Canned peas and Spam

Gravy. On EVERYTHING. Potatoes. Bread. Fried bologna. Hardboiled eggs. Fried cabbage. It was milk gravy if there was milk, or just plain old brown gravy if there wasn't. In the summer there might be garden tomatoes, and in the winter it was onions if we had any. I used to despise gravy or anything even remotely gravy-like because we ate it all the time and it meant we had no money. I told myself "When I have my own, house, I'm NEVER gonna make anyone eat gravy EVER." Well, now I kinda like it again, and not just because it is cheap. Go figure.

And of course, soup. We call it "a$$ end soup" because we put the tail end of all the herbs, vegetables and meats we find in the fridge and freezer. Bones and cheese rinds go in first and come out before serving. Rice and little pastas go in last (and sometimes twice if visitors "stay for dinner").

Eggs-Aldi often has a dozen large eggs at less than a dollar. Puffy oven omelettes (whip the egg whites separately and fold into the yolks, milk, and cheese) baked in a jelly roll pan and then rolled up with sauteed veggies on top are big and filling. A meatloaf built around a couple hardboiled eggs makes a cheap meal even cheaper and looks pretty darn cute too. Frittatas with potatoes and cheese or some kind of cured meat. Egg salad on homemade bread (also cheap!) Eggs poached in a chunky tomato sauce. Bread pudding or egg custard for dessert. Souffles, both sweet and savory. Hardboiled eggs in curry.

Yup! Hot dogs in ANYTHING! I like slicing them and sticking one thick slice in mini cornbread muffins.

At least three to four times per week. When the kids were younger and it was more common for people to invite themselves for dinner, we had it nearly every night because it is easier to stretch a pot of soup (rice! macaroni! another can of beans!).

pizza margherita. 12". And a bottle of wine. Last night.

I know I should, every time, but I forget. Maybe it is a little subconscious payback: now that the kids are older and the DH retired and help with the laundry it's THEIR turn to get the stubborn and preventable stains out!

I think it can be done gently and courteously. In fact, I believe it is mandatory to advise your server if you have a need, request, or preference ("special" or otherwise) you expect to be accommodated. We do this for pretty much every family outing to a restaurant. My mother eats S-L-O-W-L-Y, painfully (for us) and inconveniently (for the kitchen) slowly. We warn the waitstaff and ask them and the kitchen to allow an unusually long time between courses. It's really awkward when the half-eaten appetizer and salad are still in front of her when the main course arrives, which then gets cold before she gets around to it. We also ask the waitstaff to leave all the plates on the table until she is finished so she doesn't feel like she is holding the rest of us up; we want her to have a good time and not feel rushed or guilty. (And I hope this is also the goal of a good restaurant with good staff.) The restaurants at which we are regulars know this already and accommodate our group; they also know if they take good care of us there will be a hefty drink tab AND a generous (grateful?) tip. When we are trying a new restaurant, we ALWAYS call ahead and let the host/ess know our large group will require the table for an extended period of time and why (we also ask for a table not too far from the bathroom--if 92 year old choppers work slowly, the hams don't move that quickly either!)

Blind date (too many!) years ago told me that he has always dated "fat girls" in the past, because "they always put out to make up for it" And THEN he tells me I should go ahead and order a dessert because I'm too skinny. Ugh

I don't think "rude" as much as "disappointed". And when it comes to over an hour with drinks and no food, followed by another hour with drinks and inadequate snacks, I think "This isn't gonna end well." I do love an old-fashioned cocktail party followed by dinner, which what this sounds like, but there has to be lots of munchies and dinner must follow within a reasonable time. Hungry people drink more than they intend, and often they cannot, er, APPRECIATE the rest of a dinner party that stretches over the entire evening.

I must admit that I am one of the "dinner will (always) be a little late" crowd, but I never plate more than a half hour behind schedule, there are lots of appetizers to go with the drinks, and my husband is a delightfully entertaining host. I've also held dinner when I see the guests are having a wonderful time talking, playing cards, or, once, sledding and it would be a crime to disrupt them. So my parties tend to last a little long. But my guests know this and tell me ahead of time that they may need to leave for the babysitter or an early morning tomorrow. Is this their way of setting the groundwork for an early exit? Could be, but I know that I've been put on notice and tighten the schedule a bit so that everyone can enjoy themselves.

Ooooh--the tip of the finger; it's the WORST. Although I don't know which is more painful, the 30 minutes after you shave it off, or the three months of flaming pins and needles when the feeling is finally returning! And embarrassing--even the little manicurist who has seen every form of toenail fungus, bunion, and hammertoe known to man says "Ugly finger--I not do that one."

Oooooooh--beef fat is the BEST! I like it on a grilled steak when it's got a little crispy brown on it, and I love its soft white salty unctuousness on a thick piece of prime rib. (I know where WE'RE going for Friday night dinner tonight.......)

