Socal Mom by Donna Schwartz Mills

Got Lattes?

I was in a pretty bad state just two short weeks ago: I was finalizing preparations for my daughter's Bat Mitzvah, getting ready for a visit from my mother-in-law (her first trip to the United States since we were married 16 years ago and her first time seeing our home)... and dealing with the nasty discovery that I had some kind of growth in my belly, as well as an even nastier growth that was destroying my house.

So the pitch I received from the folks at "Got Milk?" was a welcome distraction: "LATTE PROGRAM MEDIA PACK FOR YOU!"

Well, if you've read my blogs (or my Tweets) for any length of time, you'd know that I have something of a Pavlovian response to the word "latte." So I read on:

The pitch proclaimed that your morning latte is a great way to get your daily dose of calcium. This has long been one of my justifications for my own Starbucks habit. I have always HATED milk... but I am ADDICTED to the stuff when it's foamy, frothy, sweetened and teamed with strong espresso.

But with the economy tanking and coffeehouse lattes costing $3 to $4 a pop, many people (including me!) have cut down on their consumption... which means they are losing out on the drink's health benefits. (That's right: HEALTH BENEFITS.)

According to Got Milk, "An average 12 oz. cup of latte, for example, can have as much as 30 percent of the daily recommended calcium intake." So if I have two 16-oz grandes a day, that would be... awfully close to 100%. (Sorry. I don't have the patience to do the math today. But you get the gist.)

"That’s why GOT MILK? has partnered with award-winning baristas from California to give latte enthusiasts some fun, easy and economical ways to enjoy lattes at home for as little as 35 cents a cup, while still getting the nutrition milk brings to this beloved drink,"  the release continued.

Anyway - that's a pitch I can get easily get behind! The recipes look really easy and can be accessed by clicking the link below.

DISCLOSURE: The only compensation I received for this post was a little handheld foaming device, a package of blended coffee drink mix and the "Got Milk" travel mug you see in the photo above (which I'd posed for hoping to attain the famous milk moustache, but all I was able to muster was a teeny bit of shiny foam on my lip). I agreed to write this post for the pure fun of it -- and to bolster my excuses for keeping up a latte habit.

Disney On a Diet

We spent Saturday at Disneyland, which might be - as they say - the happiest place on earth... but hasn't always been so for people on a diet. Sure, you can bring your own food into the park and stow it in a rented locker...

... but the place is SO BIG, and you spend so much time walking from one end to the other, that you may not feel like heading back to the locker when hunger strikes. And that tends to occur a lot, because everywhere you turn, there are kiosks selling delightful smelling churros, ice cream, popcorn, hot dogs, etc., etc., etc.

This problem is doubled if you hold a "park-hopper" ticket, which allows you to wander freely from the original Disneyland to its younger sibling, California Adventure.

There are plenty of sit-down dining options, too - which traditionally offered fare like hamburgers, pizza and fries.

But a couple of years ago, the Walt Disney Company announced a new directive to provide healthier kids' meals for their guests. "This is a terrific initiative because it makes it easier for parents, even while on vacation, to provide their children with a well-balanced meal with kid appeal," Jay Rasulo, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, said at the time. "An overwhelming majority of parents tell us they prefer the more nutritious meals for their children over other options."

The change is noticeable: from fresh fruit cups sold at some of the kiosks alongside the sweets... to a child's spaghetti lunch that includes a nice piece of poached chicken and apple slices.

And from what I've seen, the directive to improve the nutritional offerings for kids has spilled over to adult meals. With a little planning, you can get through an entire day at Disney without straying from your diet... if you so choose.

Below is an informal rundown of your best bets in both parks:

All's Fair for Wine Tasting in Fair Play

I kid my sister for moving to a hick town near Sacramento -- although in the last decade, her Sierra foothills suburb has become a lot more upscale than the one I occupy in the San Fernando Valley.

I kid her anyway. I am, after all, a resident of Los Angeles and therefore, a sophisticate (before you protest, please note the tongue placed firmly in my cheek.)

The majority of the population of her town are conservative white people, both politically and culturally, and it's still just a tiny bastion of civilization in the middle of farmland. (Look - tongue still in cheek.)

But there are some advantages to living in the agriculture capital of California: a lot of those farms are planted with one of our state's most popular crops -- GRAPES.

