MetsFan5

We had the basic shrimp cocktail and salami/ cheeses/ olives as pre dinner nibbles. It was my parents, my inlaws and my husband and I. So we didn’t want to overload on apps. Dinner’s main features were 4 marinated flank steaks along with sweet Italian sausage (as a large amuse Bouche?) from this tiny butcher in my area: https://greenvillagepacking.com/ This is the.. 4th year we’ve served this. My mom made creamed spinach and brought a shredded raw Brussels sprouts salad from Costco with all types of delicious things in the mix. I roasted halved baby red potatoes in olive oil, kosher salt and fresh pepper. Super easy. I also cooked about 24 ounces of baby Bella’s down until they released all their water, added about 3 tablespoons of butter and 1/3rd cup of Marsala wine until most of the liquid was evaporated. Again really easy but good. We have SO much meat left over. I need left over ideas! Happy holidays!

I actually never had fondue until I was in my late 20s. It was popular before my time.

I don’t bake (except the occasional banana bread) but I absolutely love peacans so I used the Chex mix method on just pecans. I did a half pound last night and they were all gone by mid afternoon today! My inlaws loved them. I have another half pound so I will make more.

Well my inlaws were excited to do fondue so we did! It’s such an extravagant meal— all that melted cheese (it’s a cheap thing to make but seems like such an indulgence). TJ’s fondue was very good. We used both packages so I will go back and hope I can find more. We are it with ham, slightly cooked baby carrots, cooked baby potatoes, raw califlower, zucchini, mushrooms and apples and of course bread. It’s a fun meal and everyone enjoyed it!

@Kim Shook where the the tails come from?

i Picked up two packets of Trader Joe’s cheese fondue tonight— a friend recommended it. It’s a seasonal item and the packets I got don’t expire until September next year. I’m thinking it would be a fun dinner to have while decorating the tree. Have to see what my inlaws think.

@Thanks for the Crepes this is one article about the Instacart/ Trader Joe’s disagreement: https://www.geekwire.com/2013/amazon-fresh-rival-instacart-stops-trader-joes-delivery/ google brings up lots others. I wish it wasn’t true too.

@BeeZee it did work well— it was exactly as you described maybe just with better cheese.

Sorry. I am admittedly overly sensitive about my lack of cooking skills. It’s the one thing that I know my husband would love for me to work on, given his long hours. I thought about spam for cheese fondue because it is (supposedly?) already cooked. I’m a bit scared to use it and don’t know how to use it in a simple but tasty way, but that’s a whole different topic. I did use pre-cooked thick ham slices from Wegmans which I’ve used before for dinner or in ah gratin and liked. I heated/ crisped it up in a pan prior to using it in fondue because I like it better that way.

I have friends who have 3 pots too. We have the electric Cuisinart one. It was a wedding gift so over 5 years later, after impulse buying a bag of shredded and seasoned fondue cheese at Wegmans o figured why not. All we had to add was wine. @Kim Shook next time I will definitely get cornichons! My husband requested mushrooms and baby carrots and of course tons of crusty bread!

I didn’t use Spam, I used actual ham. I bought spam as an experiment.

Thanks for not being snarky. But even mentioning you have to abstain from being so is, actually, snarky. I can’t cook and I don’t try to because I mess up 70% of the time and despite being fortunate enough to make mistakes, it really upsets me to waste food. I did make cheese fondue tonight and we had crusty Italian bread, baby potatoes, mushrooms, carrots and yes, ham— not spam. My husband and I enjoyed it and that’s all that matters to me. I wasn’t being an asshole by asking about spam. I bought it and my thought process was ham and cheese go together. This is why why I don’t post here often. Lesson learned.

Would spam be a good dipper in cheese fondue?

Unfortunately, Trader Joes shut down Instacart from being accessible. This happened a while ago. Currently in Northern NJ, I can get Wegmans’s, Acme, Kings, CVS, Aldi’s (despite never having been to one— the new store is 8 miles away and inconvenient) and Costco. I almost exclusively use Wegmans as it’s a bitch to get to. Kings is very close to me. Wegmans also is the only establishment to consistently offer both pictures of the products and their ingredients and cooking instructions. I paid the $139 ( I think that was the cost) for the “free” annual delivery. It doesn’t eliminate all the fees. That said, it’s available where we vacation for two weeks and that was definitely appreciated. I find if you have a cellphone and keep on top of the app, you can get whatever you want in terms of substitutions and/ or last minute requests. Which I find super helpful. I probably wouldn’t use the service without a cell phone or at least an iPad but to be fair, I keep my iPhone within reaching distance 24/7.

Me too. Well deserved.

Where were they from? It’s common to see orange colored oranges at least on my experience. My inlaws have them all over their yard in Northern CA. They’re treated the same as all the landscaping.

Details please!

Another doozy C/O United. I ate the salad. And then I remembered the romaine recall and really hope I don’t get sick.

Thanks for the info and pictures! EWR is my “Home” airport so I will definitely check the new lounge out. Your DH’s meal looks really good too.

Agreed— his recipe is popular and doesn’t seem overwhelmingly complex. If I had the guts to try making Beef Wellington, I’d use his recipe.

I just gave it to the dog. I’ve always been stubborn and won’t eat anything I don’t like. On topic, what arrondissement are you in? I may be going to Paris in December and you look to be in the heart of the city! Enjoy!

Slow cooker Swedish meatballs (egg noddles not pictured):

Had anyone bought stone crabs online? If so can you share your experience please. Do they come frozen or do they need to be consumed when delivered?

Where did you go?

It looks nice but very minimalistic from my American point of view. Double ovens and excess of amenities were big factors for me.