Your dinner looks great. We’re big fans of the Costco prime beef selection. Ribeyes, tri-tips and strip steaks, most often.
I have had Dolmas with a very similar prep. in Manchester NH many Years ago
Vine Leaves with Lamb-Rice Filling and served warm with Avgolemono Sauce
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Poli oraya!
I’ve made them myself dozens of times. It is a labor of love that takes several hours. Of course, they are superior to any canned dolma, and my original comment never implied otherwise 
Rana ravs aren’t going to be as amazeballz as homemade, or those purchased from an old Italian lady on Arthur Ave or the Italian market in Philly.
That said, I would never compare Rana ravioli (or similar refrigerated store-bought pasta) to the canned equivalent of Chef Boyardee. I guess I’m far less snobby than my reputation would have me think 
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So what prompted your move to Japan and why after 15 yrs did you return to the US? Inquiring minds want to know. Also, that is just 2 huge life changes.
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Ευχαριστώ!
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I taught English for approximately 20 years in the 80s, 90s and from 2009 until September 2023. The English conversation school business/industry had been gradually declining and IMHO, the final nails in the coffin were online English lessons (less than $1.00 for 10 minutes with non-native English speakers in foreign countries), ChatGPT, translating/interpreting apps and COVID.
COVID also killed much of social life in Japan where people got used to doing things alone and even after the mask guidelines were lifted, many people just chose to continue to do things solo.
So even if my work situation was unsatisfactory, I didn’t even have a social life to make life feel fulfilling.
Returning to the US was my last resort after trying to find jobs in Thailand and other SE Asian countries to no avail. Life in the US has never agreed with me and when I left in 2009, I expected to live there until I died. Alas, that wasn’t in the cards.
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You don’t have Chef Boyardee in the States? I thought it was a brand found across North America.
Little North American kids in the 1970s and 1980s ate canned ravioli, Beefaroni, Alphagetti, Zoodles, Roller Coasters .
I would have had canned ravioli once or twice in the past 20 years, a shelf stable food - like canned grape leaves or SPAM. Nothing wrong with it.
I will eat canned grape leaves if I’m starving or it is on hand, just like I’ll eat SPAM if I’m starving of it is on hand.
They’re not disgusting, they just are not a substitute for me, for home-made or house-made. I wouldn’t buy them but I’ll eat them if they’re free.
I guess Franco American was one of the canned pasta manufacturers in the States.
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Yes, we do. It was created in Milton, Pennsylvia back in the 1920s. It’s vile stuff, but kids like it.
ETA: We have both Chef Boyardee and Franco American.
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We only have Chef Boyardee and Canadian knock- offs.
I am so very, very relieved to have my band’s taping for the local PBS station behind me, and that everything went reasonably well! 
That gig had been hanging over my head since we got booked last spring, then had to postpone the whole thing due to my cancer diagnosis & treatment. It won’t be broadcast until May, so I’ll be watching it from Berlin 
I didn’t have the time (nor calm) to eat anything until I got home midafternoon, so I am very much looking forward to an early dinner & drinks with my PIC at the gay bar before I have to go to the hospital for that 9pm MRI – I know how to partay 
This was prolly the most ‘exciting’ day of the year so far. TBH I’m ready for things to chill out. Thank goodness a week in FL is coming up next 
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Quick dinner: a panino with leftover roast chicken. thinly sliced, with Gruyere cheese and Brooklyn Deli Mango chutney. It was the wong kind of bread (Pepperidge Farm Butter bread) but it’s all I had.
Cheeps alongside.
AND I get to put the plate and utensils in my brandy-new dishwasher! Woo hoo! Out of habit, I put the fork I use to smush up the cats’ food in their dishes into the sink. Then I looked at the dishwasher and said out loud “DUH Linda!” and moved it into the silverware rack. 
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Thank you for trusting this forum with your story. Hang in there. You never know when an opportunity might present itself.
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Good luck!
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YEA!! So happy to see the new dishwasher.
Let us know how you like it…
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A giant roasted portobello mushroom with Point Reyes blue cheese standing in for a burger, with some roasted broccoli. Toasted English muffin for my bun. Maggi seasoning and Montreal Steak Seasoning on the mushroom.
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Thank you. It’s not easy to trust people and this is the ONLY forum I post on. I gave up all other SNS/social media within the past few years.
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(Has mushroom, has blue cheese, has idea.)
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Yes! Is good idea!
