deVine Table

There are many advantages to eating in. For one thing, we can substitute anything we like! For another, we can open any bottle in the house without paying a 50% or greater markup. It’s also a heck of a lot cheaper overall than I imagined.

When the hubby and I eat out, he always makes comments about how inexpensive the raw cost of ingredients must be for foods like pizza or pasta. He is an accountant after all! So, I did a little experiment and broke down the cost of homemade pizza for the two of us and compared it to what we paid the last time we went out for pizza in Seattle. (more…)

A table dressed for a chicken dinner

If you follow me on Twitter or are a fan on Facebook, you’ve been hearing me go on about my disbelief over how only 5% of consumers purchase whole chickens. During this tough economic time, even though we hear complaints and concerns about the rising cost of food, the consumer is not making economical food choices. The consumer is choosing to pay more for parts.

This is one of the interesting and surprising facts that I learned from Jamie Peha during a Seattle Food Community Dinner hosted at the home of the charming Anne Nesbit.  Anne, a true example of the gracious hostess, had spent the last day preparing a fantastic multi-course dinner for us featuring chicken. Why? I have to admit that when I first received the invitation I said to the hubby, “I wonder if the company that uses chicken puppets in its commercials is finding that consumers don’t take them seriously?” (more…)