My sister's home is just a one or two hour drive to some of the best wine regions in the world: Napa and Sonoma, and we often try to squeeze a tasting trip into our holiday visits up there. So I was enthusiastic when Linda suggested it over Thanksgiving weekend, pointing out that Friday was my husband's birthday -- and that it would also be her first opportunity to engage in this little family tradition with her eldest daughter, who had turned 21 a couple of weeks ago.

But with the current state of the economy, Linda suggested we skip Napa and Sonoma this time around, as the tasting rooms there charge as much as $10 (or more!) to sample their offerings. She thought we might enjoy checking out one of the newer wine regions in the area: El Dorado County.

El Dorado County is located to the east of Sacramento and stretches out to Lake Tahoe (as do some of the adjacent state counties). It boasts some of the oldest vineyards in the state and is home to 50 wineries in two different appellations: El Dorado County and Fair Play.

Our visit was to the latter, which had been an appellation only since 2001. As it turns out, my sister has wine club memberships there ("Gives me an excuse to go every quarter to pick up my wine," she says) and there were some bottles waiting for them. 

There are around 20 boutique (mostly family-owned) wineries in Fair Play, and as we did not arrive there until after noon, I think we fared really well by hitting five of them (that's 20% of the total in just four hours!)

Our first stop was the winery at Toogood Estate. Owner Paul Toogood (yes, that's his real name) was a successful veterinarian with a passion for wine. He started building his winery by excavating a huge cave and put the entire operation inside, including the tasting room and a unique Flintstone-style dining room. You enter the winery through a corridor lined with oaken barrels of aging wine (which were merrily decorated for the holidays with cheery Christmas lights).

This is one of the wine clubs my sister belongs to, and she had arranged for our use of the dining area. As long as we were there, we uncorked one of her wine club bottles and enjoyed it with our picnic lunch.

The tasting room at Toogood was packed that day. There must have been close to a hundred people crammed next to the wine bar, all enjoying wine with names like Foreplay, Red Mutt and Who's Your Daddy? I have to hand it to them - they have a great sense of style and humor. I just wish their wine was as much fun as their winery. The ones we sampled were not "too good" -- just OK. We did not buy any bottles to take home.

The next stop was more promising. Shadow Ranch Winery is a gem, in a restored homestead built in 1888 (on one of the state's original land grants). The young owner, Sam Patterson, comes from a winemaking family. Like many vintners in the area, he has a degree in Enology and Viticulture from UC Davis (as well as a degree in business).

Sam is assisted n the tasting room by his sister (drat! I didn't get her name!). Both originally hail from Chatsworth (here in the San Fernando Valley), and we had a lively discussion about how different it is down here.

But as pleasant as it is to hang out with the Pattersons, the real joy is the taste of their wines. Sam is good at what he does. I especially liked the Shadow Ranch Zinfandel -- which is weird, because I'm not usually a big fan of Zins. Sam explained the process he uses that results in fewer tannins in the fruit.

I wish I could remember what that was; by this time I was a little snockered. I had been pretty free about using the spill bucket over at Toogood - but I didn't want to waste a drop of the wines served at Shadow Ranch.

Unfortunately, the winery's website is being overhauled so as of this post, there isn't a lot of information there. I did find an article about them at California Wine Magazine -- and you can email Sam about the Shadow Ranch wine club at wineclub@shadowranchwinery.com.

We hit three more wineries that day: Single Leaf, Oakstone and Iverson -- where we spent a long time chatting with friendly owners Mike and Melodie Iverson, the hospitable tasting room hosts. The Iverson wines were really easy to drink - and Mike was happy to pour us a sample of everything he had (including vintages that were NOT on the tasting menu - yeah, we bought a few of those).

Tasting in Fair Play reminded me of our first forays into this activity -- before it became big business. The wineries were small and the owners themselves poured the wine in the tasting rooms. We didn't have to pay for the privilege of tasting, which left us more cash we could use to buy wines to take home.

It's true that the wine in Fair Play is not as fine as the product they serve in Napa and Sonoma... but it's also a lot more affordable, and you're bringing home vintages that you can drink every day. And ultimately, that makes it a lot more fun.

Sushi and the Single Girl

Many of you already know that I've been spending a lot of time on Twitter, especially between the hours of 2:00 and 3:00, when I am usually parked across the street from my daughter's school. Texting my "Twitter Peeps" over the phone makes that time go by quickly... and you never know what you'll find out.

Like last week, when Busy Mom announced that she had never tasted sushi. NEVER. As in, "not ever."

