Caviar - never acquired a taste for it. I prefer Asti to Champagne, served Asti at our wedding.

Foie gras is just nasty. The texture is very off-putting. I'll take a ribeye over filet mignon.

Like lobster, though. Am I still chowish?

Tony Lin's on Rockville Pike near the Giant

A Le Creuset cast iron/enamel grill pan. It's huge. I got it for $5 at the Goodwill store in North Bethesda.

I also got my Cuisinart on eBay - complete with five slicing discs for $75. Only used once and the seller didn't want it. Her loss -- my Christmas present...

AGE
54

MONTHS/YEARS ON THIS BOARD
5?

CURRENT CITY
mentor, oh

PROFESSION/FIELD OF WORK
assistant manager at a retirement community

CULTURAL BACKGROUND
Italian & Irish, native New Yorker (ok, the burbs, but still close enough to work there)

CHOWHOUNDER SPECIALTY
Italian food, comfort food

FUN FACT ABOUT YOU
I once made pizza that rose so much it looked like a calzone. Plus I just bought the entire 13 volume collection of the Encyclopedia of Cooking off eBay for $13.00

I have service for 8 in Fiestaware - 4 of yellow and 4 of turquoise. I also have different color serving pieces and platters. Love it - always cheers things up.

Roasting a cut up whole chicken fryer with olive oil, salt, garlic, fresh ground pepper and herbs de provence. Making stuffing with mushrooms and a bag of sauteed baby spinach. Pan gravy with the drippings.

The leftover chicken will be made into chicken pot pie tomorrow.

It's cloudy here outside of Cleveland, so i did a Sunday sauce with meatballs to serve over pasta later, then roasted some grape tomatoes with evoo, garlic, salt, pepper and Italian seasoning at 250 for three hours. Froze that for New Year's Eve bruschetta. Then I roasted some butternut squash at 350 for an hour (also with evoo, s&p and herbs de provence, and a little garlic), and pureed it with vegetable stock to freeze for butternut squash soup. After it's reheated, I'll add heavy cream, grate some fresh nutmeg and a little garlic powder. Productive day!

If you are coming up I-287 to the Thruway to I-84 (much better route IMO) check the Airmont area near Suffern. It's an easy one exit eastbound and I believe there are some kosher places along route 59.

Mrbuffer and I wil be off on New Year's Eve and I'm contemplating doing filet mignon, however, I've never prepared it before.

I've been told to sear in an iron skillet on both sides, then finish in a hot oven. I need times, temps and suggestions.

I plan to make pommes frites with fresh thyme on top, and fresh broccoli spears. I was going to do fresh mushrooms sauteed in butter in the iron skillet while letting the meat rest, then deglazing with sherry and reducing.

Appys are shrimp cocktail and bruschetta made with tomato confit, fresh basil and mozzarella.

Mrbuffer and I are going to see Huey Lewis and the News this Sunday at the Palace Theater. Looking for something close by for a pre-concert light supper. We're parking at the Playhouse Square lot.

I thought about the bar menu at Alex's Bistro - has anyone been there?

Just got pizza tonight from Mama Roberto's. Awful. Worse than Maryland. Is there any place in that area where there is thin crust pizza?

When I make chicken parm I do egg, flour, egg, bread crumbs for each breast, then lay it in the pan that's go a thin layer of olive oil. Then top with the cheese, and a little bit of sauce on top of that. It's not like a casserole; it's more crispy. Never thought of searing it, though.

I have taken the fresh rosemary and pureed it in the Cuisinart with olive oil and fresh garlic and made a pesto that I use over roast pork or chicken. Smells heavenly, especially when I roast carrots and potatoes in the pan. Yum.

We're coming down on Sunday Aug 12, leaving DC around 5 am so we can get to the condo around 4. Just mapped that route and it looks good, I think we'll take 410 to 701. After leaving DC I most definitely do not want to deal with traffic! Thanks for the heads up.

Heading to Surfside Beach SC from DC on Aug. 12 for a week. There's a Piggly Wiggly right outside the entrance to our resort but I'm looking for farmstands along the route once we get of I-95. Looks like we'll take the exit for state route 38 to US-501 into Myrtle, then take SR 544 into Surfside.

