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Oh Ali, lucky you to have a grandpa that owned a pizza shop. That’s a kid’s dream! Sorry about the unhappy part of your childhood. I had my share of unhappiness too as a child.

Your grandpa sounds like he was a wonderful cook.

My grandpa didn’t cook food but he made candy. It was fantastic. He made peanut brittle and pralines. I adored my grandpa too.
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I haven't been to Greektown since I was a little kid. I have Greek relatives. My grandpa used to make this roasted potatoes and meat dish, he'd use any cut of meat and cut into pieces, and crisp up these long potato wedges in the oven, with some crushed and stewed tomatoes. And the salads were always onions and tomatoes and feta.

I didn't get any lamb tonight but I will soon, can't wait!

I have 2 Greek grandpas, both married to my maternal grandmother, and the one I'm talking about isn't related by blood but was my step grandfather all my life, I was around him often. He had a pizza shop in Indianapolis. It was the best pizza. It always smelled so good in that shop. I don't have a whole lot of happy memories from childhood due to my mom's chaos, but spending time in that pizza shop was always such a great time. I'd eat too much pizza and drink a Coke and take naps in the back because I'd be so full I'd fall asleep. :-)

We always have spanokopita at family holidays, maybe some other Greek dishes.
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Ali,

Sounds great!

You have a Greek area in Chicago, right? With wonderful restaurants. I have heard that it’s terrific.

Like your pizza but my favorite kind of pizza is a New York style pizza. Just like NY bagels and cheesecake!

I live in New Orleans. We are known for our cuisine and music. We have too many good things to eat to mention. It’s all good!

One of your musical guys is originally from New Orleans. I am speaking about Buddy Guy. Love him!

Buddy Guy moved to Chicago a long time ago but when he plays at our Jazz festival he walks out on stage and always says, “It’s good to be home!”

He’s got a soft spot in his heart for New Orleans even though he moved to Chicago.

What is your favorite Chicago dish to eat?
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Now I want lamb and pumpkin pie, not even kidding, and there's a great grocery store less than 10 minutes away that's my "treat" store I go to on days off, to make a special meal. Might have to go get some lamb chops, mmmm. And the first of many pumpkin pies (hopefully!) of the season. Maybe they'll have the mini pies and spare me a few calories.

The grocery store is a Pete's Fresh Market in Chicago. I don't know if that's a local chain but I imagine it is. It's very big and has all these hot and cold prepared foods, and a big meat/butcher and seafood area.

This is all the special food bar areas they list online,
Salad Bar, Taquería, Cheese Island, Juice Bar, Olive Bar, Royale Liquors, Lotus Café, Ceviche Bar, Fresh Baked Pizza, Fish Fry, Gelato, Smokehouse, Organic, Hot Foods, Sushi Bar.

It's like going to a fair or something at the grocery store. I love shopping there but it isn't my regular stop, it would take too long to round up everything. I shop Aldi for the essentials and Pete's for the special stuff.
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Grandma,

I love lamb too! My favorite way to eat lamb is the way Greeks cook it. I love Greek cuisine.

I adore the Greek festival that we have here. Incredible food! They slow roast lamb. It’s delicious! This year it was canceled due to Covid.

We do have a few Greek/Mediterranean restaurants.

The seasonings used in Mediterranean food are wonderful. The different dishes are so delicious.
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I had leftovers from a lunch yesterday. I meet up with friends I used to work with and since most are not willing to go to a restaurant we met at a friends house.
I made a slow roasted lamb. I love lamb but no one else in the family likes it so I used this as an excuse to make it.
I also made a large Banana Bread with a Streusel topping.
Next planning on a dinner with my sister and a few friends for Sunday. I am now looking for a GOOD Flan recipe (hint hint) I did find one in a Cooks Illustrated magazine so that is the go to for now.
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Thank you Pamzi!
It might be an excellent gift to send also!
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Yum LuckyLu - I wonder if you could do a tunnel of pumpkin cake 🤔
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Send my cranberry orange marmalade is from a local company called Mccutcheons in Frederick Md. They sell by mail also, and I swear it is the best I ever ate! I go to their factory store,, and they have the most wonderful stuff! If you can get some for the holidays,, do,, you won;t regret it
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Yes Luckylu.
Can I get the recipe?
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Send, I wrote you a letter,so would ja bake me a cake now?
I'm coming and I can't wait to hear the band~
Any flavor will do,but a Tunnel of Fudge cake is my top choice.
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The Sous Chef does get his share. Then, He will hoard the last one until it is old. We are living in strange times. There is a lot of food insecurity. I miss the times when we could share with the neighbors safely, because we have always had enough food.

