Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Balduccii's is good for vulgar people with lots of money.

I can assure you my cooking is preferable to store-bought.

You sound awfully vulgar yourself.

Even people who like to cook aren't always in a position to do that, but still like to entertain at their homes. Places like Balducci's that offer take-out Christmas meals provide a useful alternative.

I'd also bet your cooking is not nearly as good as you like to think.

You undercut your entire argument with your bitchy last statement.

Who is the vulgar one?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Balduccii's is good for vulgar people with lots of money.

I can assure you my cooking is preferable to store-bought.

You sound awfully vulgar yourself.

Even people who like to cook aren't always in a position to do that, but still like to entertain at their homes. Places like Balducci's that offer take-out Christmas meals provide a useful alternative.

I'd also bet your cooking is not nearly as good as you like to think.

NP here. It is tacky to serve prepared grocery store food to guests. Especially from a place like Balducci

You're silly. If you know that your hosts want to receive you in their home, but for whatever reason can't pull off a home-cooked meal, there is nothing tacky about enjoying food from Balducci's in their company.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Balduccii's is good for vulgar people with lots of money.

I can assure you my cooking is preferable to store-bought.

You sound awfully vulgar yourself.

Even people who like to cook aren't always in a position to do that, but still like to entertain at their homes. Places like Balducci's that offer take-out Christmas meals provide a useful alternative.

I'd also bet your cooking is not nearly as good as you like to think.

NP here. It is tacky to serve prepared grocery store food to guests. Especially from a place like Balducci

This, but more importantly, my cooking tastes so much better.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Balduccii's is good for vulgar people with lots of money.

I can assure you my cooking is preferable to store-bought.

You sound awfully vulgar yourself.

Even people who like to cook aren't always in a position to do that, but still like to entertain at their homes. Places like Balducci's that offer take-out Christmas meals provide a useful alternative.

I'd also bet your cooking is not nearly as good as you like to think.

NP here. It is tacky to serve prepared grocery store food to guests. Especially from a place like Balducci

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Balduccii's is good for vulgar people with lots of money.

I can assure you my cooking is preferable to store-bought.

You sound awfully vulgar yourself.

Even people who like to cook aren't always in a position to do that, but still like to entertain at their homes. Places like Balducci's that offer take-out Christmas meals provide a useful alternative.

I'd also bet your cooking is not nearly as good as you like to think.

No, first PP is right on target for OP, who is suggesting prepared meals should be a first choice, instead of a useful alternative (as you said yourself, second PP).

Anonymous wrote:Balduccii's is good for vulgar people with lots of money.

I can assure you my cooking is preferable to store-bought.

You sound awfully vulgar yourself.

Even people who like to cook aren't always in a position to do that, but still like to entertain at their homes. Places like Balducci's that offer take-out Christmas meals provide a useful alternative.

I'd also bet your cooking is not nearly as good as you like to think.

what is DIL and BABYSIT? don;t get it..

We have a number of recipes that are tradition in our family. It would be kind of awful to try and Balducci that away. Not everything is about convenience and money. Food is sentimental for a lot of families. The making of it, the kids helping and setting the table, the smell of it in the house while it is cooking, everyone having a favorite dish on the table that reappears year after year mainly for them etc etc.

Money being more accessible has helped us stress less about sales or price checking, hire someone to help us clean the house, bought us better ingredients and wine, and given us more days off for family the week of the holidays - but I don't think I will ever just buy a store bought holiday meal so I don't have to bother with it. Seems weird and detached to do that but that is just my take on it and I am sentimental about things like this. Maybe to some people food is just food?

Balduccii's is good for vulgar people with lots of money.

I can assure you my cooking is preferable to store-bought.

Anonymous wrote:Pride of ownership, proof of love and labor, and less expensive.

I can't seem to justify making it from scratch especially things like the ham or the sides.

What items are worth it?

The point, when cooking from scratch, is to do better than supermarket fare, even Balducci's. I did filet mignon en croute with accompanying vegetables and I am certain my recipe is not part of the Balducci cookbook.

I buy the food that stresses me out if I do it myself, such as recipes that call for incorporating stiff egg whites. Which means I can recommend Tout de Sweet's chocolate-pecan Buche de Noel! It's a patisserie owned by a Frenchman in Bethesda, and the chocolate-pecan buche is very good.

Pride of ownership, proof of love and labor, and less expensive.

Anonymous wrote:It tastes better from scratch and I don't have to listen or talk to the bitch DILs or BABYSIT.

Charming, don't be surprised if you die alone

It tastes better from scratch and I don't have to listen or talk to the bitch DILs or BABYSIT.

We did the Balducci Christmas dinner,

I am wondering why people do everything from scratch when places like this exist? Maybe we would have swapped the pie with the pie gourmet in Vienna or maybe added a ham from honey baked ham. But what is the point of making everything from scratch?