alright.. i need some help here. i have this girl coming over in a few hours, 8:30pm central time, and i promised her dinner. anyone know of a quick, easy, elegant dish that i could prepare? i'm in way over my head. maybe i'll call the thai restaurant across the street and set up a nice dinner setting from it. i'm a dead man

our administrator / moderating team, know as The Drew ™ ,(honest) is a chef.

here is his web page for recipies. it is a large file! so it takes a while to load!

www.drewvogel.com/rec.html

good luck!
d

cool! umm... is the drew™ willing to come over and whip something up? how about you d.?

if i were your dinner guest, i'd be thrilled with thai food and could care less if it was take out. putting each dish on actual serving/dinnerware and out of the take-out containers would be very nice, too. effort put into presentation is something i notice.




naw man, i'm tellin' ya, presentation. you'll be fine.

Here's an easy meal: If you have a supermarket and wine store [or however they sell it there] nearby, you can pick up some linguine (fresh made is better, but boxed will do), prepared gourmet tomato sauce (Classico is good), some fresh Italian bread and maybe some seasoned olive oil to dip it in, ready-made salad greens, maybe with some cherry tomatoes and Paul Newman dressing, and some grated parmesan or romano cheese. Pick up a nice bottle of Chianti Reserve to go with the food. Open the wine when you get home to let it breath. Prepare the salad in bowls, slice up the Italian bread and wrap it in a cloth napkin or paper towels, heat up the tomato sauce over a low flame stirring often and being careful not to burn it, bring a large pot of water to a boil and then cook the linguine in it until it's al dente (before it gets mushy). Drain the pasta, serve the sauce, olive oil and cheese, voila!

If they have a bakery section, you can also get some cheesecake for dessert.

Good luck, dude.

michelle... are you saying that you would like to be my dinner guest?

i told hanna, 'the date', that i would cook tonight. the only thing that i've ever cooked that came out well was a turkey and that was in college. i was quite proud of myself and my roommates enjoyed it as well.

i could see it now... me hovering over the turkey with knife in hand. "hanna, would you like dark or white meat"

keith... you're a genius! sounds easy enough and delicious. got the chianti, now just need to go out and get the rest. err... want to come and cook it for me? ha! doesn't hurt to try!

Another flirt in the Orchard. Rock on. Re: being your dinner guest, I'm afraid the truck won't make it once I hit ocean. Keith's idea was a doozy. You pretty much can't go wrong with pasta. Nice suggestion, Keith.

Oh, and turn off the computer!

you're so right! thanks for all your help! i should be going soon... only three and half more hours until show time. going to look so french driving down the streets of chicago on my motorbike with a french bread sticking out of my backpack. wish me luck!

Don't forget good music in the background! It's vital.

Fabulous suggestions Keith!

Hey you can do an angel hair pasta, add pre-made pesto {found in sauce isle}{about 1tbs per serving} add about six shrimp, get precooked and toss in sauce. Add this to the cooked pasta.
{made in boiling water, taste if it is not gummy then it is done} Now while tossing squeeze half a lemon over mixture...then serve, a nice touch is fresh grated asiago cheese.
Get a prepared salad you add the fix-ins, suggest a vinaigrette dressing.
A nice bottle of Australian Shiraz for the wine.
Serve a fruit sorbet for desert...put in a wine glass if you don't have a small dish.
Play music low, jazz or something soothing.
Don't for get candles! you can use a cored out vegetable to fruit if you don't have holders,
a little Martha Stewart may impress her.
On a personal note; I was always impressed by a clean bathroom..scented burning candle was always a welcome touch! Have a great time!

well it's the day after and i just want to say thanks for all the help from all of you! the evening went rather well... she came over, looking really good i may add, and we embraced for a couple minutes in the doorway not saying a word. having a late start on dinner, hanna helped out which turned out to be really nice. we dined on my living room floor, the wine flowed, sparks flew, eyes met and later in the wee hours of the morning we took a walk in my neighborhood to get some of that night air. we walked to 'white hen' and purchased some ice cream and a lottery ticket, which we promised to split 60/40 if we won. she gets 60% because she conned me into it, but she doesn't know of my plan of her and i becoming 100%. later that morning we retired back to my place and talked and i played her some tunes on my guitar until she fell asleep. she sleeps well.

keith... i should of asked you if you knew any good breakfast recipes too!

well i'm off to work my tired butt off... it was well worth it though

Diesel:.
That is so romantic.
From the very start, your invitation to dinner, knowing inside you had no clue.
To asking perfect strangers for help...(and getting really wonderful ideas, I might add)..
To the French bread on the motorbike...I am smiling at that mental picture....(you didn't happen to have flowers peeking out of that backpack did you? Cuz, I'm seein' that in my mental picture.)
To the main event...the evening walk...the ice cream and lottery ticket.
And gentle sleep....I KNOW you had clean sheets!!
Diesel:. you may be my hero.



uh....did you make this all up?

Aww, that's great! Happy to help, you kids just name your firstborn son Keith and we'll call it even.

awww micheal... awesome. i'm really happy it went so well. i loved the french bread on the motorbike visual too.

*writes with jaw wide open*
trudes, can't make this stuff up! it was a simple night, but it's all in the delivery of the wooing. i'm sure you had plenty of that done to you!

Well I thought I heard some violins!

what was on the playlist that night?

i had my ipod connected to my stereo playing on random. a little marvin gaye, ella fitzgerald, tony bennett, the cure, over the rhine, eleni mandell, kim taylor, barry white - of course and etc.