Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

People, you can make the sides any time with any meal but the occasion to cook a great big bird only comes around once or twice a year. Yes, we can cook a turkey for a dinner party but most of us don't. It's the turkey!

Monkey brains = stuffed peppers (kids and Dad of course!)

Quiche, It's easy to freeze, easy to defrost and easy to eat. And you can fill it with vegetables which will be good for them

@lemonfair: I sure am! Go to our website www.carolinabb.com and click on the blog button

Potato chips, potato chips, potato chips!

Donuts!!!!!
Jelly donuts from Dunkin donuts
or Krispie Kremes freshly made (none of that shipped to a grocery store stuff).

Okay, here's my take:

1. Order your whole meal from the appetizer section. As a rule much more goes into making these so-called "little" bites interesting and enjoyable than the obligatory filet and potatoes (or salmon etc)

2. READ the menu: imagine eating this dish. Do the ingredients intrigue you? You cook, what do you think? Do the ingredients balance? But don't be afraid to try something which you might not have seen before. (I rarely watch IronChef but the other day they had one where the secret ingredient was fennel and it was eye-popping (taste-bud popping??))
Does it balance with the other dishes you are eating?

3. One light course and one heavy one is my rule. Too much food is too much food and your enjoyment will suffer. You want to walk away from the meal feeling satisfied, not stuffed. Remember, there is always another meal to come. If you don't eat a cream based sauce today, you can tomorrow!

4. You can ask the waiter what other people order but, seriously, are you "other" people??? Ask yourself if you like it!

Aren't they called Macaroons?

@Madelyn-- Thank you!!!!

One of my husband's favorite stories is about one Wednesday night when I was flambe-ing a duck breast and the flame ran up my arm and across the back of my furry sweater without damaging the sweater or me. The part he likes about the story is that whenever he tells it, someone in the audience invariably says, "Wait a minute, it was Wednesday night and she was FLAMBE-ING a duck breast????????" They can never believe that you don't have to wait for the weekend or a holiday to cook a meal!

Interesting. We always use filo dough for our brie wheel! They are totally different products but once you have cooked with each, you will be able to imagine their uses and different effects. Think of the difference between a salmon en croute with puff pastry vs. one wrapped in puff pastry.

If you are in college then I am assuming your friends are too. I would be very surprised if they had the money (and storage space!) for all the accoutrements needed for an outdoor BBQ. It seems to me the point is to get together and have fun in spite of not having very much to show. I remember a BBQ in college when it was all my boyfriend and I could manage to bring hot-dogs for our grill! Our friends shared their steaks and we all danced to each other's music. It was friendship that made it happen. Not everything in life has rules.

For years I have made crepes and filled them with a fresh peach sauce made by simmering chopped peaches with just a little water (sugar if needed). It is one of my kids' favorite summer breakfasts.

As is leftover peach pie!