Thread: Dinner 4-4-2011

sf <[email protected]> wrote:

>
> Dinner tonight was grilled t-bone lamb chops and steamed "orange"
> cauliflower... served with couscous that I had on hand already. The
> couscous was made with mushrooms, onion and lemon - yummy!
>
> We even lit the candles.
>
> Hubby's comment was: With meals this good, we don't need to eat out
> (he pauses, then says)... and we don't have to tip the waiter.
> Tru dat.


Teach,

I can think of 100+ places I'd like to take you out for dinner.

I know I'm not allowed.

But I can still manage to think!

Andy

On 05/04/2011 1:03 AM, sf wrote:
>
> Dinner tonight was grilled t-bone lamb chops and steamed "orange"
> cauliflower... served with couscous that I had on hand already. The
> couscous was made with mushrooms, onion and lemon - yummy!
>
> We even lit the candles.
>
> Hubby's comment was: With meals this good, we don't need to eat out
> (he pauses, then says)... and we don't have to tip the waiter.
> Tru dat.


That was my mother's problem. She always set a nice table and lit
candles, every night of the week. She was a pretty good cook. My father
didn't see much point in going out for dinner because he was eating so
well at home.

We have a similar situation ourselves. Both my wife and I are capable of
putting on a nice dinner without a lot of effort. It costs a lot to go
out for food better than we can do at home.

My brother and his wife used to go out for dinner every Friday night. My
wife and I had a Friday night dinner routine. I would pick up some
fresh salmon, a bottle of white wine, salad fixings and fresh Italian
bread. The salmon as cooked on the grill and my wife made a simple
salad. It was quick and delcious and less than $20. We went out with my
brither and his wife a few times and it costs $50-60 for simpler,
cheaper food.

On Apr 4, 10:03*pm, sf <s...@geemail.com> wrote:
> Dinner tonight was grilled t-bone lamb chops and steamed "orange"
> cauliflower... served with couscous that I had on hand already. *The
> couscous was made with mushrooms, onion and lemon - yummy! *
>
> We even lit the candles.
>
> Hubby's comment was: With meals this good, we don't need to eat out
> (he pauses, then says)... and we don't have to tip the waiter. *
> Tru dat.


There aren't many places that I can go out to eat where the food is as
good as what I can cook.
Mainly the reason I go out to eat anymore is not for the food, it's
for the 'social' aspects of the people you are with and the fun to be
had. It's nice to be waited on....if the staff is good.

As for the food.....I pretty much always can make a better meal at
home, I bet most of the cooks here can as well.

"ImStillMags" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Apr 4, 10:03 pm, sf <s...@geemail.com> wrote:
>> Dinner tonight was grilled t-bone lamb chops and steamed "orange"
>> cauliflower... served with couscous that I had on hand already. The
>> couscous was made with mushrooms, onion and lemon - yummy!
>>
>> We even lit the candles.
>>
>> Hubby's comment was: With meals this good, we don't need to eat out
>> (he pauses, then says)... and we don't have to tip the waiter.
>> Tru dat.
>
>
> There aren't many places that I can go out to eat where the food is as
> good as what I can cook.
> Mainly the reason I go out to eat anymore is not for the food, it's
> for the 'social' aspects of the people you are with and the fun to be
> had. It's nice to be waited on....if the staff is good.
>
> As for the food.....I pretty much always can make a better meal at
> home, I bet most of the cooks here can as well.

Amen! I agree with all that)

--
--

https://www.shop.helpforheroes.org.uk/

On Tue, 05 Apr 2011 09:39:30 -0400, Dave Smith
<[email protected]> wrote:

>On 05/04/2011 1:03 AM, sf wrote:
>>
>> Dinner tonight was grilled t-bone lamb chops and steamed "orange"
>> cauliflower... served with couscous that I had on hand already. The
>> couscous was made with mushrooms, onion and lemon - yummy!
>>
>> We even lit the candles.
>>
>> Hubby's comment was: With meals this good, we don't need to eat out
>> (he pauses, then says)... and we don't have to tip the waiter.
>> Tru dat.
>
>
>That was my mother's problem. She always set a nice table and lit
>candles, every night of the week. She was a pretty good cook. My father
>didn't see much point in going out for dinner because he was eating so
>well at home.
>
>We have a similar situation ourselves. Both my wife and I are capable of
>putting on a nice dinner without a lot of effort. It costs a lot to go
>out for food better than we can do at home.
>
>My brother and his wife used to go out for dinner every Friday night. My
>wife and I had a Friday night dinner routine. I would pick up some
>fresh salmon, a bottle of white wine, salad fixings and fresh Italian
>bread. The salmon as cooked on the grill and my wife made a simple
>salad. It was quick and delcious and less than $20. We went out with my
>brither and his wife a few times and it costs $50-60 for simpler,
>cheaper food.

