post-baseball practice expected supper:
Trader Joe’s enchiladas
vegetable tray
housemate guacamole with Nopalito tortilla chips

a prairie grass meal is $35/pp incl tax tip cocktail - maybe even $40/pp
Maybe Max & binney’s for $20/pp but that’s nothing like prairie grass

king crab legs are $30/lb at Costco and I’ve found a $50-60 unit
so maybe you’re getting a pound at WF for $42??
I just think that a decent restaurant meal is still significantly more than king crab legs bought at WF or Costco. I actually don’t know where Costco is near highland park!

I don't remember exactly what we paid and am too lazy to go look, but I think it was just under $40. I figure a pound per person, then with some sides and a bottle of wine, we're near $100. Which is probably typical for us at a semi-nice restaurant with drinks...but King Crab Legs on menus around here lately have been price at $70+ per meal. 1.5 lbs at Bob Chinn's is currently $95. Not sure if that even comes with fries.

I believe the nearest Costco for us is about 10-12 minutes away. It's not the drive that keeps me away, it's just that I don't need to buy things in bulk and for the few things I would buy there, the savings probably doesn't make up for the membership. Great for families and it does seem like they have some quality groceries, I'm not knocking it at all.

Got a text that one of the restaurant suppliers I go to had lump crab in excess, so crab cakes tonight.

We got takeout from Tortilla Flats, the local "bad gringo Mexican" place. I got steak fajitas, which I love.

And a Patina.

Nice looking crab cakes! I can't do bell peppers, so most restaurant crab cakes are out for me, but I do make them from time to time.

Just celery in those as a vegetable.

Mom doesn't like onions so I had to add onion powder as opposed to the onion.

I choose a recipe with as little mayonnaise as possible since I despise it, but the folks don't, so I couldn't replace it with Greek yogurt.

They were looser than I would have liked, but I'll blame myself for using 17-18 saltines as opposed to the recipe's 20 within the batter.

Grilling while intoxicated after my afternoon drinking
My child and their pal are having a play date. The Pal’s parents are at Fleming’s steakhouse. I’m so happy for them!

4 sliders (on warmed & cheesed Hawaiian buns) - zero toppings except Cheddar
2 sliders with cheddar and toppings
1 slider with Swiss, grilled onions, and not-hot hot sauce
1 slider with Swiss & cheddar, grilled onions, and chimichurri sauce

Popping popcorn for my child and their pal
white popcorn from bob’s red mill

im still so buzzed

My marinara challenge got a little derailed after the Carbone shipment had a broken bottle.

My wife made a nice mushroom sauce, so I had some of that first. Very good.

Then I tried some of the Carbone Marinara, plain over spaghetti. It’s a nicely balanced sauce. Not sweetish like Rao’s. I’d give it a 4 out of 5. Don’t think it’s worth $9-10 a 24 ounce bottle.

Rao’s edlp at Costco is like $5.50 for 28-Oz. Is The Carbone double good as Rao’s? Maybe even 150% better?

Well, I don't know that Rao’s is worth their price, even. I do like to check out new sauces to compare against, though.

Interesting that the Rao's was 'sweetish', as it's known to be a low(er) carb marinara. Interested in your thoughts on the others when the time comes.

To me the Rao's wasn't really sweeter, but had a lack of acidity which made it seem sweeter. My biggest problem with most tomato based sauces is the acidity, so I thought the Rao's was quite good once spices, meat, mushrooms, onions, etc. were added.

I never realized how many people used jarred marinara often. I should have since they have a whole wall of sauces at the grocery store.

My dinner dilemma. I always have pizza and champagne when watching award shows (reliving my Oscar moment....that's what we ate in the limo on the way to the ceremony the one year that I was lucky enough to attend---now it is sitting on the couch in sweats but the same food). Pizza is a treat because I love it but is a calorie bomb so don't have it often. Do I get my beloved pastrami pizza? Or should I take one for the team and try Pizza Hut (gasp!!) Detroit pizza? I normally would not even ever consider Pizza Hut but I don't know of any other Detroit pizzas around so am curious to try it. I will probably agonize over this for the next few hours. aagghh.
Champagne is chilling for the kir royale---that's the easy part.

I really enjoyed my cheeseburger sliders last night - and not just because of being mega buzzed. I know it was because I rarely eat them. They tasted so great.

I think most people like to make marinara while others just buy it. I used to enjoy making it with canned san Marzano DOP tomatoes and basil, and one day my spouse came home with Rao’s so it made more sense to cook the preferred sauce brand. It’s not that essential to me if it’s DOP or Rao’s; price helps.

for your pizza, I would suggest your beloved.

We have so many places in Sf doing Detroit style pizza so I’m surprised that it’s not more available in your area.

DON’T get the Pizza Hut Detroit. Just don’t. Horrible, awful, disgusting. Inedible. I don’t mind take out pizza at all I think Pizza Hut is the best of the ‘plastic’ pizzas as we call them. I saw people on here talking about it a couple of months ago so we picked one up one night. It was truly disgusting, trust me. Worst pizza I have ever had and that includes mass-produced frozen pizza. We threw the leftovers in the garbage, it was that bad. Horrible.