I told her that I found this mind boggling. I had heard rumors that sushi was not so prevalent in other parts of the country, but out here, it's everywhere. All the supermarket chains devote deli space to the stuff (and most have chefs behind the counter, making it fresh all day). All the food court malls have a sushi option, and it's common here to see little kids bellied up to the sushi bar with their parents.

As it turns out, Busy Mom's turn-off isn't so much that the fish is raw, but that it's fish. She doesn't eat seafood, and I can relate to that, because I have suffered from allergies since childhood. Sometimes (as in the case of white fish like cod, sole and halibut) my reaction is somewhat mild: tingling and/or swelling of my tongue and lips. But there was one time I ate something and I thought I was going to die.

The occasion was a visit to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. I didn't think it would do too much harm to sample one of the little shrimp cocktails they sell in the stalls there. Huge mistake. My heart began to race and I felt like I couldn't breathe, and it lasted for a good long time.

Epi pens? I'd never heard of them. They may not have been invented yet. This was over 30 years ago, and needless to say, I have not had a bite of shrimp since.

So when sushi first became popular in SoCal, I kept my distance. The closest I came was buying a refrigerator magnet that looked like a miniature plate of the stuff. It was pretty.

At the time, the only fish I was certain I could consume without problems was tuna, and I wasn't about to try it raw. However, as a single gal living alone in the early '80's, keeping out of sushi bars was starting to impact my social life. The kicker was the day I interviewed Bay Area rocker Greg Kihn (who was promoting his hit, "The Break-Up Song." Yes, that's how long ago this was).

I guess I should mention now that my first job out of college was really cool: I worked for a radio syndicator, where I wrote and (eventually) produced a weekly Top 30 countdown show. It didn't pay well, but I got perks in the form of free records, concerts, and the opportunity to chat with about half the people who made the Billboard Hot 100 between 1980 and 1983.

The problem was, even though I had a cool job, I wasn't anythng close to cool: I've always been the same geeky person you know today -- only worse, because I was young, naive, a total fan -- and self-aware enough to know it. As much as I tried to project the image of a young hipster, it didn't work.

I'm pretty sure some of the artists I interviewed tried to flirt with me, but I was too stupid to recognize it. Instead, I focused on trying to be "professional," and the next day, while transcribing my tape, I would wonder why the guy I was talking to had suddenly started telling me how his wife or girlfriend didn't understand him (as if I was a therapist).

I don't think that was the case with Greg Kihn, but I definitely think he had become bored with the interview, because about halfway through my questions, he cut the session short.

"My friends and I are going out for sushi. Do you want to come?"

"No thank you," I replied automatically. "I'm allergic to fish."

D'oh! The interview was over, I only had about half the material I needed for my show, and I'd missed an opportunity that might have been fun (or at least given me a better anecdote to relate to you now that I'm middle-aged and terminally uncool).

But it was a catalyst. At the time, I lived in an apartment in Studio City, just a short walk from Ventura Boulevard. Today, people think of that part of town as "Sushi Row," because that stretch of the Boulevard is home to at least one sushi joint per block. In 1981, there were about a half dozen places to choose from, and so one night, I went into one of them and sat myself down at the bar.

"I'm allergic to fish," I told the sushi chef. "What can I have?"

He thought for a minute and then got creative. He made me a hand roll out of rice, cucumber, pickled burdock and grilled chicken, and it was delicious. I also sampled his cucumber roll, futomaki and tamago (which is a kind of sweet egg omelet, traditionally ordered at the end of a sushi meal).

I decided I sitting at the sushi bar. For one thing, eating Lean Cuisine alone in my apartment had gotten old. I had taken to eating alone in restaurants a couple of nights a week, so I could take in the energy of being among people -- and dining solo at the sushi bar was a lot less awkward than getting a table for one.

I returned a few more times to the same restaurant before I felt comfortable enough to suggest going there together with some friends. That's when I learned that if you buy your sushi chef a drink, he will often reward you with a langniappe - a little something extra, at no charge. With the first drink, we got some edamame (boiled soybeans - yummy!) ... the second drink brought us some tsunemono (a salad of pickled vegetables, often with some seafood, which I picked out and gave to my friends)...

Of course, every time we bought the chef a drink, we'd ordered another round for ourselves. So by the time the waitress brought me my third hot sake, I was feeling pretty good (inhibitions? What inhibitions?). And so when the chef rewarded our third drink with a gift of baby squid, I said "what the hell?" And I ate them.

