Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

My mother's GPS is Samantha and mine is Valerie. We switched my sister's to the British male voice and his name is now Jeeves.

I've never had an appliance react badly to a name, but our parrot is Kerberos, after a computer security protocol. Unfortunately it's also the 3 headed dog that guards the entrance to the underworld, and she has TOTALLY taken that personality and run with it...

We actually made it with regular ol' lemon yogurt, undrained, and no lemon zest - I'm in Israel, though and couldn't find lemon yogurt; but the Greek stuff abounds! I'll try the soda trick, I got more ingredients to try it again this weekend.

The bloggerette is actually on here, so I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone :-)

@GOM, not if you're having a big 'ol meat BBQ. If we were having just salads and cheese and hummus and pita it would be fine :-)

unfortunately, chicken nuggets (the oven kind, not McD's, at least..)

My sister does the above, except she puts them in for 15 for four artichokes. It really varies, though - we tried doing it at my other sister's and we could have steamed them faster. It took 1/2 hour in her microwave - must be lower wattage...

Not sure this year - I found out a couple of weeks ago that I'm going to be in the country, so my mom and aunts are throwing something together. I'll probably ask what I can bring and then pick it up from Whole Foods; the kitchens in those "extended stay" hotels don't exactly lend themselves to goumet cooking :-(

Usually, we'd start with breakfast of hard-boiled eggs and hot cross buns; then have a late lunch/dinner with the whole famdamnily of ham, green bean casserole, yams, etc, etc, etc... Last year it was right before the movers were coming to pack up the house, so I got the whole meal from the Honeybaked store - the ham rocked but the rest was so disappointing!

I don't see the problem, my local joint throws in free Coke if you get a large or extra large - oh, you're not talking about the beverage... :-)

Originally from So Cal; our permanent residence is 30 miles east of Seattle (just east of a large computer company); but we are currently in the middle of a 2-3 year assignment in Israel. We're renting a house in Caesarea (closest major city is Haifa.)

*waves @ dove3579*

dbcurrie - tell me about it, sounds like the first time I got stuck behind a tractor on my way home from work, or the traffic jam on the highway the first day they put the lambs out to pasture in the spring. My favorite is the farmers that drive their tractors to the store for more beer because they're too drunk to drive a car!

Cooking! I'm another one that will have just cereal when alone - or if I'm feeling gourmet, cambozola with fig jam on whole wheat bread and a glass of red wine.

I've lost my seasoning mojo - my husband was told to watch the salt by his doctor, and now I am undersalting everything. I used to have a heavy hand with it, but I can't seem to find a middle ground..

I have to agree with Knitter, except mine's a KitchenAid. I use it for garlic, nuts, anchovies, hard cheese, breadcrumbs - I could go on :-)

figured starting with the chicken raw was best?

they are absolutely the cutest vegetables I have ever seen!

thanks!

I lost 25 pounds by going off artificial sweeteners (except gum) and doing the "Leave Some" diet. No matter how good it is, some must remain on the plate when you're finished (or in my case some must end up inside the dogs...) Plus the above mentioned water - I'm not a plain water person, so I make really, really weak green or white tea and drink it by the bucketload.

Now that I'm where I want to be, I evaluate after the first bite of something whether it tastes good enough to be worth the calories.