I'm a little late coming back here, but wanted to say thank you for everyone's suggestions. They were great!

We ended up with an assortment of charcuterie, fruit and cheeses paired with these, olives/marinated veg, and breads/crackers. I had some various sauces (great tip) and even some nice garnishment from my herb garden and fridge to make things pretty and tasty. We had store-bought individual desserts (again, an assortment for people to pick from) and a nice pinot grigio and pinot noir to go with everything. S. Pellegrino for the kiddo (and me, as I can't drink much due to medication right now). It was really nice, perfect weather, and we were all very happy with the offerings. Thanks again!

There will be 5 of us, including my 10 year old and 4 adults attending an outdoor symphony concert. I am providing all of the food due to tight scheduling for the other couple, and I'm more than happy to put the whole thing together. No major food aversions - we're all fairly adventurous eaters, including the youngster. Everything will need to be room temp or chilled. Any thoughts on a nice spread for such a situation? It needs to be hearty enough to be considered dinner.

I have a similarly adventurous eater, although she is now 10. Mussels was her favorite, too, at 3 and still is. There are few foods she won't eat, although like most people she has preferences. I truly believe that one contributing factor (aside from personality) is that we exposed her to all sorts of food from the time she was eating solids. That includes sushi (the rice) and sashimi (the raw fish). She eats all sorts of dishes with cooked and uncooked seafood. The caution is mercury levels and other heavy metals/contaminants. We are careful with both cooked and uncooked fish in regards to this. It doesn't just apply to raw fish. Good luck!

I had a similar thing happen. Similar amounts, too. Service was poor to begin with, anyway. When the server said, "I'll get your change", I said, "Thank you". Fifteen minutes later I finally flagged her down and asked about my change. She said, "I thought 'thank you' meant 'keep the change'." I just said, "A 70% tip??? You've got to be kidding." I didn't leave a tip *at all*. The one and ONLY time I can remember ever doing that in my life.

Close on one account. Cash or check only. Midwest, though (about 30 miles outside a major metropolitan area, off the beaten track).

Yes, they are handing me a (carbon copy) piece of paper that has the total written on it, with no mention of the items.

It is in a TINY, TINY town and you have to know it's there... very out of the way. No tourists. None.

Next time, perhaps I should ask, "well, can you at least tell me what the subtotal and after-tax total are?" They should at least be able to do that. Not that it matters (and not the thread to discuss it, as we're good tippers) but we do figure the tip pre-tax and would like to know that amount.

Dh and I recently discovered a really great pizza joint about 30 minute drive from home. We've been a few times now and really, it is worth the drive (and we have a lot of pizza places nearby).

The thing is - they give the bill and it just has the total hand-written on it. Not only does it not itemize out the food and drinks, but it doesn't itemize out the tax, either. More times than I can count in the past, we've had situations where we were not correctly charged for items. Twice in the last few years, we were given another table's bill altogether.

This last time, I asked if we could get an itemized bill and the server said that the establishment doesn't do that, but that she could get a menu for me so I could do the math myself. I passed on that.

It's not something that is going to keep us from going there. More of a bother, really. But I realized that this is quite literally the only place where I can recall EVER dining and not receiving some sort of itemized bill. Weird. Dh really dislikes not seeing the details, and it bothers me somewhat, but not enough to make a deal out of it or stop eating their delicious pies. What would you do in this situation?

Ditto Coco Pazzo and Coco Pazzo Cafe. Depending on where we're staying we hit one of these two every time we're in the Windy City.

Can I also put in a shout in Chicago for La Madia for "close to Neapolitan" pizza. Very good.

I really agree with this. The great majority of people will never get to eat Italian food in Tuscany. I hate to think that these people go through life thinking that the OG represents the food of Italy and/or Tuscany. It just seems so wrong, but somehow people "buy" it. The place is packed!

We have a gift card to OG from my mother who passed away recently. In most circumstances, I would have given the card to someone who would enjoy it. In this case, we thought that using it would honor my mom in some way. We went this weekend. OMG. Seriously. The food was so atrocious that we couldn't finish it. It was cold when it came out and my sauce (creamy) had somehow both separated AND congealed. Our entire meal, including wine, was comped by the manager and we didn't even complain. She just knew it was horrible by looking at it on the plate. We still have the card, unfortunately.

For us, what is so great is that they have several items that we just can't get elsewhere because they are not produced in the US, let alone locally. We can't get them in the grocery stores, period. Costco is the *only* source.

Other items, we cannot find of the same quality/to our liking in any local stores, including Trader Joe's, although we like them, too.