We made a dinner last weekend that cost about 10 bucks that would
easily been over 50 in a restaurant. We like each other so it was fun
making it and a very nice relaxing evening.

Lou

On Tue, 05 Apr 2011 09:39:30 -0400, Dave Smith
<[email protected]> wrote:
>
> My brother and his wife used to go out for dinner every Friday night.

We have friends that do/did date night too, but we never did that
either.

> My wife and I had a Friday night dinner routine. I would pick up some
> fresh salmon, a bottle of white wine, salad fixings and fresh Italian
> bread. The salmon as cooked on the grill and my wife made a simple
> salad. It was quick and delcious and less than $20. We went out with my
> brither and his wife a few times and it costs $50-60 for simpler,
> cheaper food.

When you can make restaurant quality food at home and you like the
atmosphere at home better (I have a beautiful wood paneled dining room
with french windows and doors), why go out? These days, when we
eat out - it could be a spur of the moment thing, but it's usually a
planned dinner out with friends (waving at SteveP and ChrisD) or we're
on a "stay-cation", playing tourist on a day trip.

--

Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.

On Tue, 5 Apr 2011 07:05:45 -0700 (PDT), ImStillMags
<[email protected]> wrote:

> It's nice to be waited on....if the staff is good.

Agreed! It's also nice to be able to order things you wouldn't make
at home, even if you "could".

--

Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.

On Tue, 5 Apr 2011 15:17:47 +0100, "Ophelia" <[email protected]>
wrote:

>
>
>"ImStillMags" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> On Apr 4, 10:03 pm, sf <s...@geemail.com> wrote:
>>> Dinner tonight was grilled t-bone lamb chops and steamed "orange"
>>> cauliflower... served with couscous that I had on hand already. The
>>> couscous was made with mushrooms, onion and lemon - yummy!
>>>
>>> We even lit the candles.
>>>
>>> Hubby's comment was: With meals this good, we don't need to eat out
>>> (he pauses, then says)... and we don't have to tip the waiter.
>>> Tru dat.
>>
>>
>> There aren't many places that I can go out to eat where the food is as
>> good as what I can cook.
>> Mainly the reason I go out to eat anymore is not for the food, it's
>> for the 'social' aspects of the people you are with and the fun to be
>> had. It's nice to be waited on....if the staff is good.
>>
>> As for the food.....I pretty much always can make a better meal at
>> home, I bet most of the cooks here can as well.
>
>Amen! I agree with all that)

Yeah, I'm sure everyone here can do a mean mac n'cheese.

I don't think that's necessarilly true at all... unless you're talking
folks who go out to eat the typical meat, potatoes, and salad... that
includes most every fast food/chain joint. But I rarely eat out
unless it's something I can't easily prepare at home, either some
ethnic food like oriental because it requires so many oddball
ingredients, mega BTUs, tons of prep time and/or something that stinks
up my house like fish or liver... I love calves liver, bouillabaisse,
scungilli and the like, but I'm not going to have my house smell like
some peasant lives here... that's why there are seafood joints,
spaghetti houses, and greek diners. And I'm sure not going out to eat
breakfast, two eggs, two tiny sausage, a small scoop of hash browns,
toast, and dishwater coffee, walk out hungry and at least $10 lighter.
There's a very nice tavern a 15 minute leisurely drive away that
serves the most fantastic lunch menu that includes grilled calves
liver, a huge thick slab cooked a perfect pink with lots of bacon and
smothered onions; $12 and another $4 for the salad bar I don't need to
eat till tomorrow... they fix a mean 2ni too. Sometimes I can't
finish that slab of liver so I bring home enough to feed my cats. But
I'll be damned if I'm gonna go out to eat a steak, chops, chicken or
anything else I can easily slap on my grill and then let them rob me
when presented the bill. I went out to eat with a couple of neighbors
last month, one ordered the half a roast chicken dinner, half a small
fryer; $23! Okay it came with a baked potato, a veggie, bread n'
butter, and a small salad... but a lousy piece of chicken $23, yikes!
That half a chicken contained so little meat I'd need the whole
chicken to feed my cats. And that chicken looked to me exactly like
the rotisserie chicken anyone could buy at the stupidmarket deli down
the road for under $5 for the whole chicken... very easy to reheat
those things in the nuker, wouldn't surprise me one bit. I ordered
the grilled salmon dinner with fries (I don't do fries at home), $4
less than the half chicken but was more to eat, was a whole half a
fillet that covered my plate, I brought home a nice treat for my
babies.

