Oven Mitzie's Profile

Maybe I'm old fashioned but if you're throwing a party and having people over, it's on you. I'm sorry but I'm tired of having to make dishes, pack them up and stop to buy wine or beer. Yes, it's nice to be with friends but am I the only one that feels that it's the host's responsibility to throw the dang party their inviting you to?

I don't have much money and I kind of feel that if I'm going to spend $15-$20 on food and beverage (because really, can you show up with the cheapest wine on the shelf?) I'd rather just go out with my friends somewhere. Having to run errands and cook is something I do enough of already.

I went to a Shabu-Shabu dinner party (hosted by a Japanese friend) and loved every bit of it. It was communal, new, fun and delicious.

Since then I've changed up my dinner party game a little when I have people over. I try and make it a little less about MY food and have it be more about just sharing food together. It's been a lot less stressful and a lot more fun.

I think I would do it just so he could tell his friends that we were so poor he had to play with dryer lint.

Thrifty or cheap? Creatively quirky or nascent madness? Borderline... on both.

I make dinner every night for my family and I totally suffer from cooking block every now and again. Here are my tricks:

• Visit a farmer's market, especially now that it's spring. The colors never fail to get me excited. Winter is just tough to slog thorough sometimes, so many oranges and grapefruits.

• Check out cookbooks and/or magazines from the library (free recipe auditioning). While it's the wrong season for it Daniel Boulud's cookbook 'Braise' has my mouth watering.

• Go back to your old favorite cookbooks for inspiration. I just started thumbing my way through my old Moosewood and just had to make Tabbouleh.

• Make the idea of meals simpler. Maybe have pancakes and bacon for dinner, use leftover bacon for BLT's the next day.

• Clean!!! Clean out your pantry and reorganize. Clean your kitchen. Clean out your fridge. Mop your floor. When I have an organized clean space I always feel more inspired.

Good luck!

Holla!

On a practical note I would get something with cushions that can be flipped. We have a three year old so the benefits are obvious, but even if you just wanted to 'freshen' your place for company a nice cushion flip makes your couch look brand new again.

I can only imagine how good it smells too. I freshly pressed anything always makes me feel good. I don't know why, but it's a wonderful feeling!

Hooray! I'm thrilled! I no longer have to waste all that time and effort scooping different foods out of bowls to enjoy my holiday. It's really space-age thinking!

What is golden syrup?

For the life of me, I could not figure out why there was a blackened hand sandwich popping out of the toaster...