[sznn]

Thank you all for the Bday wishes!!
I had a lovely relaxing day - lounging in the sun.

Looking forward to a year of continued maintenance (and hopefully a little loss) and I must say - it would be much more difficult without all your support.

Have a great Tuesday everyone.
S

[EZMONEY]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SZNN!

Angie and I are already getting quite a few tomatoes off our plants, especially the cherry ones. Our basil is looking a little but that could be because I forgot to tell my niece to water them while we were gone last week ( why didn't you remind me BILL? ). Lucky for us we have 2 awesome basil plants going in the kitchen...I keep picking leaves off and snacking on them

But here is a tomato/basil story for ya.....

So Angie and I went to New York last week for step-d's college graduation. The week-end was all about my step-d and since I had never been to NY before I had no plans....but I did ask Angie what "our" plans were out of curiosity for the trip.

She says "Lara wants to take us to a Staten Island pizza joint she loves ( also one my daughter and the kidnapper love to go to when they visit ) for some real New York pizza ...so for days I am just thinking about it ....

we even flipped flopped a pizza date night for Mexican food since, even though Angie likes pizza, she doesn't want it two weeks in a row....

bummer for me

Anyway...we fly in and first stop after checking in the hotel is the pizza joint...it was only 5pm and the place was packed...we drove around for 15 minutes to find close enough parking...walking is not a problem for any of us...

going inside I see gorgeous everywhere ...

loaded with sausage/pepperoni/onions/peppers....ya get the picture?

We get seated right away and my first beer of the day is ice cold ...even had a bit of ice floating on the foam....

HEAVEN

The menu comes around....there is only one size...large...now I know there is no freakin' way my wife is going for anything meaty in a pizza...but I think I have a chance with my step-d...she likes pepperoni.... or her dad....he likes meat...even did Atkins for a couple of years....so I am feeling pretty good about this

I wait for one of them to make a move....

but before we get to that let me give a little FYI

I promised myself, and to be able to keep that promise I told Angie of my plan .... ( and to me because I kept my promise the entire 4 days! ) to keep my mouth shut and to be nothing short of a perfect step father for the graduation

If you knew my step-d ..... Drama Queen ...you'd know how hard this can be for me sometimes

So it goes like this....."The pizzas look big....should we just get one and share? Maybe split 2 salads?"...says my wife ....

right away my heart skips a beat....

this isn't looking good....

"Sure"...we ALL answer....

"How about the mozzarella tomato/basil

"SURE"....we ALL answer.....

At this point....less than 2 hours on Staten Island....and I am a little irritated...not ...just irritated...

But I

In New York a mozzarella tomato/basil comes with the basil and tomato cooked on the ... hot tomato and basil....so very

here in California when you get a mozzarella tomato/basil the tomatoes and basil come fresh and cool...placed right on top ....HELLL-OOOO....AFTER baking....aaarrrgghhhh......irritated but not .....

So...my first experience in New York was very Californian....


And they wonder why I drink so much....

[Ms Perception]

EZMONEY-I'm even dissappointed for you after that story! I LOVE me a good pizza and would've felt totally let down after that experience. But, it's better for your waist line I guess . (Ya gotta tell yourself something good!)

sznn-I'm so glad your birthday went well. Here's to a year of wonderful maintenance!

Rabbit and WaterRat-I've only just discovered asparagus and I am a fan, but the family is not sold on it YET. I worked it into several dishes this year, so I'm seriously thinking of growing it next year.

As far as the tomato/basil discussion...YUM! I'm in northern Wisconsin and consequently, we can't plant our outdoor gardens until usually Memorial day weekend. That means this Saturday I will most likely be out slaving away getting my veggie plants in. Tomatoes will be plentiful since I'm planning to can salsa, spaghetti sauce, and stewed tomoatoes AT LEAST. Plus, there's the delicious caprese salad ya'll keep mentioning. Which reminds me, I'll be planting a special herb area apart from my main veggie garden. We're in the northwoods here, so I'm hoping the deer will leave my stuff alone. I have a fence I'm planning to place around the veggies, but I wasn't planning to do that around the herbs since they'll be closer to my flowers and I don't want it to detract from the look of the flower beds. Well, that was a lengthy bit about my gardens...sorry! LOL

[Shannon in ATL]

Gary - your pizza story made me a little sad. An I like tomato & basil pizza. Hope the rest of the trip went well though!

