Allura

On the topic of uncooked eggnogs, do you have access to pastuerized eggs (NOT "egg beaters" or other egg white products)? They're more expensive, but a good option if you're concerned about illness (which I would be).

My mother, sister, and I will do cookies the Saturday before Christmas. Pecan Puffs, chocolate chip, and oatmeal raisin are definites, and we're debating what else to do. Now, if only I can get my mother to buy butter instead of margarine.....

I just made a meal in the crockpot the other night: onion & red bell pepper and garlic in the bottom, then crumbled Italian sausage (we used hot), then chicken breasts. Some oregano, rosemary, and white wine. It was pretty good, but don't cook it too long. The recipe said 5-7 hours, and we pushed it a bit so the chicken was a bit dry. You want to use thicker breasts, I think. We had it over spaghetti, and threw some broccoli in there, too. Pretty good and easy because there's no browning required, so it's a "dump soup" kind of recipe (from www.savingdinner.com , which is generally my sanity savor, except when she goes bonkers with the low fat nonsense).

Leftovers! I grew up with my mom plopping chicken breasts, meatloaf, leftover steak, whatever between two slices of bread. Now I just take a portion of last night's dinner. Today it's leftover tortellini alfredo with broccoli. I wanted a salad, but DH has been packing us up lately and he forgot and I didn't remind him/check myself. There's also some leftover london broil at home that will probably become a salad later; I like it too rare to reheat it. If DH takes it instead, he might take it with leftover mashed potato & veggies. If there aren't enough veggies at home, lunch is a good time to take frozen, because it mostly defrosts by the time I eat it. If all else fails, I take a salad with hard boiled egg or tuna.

What I'd really like to find is the European version in the US. Does anyone sell it other than the importers? Trader Joe's house-brand seemed to be significantly different at one time, which I suspect was due to it being the Eurorpean version of Nutella under their own brand, but they stopped carrying it.

Ugh, I would hate this. I need to be able to see the ingredients due to the presence of so many hidden sweeteners, and I need to know the specific carb amount. I suppose I would eat healthier without the info, because I couldn't buy anything that wasn't a sigle ingredient, but I'm not a baker, for instance, so I buy my bread at the store. As a diabetic, knowing the carb count of a single slice is important, as is knowing they didn't falsify the number by using an artificial sweetener.

I think the other thing to consider with food markups is like anything else, it's not just the product you're receiving, it's the labor costs behind that and the cost of space, utilities, etc. Even at the piddly wage that American waitstaff make, there's still a labor cost per person, not to mention chefs, dishwashers, etc. You have to keep the lights on, the heat on, pay the landlord, the tax collector, and all that fun stuff. So it's not just food costs.

We've been baking hot dogs lately. Not as good as grilling, but better than boiling.

It might depend on how sturdy your immune system is. I wouldn't try it, personally. My parents just threw out the contents of their fridge & freezer. FYI, take a picture first, see if you have grocery receipts because their insurance agent said they can file a claim.

Probably the best thing they can do is fight fire with fire. Restaurants need a better grasp of social media and need to use it to expose these blackmailers, since that's what it is. For that matter, how does the justice system view blackmail/extortion between two private parties? Criminal or civil? A couple of lawsuits or a warrant might solve this nonsense. Esp since these folks were dumb enough to put it in an easily trackable format like email. Restaurants aren't perfect, and I have no problem saying in a public forum when they're not, but sheesh. Blackmail? Seriously?

For the last two family birthdays, we've gotten ice cream cakes from Coldstone Creamery. Normally, I don't really love their ice cream, but their cakes aren't bad. Actual cake layers, plus ice cream loaded with stuff in it makes it pretty good. My husband always wants ice cream cake, so his was vanilla cake, one layer oreo with extra oreos, I think, and the other coffee with heath and caramel or something like that. For mine, vanilla cake, and two layers of dark chocolate with oreos & pecans and chocolate ganache outside. Honestly, much better than I expected, and more what I think of an ice cream *cake*.

