My two favorite celebration restaurants are Bandera on Michigan Avenue and Wildfire for steaks. There's a Wildfire downtown, and one also in Glenview not too far north. They have a few party rooms, and killer filets. Bandera is American food with live jazz every night and a wall of rotisserie chickens. It's a nice place for celebrating, with a small-ish menu of excellent food. Can't go wrong with either of those two. Congratulations!

Every summer we'd stay with my relatives in Seabrook and I lived on Cristaldi's Pizza right near the corner of 286 and 1A. Perfect beach pizza.

This Martha Stewart Kids recipe is always a hit:

http://www.marthastewart.com/261832/baked-rigatoni-cake

Silver Moon Bakery, Broadway & 105th. Chocolate ganache cake. Don't forget the vanilla ice cream.

We've had good burgers at Toast on the UWS. Shake Shack is pretty darn good, too. Fred's on Amsterdam and 83rd is great, too.

Union Square Greenmarket? What kind of organization does it have to be?

Post them in the Free or Pets sections of Craigslist. Bunnies love them.

There's a sweet housewarming tradition from It's A Wonderful Life. Get a pretty basket, line it with a pretty kitchen towel, and include the following: bread, that this house may never know hunger; salt, that life may always have flavor; and wine, that joy and prosperity may reign forever (and write that part out on the card so the gift makes sense.) Get a box of herbed bread mix or the like, a nice salt in a grinder, and a bottle of wine or sparkling grape juice. Cost is less than $20, and it's a dear little gift.

It's never the same as real bacon, but I always look for the "South Beach" turquoise emblem on the package and get that one. It was Louis Rich for a while, now it's something else I think. That's how I pick.

I live here in Fort Myers... can't say that much is really notable, unfortunately. And I'm not a fish-eater, so that doesn't help, either. My mother enjoyed Three Fishermen Seafood, just south of Colonial on the west side of 41 (Sam's Club plaza). If you're going down to Naples, Randy's Fishmarket always gets great reviews. A typical vacation-y place for a family is Cheeburger Cheeburger (various locations), but only because of the choices of sizes of burgers. Their shakes are excellent, though. If I were you I'd venture over to Sanibel Island; breakfast at the Lighthouse Cafe (call ahead for seating), lunch at The Hungry Heron (huge homemade portions), and a nice dinner at The Green Flash on Captiva.

I'm sad to say that we eat at chains most of the time. But if you're looking for a fun non-food thing to do, either rent Jetskis from Island Watersports at the Holiday Inn on Fort Myers Beach, or go on a dolphin cruise out of Sanibel Harbor (which is, ironically, not ON Sanibel, but just before). Feel free to email me if you need more suggestions. Oh, and bring your sunscreen! The sun is at its closest right now.

I think the true test of a good beef stew is not just what's in the stew, but what you do with it. Here's my best recipe. If I wasn't married, my husband would propose over it.

For two
Into the crock pot goes:
1/2 lb beef for stew (cubed beef)
1/2 an onion, chopped
1/2 lb baby carrots
1 heaping tsp Better Than Bouillon beef base
Twice around the pot with soy sauce
2 T Soy Vey teriyaki sauce
A couple of glugs of worcestershire sauce
Water to almost cover

Let that cook on low all day (8 hours or so).

When you get home:
Add a slurry of 1 T cornstarch/1 T cold water to crock pot to thicken.
Make mashed potatoes (I use flakes. Don't judge me.). Add garlic salt for a little kick.
Nuke 1 cup french fried onions for one minute.
Pour shredded colby jack cheese into a bowl.

To assemble, in individual bowls or plates:
1.) a layer of mashed potatoes
2.) a layer of shredded cheese
3.) a layer of beef stew with onions and carrots
4.) a generous sprinkling of french fried onions

You're welcome. :)

Ooo, I LOVE mine. It's a Cuisinart Convection Toaster Oven

http://www.cuisinart.com/catalog/product.php?product_id=506&item_id=617&cat_id=15

and it's wonderful! We use our more than we use our regular oven, it's so great. The convection makes things cook evenly, thank goodness, so we can even bake in it. (No, I don't work for Cuisinart. I'm just really in love with my toaster oven.) It's a bit pricey at $179 on the Cuisinart website, but you could probably shop around online a bit and find a better deal.