The Cardinal is making an appearance for those who need encouragement in strange times. Maybe if we all had wings we could fly away to a fantasy land, or at least around the house like my Tweety-bird, a parakeet.

I really like your avatar Beatty.
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Send, the sous chef won't be getting to eat any of those muffins will they?

PS love your new plucky red bird!
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Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream
Chocolate Ice Cream
Banana
Hot Fudge
Whipped Cream

Is that a Banana Split, or a Hot Fudge Sundae? 🍨

I would like to share it with you!

Note: I put all this in a huge, red, health conscious dish that is used for salads.
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Luckylu,
Well, well, well, look who's here.
I haven't seen you in many a year.
If I knew you were comin' I'd 've baked a cake,
baked a cake, baked a cake.
If I knew you were comin' I'd 've baked a cake.
How-ja do. How-ja do, How-ja do.
Had you dropped me a letter I'd 've hired a band,
grandest band in the land.
Had you dropped me a letter I'd 've hired a band
and spread the welcome mat for you.
Now I don't know where you came from
'cause I don't know where you've been.
But it really doesn't matter
grab a chair and fill your platter
and dig dig dig right in.
If I knew you were comin' I'd 've baked a cake,
hired a band, goodness sake.
If I knew you were comin' I'd 've baked a cake.
How-ja do. How-ja do. How-ja do.
If I knew you were comin' I'd 've baked a cake,
baked a cake, baked a cake.
If I knew you were comin' I'd 've baked a cake.
How-ja do. How-ja do, How-ja do.
Had you dropped me a letter I'd 've hired a hall,
great big hall, band and all.
Had you dropped me a letter I'd 've hired a hall
and spread the welcome mat for you.
Now I don't know where you came from
'cause I don't know where you've been.
But it really doesn't matter
grab a chair and fill your platter
and dig dig dig right in.
If I knew you were comin' I'd 've kept the pot,
coffee pot nice and hot.
If I knew you were comin' I'd 've baked a cake.
How-ja do. How-ja do. How-ja do.
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Yeah,when I get overwhelmed and I don't know what to do,I bake a cake,so
we eat ALOT of cake at our house~
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Oh, Sheesh!
My sous chef turned the heat on the oven down.
Muffins are not done 20 minutes later.

Banning him from the kitchen, again.
He does this with the boiling spaghetti water, and other things.

Mwahhhh!
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There was a recipe on the box of the old fashioned Jiffy Cornbread Muffin box, and they were simple to make.

Coming out of the oven now. Eating them while hot.

Thanks to Luckylu for the great idea to bake something to distract myself from unsolvable issues of 2020.

Pammzi,
I am going to order some of that Orange Cranberry Marmalade
for next time I have a box of pound cake! Thanks.
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cwille,

I agree. Some things don’t lend themselves to being converted to a health conscious dish! We have to do the original recipe!

My husband has a coworker that is a meat and potato kind of guy. He married a vegan. Geeeez, he tells very funny stories. She is very strict with her vegan diet. He eats anything and everything, beef, chicken, turkey, pork, sausages, etc!

She does not cook for him because she refuses to handle meat. He understands that. He won’t eat any of her vegan dishes. She knows that he isn’t going to budge.

They grocery shop separately. Cook separately. Eat separately, other than that, they get along fine!

Hahaha, she even insists that he cooks with his own pots and pans using separate utensils so nothing gets mixed up! They have a dishwasher but she will not allow him to use any of her pots, pans or utensils. No meat or byproducts can ever touch something of hers!

They have two kids. They follow the vegan diet.
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My worst cooking disasters have come from my attempts to make old favourites healthier, you can only cut out so much sugar and fat before something isn't worth the effort.
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cwille,

Very true. We can relate.

We all love our tried and true recipes. Sometimes it is fun to be creative!

My grandma taught me plenty about cooking! Mom, my aunt and my MIL did too.

I had to go to grandma’s house to watch her cook because after many years of cooking she was a ‘dump and pour’ cook. No recipes or measuring of anything! Wonderful memories.

