Now is the perfect time to tell you THANK YOU for posting your Chicken Paprikash recipe. You are correct--it is so good and easy! Everyone raves about it, and I still can't believe how easy it is!

thanks!

I totally am with you on this one!! I truly get it!

HEY, we are normal. it's all the other freakshows out there who are weird!

my staple side dish when cooking is sauteed onion and mushroooms! add a lil garlic and paprika. oh man, you're in heaven.

now that you actually make mention of it, the feel of my wooden spoons in a pan is really soothing. i have my wife fooled that me cooking dinner each night is work, when in reality, it is my ultimate de-stressor. one thing, the bit of fresh garlic near the end of the process. put it in too early & the entire thing goes to hell.

~when someone comments on the normalcy that is life then there are bigger issues to be addressed by the commentor...~

Derp is normal. The rest of ya'all are wacky tho.

Damn It! I wanna be normal!
-d

Normal is not the first the word that comes to mind when I think of the *s. As for the now much-abused commentatrix, her loss.

thanks, brett! i edited out our last name -- sorry!

Provincial, boring, unimaginative? You and Bill? Never! When people make comments like that, they obviously don't know you and understand you enough. They haven't spent time on your blog, picking up on the essence and nuances which make you and Bill come alive on your blog. And for the most part, it is not worth wasting one's energy on people like that. You are fabulously fabulous (((hugs))). Definitely not boring and unimaginative. Certainly not provincial.

wow you guys! thanks! you're not normal either! AND you don't suck either!

Everytime I used the phrase "First of all" or "Second of all" I recall to mind the character Ruby that Renee Zellweger plays on Cold Mountain. If you've seen it, you get this. Normal - Functioning or occurring in a natural way; lacking observable abnormalities or deficiencies.
Well, first of all your blog is very natural, and second of all - never deficient, so I guess maybe you could be normal in these terms!

I love the smell of sauteing (sp?) onions? Is there anyone with a "normal" life? Who is this person--one of those angst-ridden teenagers blogging about the concerts they can't afford and their non-existent love life. Yes, I've stereotyped here. I know it.

worse, tw. a college girl. an undergrad college girl. one of those girls who is the smartest person she's ever known and fully expects that to continue. which, if she really *is* smart, won't. she'll learn to appreciate that the value in her being "smart" isn't that she's better than others. if she's lucky. and really smart.

here's my stereotype: the kind of college kid who throws around the names of her courses to impress those that she thinks have no understanding of what she's studying. remember how we used to do that? thought it was cool to say, i-chem or o-chem or mat sci or poly-sci, you know, cuz we were cool. and edumacated. not like all the other schmucks listening to us. [i mean the royal we -- not us! no. never!]

Ahhhh...I've run into a few of those online as well as in real life. And no, I NEVER did anything like that. Never. And go ahead and post her site--we need to go atrolling. Hehehe

mmm... you have made me SO hungry! i too get it -- i worked through college in a series of restaurant jobs, cooking both sunday brunches and dinners. there is a right way to saute onions, just as there is to brazing meats, poaching fish, or even grilling hash browns to that ultimate golden color and crunch. most people don't get it -- it's nice to find others that do!

damn it. i'm off to the kitchen.

Ha! You should totally post her site so that we can go troll her. And I wouldn't say you're "normal," per se. I mean, what's normal, anyway? Although, if you've been through hard times, wouldn't "normal" be a Good Thing?

And I get it about the onions. But I bet you already knew that about me :).

i did, deb, i did know that about you. i LOVE reading your recipes.

Okay, I'll admit, I'm too impatient to be a good cook. I'm working on it, though. I just never got the carmelized onion right...how long do you think it takes to get to that point? I think I pull them off too early because I figure it shouldn't take as long as it does.

I have to do this to replicate the chicken and sweet onion quesadillas they make at work. Soooo gooooood.

I love the smell of onion and garlic. It's a comforting scent. At least for me. GAWD are we boring or what? I think you guys are anything but. Maybe what you guys write about is over her head. She doesn't get it so she claims boredom.

Me, Me, Me people never have their head out of their own ass anyway.

Is it wrong that the carmelized onion description made me very happy?

This was one of dozens of very satisfying posts I've read on your site. Being able to recognize and describe the important moments in your life is a remarkable talent. Don't change direction.