Allura

The shepherd's pie is definitely not one of their better items. Of their frozen, microwavable meals, we usually stick to the burritos, tacquitos and the like, the eggplant parmesan (it's not great, but it's not breaded, which is a step up from the grocery store), and the macaroni & cheese. Otherwise, I buy their frozen fruit in off season, their yogurt, all the frozen desserts are good, coffee, whole wheat bread (they have a sprouted grain one that's not too sweet like most whole wheat bread), and their lobster bisque occasionally. It's good for a bunch of stuff I buy because it's there. Also, their canned cat food actually smells decent and has a good ingredient list, and they almost always have the "double wide" cat scratcher for my wide-load kitties.

I've made pork chops with pears, sauteeing the pears in some brown sugar & butter first, then pulling them & browning the chops, and then adding some chicken broth/stock and balsamic vinegar to the chops to finish cooking. Stick the pears back in to warm up before serving. (it's a recipe from www.savingdinner.com , so I'm hugely paraphrasing). Also, I would think any recipe with apples could probably use pears instead. For instance, I did chicken breasts baked with oregano, onion & apples on top; pears could replace those apples, I think.

Just one couple joining us, so I'm making a beef tenderloin with some chimichurri on the side, roasted potatoes, broccoli w/ cheese sauce, and steamed green beans. A bunch of cheese & such for nibbles as well as some frozen hot things that looked good at TJs. More TJs options for dessert. My friends are sleeping over, so more wine than I think we can get through. I almost never host dinner, so I'm nervous as anything.

Actually, it doesn't. Found that out when I started on a med that does not mix with alcohol at all. As to the discussion...I'm not convinced an off night is acceptable at the high end, even if it is the result of dealing with the real world and not fantasy. You probably should have said something about the lukewarm/overcooked food. it's harder to say anything about something that's just "not right," since that's so subjective. OTOH, I have a relative who sends back stuff she simply doesn't like all the time...but then you become one of "those" customers.

Yeah, I saw that in a catalog, but the shipping makes it ridiculous for one small bag. There's a card store/gift shop in town with a food section that might have it and a chocolate shop that I can also check. Other than those, I'm either going to play with "process chocolate until I can mold it" idea (which sounds really cool) or maybe just buy a small box of good chocolate and re-wrap it with a new label. Not sure I have time for a lot of experimentation when I only need a few pieces of chocolate anyway. I'm still trying to figure out WHAT that candy in that picture is, though. It just says "double crisp".

As a kid, my mom thought it was funny to stick a lump of real coal in my stocking. As an adult, I want revenge. I know I've seen licorice "coal" in the past, but I'm thinking of making something chocolate. My first thought is some sort of lump of dark chocolate with nuts or raisins mixed in. I don't have any molds, and, frankly, haven't ever even made chocolate on my own, although I helped my mom a lot when I was younger. So, any ideas on where to start with such an idea?

Another vote for sprouts with pancetta. My BIL made this for Thanksgiving, sauteeing them, I believe. I had never had them before, and DH swore he didn't like them, but we both couldn't get enough.

I thought this article on flight attendents for American govt official flights (such as Air Force One with the president, etc) might be interesting to this topic, as they talk about meals on some of the flights:

I've done this with summer squash, yellow & zucchini. I've only tried in a nonstick pan, though; does that matter? The squash gets quite sweet, actually.

First two thoughts, since you asked... Google ads on a "corporate" website are, well, tacky. Your website is a form of advertising, and its budget should come out of your own marketing budget, not google adsense. Plus, it's just going to direct people to other restaurants instead of your own. My other thought was: How do I get to the restaurants? I found the links easily enough, but they opened new windows, triggering my popup blocker. That's a personal design decision, but something to consider. When I go to a restaurant's website, I'm looking for the CURRENT menu, prices, directions, reservations, and any special events. Photos of the food or review clips are a bonus. Honestly, it doesn't have to be much more than that, although from what I understand of your restaurant, anything else would certainly be interesting!

Heh. I've played Chocolatier. It's your basic trading game: collect ingredients, make chocolate, sell for profit, find recipes to make fancier chocolates. I demo'd it at wildgames, but I have so many games that I didn't need another. I'm fairly sure several of those games follow the same trading model. Another game that has a lot of food, but isn't about food is, of course, The Sims 2. There's a cooking skill that opens up more food options as the characters get better in them, starting from mac & cheese from a blue box up to lobster thermidor. One of the expansions added fishing and the ability to cook your fish and gardening, allowing you to make things with fresh produce. Also, addiitional meals are popular items for "modders" to create.

Where is it?

