<p>Well I don’t think I have anything cooking that weekend either! No need to do gluten free for me – I’m the one that can eat gluten in the family. So we could do ‘real’ pancakes…mmmm…</p>
<p>Bears hosting? Coolness! I will have to plot what else I can bring, hehe</p>
<p>bouncing out</p>
<p>procrastnation is my real job.
I am supposedly sewing piles of stuff but this is what I just found.
[Huddle</a> House - Breakfast is the most important meal of the day](<a href=“http://www.huddlehouse.com/menu-breakfast.aspx]Huddle”>http://www.huddlehouse.com/menu-breakfast.aspx)
Huddlehouse is still going strong but I can not find pancakes in its menu.
It was 15 or so years ago, near Charleston SC.
Did I dream about pancakes?
There was another chain restaurant called “wafflehouse” with yellow square logos.
and here they still are.
[www.wafflehouse.com[/url</a>]
Is this where we ate?
there is no regular menu posted for this one. hummmm
then I typed in “huddlehouse pancakes”
Google is a wonderful thing, this is what came up.
[url=<a href=“http://www.topix.com/forum/city/buckhannon-wv/TS229U54SOK57Q7DB]Did”>http://www.topix.com/forum/city/buckhannon-wv/TS229U54SOK57Q7DB]Did</a> they really find a mouse in a Huddle House pancake yesterday? - Topix](<a href=“http://www.wafflehouse.com/]www.wafflehouse.com[/url”>http://www.wafflehouse.com/)
so there really is no pancakes @Huddlehouse?
If there are any natives who could confirm this, great. </p>
<p>After all it could have been Ihop. It took me awhile to figure out that name stands for
“International House of Pancakes”
[url=<a href=“http://data.gointranet.com/cgi-bin/unitloc/ihop/locator.cgi?cpage=main.html&cu=bashkenazy&cl=3357]IHOP[/url”>http://data.gointranet.com/cgi-bin/unitloc/ihop/locator.cgi?cpage=main.html&cu=bashkenazy&cl=3357]IHOP[/url</a>]
Noway!!! There is one in the city! near me!! gawk!! open 24hours!!
^this can be a great plan B venue!
OK back to work</p>
<p>wow while I was worrying about my selective memory, things are cooking up!
If Gmom can bring goodies, had to be done @bear factory, yes!</p>
<p>I was gonna (really meant to) send one box of Joejoes to the kid but it weighs 1LBS as G says.
It costs more to send than buy. He’d be back soon enuff and there are TJs in the vicinity if he’d figure it out. He can live.
I sent follow up thank you-s to host families (now I know he ate few other people’s food at few other places from the same town)planed to go light weight.
the salt caramel bar, bit-o-gift card and holiday item, TJ’s candy cane green tea
[Somewhere</a> in the Sun: Review: Trader Joe’s Seasonal Teas](<a href=“http://www.kletco.com/2010/11/review-trader-joes-seasonal-teas.html]Somewhere”>http://www.kletco.com/2010/11/review-trader-joes-seasonal-teas.html)
I have not tried yet but sucked into the dorky polar bear on the box. The one with picture of Lemur, we tried and know it is good. I know I shouldn’t pick things by the look of the cover… yet yet artschool education is a lifelong curse.
Ok back to sewing</p>
<p>yesirree… I’ll bring some goodies… I have to brag that I brought apple cake, fruit cake, and blueberry scones to the Westchester Celiac Sprue Support group meeting yesterday and got fabulous reviews. Aspie girl and manga girl were ‘supposed’ to do the baking (or at least help) so they could get community service hours but then neither of them was inclined to do much. They did help out at the meeting though, so that was good. Does the bear factory have a real stove and oven? Inquiring minds want to know…</p>
<p><<<phillyartmom wrote:="" trader="" joe?s="" dark="" chocolate="" bar="" ?="" caramel="" with="" black="" sea="" salt="" the="" daily="" morsel="">>></phillyartmom></p>
<p>Oh. My. Gosh. Into the stockings that will go! Chocolate + Salt = perfect food, LOL!</p>
<p>Bears, I love the little lemur! I think black tea has caffeine or I would pick that one up for kiddo. The polar bear green tea would be OK, though! I am a sucker for cute packaging, too.</p>
<p>The February date works for me! I will bring goodies, too, if we are crashing Bears home!</p>
<p>So, I always forget that there is a Trader Joe’s nearby. Do they have a good selection of organic food? My local market has so little, and I usually end up driving a distance to Whole Foods. With just dh and I at home now it’s very affordable, and when kiddo comes home she reads the labels on everything (organic and vegetarian) so that’s how I got hooked in the first place! If TJ has organics I’ll run over there before she comes home this weekend. I used to love to buy the ices in the orange, lemon, and coconut shells! Wonder if they still sell those? I’ll check when I look for the cookies and chocolate! Thanks for the tips!</p>
<p>p.s. Bears, yes, I am in for splitting the cost if you decide you are up to hosting! Or, pick a meeting place if that’s easier…anything is fine with me!</p>
<p>I loved the Green Tea Muffin mix from TJ’s, which sadly disappeared more than a year ago. Very interesting flavor. Have you all heard the Trader Joe’s song on Youtube? If not, here it is:</p>
<p>[If</a> I Made a Commercial for Trader Joe’s - YouTube](<a href=“If I Made a Commercial for Trader Joe's - YouTube”>If I Made a Commercial for Trader Joe's - YouTube)</p>
