Mushrooms and sweet Italian sausage.

grilled mushrooms and caramelized onions

The last time I used fresh mozz, I was making stuffed portobello cap pizzas and I wanted it drier so they wouldn't be swimming from the moisture in the mushrooms and mozz combined. I tore the mozz balls into chunks and then squeezed the bejeesus out of them over a colander so I didn't lose any of the little bits. Seemed to work well! Unless you need it to look nice, which you probably don't since you are melting it on pizza, maybe give it a try.

I shouldn't have read this before dinner...

What @McNormal said. My husband works for some fairly famous chefs who have several cookbooks to their names. He said that they did very little of the writing, just some of the creative brainstorming and suggesting what recipes to include. He even said that some of the recipes that he makes on a regular basis at the restaurant are flat out wrong in the book. But the book is real purty.

I had to throw a bride out of her own after party. I worked weekend nights at a pub in the basement of kind of a ritzy inn which regularly did 2 weddings on Saturdays in the summer. Her whole family and wedding party were staying at the inn and had been on the premises drinking since before noon. She bought drinks for her obviously underage cousins, who were an usher and a bridesmaid (but couldn't have been more than 15). Their parents were present, and since they were on the "food" side of the pub, they could be there. We took the first drinks from them and warned her if she did it again we would have to ask them to leave. She then tried to order two cokes and two shots of rum, which we refused to serve, as there was a large sign behind the bar stating that we didn't serve shots. She then got someone else to order two rum-and-cokes, took them back to the table, and poured them into the water glasses her cousins were drinking out of. We took those away, got her new husband, and asked him to take her up to their room. She stumbled up the stairs and ripped her dress. Her husband came back down, sans wife, about 15 minutes later. I don't think he had a very fun first night as a married man!

One of my recurring nightmares (along with the one where I am 5 and driving, only to realize that 5 year old me doesn't know how to drive and can't reach the pedals) is that I am in the weeds, only to discover that not only am I in the weeds behind the bar, I am also responsible for a section and all of their dinners are up, and I haven't been over to see them in about half an hour. I wake up in a cold sweat every time.

When I was about 8 or so, my mom was making 3 bean salad for a family get-together. She opened a can of store brand lima beans, poured them into a colander to drain, and then screamed. Sitting on top of the pile of beans was a 4 inch long horned caterpillar, the exact same color as the lima beans. She flung the colander into the back yard, even though it was dead, called the store and the manager told her to bring it back, which she refused to do. We didn't have 3 bean salad at that family dinner!

@moibec - I don't know what I would have done if that was me... I would probably never eat salad again...

A very nice and sharp Japanese chef's knife, but I have no idea the make of it. I could ask my husband, but he's playing video games atm. :)

Ham and cheese quiche! I wish I had ham leftovers so I could make some... yummmmm!

Fudge for my brother-in-law; cookies, peppermint bark, and most of Christmas Day food for everyone else. There were a couple of years where we couldn't afford to buy Christmas presents for everyone, so hubby and I volunteered to cook for everyone on Christmas Day - everyone liked it so much that we decided just to keep doing it, in addition to giving gifts now!

Chocolate croissants! Or a dark chocolate torte.