I LOVE spaetzle! Although I prefer it with a crispy outside and soft texture in the inside. I always take the cooked spaetzle out of the boiling water and into a frying pan with butter/oil and season as you go. A great neutral side dish that can be tweaked to anyones liking. It is great food as you know . I find any kitchen device that is flat and has holes (like the size of food strainer) that you can push the mixture through works great for making spaetzle. I have not had it in a long time. Thank you bridgman!

My dad actually has a spaezle maker.

Wow, wid- that looks REALLY good!

I just ate a simpel dinner of spaghetti, but I had some fresh lettuce (several dif. kinds) from my dad's garden.

I can't wait till he brings me more veggies! It's the best looking garden ever.

It's funny, but I don't think I've ever heard of eating fresh lettuce before. In fact I don't even know what a "lettuce plant" (lettuce tree ? ;)) looks like. Damn, now I have to learn something again.

Dinner tonight was yummy, but the interesting thing is not just that it was yummy but how it *came* to be yummy.

Periodically I run across tasty looking vegetarian stew recipes and tell myself I should really make them more often, but none of the recipes have ever resulted in anything I would consider making a second time. Turns out I was approaching the problem the wrong way.

I was cleaning out the fridge tonight and making "leftover chili" - bits of bacon, beef, sausage, lots of onions / garlic / jalapenos, various spices, dollop of generic chili powder, the usual.

I had more spice lids fall off in the pot than happens in a typical evening, so the chili ended up too peppery - not really too hot, just too much pepper taste. It tasted a bit like a good jambalaya before adding the rice, which gave me ideas.

I figured it wouldn't hurt to dump in a few mushrooms to soak up the spices, but the plastic wrap fell of the mushroom tray as well so I ended up adding a whole pound of sliced mushrooms. Now it was too mushroom-y and still too pepper-y as well so I added some rice, lentils, and a whole lot more water. It had to simmer for an hour or so before all the "crunchy" disappeared, but (a) the result was yummy, and (b) now I know vegetarian-ish* stews can taste good I'm going to stop giving them the hairy eyeball and try making them some more.

* I know the dish was not vegetarian but (a) bacon is a vegetable in most European countries, and (b) the amount of other meats was very small compared to the finished result. It's close enough to vegetarian for me.

Not being a vegetarian, I do not feel restricted by that particular code of ethics, but I do enjoy lots of vegies in my food.

I have been making a not-quite vegetarian chili for years now. I start with a regular chili (with less ground beef) and toss in whatever vegies I have on hand. Works just fine.

Chili as a good one to work with because the beans act as a bit of a substitute for meat. I don't mean as protein, but the satisfied feeling you get from eating meat.

A good meal is about all of your senses being satisfied. Scarfing down a bunch of carrots will never give you the same satisfaction as scarfing down 6 ounces of meat.

Homemade burger on a toasted bun with mayo and topped with melted cheese, sliced tomato, sliced avocado and a few slices of bacon.

5 Guys Burger and Fries.... Mmmmmmm

Did I already post this?

That's a great poster

Last night was spam fried rice with wilted rocket (arugula).

Really.