<p>“all your favorite stuff, they don’t have anymore”, like that muffin mix. Oh well, long live all the other flavors!</p>
<p>I like the sea salt/caramel chocolate, but I LOVE this one:</p>
<p>[Salazon</a> Chocolate Company](<a href=“Salazon Choc -”>Salazon Choc -)</p>
<p>It’s made in Maryland, so I can bring some and share!</p>
<p>More Trader Joe’s trivia… Here is the obituary of the man who owned Trader Joe’s (not the original owner). He was German and famously frugal. He and his brother started the Aldi chain, which is cropping up more and more here and is so cheap that it kept Walmart out of Germany.</p>
<p>Famously frugal, he negotiated with his kidnappers once and then claimed the ransom as a tax deduction!</p>
<p>[Theo</a> Albrecht, 88, dies; started Aldi food chain and expanded Trader Joe’s](<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/28/AR2010072805734.html]Theo”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/28/AR2010072805734.html)</p>
<p>Oh my! wouldn’t it be fun! It is highly likely I can come up early on the Sunday and have a day free on Monday…it is about time that I had a day in NY that wasn’t spent with bankers! I need to check that H will not travel and leave “16 going on 17” to her own devices…she will be in her last week of SAT prep and indoor hockey at the end of February and the whip must be cracked. </p>
<p>I just figured out how to take my very old…pre analog videos and record them to a dvd on our dvd machine and then…wowee…convert the vob file format to little mp4 clips. I am having a blast and plan to post embarrassing video clips of all the relatives as a little xmas present to all. I have years of video of xmas dinners celebrated English style–crackers, paper crowns and bad jokes–no one, absolutely no one, looks good in a paper crown. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, D keeps coming to me to help her finesse an essay compare/contrast social policies and economic policies in Fidel Castro’s cuba–1960-1975. She is getting frustrated with me and the topic because there is “no right answer”. Also, she suspects her views are not going to sit well with the history professor who is a confederate soldier civil war rein-actor on the weekends…welcome to the social sciences, child. She has given up and decided to study for physics quiz. Things must be desperate when physics seems preferable to history.</p>
<p>ok…youtube always has an answer…typical Brits celebrating xmas. We had the whistles one year also.[We</a> Whistle You a Merry Christmas - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p>Bears the lemur tea is a staple food item in my house. I like it sweetened and with milk. Makes it chai-ish. I should get more, since it is seasonal. It tastes almost identical to the celestial seasonings nutcracker sweet tea. I drink it to stop myself from drinking two gallons of coffee a day. </p>
<p>I love this season. I am in an interfaith marriage, so I get Christmas too!!! Yay!!! I am having a ball coming up with presents. Last night we helped one of my bfs put up her tree. </p>
<p>I have no idea what is going on for me at end of february. But if I can make it I will.</p>
<p>Also I meant to say that I definitely bought the lemur tea the first time for the lemur. Good thing red rose tea is ok. I buy it for the little figurines. I wish the boxes weren’t so big.</p>
<p>I am going to try the lemur tea…the chai-ish description is a good selling point since I get a bit tired of pg tips all day, every day. A new, brand new, Traders just opened in Clarendon just up the street from me…on the way home from work! free parking attached to the store! In an area where parking is notoriously hard to find and expensive! I used to go to TJs once a month on a weekend but now…it is practically obligatory to stop as I drive home to pick up something interesting for dinner. My mother was eaten up by envy since the closest to her is St. Louis and she only gets to visit when she arrives from a trip to the airport and then has to make the 2 hour drive back home so she keeps a cooler in the car for the rare visit to TJs. </p>
<p>Pouring rain…I am supposed to walk to some other banking conference this morning but snug in my office it is not looking likely.</p>
<p>I should be able to make it. After we talk to each other for one and half year, it is exciting to see you guys in person!</p>
<p>I was trying to find the paper crown bit (grandma looked cute in it, or it was the dad) but can’t find it.
anyways, everyone should adore England. really.
[Billy</a> Elliot (11/12) Movie CLIP - Acceptance (2000) HD - YouTube](<a href=“Billy Elliot (11/12) Movie CLIP - Acceptance (2000) HD - YouTube”>Billy Elliot (11/12) Movie CLIP - Acceptance (2000) HD - YouTube)</p>
<p>Gmom
after downgrading our office don’t have full kitchen anymore: only microwave, cuisinart’s small-sh conventional oven toaster, George Foreman’s lean mean grilling machine, my waffle iron (was another shower gift) and hand me down rice cooker.
however when friend of mine visited from Japan, she was quite taken by Cuisinart. They would kill for 'em she would have stashed it in her suitcase if I let her… (and Le Creuset pots, which we don’t have and no use for) </p>
<p>Today is pearl harbor day.
every year, it reminds me of one family I worked for.
