Funny, I had quite the opposite experiences. For me D Bar has always been great. The desserts are very rich & worth having at least once. Service was great-very attentive servers.

Biker Jim's to me possibly the worse "hot dog" I've ever had. They were so dry and the casing was hard to bite through. The bun was stale and the people at the counter were not very helpful.

Granted every place has good/bad days. It's up to each of us to decide if it's worth it to give them another shot.

I will say Rioja hit it completely out of the ballpark! One of my favorite meals ever.

Did you know that Julia Child attended the Le Cordon Bleu in France? That in itself in the 1950's was quite an accomplishment.She may not have worked in a restaurant, but she was way more than a "home cook". She paved the way for female chefs.

How about this quote from the LA Times regarding this year's James Beard Foundation winners:

"And yet 2013 turned out to be a banner year for female chefs (just not ours), who won three best chef awards: Stephanie Izard of Girl & the Goat in Chicago, Melissa Kelly of Primo in Maine and Jennifer Jasinski of Rioja in Denver. It was a long long way from the early days of the awards, when it was hard to find a woman who was a nominee, let alone a winner."

http://www.latimes.com/features/food/...

Other "notable" women chefs:

Michelle Berstein
Stephanie Izard
Jennifer Jacinski
Mary Sue Milliken
Christina Tosi
Alice Waters
Ruth Reichl (Yes, she was a chef at one time
)April Bloomfield
Anita Lo
Lydia Bastianich

I could go on if you'd like. Bourdain had quite the conversation going on Twitter recently when he asked if there needs to be a category for "best female chefs" instead of just "best chefs" for awards. It may have been a male dominated field for decades, but the world has changed and women are just as capable of being chefs and not just "home cooks".

Time to give them the respect they deserve and not put them down because they are women.

Michael Ruhlman's Twenty & Ratio (both are must haves, they are the only cookbooks that stay consistently on my counter)

Ina Garten's Back to Basics or Foolproof

Joy of Cooking and Cooks Illustrated are good starter books, they have a variety of recipes and instructions.

If you want a certain genres of cookbooks, I would suggest:

Cuban: Three Guys From Miami Cook Cuban

Mexican: Anything by Diana Kennedy or Rick Bayliss

Italian: Marcella Hazan or possibly Mario Batalli

French: Julia Child (Mastering the Art of French Cooking) or Jacques Pepin

Indian:Madhur Jaffrey

Baking: King Arthur 200th Cookbook

Some expensive but worthy cookbooks are:

Modern Cuisine at Home

Larousse Gastronomique

I've been buying my 12 year old cookbooks for the last couple of years. She likes to bake & got Pie in the Sky for Christmas. It's a cookbook written for high altitude baking (we live at 7200 feet).

Recently she has been reading my cookbooks. Two of my favorite are Twenty & Ratio both by Michael Ruhlman. I would give them to every home cook I know.

When my nieces were getting into cooking, I bought them subscriptions to magazines like Taste of Home, Cooks Illustrated, Gourmet. & Food & Wine.

I tend to stay away from "kids" cookbooks, but that's just because my kids have been cooking with me since they were little.

I was rooting for Kristen so I wasn't too devastated with the obvious time spoiler, but my daughter was going for Brooke, so she was more disappointed.

What I liked about the finale was it's "no gimmicks" presentation. I like the head to head competition with no limits, just present the best 5 dishes you can.

I could do w/o the Iron Chef format, but did like the simplicity.

They could have definitely changed it up to make it more suspenseful though. With 5 minutes left in the program, it was easy to tell that Kristen would win. If they would've waited to reveal each round's winner until the end, it would have been better.

Personally, I liked that the judges had to make a decision on the spot. It puts pressure on them to just choose & not deliberate for hours. I don't know that I'd like it for a whole season, but I thought it was a fun change for the finale.

Reading the comments on the Bravo blogs, I never had a problem with LCK. I didn't like Save a Chef, I thought it was overkill, but I like that someone who got kicked off too early has a chance to redeem themselves.

Overall this season was a huge improvement over the silliness of last season. I'm not talking about the chefs from last season, most of them were very talented. I'm talking about the stupid challenges that didn't focus on the food.

Finally, how about a HUGE shout out to Linda for her commitment each & every episode, each & every season.Thank you for all your hard work. We love you!!!! I think she deserves the Top Chef Favorite Fan Award!

Bless you for your dedication. I've watched the last two episodes a few days late because I can't stay up past 9 pm lately.Those extra early mornings are a killer!

Just a thought, but I'm wondering if it was one of Josh's goals to use bacon in every episode/challenge? Maybe he came into the competition with that already in mind...

+100 We haven't given Sheldon enough love this week. He has been one of my favorites this season & this episode only helped to elevate him. He hasn't made one dish I wouldn't want to try. I'm sad to see Kristen go, but I'm so very happy for Sheldon.

Agree 100%

"Kristen totally fell on her sword" I agree!