On 05/04/2011 1:07 PM, sf wrote:
> On Tue, 5 Apr 2011 07:05:45 -0700 (PDT), ImStillMags
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> It's nice to be waited on....if the staff is good.
>
> Agreed! It's also nice to be able to order things you wouldn't make
> at home, even if you "could".


Being raised inland and having parents who liked flesh well cooked, we
never had much fish and what we had was not very good. When my wife and
I were both working and had a lot more disposable income we used to go
out for a lot of nice dinners. I tended to order fish because it was
something I could not do at home. I tried a lot of different types of
fish, and various ways of cooking them. I decontstructed some now do
them myself at home. I have gone from eating fish once every few months
to two or more fish dinners per week..... thanks to eating in restaurants.

On Tue, 05 Apr 2011 13:38:43 -0400, Dave Smith
<[email protected]> wrote:

> On 05/04/2011 1:07 PM, sf wrote:
> > On Tue, 5 Apr 2011 07:05:45 -0700 (PDT), ImStillMags
> > <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> >> It's nice to be waited on....if the staff is good.
> >
> > Agreed! It's also nice to be able to order things you wouldn't make
> > at home, even if you "could".
>
>
> Being raised inland and having parents who liked flesh well cooked, we
> never had much fish and what we had was not very good. When my wife and
> I were both working and had a lot more disposable income we used to go
> out for a lot of nice dinners. I tended to order fish because it was
> something I could not do at home. I tried a lot of different types of
> fish, and various ways of cooking them. I decontstructed some now do
> them myself at home. I have gone from eating fish once every few months
> to two or more fish dinners per week..... thanks to eating in restaurants.
>
I still don't like fish enough to do that. I'll make salmon or maybe
fish tacos on rare occasions, but mainly there's no fish in my kitchen
unless someone else cooks it. When we go out, I can order shellfish
or sweetbreads (hubby can't due to gout) and he can order whatever he
wants, which is usually either fish or steak.

--

Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.

sf wrote:
>
> Dinner tonight was grilled t-bone lamb chops and steamed "orange"
> cauliflower... served with couscous that I had on hand already. The
> couscous was made with mushrooms, onion and lemon - yummy!
>
> We even lit the candles.

For styles we know it's not all that difficult to out perform a local
restaurant. But there are a lot of styles we don't know and there's the
social aspect of restaurants.

> Hubby's comment was: With meals this good, we don't need to eat out
> (he pauses, then says)... and we don't have to tip the waiter.
> Tru dat.

At home tipping the waiter and chef can get a lot more intimate. Candle
light works well for that as well. Yet another advantage to a really
good meal in the privacy of our own home.

On Mon, 04 Apr 2011 22:03:38 -0700, sf <[email protected]> wrote:

>
>Dinner tonight was grilled t-bone lamb chops and steamed "orange"
>cauliflower... served with couscous that I had on hand already. The
>couscous was made with mushrooms, onion and lemon - yummy!
>
>We even lit the candles.
>
>Hubby's comment was: With meals this good, we don't need to eat out
>(he pauses, then says)... and we don't have to tip the waiter.
>Tru dat.

OMG, I love Lamb. That sounds like a meal fit for Royalty!

On Tue, 05 Apr 2011 11:15:20 -0700, sf <[email protected]> wrote:

>I still don't like fish enough to do that. I'll make salmon or maybe
>fish tacos on rare occasions, but mainly there's no fish in my kitchen
>unless someone else cooks it. When we go out, I can order shellfish
>or sweetbreads (hubby can't due to gout) and he can order whatever he
>wants, which is usually either fish or steak.

I love fish, but have never liked Salmon. Over the years, I've tried
it so many ways, but have still not had it in a way that made it
appealing to me.

I've given up on it. I'll just enjoy all the other types of fish I
like.

On Tue, 5 Apr 2011 18:36:16 +0000 (UTC), Doug Freyburger
<[email protected]> wrote:

>For styles we know it's not all that difficult to out perform a local
>restaurant. But there are a lot of styles we don't know and there's the
>social aspect of restaurants.
>
>At home tipping the waiter and chef can get a lot more intimate. Candle
>light works well for that as well. Yet another advantage to a really
>good meal in the privacy of our own home.

