Stefano Lalibertà's Profile

@HazelStone: Their meatballs were recalled only in the EU, not the US. It's legal to eat horse meat in Sweden, let alone many other countries in Europe. Sure, the reason for the recall primarily was because there was horse meat in it, but also it was believed that the horse meat was tainted with phenylbutazone, a strong painkiller. It leads back to the meat suppliers and the companies that make the products, as many other companies other than IKEA were involved.

How about burgers with jam on them? Like a seedless blackberry jam a nice cheddar, jalapeños, bacon, avocado and a fried egg? Yummm. (Not the healthiest, but a nice treat during the summer every once in a while.)

Not to be a toolio, but the method of the music is important. One beer (or other beverage) might taste fine with music replicated on an iPod or other MP3 device, but could taste infinitely better when done with vinyl...

You forgot to mention your take on smooth vs. chunky in the piece. I would assume that baking times would change with the chunky, since there are more... well, chunks. Also it would be great to know if adjustments to cooking times or adjustments to ingredients are necessary when opting for the low sodium or low sugar varieties, if those tend to float peoples' boats.

I think the real question here is why are you working towards eating more like a vegan. If your long term goal is to do away with meat/dairy altogether, you should probably take this "transition period" as an opportunity to experiment with using these substitutes. They are great sources of protein and are extremely versatile, and since you're not dropping meat right now, just think of them as meats themselves - marinating, grilling, etc.

I'd rather have granite over my green formica countertops... and better cabinets... and floor... etc. *sigh*

I use self-checkout a fair amount when they're not as busy as the regular lanes. When you're the next person in line, it's hard not to criticize the person checking out for being slow. When it's finally your turn, it's hard not to feel like you're being criticized by the next person waiting.

One day I was checking myself out and a woman gets in line behind me, and promptly lets out a terse sigh, translated as "Hurry the H up, kid...", complete with what I thought were raised eyebrows. So naturally I feel the pressure (and the hatred) emanating from her. In defense, I keep working on my little basket of foods and grumble as I look up my vegetables, etc., muttering things under my breath. Of course the thing gets confused and tells me to re-enter the item or something. I can tell the woman is getting antsy, so I therefore begin to get snarky. I return a terse sigh back to her, with matching raised eyebrows, and I managed to get it back on track. After about 4 instances of this happening, I hear her clear her throat, and I immediately think "If she says one word, my bok choy is going right in her face..." She says: "I hate these machines - they can never get anything right, and it puts so much pressure on the person ringing out who has a line behind them..." Then she yelled over to the aloof self-checkout attendant so come fix the machine for me because it was a POS... (no pun intended).

I made a friend that day in the self-checkout line.

I'm going to go with paprika.

If it were about making a little more of a whole dish than expected, I would do with mashed potatoes. While making them the other night I defended myself saying "If I'm boiling the water for it, and I've got the potatoes, I might as well do it... I'll eat them..."

There is a baptist church across the street and a small community centre next door to my apartment. While I assumed that the church would have services, I didn't know that the singing would actually be quite terrible - although bearable.

For the community centre though, I didn't realize that they shuttle kids to school (2 blocks away) every day. And by kids, I mean loud, nasty kids. Oh, also I was unaware that on Wednesdays the community centre runs a food pantry. I'm all for the food pantry, but the people who come to use it... horrible. They park on both sides of the street (only one side is legal) and they block driveways, stand in the road, they yell, block intersections, litter, etc.... And they start gathering 2 hours before it actually starts, so trying to get out of my house to get to work is difficult...

The only original artwork that I own is actually that which I have made myself.

I will say though that I'm a fan of your record collection. I'm sitting here right now and looking at my black-brown, 4x2 Expedit filled with records.