If Josie had started the bones & broth when she should have, Kristen wouldn't have to made the bad decision about the gelatin & lack of sauce.I wish she could have been more assertive with Josie, but I have a feeling Josie would've reacted like a defiant child.

I also feel like there is a difference between throwing someone under the bus & defending yourself. Kristen could've explained how Josie decided to take her sweet ass time starting the bouillabaisse so she was forced to go a different route.

I do admire her for standing up & taking responsibility but I think she took it a little too far in not even trying to save herself.

As far as Josie is concerned, she is clearly there to play the game, not cook the best food. Her lack of integrity will catch up with her. She might have just surpassed Marcel as the most hated Top Chef contestant ever!

That's true, her departure set us off pretty good. There's been a few through the years that we felt didn't deserve to go.

One word...Hosea

I agree with every word you said right here.

"But seriously there is no way that Josie should have been kept. She failed at every level of the challenge. I almost think she purposefully is screwing up because she doesn't care when she goes home so her goal is just to keep throwing other people off. It seems like she was pissed with Kristen's decisions and decided to backdoor Kristen's exit knowing that since she was in charge, she would be blamed. And it worked."

I definitely see Josie as someone who is purposely sabotaging others just so she can make it to the end.

As soon as they announced Josie was safe, I turned the tv off; just like my husband did on Saturday after the Bronco game. The second time since Saturday the remote was nearly broken.

OMFG!!! I am so pissed right now! I'm not even sure I'll watch the rest of the season. If I do it'll only be for Sheldon. How does she keep surviving week after week?

If you search the Mountain States board you will find many of the same answers I'll put here.

Rioja
Euclid Hall
Bistro Vendomme

These three are owned/ran by Chef Jennifer Jasinski and Beth Gruitch. The best roasted chicken I've ever had was at Rioja. Euclid Hall has an amazing local beer selection and hours that cater to chefs.

Pazano by Chef Elise Wiggens

Fruition by Chef Alex Seidel

ChoLon by Chef Lon Symensma

Frasca by Chef Lachlan Patterson & Master Sommelier Bobby Stuckey

Frank Bonanno has many places in Denver and all are top notch including Osteria Marco, Luca D'Italia, & Mizuna

For some great cocktails:

Williams & Graham by Sean Kenyon

Green Russell by Frank Bonanno

Many of these places will do tasting menus if you call ahead of time.

Some other places are Squeaky Bean, Colt & Gray, & Solera. On top of that, Denver has a thriving food truck culture so you have a lot to choose from.

Pho with extra chile garlic sauce

Yet again, the OP is asking for wording advice, not about Miss Manner's party etiquette. You don't agree with her "party", that's fine. That's not what she was asking for anyway. She doesn't deserve to get flamed because she's throwing an unconventional "party".
If you can't/won't answer her original post, then at least don't add fuel to the fire.

I think the OP would do better to use a different term. Apparently the term "party" gets people up all worked up.
Maybe they should go with "get-together" or something less formal.

Besides that, the OP wasn't asking whether she should pay for the "party", she was asking how to word the invite.

I think finding out whether you're having a boy or girl is pretty special. Some people are really close to their friends & family and this would be an occasion to celebrate. Others, not so much.

I prefer to live my life not being offended by other's actions even if it's something I wouldn't do myself or even agree with.

If they want to celebrate this announcement and their friends & family want to be a part of it, who are we to judge? Put the invite out with the pertinent information and let each person decide whether to attend or not.

Lol. She played professional football don't ya know. ;)

Can't she go home already?

I'd like to have a like button for posts like these!

I totally agree with you. The world and how we interact with each other is changing. We need to adapt & realize that not all change is bad.

Personally, I think people need to quit criticizing the OP and quit offering different solutions. The OP simply asked for wording on the e-vites, not a slew of criticism for celebrating a special moment in their lives.

You could say something to the effect:

You're invited to join us as we celebrate finding out if "so & so's" baby is a boy or a girl. Dinner will be at "such & such" restaurant at "whatever" time. Each couple/person is responsible for paying for their own dinner, but dessert & champagne are on us!

I thought he said a sad moment also. I'm not going to re-watch the episode though to double check. Watching it once was enough.

I would say mix it with some vanilla ice cream or make a batch of brownies and spread it on top while they are hot.

Tequila - I can't even look at a bottle without gagging. Never been able to try the good stuff, can't get past the smell.

I think it would help if the page choices at the bottom showed "1,2.3.4,...next" instead of "2, ...1305,1306, 1307, next"

I really don't care about what is on page 1305 and if i'm searching something recent I'd rather click on a specific page number than having to go to page 2 before I can go to page 3.

Or go even further with Cincinnati Chili with choice of toppings.

I second Lasagna, that's what I'm making for about 16 people. Someone will bring bread, another will bring salad, and another will take care of dessert. I can make it ahead of time, pop it in the oven & enjoy the gathering instead of worrying about cooking.