I agree totally, Doug. It's seldom that I have a meal out where there
isn't something about the meal that is less than the quality I make
for myself at home.

When I do find a place where everything is *always* as good or better
than I make myself, *that* place gets into my local restaurant hall of
fame.

In article
<[email protected]>,
ImStillMags <[email protected]> wrote:

> Mainly the reason I go out to eat anymore is not for the food, it's
> for the 'social' aspects of the people you are with and the fun to be
> had. It's nice to be waited on....if the staff is good.

Also, someone else takes care of the mess. Somewhere else. You
don't even have to see it.

> As for the food.....I pretty much always can make a better meal at
> home, I bet most of the cooks here can as well.

True. We certainly don't eat better or save money by eating out.

Regards,
Ranee @ Arabian Knits

"She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands." Prov 31:13

http://arabianknits.blogspot.com/

In article <[email protected]>,
Lou Decruss <[email protected]> wrote:

> We made a dinner last weekend that cost about 10 bucks that would
> easily been over 50 in a restaurant. We like each other so it was fun
> making it and a very nice relaxing evening.

Exactly! Rich sometimes points out to the children about how much a
particular meal we eat would cost if it were at a restaurant using
comparable ingredients. We like our company, too.

Regards,
Ranee @ Arabian Knits

"She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands." Prov 31:13

http://arabianknits.blogspot.com/

Ranee at Arabian Knits <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> In article <[email protected]>,
> Lou Decruss <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> We made a dinner last weekend that cost about 10 bucks that would
>> easily been over 50 in a restaurant. We like each other so it was fun
>> making it and a very nice relaxing evening.
>
> Exactly! Rich sometimes points out to the children about how much a
> particular meal we eat would cost if it were at a restaurant using
> comparable ingredients. We like our company, too.
>


I used to find it hard to justify going to a restaurant and forking over
my hard earned money for a meal I could cook at home for a fraction of the
cost.


So I used to peruse the menu for something that I wouldn't make at home
because it was too time consuming.

Then there were the restaurants that when you ordered the meal, they used
to being out *HUGE* plates with this tiny portion sitting smack in the
middle.
It'd suit me down to the ground now, but back then, I was a healthy eater.
We left that place and went to a local takeaway food place for a 'fillup'
meal.


--
Peter Lucas
Hobart
Tasmania

Nothing ever truely dies
the Universe wastes nothing
everything is simply... transformed

On Tue, 05 Apr 2011 13:38:43 -0400, Dave Smith
<[email protected]> wrote:

>On 05/04/2011 1:07 PM, sf wrote:
>> On Tue, 5 Apr 2011 07:05:45 -0700 (PDT), ImStillMags
>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>> It's nice to be waited on....if the staff is good.
>>
>> Agreed! It's also nice to be able to order things you wouldn't make
>> at home, even if you "could".
>
>
>Being raised inland and having parents who liked flesh well cooked, we
>never had much fish and what we had was not very good. When my wife and
>I were both working and had a lot more disposable income we used to go
>out for a lot of nice dinners. I tended to order fish because it was
>something I could not do at home. I tried a lot of different types of
>fish, and various ways of cooking them. I decontstructed some now do
>them myself at home. I have gone from eating fish once every few months
>to two or more fish dinners per week..... thanks to eating in restaurants.

My mother did a great job of keeping four big boys fed but like your
upbringing everything was well done. I hated fish. I don't remember
when or how I started liking it but I'm sure it was restaurant
related.

Lou

On Tue, 05 Apr 2011 16:47:54 -0700, Ranee at Arabian Knits
<[email protected]> wrote:

>In article <[email protected]>,
> Lou Decruss <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> We made a dinner last weekend that cost about 10 bucks that would
>> easily been over 50 in a restaurant. We like each other so it was fun
>> making it and a very nice relaxing evening.
>
> Exactly! Rich sometimes points out to the children about how much a
>particular meal we eat would cost if it were at a restaurant using
>comparable ingredients.

The kids may not get it now but they will. Good job on laying the
groundwork for future smart adults. Hopefully they'll be foodies!

My Dad took us out for dinner the day after Christmas to a place I
told him got mixed reviews but he insisted. I got a tiny piece of ahi
tuna, a crappy little salad. garlic mashed potatoes, and sauteed
spinach. The sauce on the tuna was interesting but everything else
sucked. My meal was 22 bucks and the portions were so small I could
have made it for about three. Now 22 isn't all that much for a good
meal in a nice restaurant but so many aren't all that good. I'll keep
cooking at home and work on getting better.

Lou