We do get our meat locally (by the side or animal, annually), but eat enough baby back ribs, that we have to supplement what we get from the one pig we buy each year. We like their ribs. I do agree with buying locally as much as possible, but, as an avid gardener with a family of commercial farmers who know the land quite well, local isn't always "best" or reasonably economical, so each person has to do what works for them. That being said, some items that make Costco invaluable for this family that eats as little processed foods as possible: goat cheese, feta cheese, blue cheeses (sometimes they have roquefort and sometimes gorgonzola picante and sometimes danish blue, but we like them all), pesto sauce, smoked salmon, mineral water (on this alone I have calculated that we save our membership cost 5 times over each year), kalamata olives, sundried tomatoes, flour, rice, sugar, yeast, vanilla, peppercorns, butter, whipping cream, toilet paper, dried fruit, san marzano tomatoes, frozen chicken breasts, yogurt, wine, beer... and based on how much we spend there, I'm sure there are many more I can't think of. I do not coupon at all. I look every week (we get them in the free newspaper that is dropped on our doorstep) and the only coupon I can remember being useful in the last year or so was a coupon for batteries. No coupons for whole foods exist in those we get. Not even the, "buy a highly processed food and get 50 cents worth of fruit" coupons. Costco saves us quite a bit, and even more so in the wintertime, as our location allows only 5 months of gardening.

Finally, I like the way the company treats its employees and customers. There seems to be a general attitude of respect that is often lost in mega-corporations these days. I want to "vote" with my dollars for companies like that.

Yep - and we humans touch our faces 3 to 6 times per MINUTE, so every little bug-a-boo we have on our hands is most likely making its way into our bodies. This is why we have immune systems (barring illness or condition compromising that). Gloved hands, I seriously could not care less about. If you're glove-less, you're likely to pay more attention to sanitation.

This has been so interesting and informative! Amazing to see little glimpses into others' dining habits.

I do think that geography is a factor. I have a lot of really intelligent, well-educated and successful people in my family that, because they have lived their entire lives (except for college) in a small town, they just don't have the exposure to a variety of food. They simply don't know or care to know about food other than what is available within a 30 mile radius. There is nothing wrong with that, but it does affect their eating habits. I chose a different path when I left home for college at 17 years of age.

They have their own expertise that I am ignorant about. I'm sure I cannot appreciate the efforts required to be successful in what they are passionate about.

"It's often served on the coffee table watching some TV and chatting. We don't have kids that need us to model good behaviors. :)"

We have a child, but we do this every once in a while. We lay out a blanket in the living room and "picnic" in front of the TV. It's fun, but it's also a treat and we like to do it for a change of pace... so we "mostly" model good behaviors. :) We tend to not talk during these picnic dinners, so kitchen table meals with the TV off are the norm because I think dinner conversation with kids is really important.

Something else we like to do about once a week is play "dinner games". It's a tin of cards that have ideas for things to do at the dinner table that are fun, informative, educational, etc.

We really enjoy company at dinner, so the idea of getting fast food and just eating in individual rooms isn't our style. That wouldn't fly in our house, but to each their own.

I don't even put the pots and pans on the table. ;-) Buffet from the stove top (baked items do go on the table). I'm from the north.

Another thread got me thinking. How are your (evening) meals served in your home? Do you have multiple courses every evening? Do you serve each course by itself or all at once? Do you plate the food in the kitchen and then bring it out or is it family style? Or do you have different styles based on whether it's weekday or weekend?

I do cook from scratch, so every meal is at least somewhat time consuming. Weekdays are very casual, as I don't have time (or the metabolism) to make multiple courses. Weekends are different, but we still don't have multiple courses, formal dinners every weekend even. But during the week, it's a single "course" that includes salad, served all at once. We almost never eat dessert, even on weekends.

Most of my family live in a small town with only fast food and a coffee shop to choose from, and I think that has more to do with it than anything else. I have family that barely make-ends-meet and others that are not just rich, but wealthy. Some are very educated, others are not. They all have the same habits regardless.

I have a friend at work, though, that has many choices, including going home every day for lunch as she lives 2 blocks away. She goes to McDonalds every.single.day for lunch. There are other fast food places close by, but she chooses this particular poison. Every day. Without fail. Some days she'll get their salad, but usually it's the fish or big mac. She tells me she goes on weekends, too. I know of other people who go at least a few times a week. From all socio-economic levels.

In my extended family, it truly is ignorance, so I have had to let it go without resentment. Only my mom, who lived with us the last 7 years of her life, truly knows (knew) the effort of my cooking. The rest of the family honestly doesn't cook enough. They all are FF junkies, similar to a pp's in-laws, and cooking a meal at home is from a box or can, and requires only measured cups of water, one pot, and no kitchen utensils other than a can opener and a spoon. Their taste buds are so burned up with the salt of processed food they don't even taste my food properly, anyway. I don't let it bother me because my husband and daughter appreciate it and I have a few friends that are food lovers with discerning palates who not only understand the effort, but appreciate the results.

