S T A Y I N G  F O R  B R E A K F A S T - May 10, 2005
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Welcome to Staying for Breakfast, Coming for Dinner's newsletter.

I've started doing some bartending as of late, which is something that in my 11 years in the restaurant I never actually did. Sure, I mix drinks for friends when I throw parties at my place, but being in the front of the house rather than the back of the house, and making drinks and not getting to join in the revelry, nope, never done it. It's kind of fun.

One of the downsides to tending bar is getting home at one or two in the morning, and realizing both that you're starving, exhausted, and way too sober. So I've started making up dishes that make for good leftovers, so that I can crack open a beer, quickly heat up something, and be eating and crashed out shortly thereafter.

Oh, and if you happen to be in the Bay Area, I'm tending bar down at the Purple Onion (which is legendary in its own right, and now run by my friend Mario, who owns Caffe Macaroni). You can see what's coming up down there here: http://www.caffemacaroni.com/purple.shtml

BARTENDING AND LATE NIGHT SNACKS:

Ratatouille
Really delicious, pretty easy to make, and great leftovers for a few days...
-> http://www.comingfordinner.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=2

Stuffed Bell Peppers
This one's good in theory - providing you don't eat them all at the same time.
-> http://www.comingfordinner.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=23

Thursday Night Alternative to Grilled Cheese Sammies
Providing you've roasted up a chicken earlier in the week, this is a great, easy meal.
-> http://www.comingfordinner.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=27

Easy Spaghetti Sauce
Make up a pot of this and all you've got to do is boil water for pasta - dinner in ten minutes.
-> http://www.comingfordinner.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=53

Mixing Drinks
Not so much a recipe as my take on making cocktails and such at home. Clearly everyone has their favorite martini, their perfect negroni, etc. When mixing drinks, same as when cooking, have fun with it. For gin and tonic, vodka and tonic (or soda), or any "hooch and mixer" sort of drinks, some ice in a glass, 2/3 or so of the hooch, 1/3 of the mixer. You're not making a tonic and gin, are you? For more fancy drinks, break out a shot glass - if for no other reason so you can get the right ratio of parts into the shaker. And if someone asks for a drink that you don't know how to make, have them take over the mixing and you can learn what goes into their favorite libation.

Salute!

ADD COMING FOR DINNER TO MyYahoo!:
Want to have recipes show up in your MyYahoo! page? Well you can - just use the web address below, and as updates are made to Coming for Dinner, you'll see them show up on your MyYahoo! page.
http://add.my.yahoo.com/rss?url=http://www.comingfordinner.com/rss/recipes.xml

SEARCH THE RECIPES:
Wondering what to make for dinner? Enter stuff you have in your fridge into the search to see recipes that match your ingredients. Or just enter a main ingredient and see what meals you can make.
http://www.comingfordinner.com/search.php

And remember, have fun when you're having people come for dinner.

-l