Susan - glad you had a great birthday!

Losermom - you make costumes? Did I miss what they are for? I wish I could sew.

Dagmar - no overeating without internet. None none none. You can do it.

Pat - I love the feeling after new haircut. Glad you are feeling better!

Jessica - Tide to Go stick. I can't recommend them enough. Got the blueberry stain out of my shirt last week. Though, wouldn't help with the apple water. That would totally happen to me...

MsP - triathlon? Cool!

Marie - try to enjoy your off time. I hate the 'use it or lose it' plans, always feels pressured at the end of the year.

I love asparagus...

Well, my appliance drama continues... The LG fridge I ordered was out of stock, so they called me yesterday to discuss. I ended up switching to the Samsung fridge I had debated between, which was more expensive, so cancelled the dishwasher. Was having some anxiety about that anyway with the reviews, and Allison's firsthand knowledge. Still waiting on confirmation on the fridge, which is beginning to tick me off. I had her verify that the new one was in stock on the phone yesterday so I wouldn't have any more drama like yesterday's switch. So, then went shopping last night and ended up getting a new washer and dryer - went in with one in mind that was on serious sale and came out with another that has a special allergy & asthma certified cycle. Still shopping for a dishwasher, as well. Can you tell I've been in my house three years and hate the heck out of all of my appliances? My fridge, dishwasher & range came with the house and are pretty basic builders grade. My washer & dryer came into the relationship with me and are almost ten years old, a pretty low line whirlpool that has never been great. I'm insane.

Good day all.

Good day all!

[Shannon in ATL]

Just found out that my class reunion is the same night as a wedding we've been invited to, which is the night before the next half marathon I signed up for. What is it with things getting planned on top of my big runs? Geez. I can do the wedding and the marathon as they are both local, but the reunion is 2 hours away and will run later so would wipe out wedding and run I'm sure. Decisions decisions...

[alinnell]

Shannon~that's too bad about the fridge switch. If I were to do it again, I'd go with Bosch for the dishwasher. And so sorry about the mess with your marathon/reunion/wedding.

[Shannon in ATL]

Allison - DH totally wants a Bosch dishwasher. It looks like they are a little smaller depth wise so have slightly smaller capacity, but the low noise really talks to me.

Turns out the wedding is at 11, so we can do it and the reunion but will likely miss the marathon.

[traveling michele]

We have a Bosch dishwasher too and love it. It is very quiet as others have said.

My HS reunion is this summer as well (25th) and I'm planning on making it as I'll be in Houston. More reason to stay strong and focused!

[EZMONEY]

Thanks gals for the on the pizza...it was pretty decent really and Shannon we had a great time in New York..outstanding....

lol on the Tide To Go Stick for Jessica too....

at the Italian restaurant where we met up with step-d's boyfriends parents...my wife's ex spilled some red sauce on his shirt....he joked and made a bib out of his napkin...then a while later I swirled some linguine with pesto shooting green spots all over my shirt ...then boyfriend's mom just says..."Guys...if you want I can take those spots out"...sure....she then whips some pen out of her purse and dabs us up...

the spots disappeared....

Not sure what brand but I need to get one to carry in my wallet

[Marie]

Michele, I’m my district’s webmaster and database manager. The database side is what makes my job do all the student state reporting. It’s yucky.

Sznn, I’m glad your b-day was relaxing and nice. Here’s to all of us with a good year of maintenance.

Gary, hmm, I made whole wheat sourdough pizza with tomatoes and basil. I always bake it complete. I live 5 miles north of California but I guess it’s clear I was born right outside of NYC.


