Marlene

What a great story Jaymes! When we eat usally depends on a number of things. During the week, I feed my son around 6 or so, and hopefully, hubby gets home in time to eat around 7:30. Weekends, when dining at home, dinner time tends to be around 7:00 p.m still since even with healthy snacks a 10 year old boy doesn't seem to be able to last much longer than that. When we dine out, reservations are usually made anywhere between 7:30 and 8:30 depending on whether we are by ourselves or dining with friends. We have one set of friends who prefer dining late (8:30) and another that prefer dining early (7-7:30)

http://www.cbbqa.com/pork/Ribs.html Maybe it's a Canadian thing, but we sure call them ribs here. All the country style ribs I get look like ribs, they just have a lot more meat on them.

Straight ribs, esecially St. louis or here in Toronto, country style. Lots of meat on those country style ribs. Never baby backs.

For me, it's Prime Rib. Simple yes, but I get asked for it everytime. And for dessert, it's the Chocolate Turtle Cheesecake.

You neglected to write how long you have been married... coming up 5 years

No long lost treasures (at least none like the top of our wedding cake; click on link in one of the posts I made on this thread earlier as it is a good story) because we'd had to make room in freezer for frozen stuff during kitchen remodel. But, I did uncover a few more unrecognizables. The trash bin is full. If it weren't below zero, my trash would be a wretching experience, I'm sure. Why do we save some of the crap we do? For that matter, why do we buy some of the crap we do? I still have the top of my wedding cake in our freezer

or ROTFLMAOF

Don't do that! She'll bring a Trifle and want to build it in your kitchen

I don't let anyone other than my husband and son cook or "help" in my kitchen. Ever. If my friends want to cook, they can invite us over there. I'm quite happy though, to have guests come and talk to me while I'm cooking.

Cinnamom rolls, definately. Homemade bread, either garlic or cinnamon raisin. Actually, since quitting smoking yesterday, I appear to be on a non stop baking binge. Fortunately, I don't eat sweet stuff, however, hubby and son have their work cut out eating all of it! Hopefully I'll be over the worst of it before they rip out my kitchen next month and I can't bake at all!

Broccoli and asparagus, both with hollandaise sauce! Green beens with lemon, toasted almonds and butter sauce

For whatever reason, Valentine's Day ranks right up there in importance to my husband as our anniversary. So I'm having a day at the spa that day and then we will be going somewhere for dinner. I never know where until we get there. Hubby always takes care of the arrangements for this dinner and surprises me.

Japanese hot mustard, YES!

I was very disappointed in the Jamacian blue mountain as well. Costa Rica makes a very nice full bodied coffee though.

We get slabs of bacon from our butcher. He slices it for us extra thick. Pan fry until crispy. Or pan fry, until almost done. Layer slices of bread with cheddar cheese, lay bacon on top, put under broiler under cheese is melted and bacon is crispy.

I know of no religious authority who advocates death over breaking the laws of kashruth. I believe this is discussed, at least in Judaism, as the concepts of pikuach nefesh and tzorchei tzibbur, meaning the saving of a life and the needs of the community (roughly). That is to say, it is acceptable to break certain laws when presented with overwhelming need. Yes, but Jehovah's Witnesses will die rather than accept a blood transfusion. edited.

I like hot chocolate. With lots of whipped cream. We tend to add a little bailey's to ours

Congratulations! My hubby's business will take him to Montreal frquently this coming year, so hopefully, we can visit.

Tonight we'll be dining at Ruth's Chris in Toronto. We've secured a room overlooking City Hall and will be taking a bottle of Cristal to share at midnight while watching the City Hall festivities. Tomorrow, I'm not at all sure I'll be up for cooking, but will be trying to make a Zuccotto, and likely Candied Oriental Pork, with garlic mashed potatoes.

Made the Chocolate Turtle Cheesecake for Christmas Day. Tomorrow will be trying to make a Zuccotto cake for the first time.

Eek! That's what self-cleaning ovens are for. You'd have to start over with the seasoning, but throwing out cast-iron??? You use the self cleaning oven feature to clean cast iron pans? This is a new one. I've never heard that before!

I will admit to using it occassionally!

This sounds like a classical violinist I was asked to play with at a friend's house. She could only play by reading the score (music) and I could not. She was a very good violinist and I was well regarded for my guitar playing. The evening was a hopeless failure. People who only cook by recipes can turn out some very fine food - my mother was one. On the other hand, I tend to wing it - with results that range from delightful to somewhat this side of disasterous. Probably those who cook by the book and those who don't should be careful when making a meal together. Right and wrong. I cook by the book, and my husband throws things together without ever using a recipe. While we may irritate each other by our methods, we love to be in the kitchen together, making food for each other. It works out.

Is it that you don't eat plain rice very often? Have you ever tried Thai jasmine rice, or Indian basmati rice? Unlike the boring California or Texas plain rice, the jasmine and basmati actually have a flavor (or scent, at least), and are worth eating. I won't bother with plain California rice; it's Thai for me, with basmati occasionally. And you can mix wild rice with the white, add veg, chicken stock, maybe some fat (oil/butter), and make pilaf right in the rice cooker. Many rice cookers also come with a steaming rack, though I've never used them. Maybe once. You can do more with a rice cooker than just cook plain rice, but maybe not a wide variety of things. I'm generally opposed to single-use appliances (I still can't believe that they (used to?) sell a cooker that ONLY cooks hot dogs), but a rice cooker is useful if you eat rice regularly, IMHO. No, I cook lots of rice, I just do it the old fashioned way, with pot and water.

So very well said. Thank you.