Oh boy, did I make some big goofs while learning!

I would call my MIL on the phone feeling exasperated about trying to learn a specific dish that she made.

She would say, “Okay tell me what you’ve done so far.” I would proceed to tell her and she would detect my mistakes and walk me through the process.

Cooking can be confusing for new cooks. It takes time. Older cooks that are out of practice can forget how they used to make something.

I made stupid mistakes when I was young. Mom, my aunt, grandma and MIL had gas stoves. The duplex that I rented had a gas stove. When I married my husband the complex that we rented had an electric stove. I can’t tell you how many things I burned on that stove! When we built our home we purchased a gas stove.

LOL It took some time to get used to the electric stove in our first apartment. I finally caught on how to control the heat. I would fry an egg just like my husband liked on that electric stove. The phone would ring. I would turn off the burner but come back to a burned egg!

I was in the habit of a gas stove and when the burner was turned off it did not continue to stay hot like an electric burner. I started moving the pan to another burner if I had to answer the phone so hubby could have a good breakfast!

After awhile cooking does become second nature to us. We seem to do it automatically.
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I do think that you have to master the basics before you can change up recipes, once you get an idea about the proper balance the sky is the limit. I don't bake any more so I find that when I do I'm having to rely on recipes more than I once did, but I still have a basic recipe for 6 muffins down pat and I can whip up any variation pretty successfully.
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Pam,

Well, I agree with your husband that there is chemistry in baking and it can be a challenge to make substitutions.

That’s why I adore your bravery in tackling a way to improvise.

I love diversity in cooking. I’m a purist about some things but I truly appreciate adventurous cooks.

Some people never consider switching up anything. They aren’t risk takers. They never discover new ways of doing things. They are ‘by the book’ type people and that’s what they are comfortable with.

I say, why not try? If nothing else, we figure out what doesn’t work!
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NHWM,, my hubs is a "science"guy,, all math and such.. he says baking is a science project,, follow the directions and it works.. I say "get out of the way Big Boy and watch me go"! I love to bake! I also love to cook, but he has sort of taken that over in the last few years... and he mixes things up all the time! In a good way, he likes to play with the recipes, and he is a dang good cook
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Pam,

A friend of mine (who can’t cook, she hates cooking) once said to me that all a good cook needed was good recipes.

My response to her was, “Good recipes are vital to a person learning to cook. After someone has experience though, they can improvise with their own spin on things! So a good cook doesn’t need a recipe to follow.”

You just proved my point! Your cake sounds extra yummy.

Those of us who cook have our collection of recipes but we can wing it when necessary! Plus it is fun to be creative and develop new dishes.

I cook everything from scratch, it taste better and cooking from a box is boring! Anyone can follow instructions on a box.

I admire your experimentation in baking because baking isn’t always as forgiving as cooking.
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I have not made a pound cake in forever,, so today I decided to make a 7UP cake. Opps, no 7 UP,, so diet ginger ale in the mix. No way am I using 3 cups of sugar,, so 2 went in and a big scoop of orange cranberry marmelade. Had large eggs, so only used 4 instead of 5... into the bunt pan,, and boy oh boy is it good! Hubs made chili, and we all enjoyed dinner and snacks!! I love to play around with my baking.
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Oh wow!
Watched Dim Sum video, yum!
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Hong Kong Dim Sum! Siu mai, cilantro dumplings, taro root dumplings, sesame balls, shrimp with sugar cane.

Sapphire sweet grapes for dessert.
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"Anche71,"

So glad you were finally able to get out with your husband for a nice dinner. It really is amazing how even something simple and for a couple of hours can help with the stress and get you out of a rut. Glad your son was able to stay at home with your mom so you wouldn't have to worry and keep checking your watch. Kind of reminds me when parents finally come to a place where they need to hire a babysitter for their young children for the first time so they can have a "date" night.

Enjoy your day!
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We went out for dinner yesterday evening, my husband and I. I prepared my mum's dinner, gave her her medicines and let her watching tv. My son stayed at home.
Such a treat! This really helps!
My mum is not as bad, but I was so afraid when she began forgetting things. It is better now. She has several health problems but she is still able to get dressed, go to the toilet, prepare a coffee/tee... And my son staying home allowed me to have a nice romantic dinner out without worrying, without checking my watch.
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