All American dad was all smile saying in the morning
“today is our wedding anniversary”
“oh, congrats”
“but it is rather more important day for YOU”
“how so?” (is it payday? like, they would actually “pay” me?)
“You mean you don’t know?”
" ??? "
" it’s (pause) the Pearl harbor day"
" …ah… well… sorry"(it’s better sorry than safe… sorry sorry)</p>
<p>thing is, we haven’t taught. maybe we were but didn’t get input in our brain as same magnitude as Hiroshima bombing day, and more importantly, “let’s quit fighting day”
August 15th. that day hold little magnitude in US because it was already done deal here.
weird how history is made. and time difference makes it harder to remember or impose on anything worldwide.
would there be world peace? what would it be like when my kid is my age?</p>
<p>oopps dampening alert!!
let’s get back to lemur tea and cookies shall we?</p>
<p>Yes, it is a difficult day, but I will take us back to more inane things. The chocolate covered candy cane Joe Joes are good, but even better, I like the cupcakes I make with regular candy cane Joe Joes. You mix cream cheese with peppermint extract, and frost top of Joe Joe, then put in bottom of cupcake paper in pan. Pour the cupcake batter over Joe Joe and bake them. Then frost with cream cheese frosting to which is added a little more peppermint extract. (not too much of course!) These are delicious! </p>
<p>It is a little sad day for me, as I have worked at TJ’s for almost 5 years and I gave notice today. I am also a personal chef and have not been able to spend as much time with my business as I would like, because I am so busy with TJ’s and then Dd and home stuff. So, I told them today that because of family obligations and wanting to spend time with husband and dd, that I needed to leave. My manager said they would miss me, but thought I would miss my discount too! It is a great store and I really love it, I just want to be ready with something I love when dd leaves in the fall, and if I did not leave, I would never do what I need to do to move forward.</p>
<p>But, I will also bring treats to NYC and hope that the date still works for me as we get closer. I have a weekend planned with another group that I met online when dd was 11 and we get together in NYC once a year! It is so interesting to have these relationships!</p>
<p>Switters and Fammom, you have sold me on the lemur tea with the chai-ish description and the hope that it will give me an alternative to coffee! I have had a difficult 12-17 mos. and pain disrupts my sleep, so I am up for many hours/day, which translates to even more coffee! The lemur is a hook for me to buy for dd, as she did a big project for the Lemur Conservation Foundation last year with a few kids from her Fine Arts class! Plus, those lemurs are so darn cute! :D</p>
<p>Love, I hope you can make the trip! It will be such a privilege to meet all of you.</p>
<p>Phillyartmom, Wow, you are a personal chef and work at TJ’s! I have thought about working at WF but feel like one must be skinny to fit in, and although I eat healthy I do not fit that profile! Plus, I want to be free to see my kids so I make a lot of sacrifices in order to stay home. Anyway, the year I’ve referenced above would have gotten me fired, so things do work out the way they’re supposed to even though it’s not always easy to see the bigger plan. I have faith! YUM on the recipe! I usually bake from scratch but that sounds too good to pass up, and an easy yet delicious dessert to bring to the in-laws at Christmas. Do you have a favorite cupcake flavor to pour over the cookie? Now I really must get to TJ’s! I think it will be nice for you to have that extra time as a family before your dd heads off to college, especially during the very busy senior year. I know once my dd graduated HS in late June we didn’t have much time before she started college in mid-August. Enjoy every minute! I hope you are able to swing both meetings with your online friends. I’d love to meet you!</p>
<p>I am going to try and make it, but not sure - will try tho. You are all so close, a quick train ride away, and Florida is like the end of the earth. It’s a 2 day trip by train. We have that problem during holidays all the time where all our family is in the midwest, and we are stuck down here. I’m ready to move back to the midwest, but don’t want to think about the snow!</p>
<p>Ya know florida would be oh so much nicer in February! Perhaps we will have to have alternate sites and dates…one south, one north, one mid west (blue!), Pittsburgh (center of the universe!). </p>
<p>PHilly mom…so sad I did not read your cupcake recipe tonight. I made the most ridicuolous frosty snowman cupcakes for fundraiser at work. Vanilla, vanilla icing. On top, two stacked marshmallows held together with pretzel stick and little stick arms, nose from apricot, icing eyes, mint patty hat. Cute but they all look somewhat demented…a whole army of slightly off-kilter marching snowmen…oh with a scarf made from discgusting fruit roll ups. D has eaten all the leftovers. took funny up close pictures of one that lookes to have a hunchback and tweeted it to her friends. </p>
<p>Wow…all these TJ fans and an actual employee on the same fourm! Very neat> Good for you PHillyM for breaking away to be with the family a little more and your own business! However, please share more interesting things to do with TJ items. I will try the cupcake recipe. It sounds wicked but would be a big hit with the teens in my life.</p>