And a funny thing happened: nothing. I discovered that night that I'm not allergic to squid. I also sampled a friend's California roll and found out that I'm not allergic to crab. Over time, I learned that raw tuna (especially in spicy tuna rolls) tastes WAY better than Starkist, and that I like yellowtail and salmon, too. I am still, however, allergic to all kinds of white fish, and keep the hell away from shrimp and lobster. I'm certain I am avoiding foods that I could consume without harm, but the memory of that long ago shrimp cocktail keeps me from being too adventurous -- I mean, why take that risk?

By the time I met the man I eventually married, sushi (which is low in fat and high in protein) had become my favorite cuisine. So of course, I suggested it for our first date. I learned later that he only went along with it to impress me. Like Busy Mom, he wasn't that in to the seafood, and the thought of eating it raw disgusted him.

But eventually, he learned to like the stuff. Love it, actually. In the years before our daughter was born, we frequented Teru Sushi so often (as much as three times per week) that we used to get invited to their customer appreciation parties. Alas, it is amazing what a baby and a mortgage do to your disposable income. Sometimes I wonder if all the weight I gained in the ensuing years was due to cutting all that sushi out of my diet.

Today, Japanese food is about the only cuisine the entire family can agree upon, and that includes my daughter who (I wonder why this keeps coming up?) won't eat seafood (even though she has grown up going to sushi bars with us). So I was confident when I told Busy Mom that I would be happy to introduce her to sushi (and sushi-type food) when we meet at BlogHer his summer -- that's because several years ago, the concierge at the Westin St. Francis directed us to a nice, casual Japanese place that's Megan-friendly and within walking distance. I figure Busy Mom can have some cucumber roll, futomaki, and grilled dishes like chicken yaki-tori.

And if she drinks enough sake, who knows? She just might be ready for adventure.

Give Your Opinion - Get a Free Book!

It's Los Angeles survey time over at Zagat.com . You have until April 13 to offer your opinions on the restaurants in Los Angeles, Orange County, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Palm Springs and Inland Empire neighborhoods.

Best of all: Everyone who participates in the survey receives a free copy of the book when it comes out!

I rely on these books when choosing restaurants (and have even been known to buy them when visiting a new city).

Go - vote - and give a shout-out to your favorite dining establishment!

More on Young Chefs Academy

I was about to amend my last post when I remembered that those of you getting this on a feeder will only see the original.

A glance at the YCA website reveals that this company has franchises throughout the US (and one location in Canada). They do parties for younger kids, too (one was going on concurrent with ours; those kids made pizza). AND their main business is offering cooking classes and mini-camps for every age group from preschool to young teen.

I may just sign Megan up for one of these next summer (when she's less busy).

Stalking British Foodstuff in SoCal - Christmas Edition

After NaBloPoMo, I was stoked to see how long I could keep up with posting daily.

I lasted until yesterday.

Considering that the holiday season is now in full-swing, I don't think I did too badly. But I predict that I will be skipping more days as we continue the countdown to Christmas and New Year.

Megan had a half-day on Friday and then began her winter break. I don't know who was more excited about this: her, me -- or her teachers. Last Monday's homework-thon must have been their last gasp. She barely needed 20 minutes to finish her assignments and Tuesday and Wednesday, and all the parents were shocked when there was no homework at all on Thursday. And no projects assigned over the holiday break. Hallelujah!

So now we have three, glorious weeks without the stress of all that homework.

Hebrew school is also out for the duration of the school break, so the only structured part of Megan's life right now is gym. My husband and I dropped her off yesterday and took advantage of the time to get a little Christmas shopping done on our own.

As I've mentioned before, this year's holiday will be different for us. My sister and brother-in-law can't come down for Christmas, so we're spending it at their home and merging our traditions. We wanted to pick up some Christmas goodies that were distinctly British: you know, Christmas pudding, Christmas crackers, sweets (the British candy companies put out some amazing collections just for Christmas), etc.

My husband especially wants a Christmas pudding, which is similar to a fruitcake. I know that would turn a lot of people off, but the pudding is worth trying. The difference is that it's very moist, because it is steamed before serving hot. It's really, really good when you top it with a hot brandy sauce.

So we decided to lunch at the one really good pub in the Valley, The Robin Hood -- which made it easy to hit their Friar Tuck imported food shop next door.

But we were disappointed to find most of the shelves bare. They still had a few assortments of sweets and some very small puddings -- but nowhere near the selection of items we expected. And there were just two sorry packages of crackers.

"I'm sorry, luv, you should have come a couple of weeks ago. We were overflowing with it," said the grandmotherly lady behind the counter.