Every once in awhile we'd have a loaf of Italian with a pasta meal or some dinner rolls, but not often. However, quite often my father would ask, "Is there bread?" He didn't want it, though. It was a running joke - apparently early in their marriage, my mother left bread "to heat" in the oven and forgot it until it started smoking. So now he ALWAYS asks. She hasn't thumped him yet, though.

Sugar cones, all the way. I'm not a fan of cake cones at all. They're too soft compared to the sugar cones, and I always end up scratching the skin behind my upper teeth on them. Why yes, I'm strange, why do you ask?

I switched to 1% for diet reasons and found that organic milk tends to simply be tastier. Makes up for the loss of fat a bit. Alternately, I've been picking up a not-quite-organic brand from NY called Mountainside Farms that is also pretty good.

About two years ago, I finally decided that I had to do something about my diet myself. I'm another carb-craver, and was approching that "pre-diabetic" stage. I know that I couldn't deal with sticking my finger to take blood and/or giving myself an insulin shot (I had B12 shots for awhile, and needed a friend to do them), so it was important that I get my diet under control before that stage. But, the thing I found was that I couldn't. I wanted to eat better, but I kept diving for the sweets, the chips, the pasta, etc. Finally, I was able to explain to the doctor that I was ALWAYS hungry, and carbs were the only thing that got rid of the black hole. She put me on medication (metformin), and the hole disappeared. Between that and a reference in one of our member's food blog for a diet plan that fit me, I finally started to lose weight. And, I can still eat everything, I just have to watch the amounts and balance appropriately. I've lost weight, but more importantly, many of my "numbers" have improved. Now that my eating habits are established, I'm working on lowering the dosage. So, anyway, sometimes desire & willpower alone won't do the trick.

I thought this video might be of some interest. Hearts in a cappucino would be too easy for that artist. FYI: It has almost no sound, so it would be safe for work watching while muted. And, save your sanity and avoid the comments on that site *shudder*

Thanks, I have a better idea of it now. I love multi-cultural forums.

I run a mailing list where we're currently talking about drinking enough water (it's a health support group), and one of the ladies from the UK mentioned that she likes "sugar free squash." We're all completely puzzled on how to translate that from English to American. I can find references online to it being served at schools, which makes me think it's a mixed fruit drink, but she implied it's a clear concentrate, and most American fruit punches are brightly colored. So now I'm just confused. Can anyone help?

I was reading a blog post that made me remember this thread. I actually don't follow the author usually (DH sent me the link), so I don't know much about the author specifically. However, there's a lot of links in the article, discussing honeybees, africanization, feral & domestic, etc. I thought it was interesting, in general. One quote that particularly caught my attention was,

The FDA has recalled canned and jarred imported olives because they may have botulism. They do not look spoiled, but shouldn't be eaten. Article here

I certainly would. I have some energy limitation (health) and to be able to have real meals consistently and matching the diet I'm supposed to follow would be wonderful. I cook as I can, but too often I revert to frozen foods. I'd also copy mizducky and make them teach me. I like to cook, I just am not always up to it.

This makes me think of the warning I give friends when in adjacent hotel rooms, camping, etc. "If I can hear you, I reserve the right to comment." Maybe the problem is we're TOO polite. We're worried about offending someone who *already has offended us*. I wonder what would happen if more of us turned around and said, "Your behavior is not acceptable in public," as these folks parents obviously never told them.

So, I asked my father what he wanted, reminding him what I've made before, and he said, "honey cake, or something with nuts/cinnamon." I'm fairly sure by "honey cake" he means the style of the Manischewitz box mix, which is a pound cake-type cake, sweet, almost spiced. I know he adores fruit cake, and in general other "heavy" cakes. Can anyone point me at something along those lines?

I was looking for another thread when I came across this one. It might be the foods you're eating, or it might be a health problem. Try increasing your protein, particularly lean protein, and lower your sugar intake. The sugar may be sending your blood chemistry on a roller coaster. Also, I find that caffeine makes me more hungry, and watch out for artificial sugars as well; they behave a lot like regular sugar to some people. I've been following a diet called the Insulin Resistance Diet (thanks to purplewiz who mentioned it in her blog), but the general idea is what I said. In addition, I needed meds (metformin) to help me get there; I just couldn't control the hunger pains on my own. The meds stopped that gnawing hunger pain that was ALWAYS present, and that let me focus on changing my diet. Also, I have to eat every 3-5 hours, and 5 is often pushing it. You can lose like that, as long as you don't eat a lot if you're eating that often. OTOH, if you have one of the blood sugar diseases, you may not lose just by cutting calories. All this great advice, and yet I just dove for milk & some multigrain pretzel nuggets....