Ohhh, man - We could seriously be friends, ha ha - I love everything on your list, and that Blue Cheese Pecan Chopped Salad - the best salad I have ever had! When my budget is tight, I go in and have that salad, bread, and a Bloomin' Onion for dinner. Oh yeah, have you tried their new flame grilled ribeye?? Awesome good steak!

They do something called a DaVinci Code mocha (they use DaVinci syrups, not a reference to the movie really, just a play on the name), it is a white and dark chocolate mocha with coconut and almond syrups....Good stuff!!

If you are ever in Puyallup, WA, Go to the Top Foods Forza - they are the best!

Honestly, I've been in the Pac NW for 25 years and I've never heard of it - I'll be very interested to know more about it. Post Post Post after your trip...

I agree - Farmer George's has to be the best meat market ever. Try their cottage ham sometime, simmered 20 min pp in apple cider...Amazing!
We've tried Gino's a couple times - the second time only because we got a $30 apology card from mgmt because my steak was horrid the first trip. Second trip was not much better. I won't go back - I'll try La Fermatta in Manette next time.
Cosmos in PO is good - service is excellent, nice atmosphere, food is pretty tasty, desserts are good.
Solid Rock Cafe on Bethel (by the Victorian Tea Room, which is overpriced with horrid service IMHO) has EXCELLENT pizza and pretty good soup, and wonderful, personal service.
Hard to get a table but the BEST diner in Kitsap County has to be Uncle Dave's. Portions are generous, prices are CHEAP and the food is good. Sausage gravy is some of the best restaurant gravy I've had.
Kim's Teriyaki has excellent food for a take-out place.
Good chinese food in PO, and they deliver (if you are more than 5 miles away, they charge $3 for delivery, it's free otherwise) is the Golden Grill. Once again, rather Americanized, but still decent food and good portions.
Seabeck Pizza on Sedgwick near Sidney is excellent. They have a MONSTER 26" party pizza that, even though it is SPENDY, will feed quite a few people.
If you want super good Thai food, I agree that Bahn Thai in Silverdale is good (probably the only decent one in Kitsap), but I will make the 20+ mile trip to Tacoma and hit Peanut Sauce on Tacoma Mall Blvd. any day of the week vs. driving to Silverdale (same distance for me as I live south of Port Orchard)

Our Costcos don't carry any prime meat - darnit! Where are you?? I'm in WA state (western half).

I asked several of their employees about the work practices there (was helping my son look for a job a while back), and everyone I spoke with said the same thing - Costco is an awesome place to work. They treat their employees very well, good benefits, 401(k), competitive wages, etc.

Now I'm unemployed - maybe I need to go apply myself! LOL

Several things I ONLY buy at Costco: Hamburger, and at our local Costco's, you can ask the meat dept. guys and they will sell you a 10-lb chub of 92% lean for about $2.05/lb. It is the way they buy their burger, then they add fat trim to it to make up the packages they sell in their refrigerator meat case. It is not labeled 92% (I don't know why, but they assure me it is, has something to do with the fact that they are re-packaging it), actually it says no less than 8% fat, or something like that).

Carnitas (I saute bell peppers, onions, and add the warmed meat, then tomatoes for a wonderful fajita-style fillilng)
Boneless Chuck Short Ribs - like a smallish but long piece of steak - for about $4.00/lb, add a little meat tenderizer and they are AWESOME on the grill - and I am a steak snob, just too poor to pay for my favorite prime ribeyes at Top Foods.
Cashew Chicken (frozen section) - for a frozen dinner, pretty darned good
butter (they now carry unsalted) - at about $1.40/lb, a pretty good deal)
Chocolate cake from their bakery - it is like 7 lbs of pure chocolate, with chocolate shavings on the side even. Death by chocolate! Yum!
Their Brie is pretty darned good, and very reasonably priced
Love all of their artisan cheeses
Pasteurized lump crab meat (goes in my homemade artichoke crab dip, buzz me for the recipe)
Kirkland brand low sodium bacon - we can't eat any other kind anymore, everything else is too salty
For regular cooking, I use the Shredded Four Cheese Mexican blend for about everything.
The seasonal truffles in the funny shaped brown box - we wait for those things every year.

Can you tell Costco is one of my favorite stores?? We call it the $200 store.

1. Carls Jr. burgers, any of them
2. Taco Time mexi-fries (tater tots with awesome good seasonings)
3. Jack in the Box curly fries with ranch
4. McD's Quarter Pounder with fries and a coke...every once in a while, that is the ONLY thing that hits the spot!
5. Taco Bell crunchy tacos
6. DQ's Banana Cream Pie Blizzard (those graham cracker crust chunks are SO good)
7. Costco's hotdogs or Polish dogs, with the works.
8. Forza (local coffeeshop chain, similar but MUCH better than Starbuck's) 1/2 caff Americano with full flavor shots of white chocolate and coconut, topped off with half and half. Dessert in a cup!!!!
I could keep going - although I LOVE really good food, sometimes the fast food stuff just does the trick.