Aaarrghh! The kids do that with ribs, wings, and drumsticks and I can't help myself-- I gotta steal the bones and clean them off. It's like they just take one bite and grab another one. And pork chops--I swear they only eat about half. Which is fine with me, as I think the parts nearest the bone are the best and sweetest.

Yep. Sounds like a wonderful place to have a drink. Too bad I never went back.

Gin in the summer and bourbon in the winter for me!

That happened to me in a Chicago Hilton bar (although it was almost 20 years ago!) Two suits-with-crewcuts ordered me to pay for my drink and leave. They just snorted when I told them I was waiting for my friend who was staying in the hotel and said "You ALL say that." They stopped laughing, however, when my friend who WAS staying in the hotel for a Police Chiefs' convention showed up and verified that yes, I was waiting for him and that I too was attending the same convention.

We sat down in a very busy restaurant, and watched the waitress work her tail off until she worked her way around to our table. When we complimented her on how hard she was working, she said, "I drank a Red Bull and took a nerve pill, and they just now kicked in."

Your guests remind me of my 16yo born-again stepdaughter, who objects to alcohol at our parties. Just last night she stated "You know, there's no drinking in Christian homes." (Good thing mine is a Jewish household, 'cause I drink like a fish.) She continued to kvetch, so I tossed her a bottle of water "Catch! Hey. St Sarah, why don't you turn this into some wine and save your dad a trip to the store?" (I know I should be ashamed, but I couldn't help myself)

My favorite response when people ask why I never gave birth to children is "Because the doctor told me I couldn't have any after all those Tijuana donkey shows". Shuts 'em up every time.

My husband and I hosted a large group of friends and family at least once a week for several years, until his poor health made it difficult to entertain in our home. We tried doing the carry-out thing and the pot-luck thing, but our guests indicated they would rather have a home-cooked meal. Unfortunately, no one decided to step up and continue the party at their homes. I am disappointed and hurt by our guests' failure to invite us for dinner or drinks, or even out to a restaurant. He is certainly healthy enough to do these things, just not strong enough for us to cook and host a multi-course supper for ten on a week-night like we used to do. Everyone SEEMED to have a good time and like the food/company/drinks, so I don't understand what happened. It's a little sad, because not only are we not receiving dinner invitations from our guests, they aren't getting together with each other anymore either. Now that Himself is getting better and we are able to entertain again, we're wondering if we even WANT to do it any more.

For most of my parties, I usually plate because of a couple guests who pick through each dish and serve themselves the best parts. All the best parts. ALL the oysters out of the stew. ALL the beef out of the bourguignon. ALL of the fried chicken breasts. The piece of cake with the most frosting. One even scooped out all the soft part of a piece of brie and left the bloomy rind for the rest of us. Unfortunately, they are family I can't disinvite or children I can beat.

Yum! My grandma would make chops like this, only she would add some minced dill pickle with the mustard.

I don't think my HOUSE is magic (only very lucky), but my refrigerator sure is! I just found two pounds of scuppernong grapes from this fall, and though they were a bit shrunken and wrinkly, they tasted DIVINE--concentrated and super musky. I put them on top of rosemary focaccia with some onion and black pepper. YUM!!

+1,000

And I thought I hated the Subway smell because I worked there in the 80's! (Imagine four to six hours a day of that!)

Oooh! That's the BEST! (And you don't have to worry about the strange little "marshmallows" infesting your drink!)

Me too. It's much more complimentory than the alternatives!

I agree with foreverhungry in that IS reasonable to expect our host to be making "good" decisions when it comes to safety and health. It may be unreasonable to expect our host to inform us of anything anyone MIGHT find questionable, however. If a dish contains something resembling peanuts or seafood, in any form, I will let everyone know justincase. But I'm don't think it's necessary to make my guests aware I left the butter out on the counter overnight so it was soft enough to make frosting this morning (though I did put it in a covered bowl so the cats couldn't lick it.) I don't plan to tattle on my husband when he started making the kim chee and forgot the tub of salted but not yet pickled cabbage on the cold front porch for over two weeks. (We've been eating on it now for over a week, and it is FABULOUS! We may do it the same way next time too.) I am not going to tell someone there are anchovies in the sauce on the off chance they don't like hairy little fish. Tuesday's ham and bean soup contained carrots from which I trimmed some pretty icky bits, but it tasted fine, and none of my 15 guests appear to be ill. I can't promise a meal will be kosher, vegan, or unobjectionable to all, but I'm pretty confident my guests can trust me not to endanger their health or welfare. And I will extend to them the same basic trust, even though I am well aware we may have some very different ideas about other things. Sometimes, I think the less we know about what goes on in other people's kitchens and bedrooms the better--as long as it doesn't make the horses sick!

But why does there have to be a label? I generally steer clear of conversations that contain any utterance resembling "I'm a Vegetarian/Republican/Episcopalian/(fill in the blank). What are YOU?" Some of these labels (or the people using them) smack of pretension, self-righteousness, and zealotry to such a degree it becomes objectionable.