Oh no they do every Saturday night in a big wash tub.

Whether they need it or not!

Dinner tonight was Steak and Rice.

Incidentally, you can get some very good steak at Costco. I don't know if Costco gets the same beef in the States b/c of mad cow and all that, but if it is the same then I'd recommend it highly.

You're absolutely right. Costco sells excellent quality meat.

I love their bakery, too. They make the best cheesecake and the best chocolate cake I've ever tasted. And don't even get me started on their muffins!!!

Tonight will be shrimp, black beans and rice and salad

Geez, one birthday and you start eating like an old man.

A true South Florida dinner. Nice.

Chicken and potatoes are for my family today!

Sounds nice Olla

Welcome to the BB by the way.

Lasagne for me tonight

Yum. I could go for some! What time can I come by, Yogi??

Trying to lose weight AGAIN. Hoping to make it stick this time. While my family pigs out, I will probably be eating some salad and a Lean Cuisine!

Fried chicken, creamed spinach and mashed potatoes from DeCicco's Market tonight.

Babe you are always welcome in my castle,you know that

Cab fare home would be a bummer though

We too had chicken (grilled though) and mashed potatoes last night. We had green beans instead of spinach.

As I always do,I went to a friend's house for the first half of Monday night football. It's a bunch of guys standing around in a garage drinking beer. But once a year my friend makes racks of three styles of barbecued ribs, and last night was the night.

I keep my beer in my garage but there is so much junk in there with it there is no room to stand in there drinking it!

Sounds like you had a good night Klyd?

I find it impossible to "keep beer" for any length of time! It just seems to jump into my nearest available hand and then it's history!

Signor V.

Thats the spirit SV.

Treat it with the contempt it deserves

Well, it was last night's lunch/dinner, but I cooked for the first time in my new kitchen. Wow, I need more counter space.

Anyway, I did a version of Olive Garden's awesome Zuppa Toscana, which is a sausage and potato soup I've been meaning to try making forever. One of my favorites!

I followed this recipe as a guide but substituted canned chicken broth for the bouillon/water, escarole for the kale (the grocery store was out), and red-skinned potatoes for Russets since they didn't have those, either. The latter wasn't a good substitute as they mostly fell apart and disintegrated; maybe they needed to cook less, though. I also added some shallots to the onions and garlic.

Other than that, it came out pretty darn good and next time it'll be even better as I adjust.

Geoff, that looks like a pretty decent soup. I would have substituted the escarole for kale, too. What's kale got to do with Tuscany??

Curious, but how did you prepare the potatoes? Did you cube them? How long did you cook them?

When I make New England Clam Chowder, I use red-skinned potatoes all the time, but have never had the problem you described. I peel and cube them and then cook them in clam broth, but only until they're soft. This recipe doesn't say anything about peeling or cubing, so I think I would try that next time if I were you.

Considering that it's freaking SNOWING here right now, it sounds like soup would be a good thing to have tonight!

Snow, ugh!

And I was just up that way over the weekend. We stopped for Chinese food on Route 59. The name of the place escapes me right now; Fortune something or other? It was pretty good.

Anything sticking?

It's probably just my fault because the recipe said to cook the potatoes "about half an hour" and that's what I did. I should've checked sooner. But I did what they said: I sliced them. Course I wasn't sure how thick the slices were supposed to be so I made them fairly thick, about half inch, with the skin still on (how can you remove the beautiful red skin? )

The recipe was pretty vague on a number of things:

"1 large onion" -- How large? They couldn't say 2 cups of diced onions or something?

"4 TBSP bacon pieces" -- What's that mean? How many strips of bacon is that? Pre-packaged crumbled bacon? I could've used packaged crumbled bacon but I used 4 slices then chopped it. Can't have too much bacon.

"2 tsp garlic puree" -- Again, they're making me guess. I pureed about 6 cloves and it was close enough.

Olive Garden serves it with kale, probably because it stays crunchy longer. Either one works, though.

Just my ass to the couch!!

I never use as much onion as recommended in a recipe. And SLICE the potatoes? No wonder they fell apart. Cube them next time, and after they're cooking about 15 minutes, pierce them with a knife or fork to see if they're soft.

Too much bacon? Damn right, there is no such thing!!! I'm with you on that one! But 6 CLOVES of garlic? Oh, my. That's a lot. I don't think I could eat that. I would have been happy with two, I think.

WHAT?? You call yourself Italian??

6 cloves came out to about 2-3 tsp pureed. Garlic taste wasn't even pronounced. It was just enough (or not enough, perhaps, for my taste )

Really? I don't think I've ever put that much garlic in anything, even my scampi. But perhaps it's balanced out with the cream and sausage??

If you like New England Clam Chowder, I have a really easy recipe using canned clams. It's pretty good, if I do say so myself.

I LOVE New England chowdah

I'll have to get it for you. I'm too lazy to get up right now, but it's easy and delicious. I'm also bad about exact amounts, so if you need to follow recipes to the letter, I'm the worst person to take advice from.

I never follow recipes exactly, I always put my own spin on them. I just need the basics to get started. Thanks, Babe.

My wife made a Hunters Soup last night. Very nice it was as well. Thick of vegetables with smokey bacon and spaghetti in it,served with home made crusty,fresh bread.

Yum yum!