My family LOVES Joe's Special, but our version is a bit different from a restaurant's. At any rate, Brown your burger, leaving it in bite-sized chunks, add a chunked onion and some minced garlic about halfway through, then add either fresh or frozen broccoli or spinach (both are good) just before onion is done, at the same time add Worcestershire sauce, lower to a simmer and put lid on, let simmer/steam until broccoli or spinach is done. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top just before serving. If using frozen veggies, thaw first and drain. (Tradition Joe's Special uses spinach, and has beaten eggs poured over the top, then set with lid on over low heat. We prefer it without.)

Another hint for the spaghetti sauce someone else mentioned - just recently I started making my own sauce. I had tried before, but couldn't get it to something we all just couldn't live without. Well, I recently tried that Once A Month cooking thing (It is a book you can buy, look it up on Amazon if interested), and they had a spaghetti sauce recipe that is to die for! It is almost identical to what kchurchill5 was saying, except it calls for crushed tomatoes and tomato paste, and you use 2 parts burger and 1 part sausage for the meat, plus minced onion and bell pepper, and simmer for 2 hours. I triple the recipe hoping to get to freeze some, and I never get around to it - we just eat Italian food for a few days!
Happy cooking...

Here are a couple I got out of a magazine years ago - they are awesome!

French Dressing

1 small onion, chopped
2/3 cup vegetable oil
½ cup sugar
1/3 cup vinegar
2 tbsp ketchup
1-1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1-1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp prepared mustard
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp celery seed

In a blender or food processor, process all ingredients until smooth and thickened. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Shake well before serving. YIELD: About 1-1/2 cups

Thousand Island Dressing

2 cups mayonnaise
¼ cup chili sauce
¼ cup pickle relish

In a bowl, combine all ingredients. Cover and refrigerate. YIELD: 2-1/2 cups

Caroline:

ROFL at your last full paragraph - I never was much into self punishment, so I don't think I could go that far. I did hear stories from some diehards that drank Sterno and perfume back in the day, and I never understood that. Shudder. (Not being judgemental, BTW, just sympathizing with their livers.

I also had no idea you could substitute a wine vinegar for wine, so that is good to know.

Some of you have suggested just avoiding recipes that include wine; I have done this for years, and have quite a collection of excellent recipes that are alcohol-free. I am rather bored with this line of cooking, and I am steady enough in my sobriety that I think I can at least explore the possibilities, and I KNOW that if I get the least bit shaky, this whole think is kicked to the curb ASAP. NOTHING is worth my sobriety, because without it, I have - you guessed it - NOTHING!

At any rate, my biggest problem is that I don't think I am necessarily a good cook, although my friends disagree. I think a good cook is one who understands cooking well enough to tweak recipes, and/or make up their own, and end up with something edible. What I am good at is recognizing a good recipe and following it. And since I've never cooked with wine or alcohol, I didn't know about the acidity playing as much of a role as the flavor, so this is truly a learning experience. SO, if I can learn to improvise, and then, also know what wine is supposed to do for a dish, I could then get through most any recipe. If someone has any ideas for cookbooks that teach how to improvise, that would be great.

You guys are the best! Thanks for all your suggestions!!

I've never heard of verjus - what is it, and where can I find it? I am in Port Orchard, WA (small town), but I am very close to some good markets in Tacoma, Federal Way, and Seattle, WA. It sounds wonderful, whatever it is!

I don't have a sponsor anymore, don't do meetings or any of that. I've been sober since Sept 1984, and feel comfortable for the most part. Although the last time I did my turkey (basted with white wine and melted butter) was the first time in a long time I felt like drinking, and I called my husband into the kitchen until I had the melted butter mixed in to the wine, and had contaminated it with the brush used on the raw turkey! LOL So, it could be this post thread is going to push me towards the substitutes and away from the alcohol.
I don't smoke (anymore), or do anything harder than Tylenol, even try to not do too much of that, so drinking again is definitely NOT something I want to flirt with. Thanks for the sage advice, friend.

That said, after reading about using grape juice, cranberry juice, and apple juice (sparkling) for white and red wines, what would I use as a substitute for dry sherry, port, and burgundy? (isn't burgundy basically a red wine?)

Happy living!

There are so many awesome recipes out there that don't include alcohol, I shouldn't be frustrated, BUT - I know from personal experience (mainly in restaurants) and from hearing from other foodies what wonderful flavors cooking with wines and other spirits can add to food.

Does anyone have any suggestions for really awesome substitutions? Keeping a partial bottle of any spirits in the house isn't a good idea for a recovering alcoholic, and I don't really want to buy a whole bottle of something and then dump the rest down the drain after using the 1/2 cup or whatever my recipe of the day calls for. I've even thought of inviting friends who drink over for the meal, and sending the rest of the bottle home with them, but then I'm encouraging someone to drive with open alcohol in the car, not my idea of being a good friend!

Any ideas?

Since your post was about 8 months ago, I assume you have found Panko or given up, but I thought I'd reply anyway - I don't find Panko with the regular breadcrumbs at my grocery store, but with the asian foods. Good luck! (or, I hope it was good! LOL)

I went to the uppercrustent.com website, and fell in love. I have always wanted to branch out into Japanese/Chinese cuisine, and this website has what looks to be some very good recipes using their products. They also explained Panko crumbs in detail, and while one could probably use something homemade as a substitute, it wouldn't be the same as the genuine article. Thanks, MakingSense!