Shannon, hating your appliances makes it way more difficult to want to use them. I have a builder’s grade dishwasher but it has one nice feature – extra water heating. My dishes do come out better with it. Not, I didn’t say good just better. The wedding and marathon would be my choice (of course if I was a runner). Class reunions tend to be pretty disappointing and there will be others.

I’m having a good day off. DH and I finally watched the end of Grey’s Anatomy. We’re having major problems with out DirecTV HD DVR – it occasionally wipes out half the channels. ABC is one of the one it’s angry at. So we got half way through and it was gone. So we decided to watch via ABC.Com and got halfway through part 2 and it would not go. Finally I bought it from iTunes, downloaded it and watched it through the computer. It was worth it. I think it was the best GA I’ve seen. Then DH and I made our pizza. I’d needed to use my starter since I’ve been whole wheat crazy since my mill arrived. I just couldn’t resist tossing the WW flour in as well. DH left for work and I cleaned all my kitchen drawers (except one that was actually still organized). It’s pretty cool. Now I have the afternoon and evening to play. I like that.

Marie

[EZMONEY]

Originally Posted by Marie

Gary, hmm, I made whole wheat sourdough pizza with tomatoes and basil. I always bake it complete. I live 5 miles north of California but I guess it’s clear I was born right outside of NYC.

I know where you live Marie...Angie and I used to drive past there on our way to our house we built in Kennewick, WA....And to be honest I wasn't really sure tomato/basil pizza was a California thing...just seems so...and I love it! Angie and I get it often...but I was soooo looking forward to WHAT I THOUGHT was NY style pizza...loaded with pepperoni/sausage/onions...etc...

Angie and I love to make our own...she makes her dough in the bread maker...usually hers IS tomato/basil or spinach/bacon...mine is usually cheeseburger...YUM!! or pepperoni...'cause when we go out for pizza we always share...and it's always WHAT she WANTS ...I know what's best for me so I totally agree with her choice

now...my sil/bil have a $4,000 pizza oven in their yard...YES! I said their YARD......unbelievable pizza....!!!!!!!

be good!

[alinnell]

Pizza--NY style--Chicago style--Italian style? Italian pizza and American pizza are NOT the same! While in Italy last summer, we had pizza twice. It was so weird how they put the toppings on--say we ordered artichokes, ham, and tomato, the pizza would be 1/3 artichokes, 1/3 ham, 1/3 tomato. They don't spread it around. And I thought I'd see much more margarita pizza. Nope. Not a one.

And salad in Italy. YUCK. Most of the salads we had (and we ate a lot of them) were lots of lettuce, a couple unripe tomato slices and perhaps a slice or two of cucumber. To watch the locals "prepare" their salads--they'd pour on the olive oil. We would drizzle more vinegar than oil, but seriously some people would pour on 1/2 a cup of oil on an individual salad. Gross. And talk about basically tasteless topping. They'd usually add salt rather than vinegar. Ewww.

But the wine was good.

[JayEll]

Gary--the places you go won't add an ingredient to half the pizza? Such as pepperoni? All the places I used to go to would happily do that.

Gee, on second thought--naw, you do what Angie says.

Jay

[EZMONEY]

lol...JAY...of course they would but when wife-step-d and ex went with tomato/basil....I stuck with the majority...

that's the way I am...

never rocking the boat....wink

[Marie]

Gary, very smart to defer to your wife and step daughter. Besides they chose the healthy. OK, so I must ask, a $2000 pizza oven in their yard? What if it rained? I guess no pizza. I, too, make my pizza dough in the bread machine. That is the whole wheat or the buttermilk recipe. The sourdough I make in my Kitchen Aid mixer. I've never taken the time to figure out the dough amounts because I love having a loaf of sourdough for the week when I make sourdough pizza.

Allison, your description of a salad in Italy sounds horrendous. Yuck and double yuck!