Strange things you're not used to

[StillThePrettiest 4]

that was about 20 posts ago

no, that was when WE all got tired of it

the minestrone was a great success

I sauteed Spanish onions and carrot in some olive oil, then added the soup, some chicken stock, celery, zucchini, cannellini beans, and some tiny pasta stars... added a dollop of sour cream towards the end, and finished with cracked pepper and marjoram

and made some garlic bread with fresh garlic and fresh parsley, and real butter... num num

I'm not a vegetarian, but often make dishes without meat... you don't need it every day, even if you like it, and it helps keep costs down

the other day I made a FANTASTIC stir-fry with green pepper, onion, snowpeas, carrots, water chestnuts, mushrooms, and this brilliant tofu with chilli that we buy down at the Vietnamese supermarket... I added some garlic and ginger sauce I got on sale at Randalls, and we had it with broken jasmine rice and sweet chilli sauce; it was just excellent

those are good points you make about The Evil... I normally do check for it, but I still make the mistake of thinking that a brand I recognise will be the same as when I've had it elsewhere, which has already been proven to be a false assumption... I shall start checking EVERYTHING

[TBoneTX 48,075]

no, the million dollar question is if you will ever get tired of the 'treacle' theme

It's an obsession, primarily because I spilled some all over my, uh, spotted #######, and then some Weetabix got stuck to it. Si, man. However, there is no HFCS in either of the last two substances, no man.

[Krikit 1,166]

OMG, you guys. Now I have to make Minestrone Soup!

STP - The Evil

Jeraly! I bought some tomato paste in a tube at Whole Foods yesterday! They just built it. The Whole Foods, that is.... not the tomato paste. It was wonderful. It's one of the "super" Whole Foods like they have in my hometown. I was in there for ages. I was in heaven.

[Jeraly 4]

My nearest Wholefoods is over 70 miles away

[bhajishah 4]

everyone up in your business here..its a hidden communism..big brother thing. .

[Krikit 1,166]

everyone up in your business here..its a hidden communism..big brother thing. .

Alrighty then.

I guess you had to be there.

[TBoneTX 48,075]

My nearest Wholefoods is over 70 miles away

There's a Partialfoods just 35 miles away, si man.

[Ontarkie 15,022]

ok after many different chinese restaurant lunches/suppers i'm wondering why none here In Arkansas have beans sprouts on the menu of in the buffets. We been to lost of different places and not one of the restaurants have any dishes with bean sprouts. Its even hard to find them in the stores unless i wnt the kind thats in a can. I miss bean sprouts.

Now since the US Thanks giving is over anyone else find Turkey's are really lost cost here I couldn't believe it.

[LikeALadybug 2]

No beansprouts? Really, I live a few hours away from the Arkansas boarder and we have them up here at Walmart. Although, I haven't bought them for a while so I don't know if they are out of season right now. I'll have to look next time I'm at the store.

[*julez* 124]

The no bean sprouts thing is probably becasue of me. I hate them as they taste like dirt and always ask for them to be left out of my Asian meals, which caused the stores to stop carrying them.

The turkeys are cheap here for Thanksgiving and Christmas only. They then revert to full price and become nearly as scarce as bean sprouts.

[SterlingGirl 1]

Benefits in the US suck no matter where you're from, I think. I've only ever lived in the US and am shocked at how we're guaranteed no paid vacation while other countries have it written into laws, no guaranteed sick time, etc. I have good health insurance, but every year the number of companies offering decent or ANY health insurance goes down, and we have no national health insurance (and no, I don't think the plans proposed for a plan were good enough for this country).

I've been watching too much Lewis Black this weekend...excuse my anger *bangs head*

That's because employers have rights too, not just employees. We're a very industrious first-world nation, and we realize that we can't afford having people being paid for doing nothing for five weeks out of a year. Of course, all companies are different; mine allows me to accrue so many hours of paid time off every pay period, we get paid holidays (national holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year's, etc).

There's a general consensus in America that, while we try to do as much as possible to help the truly disadvantaged, things like healthcare, housing, and the like are the responsibility of the citizenry. National health insurance requires a pretty steep amount of taxation, and most people are not okay with the idea of exorbitant taxation out of their own paychecks to make sure everyone else is provided with a necessity that is simply one of life's responsibilities. I've lived without insurance before; I simply had to communicate with the doctors/hospitals and pay off the bills in increments as I received the money to do so. It CAN be done.

Edited December 2, 2008 by SterlingGirl

[Dr. Obvious 49]

That's because employers have rights too, not just employees. We're a very industrious first-world nation, and we realize that we can't afford having people being paid for doing nothing for five weeks out of a year. Of course, all companies are different; mine allows me to accrue so many hours of paid time off every pay period, we get paid holidays (national holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Year's, etc).

Mine can. I get 6 weeks off a year. Somehow, some way, my company manages to make money without beating its employees into the ground.

I think it is a dangerous game to live without health insurance. One good broken arm or leg can set you back $7-20k, if you are lucky and don't need a whole bunch of surgeries for it. My father was in the ICU for 3 weeks once. The bills before insurance were, no sh#t, $700,000. Can you afford that even with a payment plan?

[StillThePrettiest 4]

which bean sprouts are being discussed here? snow pea sprouts, mung bean sprouts, alfalfa?

we can get mung bean sprouts no problem (which is great because I need them for laksa, and they're great in fried rice ), but come to think of it, I haven't seen snow pea sprouts here either... and I agree with Julez that alfalfa taste like dirt

[Reba 2]

National health insurance requires a pretty steep amount of taxation, and most people are not okay with the idea of exorbitant taxation out of their own paychecks to make sure everyone else is provided with a necessity that is simply one of life's responsibilities

But we already do pay into the coffers for everyone else's health care. Its called Medicare, and every week, they take 4.16 off my cheque, and I'll never be able to benefit from it. Not to mention the other taxes that are taken as well, which are basically the same rate I was paying back home where I had paid healthcare.

If they're going to tax me to death, they could at least pay for my trip to the hospital so I can be declared

[StillThePrettiest 4]

but - the sprouts -