It's weird, because in years past, we've done our shopping here right on Christmas Eve and have found everything we wanted.

Maybe with the terrible exchange rate (it's now about $2 to the pound), the owners didn't want to be stuck with leftover inventory they might have to discount later, I surmised. They probably didn't order the quantities they have in the past.

I remembered that Williams-Sonoma stocks crackers and imported Christmas puddings every year, and we were near Sherman Oaks Fashion Center - so we decided to check it out there. Sure enough, they had both in stock (and the packaging of the pudding was really nice, with a traditional cheesecloth wrapping instead of the plastic bowl the Friar Tuck's puddings come in). But the crackers came in Williams Sonoma packaging which indicated that they were made in China. So my husband concluded that wasn't authentic enough for him.

So today, we headed out to Brit Central in SoCal: Ye Olde Kings Head pub in Santa Monica. According to my husband, the British tend to want to congregate by the sea, and years ago, this became the logical center for L.A.'s ex-pat community. The first time any British person comes to town, he or she is likely to show up once at the Kings Head, and the walls of the clubby pub are covered with photos of those visits: Margaret Thatcher, Richard Branson, Anthony Hopkins, Hugh Grant, Michael Caine -- surely, that one of Queen Elizabeth must be an impersonator? But maybe not...

The Kings Head is also connected to a shop, so the plan was to mosey over there after breakfast. And if they didn't have what we were looking for, we could try the Tudor House Tea Room and shop across the street.

Fortunately, we didn't have to go that far. The shop at the Kings Head had everything we were looking for, and then some. We picked up bunches of Cadbury stocking stuffers, tins of biscuits (cookies to us Yanks), shortbread fingers and a big box of Tom Smith crackers (est. 1847), complete with warrants indicating they are the official Christmas crackers of the royal family.

Ironically, they were also made in China.

And while the Kings Head had several large Christmas puddings to choose from, all came in the same objectionable plastic bowls. So tomorrow, I'm going back to Williams Sonoma to get one of theirs. I think I'll pick up some brandy sauce, too.

Cheers!

Although alcohol has been a no-no for the 3.5 weeks I've been on the restricted diet, I am looking forward to the day when I can add it back (in moderation, of course). This will make my champagne-loving sister very happy, as I spent her entire visit sulking because I could not join her in imbibing the stuff.

That didn't stop my husband from sending this to us both:

Impress your friends with champagne facts

1. There are seven million bubbles in a bottle of champagne. (Thanks to a $500k research project in California last year.)

2. The pressure inside a bottle is 50 bar - the same as at 40 metres under the sea, or like the cylinder in a London bus.

3. Cheap champagne can taste acidic because it's been rushed on to the shelves without aging properly. Good houses always wait three years to sell their non-vintages.

4. You pronounce Moet with the "t". Most pop stars get it wrong.

5. The most perfect size of bottle to mature and serve champagne is a magnum.

6. The best vintages are reputed to be 1999, 1996 and 1990.

7. A Brit invented the champagne making process but it was French monk Dom Perignon who popularised it.

8. The cleverest way to open a bottle is with a sabre, known as Sabrage. Don't try when hammered.

9. Drinking champagne helps the brain to cope with stroke, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

The Fat Lady Sings the Blues

Note: This post was inspired by a PR query from the folks behind Hellman's "Real Food" campaign on Yahoo. I actually felt like I might have something to say on this subject, so I took their challenge. I have received no payment for this post -- just a vague offer to link back to me from Yahoo IF the powers that be like it. Let me know what YOU think.

Earlier this month, I enrolled in a radically restrictive diet program.

I'm feeling pretty low. After all, everything I am eating right now is low calorie, low fat, low carb and low sodium. I have to weigh everything into tiny portions. I am allowed two cups of lettuce with lunch and dinner, but may only use two tablespoons of fat-free, sugar-free salad dressing (basically, vinegar).

My breakfast this morning was half a slice of whole grain bread (because an entire slice would be 17 grams of carbs, which is a big chunk of the 50 I'm allotted per day)...

...and two slices of fat-free American cheese.

Fat-free American cheese reminds me of an old episode of "Friends," the two-parter where the gang all wonders how different their lives would be if they had chosen different paths. Courteney Cox sports her "Fat Monica" suit for the entire episode. There's an exchange where Joey points out that he feels about something the way Monica feels about low-fat mayonnaise, and she cries, "It's NOT mayonnaise!"