I think these are being marketed to the folks who stop in to grab lunch on their break. I wouldn't bother with them, because I'm capable of measuring out ice cream from a container, but the mini cones and Dove minis, etc, are good snacks for someone who's carb-watching as I am (type 2 & pregnant), too. The mini cones, bars, etc have the extra shell or cone to give them a reason for being.

I'll third the storing upside down. Not only that, but when you get that spare jar for the pantry, stick it upside down. No mixing when you open it a few days/weeks later. At that point, refrigerating as the packaging says tends to keep it together.

I had a cultural, I guess, question related to watching this. Does the UK not have unions that are simliar to US-style ones? I immediately realized that was part of his problem - most large unions (and CA is known for very strong public unions, particularly in the school districts) are going to have concerns and contractual problems with adding new tasks, and similiarly, the school will have problems with changing food suppliers due to existing contracts. He seemed to not understand the legal problems associated with what he wants to do. Is it that dissimiliar in the UK?

I've used two different ones off and on, www.savingdinner.com and www.dinnerselect.com . Neither is going to get you fancy food, and I think the saving dinner meals are much faster to get done, but I don't like the format as much as I liked the dinner select format. I'm back on a low-carb diet, though, so I may go bakc to using saving dinner again, because they have a separate low carb option.

Once again we're headed to my aunt's. I'm not even allowed to bring anything! Usually the menu includes a pasta of some sort followed by ham and (grilled) lamb, asparagus, broccoli, some kind of pasta. Dessert usually includes an Italian cheesecake, but no idea what else. Oh, and before dinner the nibble will be "ham pie," the meat/cheese pie that Canary mentioned.

Several of the seniors that I know seem to have limited hand strength and manual dexterity, so, say, a garlic press might be hard to use. Food safety, particularly the importance of expiration dates (and when they're safe to ignore, what to look for, etc) might be relevant, especially if you have folks who grew up poor and/or are on limited income now.

Oh, wow, I hadn't heard of that, but it sounds really interesting. I'll have to take a look at it!

FYI, their website is here: http://www.atouteheure.com/ . When they first opened, they didn't take reservations, so I haven't yet tried them. But now that they do, it's on my list.

One aspect of that article that struck me was the discussion of the big difference between Julia Child's The French Chef productions and the modern cooking shows on tv: French Chef was filmed live, mistakes and all. The current cooking shows are pure entertainment, never a mistake, always perfect. I just watched a bit Julia's omelet show that was linked in another thread, and I was struck by how easy she made it look and how I wanted to try to make an omelet in that style (shaking the pan instead of filling & folding over). A very simple dish that I was encouraged to try precisely because her end result was less than perfect.

We average $450/month for two people in north-central NJ.

I wonder if us NJ residents that object could file some sort of brief with the court (IANAL)? The article says they're filing "on behalf of all NJ residents". This NJ resident objects!

Pig in a blanket. I grew up in NJ, where the diners and other breakfast places call a sausage wrapped in a pancake a pig in a blanket, so I'm not sure where Mom got it from.

Another option, if you want more flexibility than the CSAs, is www.doortodoororganics.com . I've used them off & on over the last two years or so. They're not all local, though they're all organic. For us, I'm interested in quality, variety, and less pesticides, so it works for me. It's almost certainly not the most environmentally friendly option (although, iirc Purple Dragon flies in some of their produce, too, esp in the winter). I like that Door to Door delivers right to my front door, and I can skip stuff I don't like, instead of wasting it. Finally, they have a lot of variety in sizes, which also helps. Now that we're settling into a new house, I'm debating between Door to Door for convience or the local farmer's market.

Has anyone here ever bought a portable or a "compact" (18") dishwasher? We're looking at buying a house where those would be our only options, I think. The kitchen's an ok size but only has counters (and water) on one side, and we're not looking to do a major remodel when we first move in. Thanks!