Marlene

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

Gee, I guess the thread evolved somewhat As a newborn, I could take Ryan into restaurants and be reasonably assured he would sleep through most of dinner. However, it impacted on me being able to enjoy the experience because I would keep checking on him or worrying that he might wake up. Once he was past the newborn stage, no way. I had one of those kids who never slept and cried 12 hours a day after the first three months. I would have been happy to give him away some days, never mind inflicting him on unsuspecting diners. The responsibility here lies with the parents. The baby cannot control his or her crying etc. The problem is, some parents are just oblivious to their kid's behaviour and how is disrupts others or they wouldn't be there with their baby in the first place. At Mark's place what I might have done is have a quiet word with the parents, and perhaps offer them a comp (drink or whatever) to come back another time.

Yes, the rest of our cows are just surly Seriously, yes, we had one instance of mad cow here a while back which resulted in the US banning all Canadian beef. Note we did not do the same to the US during your recent mad cow experience, which of course, they are now claiming came from Canada

I'm Canadian, and I have NOT been avoiding beef since our single Mad cow instance and I don't intend to start now. I'd starve

This is ridiculous -- the idea that I shouldn't bring my well-behaved children to a restaurant because other customers might be worried that they might misbehave. Bad behaviour is inappropriate whether from adults or children -- we all agree. Beyond that I don't see why there should be special rules for children -- I have had more meals disrupted by noisy drunk businessman bragging about themselves than by children. I think restaurants should feel free to throw out disruptive customers whether they are adults or children. I've also had more meals disrupted because of drunken, noisy adults, than children. Recently in Las Vegas, we dined at a Japanese restaurant. The table behind us was full of loud, obnoxious drunken people who disturbed the whole restaurant. Loud enough that we couldn't talk to each other at our own table without having to raise our voices. The management did nothing about it. We've been taking our son to higher end restaurants since he was about 7. There was always something on the menu he would eat, and the experience taught him how to behave in nice restaurants. We would quite often when he was that young take a colouring book and crayons to occupy him until the meal arrived. He also finished before us and would colour quietly until we were done. Quite often, he'd give his pictures to the server. I've seen several of his "creations" still hanging in a couple of the kitchens of restaurants we frequent He was never allowed to get down and play on the floor or run around. As he got older, we allowed him to take his game boy (with the sound turned off), if we expecting the meal to be a long one (2-3 hrs). The rule was, he would participate in conversation with us until the appetizers arrived. Once the main course was done (again he usually finishes first), he could play his game boy until we were ready for coffee and dessert. The benefits of taking him to nicer places since he was young have been that he knows how to act in a restaurant, use the menu, ask questions, order properly and carry on a conversation with adults. He is never shy now when we have adults over. He is able to engage them and look them in the eye without fidgeting. He is also mildly ADD and these strategies have helped tremendously with teaching him to be able to sit in one place for a longer period of time. And I don't mean he's hyperactive, quite the opposite in fact. He just has/had a short attention span. Of course, it perhaps helps that my son is not a rough and tumble boy . He prefers quiet activities to physical ones and maybe that makes a difference, I honestly don't know.

That may be, but when you're engaging in vigorous exercise such as weight training, it's advisable to drink as much water as possible -- not only during your workout, but throughout the day -- in order to keep hydrated as much as possible. I'll let the trainers amongst us clarify and correct me if need be. It's just good health common sense to drink as much as possible, hence the "8 glasses a day". Me, my love of water is well documented here on eGlutton , but I can see where it might be a concern for other people. Soba Soba is correct in this. I weight train. During any kind of exercise, you should be sweating and of course, are losing water from the body. Thus, is makes sense to replentish it. Further, when weight training, muscles absorb more water and thus your body needs more. Water also flushes excess salt and impurities from the body. I'll bet anyone who starts a "diet" (I prefer lifestyle change), and drinks the requisite 8 glasses a day of water or more, will lose approximately 4 lbs during the first week. This is the "water loss" period of weight loss. It is the first thing that happens. Water helps your circulatory system and other systems of the body function properly. The body is 98% water, so it makes sense that it's one of the most important things to give back to your body.