costumes.

You'd get along just fine with my hubby. He's got quite the collection as well, both full and empty

I forgot one. Mr. Sub's hot roast beef sandwich, no cheese. Putting cheese on roast beef is just -- wrong somehow

Arbys and McD's bacon and egg mcmuffin. Although I rarely eat at either place.

The very best place to start is here Understanding Stovetop Cookware, an excellent eCGI course. Having said that, I own several pieces of stainless steel all clad and I wouldn't trade them for anything. They are wonderful

No need! Sherry, apertif, port after dinner. See you can have both (I do )

It really depends. Some weeks I cook every night. Especially since we re-did the kitchen and I now have two ovens to work with. Breakfast in our house during the week is catch as catch can. On the weekend, hubby usually takes over with the bacon and eggs routine except sometimes I'll make pancakes or waffles. Sat and Sun are my big cooking days. However, when we are entertaining clients, we can find ourselves eating out every night of the week. It boils down to the fact that on the weeks I have my son, (every other week) I cook more. When I don't, we tend to eat out more.

I love it! It's the same reason I gave my son a popcorn maker

I'm tellin' ya, the Bamix is awesome. I could throw away my blender and my hand mixer now. And it's soooooo easy to clean.

I'm in love with my new Wusthof knives. I always chop the bacon before frying when making bacon bits. In the past, I've always used kitchen shears cause it was just easier. I used my Chef's knife today and I couldn't believe how easily it cut through the bacon and chopped. And the bread knife? Oh my. I'm finding things to make just so I can use my knives

They let you send knives though the US mail? Where is Homeland Security when you need it

And damn, they ARE good!!!! Just a little bit of Canada for y'all Butter Tart Squares

Butter tart squares. I played with several recipes and combined the best from three of them.

I have a niece like this.

True

And some already live that hell on earth When Ryan was very young, we would take him grocery shopping. Invariably, he'd start fussing in the cart. One warning, and then one of us would carry him out to the car and the other would finish the shopping. He learned fairly quickly that sitting in the car for half an hour was boring.

One of the important things to remember is that everyone's body is different and will respond differently to different foods and exercise. As you experiment, you'll find what works best for you. For example, walking or running for me works better than an exercise bike or other cardio machine. I can eat fats, but not salt. I run 5 days a week, 20 minutes a day, and walk for 10. I weight train 3 days a week. I used to alternate upper and lower body but now do a full body workout these days. Splitting the upper and lower body allows you to focus specifically on certain muscles of the body. I will disagree here with the thought that you should not eat before cardio. You're burning lots of calories during cardio and your body needs something to work off. Give it food. Not a lot, but enough to kick start your metabolism and get it working. Otherwise your body is going to think you are starving it and it won't burn those calories you're trying to run off, it'll hide them. After weight training, it is important to get some protein into your system as soon as you can. Building muscle takes protein and when the muscles are freshly stretched and exercised is a good window for them to absorb the protein and use it as "food" to strengthen the muscle. This is when a high protein/low carb shake will work very well. I'd be happy for our resident personal trainer to chime in here with thoughts on foods and exercise