Read my post again. I'm not a germaphobe. I think 99.9% of the population, though, would be at least a little disturbed by such an audacious unsanitary practice.

Dd and I were out to dinner this past week at a casual sit-down Mexican. We had finished some shopping and were hungry, so we wanted a "quick" bite, but don't eat "fast" food (this is our compromise). This place is usually quick and the food isn't bad. It isn't a favorite, but we like it enough to be repeat customers for the speed/quality factor. Perhaps no longer, though.

Since we'd been shopping, we went into the restroom to wash our hands before sitting down to eat. Dd went first (so we didn't have to lug our purses in there). Then I went in and was washing at one of the two sinks, when I hear a flush and a server walks out of one of the stalls. She walked right on by, opened the door and left without even a glance in the direction of the soap or water. I followed her out (not touching the door handle, btw) and she went straight to a table to tend to her duties. I kept my eye on her for a couple of minutes and (thankfully) she did not end up being our server. I saw her carry several food items from the window to different tables before dd and I got involved with our conversation and I lost track of her.

We were finished eating and on our way home and I was still trying to figure out if there was anything I should have or could have said. It kind of disgusted me, and we're not germophobes at all. I'm still wondering if I should have talked to management or if it was a moot point... I'm sure it happens all the time, but until this past week I was happily ignorant of it in actuality. I don't know if I can bring myself to dine there again.

How would you have handled it?

I have many dozens of cotton squares from dh's old T-shirts under the sink. I use those (like paper toweling) and vinegar to clean all surfaces in the kitchen. They just get tossed into the wash. Meat juices are cleaned up with disposable paper toweling.

My dd loves Armenian string cheese. She eats it for snack - hadn't though of in the AM. She won't eat breakfast (makes her nauseous), but eats mid-morning snack. I'll have to include that for some protein.

I can help out with Turkish, if you're looking for a resource for that particular ethnic cuisine. Dh is from Turkey and I have his mother's hand-written recipe book. My turkish is not great, so if I need help and he's not around, I go to http://www.turkishcookbook.com/ to look up recipes. They are all authentic and the results I get from her recipes taste like we're sitting at dh's sister's table back in Istanbul.

We still make these when camping, but leave the ground beef loose (and call them "hobo bundles"). They're not nearly as tasty at home as they are when in the great outdoors. ;-)

I'm sure the experts will come along at some point, but I love really sweet fruit like strawberry and cantaloupe with sharp blue cheeses. Whether or not that is the appropriate pairing, it's my personal favorite. Picante gorgonzola is my favorite with these. Add a drop of reduced balsamic and it's heaven.

We hand wash almost always now. There are only 3 of us and I clean as a I cook, so there's just never enough to merit using the dishwasher. I don't like dishes left in the sink at all, especially to soak. If something is difficult to get off, I just put water in the pan and reheat it to easily remove any bits. Clean kitchen and sink every evening at chez velochic. Mr. velochic does some dish washing, but the kitchen duties from start to finish are pretty much my domain, which is fine as he works full-time and I do not.

Is sparkling water easy to find in convenience stores, gas stations, etc. where you live? I live in the midwest. We have no problems finding it (warm) in the grocery stores, but never see it in the coolers next to the Pepsi, Gatorade, Red Bull and Aquafina. No problems finding it in the largest cities like Chicago, but it's even difficult to find it in many restaurants in cities like Indianapolis, Madison, Cincinnati, etc. I wonder if there will ever be a demand for sparkling water in the US like it is in Europe and the ME. It's by far my 10yo daughter's preferred beverage (we don't drink soda and I think all kids like fizzy drinks). On a recent trip to Chicago, it was nice to be able to pick up a cold bottle (even in glass bottles) whenever she was thirsty rather than her have to drink still water out of plastic and complain about the "plasticy water". Until this recent trip, it really hadn't dawned on me how hard it is to find cold sparkling water where we live (bigger city, but not a metropolis). Thoughts?

No, I learned this in Italy from a professional (Italian) chef. It was in Tuscany, but the chef was from Bologna. This was the real deal. (As with all recipes, though, I'm sure there are as many authentic variations as there are grandmas in Italy.)

The way I was taught was without garlic. And no tomato sauce. The only tomato product is 30g. double-concentrate tomato paste.

That sounds really good. Thank you! I don't have swiss chard, but I do have spinach. I bet that would work. I have all of the other ingredients. I was thinking of doing a tomato or sweet red pepper relish for garnish and that would go well with that.