Which is exactly how I feel about American cheese, with or without fat. My idea of cheese is a nice Stilton or a double cream Brie. When I eat my fat-free American cheese, I find myself longing for some smoked Gouda... or my current favorite, a Cotswold cheddar that's been infused with green onions.

This, I know, is why I'm on the hateful, restricted, limited diet program now. I truly love good food, and the higher it is in fat and carbohydrates, the more I love it. I don't waste my time on junk like cheap potato chips and cheap chocolate bars ... but my senses soar over gourmet kettle crisps in exotic flavors and Scharffenberger (especially with cocoa content over 70%).

I won't be enjoying those things again for a very long while, and I'm sorry to say, that takes some of the fun out of social gatherings. We attended a 50th birthday party on Saturday for a member of our extended family, and I was in a sour mood all day, because (a) I wouldn't know the majority of the other guests and (b) I would not be able to rely on my usual party crutches (i.e., munching and drinking on whatever is around).

On top of that, the weight counselors at the program had deemed that I should follow a "protein" regimen on Saturday. That meant that I wouldn't even be allowed the dubious pleasure of fat-free American cheese. Instead, I was to only eat "protein infused" products I purchase from them. So, prior to leaving for the party, I prepared "vegetable chili" for myself. I dumped a packet of desiccated powder into a small saucepan, added 2/3 cup of boiling water and simmered it for five minutes. And that was dinner.

Yum. Not.

All I can do is echo Fat Monica: "It's NOT chili!"

I'm proud to say that I got through the party without breaking my resolve, even though there was a huge spread of ethnic food. I sipped water while my family enjoyed egg rolls, sushi, chow mein and some Armenian treats. After we got home, I continued to sip water while my husband, sister and brother-in-law drank champagne.

And when I went in for my weigh in yesterday, I was down another pound.

I'd be happy about that, except for the fact that I've got such a long way to go. And I'm not sure if I'll be so strong the next time I have social facedown with a buffet of "real food."

What's For Dinner?

It's President's Day weekend and I am already struggling with most of my New Year's resolutions.

I still haven't gotten my act together on my taxes... my "exercise regimen" (walking a mere 30 minutes a day) has become spotty... and I gave up half-way through "You on a Diet" because understanding the monumental task ahead of me (losing all this horrible weight) is just too depressing to fathom.

The one vow I have managed to keep is the one about cooking more often. We're relying less on takeout and delivery, even on the nights when we don't get back from the gym (Megan's, of course! See the paragraph above) until after 8:00 p.m.

Finding dishes we all will eat is a never-ending challenge. I've done a pretty good job so far, discovering recipes in a couple of new cookbooks I bought and filling up my Epicurious recipe box with "fast and easy" fare from Bon Appetit and Gourmet magazines.

My notoriously picky eater will not touch entire species of entrees. She will no longer buy my assertions that the nice chop on her plate is steak and not lamb. And she's not so sure she'll eat pork, either.

More annoying is a palate that cannot tolerate most seasoning. A tiny dusting of pepper makes her gasp for water. Mexican food (or Indian or other spicy Asian dishes) is out of the question. I have had to adjust my cooking style -- either keeping her portion apart from the others or adding spices to my portion later.

Then, there's my husband, who has very rigid beliefs about what encompasses dinner. Sandwiches are not dinner (they belong to lunch and only to lunch). Soup is not dinner (unless it is served as a first course). Pasta is OK as long as I don't cook it too often (say, no more than once every other week).

Finally, there's me. I am allergic to several different types of seafood. The last time I tasted a little bit of shrimp, I had so much trouble breathing that I thought I was going to die. Whitefish (like sole and halibut) makes my tongue and lips swell. Experiences like that dampen your sense of dining adventure. There are only two types of fish I am confident I won't react to: tuna and salmon. My husband HATES the former. And now, everyone is sick and tired of the latter.

So yesterday, when I thought about buying some groceries, I was at a loss. I had NO IDEA what to cook, and nothing sounded good. And no one in the family was offering any suggestions of what they would like. Finally, my daughter had a good suggestion: "Let's go out for sushi."

No, she does not eat sushi - are you kidding? But she has recently decided that she LOVES miso soup, edamame, yaki tori and steamed rice. So she has that, while I get my spicy tuna and salmon skin rolls and the husband has his fix for shrimp, lobster, scallops, octopus, etc. So sushi works.

But that was last night. And today, I'm facing the same dilemma.

It's nearly 1:00, my cupboard is bare, and I'm still clueless.

Any suggestions?