Any recommendations for farm stands on the way? Looking for basic fruits/veggies and we're traveling with a 2 1/2 year old.

Not a cash-only line, but they really need to monitor these self-checkout lines that Giant has turned half of their checkouts into. I use them when I only have one or two items, but when you're stuck behind someone with a cartload of crap who doesn't know how to scan an item, it's a nightmare.

Huli-huli chicken would be good.

http://www.food.com/recipe/huli-huli-...

I use a boxed chicken stock from Nature's Promise - it's a store brand for Stop & Shop in the northeast and Giant in Maryland. I keep it in the pantry for emergencies and it's wonderful. They have chicken, beef and vegetable and they are all good. I'll cook the diced chicken and carrots in the stock until the carrots are tender, and cook the noodles separately so they don't soak up all the stock and turn into paste.

Mrbuffer and I used to manage a retirement community that was within walking distance of Fishbones. Went there all the time and loved it. This was several years ago but I miss it. During nice weather we sat outside for our meals. The atmosphere was wonderful and the food great.

The high prices of the snacks is why I carry a large purse and bring my own. When we lived in the Hudson Valley, there were a few drive-ins where we could happily bring our own dinner (think shrimp and cocktail sauce, hero sandwiches and other lovely items, plus a bottle of wine or a beer) and see two films in comfort for the price of one. Unfortunately, there are no drive-ins where we are now.

@laststandchill and @lawhound, I have to agree with you about Holly's. Ate there twice, and we were not impressed at all. Lousy gravy, lackluster food. Plus mrbuffer got crabcakes and they didn't pick the crabmeat that well - it was FULL of shells. We'll find another place.

Empire Pizza is on our regular route to our house in Magnolia DE. Finally stopped there today for a couple slices on the way home and it was good! Much better than the pizza we are forced to endure in Maryland.

Sausage and peppers (from the San Gennaro feast in NYC and the feast in Boston's East End)
Aracini with mozzarella in the middle (deep fried rice balls)
Zeppolis with powdered sugar
Deep fried Oreos (had them at the Montgomery County Fair in MD and OMG!)
Italian Ices

Here is my recipe, taught to me by my first mother in law, that i still use to this day:

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil in the sauce pot. Add a can of crushed Italian tomatoes. Simmer for an hour on very low heat. Put the mixture through a Foley food mill to smooth it out. Put back in the sauce pot.

Add a can of tomato puree and a can of paste. Smooth it out with a whisk. Bring to a boil and immediately turn the heat to the lowest setting. This is when you add the meat - either meatballs, sweet or hot sausage or brasciole.

Cover and simmer, stirring with a metal spoon so the sauce doesn't stick to the bottom of the saucepot, for about 2-3 hours. Usually at that point I'll make some eggplant parm or lasagna with the sauce.

The Foley food mill is the key. It takes out any seeds or skins and makes it very smooth.

When I looked in the pantry and freezer and made up a meal using just "a little of this, and a little of that" and have DH ask for seconds.

Also when my BIL requests my parmesan and prosciutto scones every time I go there for dinner. REQUESTS!

Any thoughts? I've had it a couple times for a quick lunch with mrbuffer and it's pretty good. Plus their coleslaw is outstanding.

Looking for a good Chinese restaurant in Dover. Any suggestions?

The first dinner I ever cooked for mrbuffer was homemade eggplant parmesan with homemade red sauce with spaghetti and fresh Italian bread. He said it was better than his mother's! It's an Italian thing...that was fourteen years ago this weekend...so I guess it worked!

That sounds right. Is it still there?

There's a hot dog place off I95 I think in Wilmington that we used to stop at on the way south from New York to DC. What's the name and is it still there? The hot dogs were wonderful and it was little hole in the wall place.

In the laundry, I use white vinegar with my darks to help get rid of the cat hair. It comes out in the lint trap in the dryer -- I guess the vinegars makes it less likely to stick.

In cooking, a little bit in the water when poaching eggs keeps the eggs from separating all over the pan. I know it's an old trick but it works.