Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

For those who can't read every thread, the cliff notes:

Food Preferences

Is vanilla ice cream with black specks better than vanilla ice cream without?: All vanilla ice cream is boring, those with black specks, less so. Especially if the specks are moving.

What do you call cola drinks?: We need to get over soda as a society.

Are you skeptical of molecular gastronomy? Yes. It's creepy, like my high school chemistry class.

What's your favorite Halloween candy? Butterfingers. Especially in a cute little bag. Yeah, I'm not above marketing.

What's the trick-or-treating age limit? No limit, but past college age you need to bring a kid as 'cover.'

Who likes sweet potato fries? No one, it just sounds like a cool thing to order even though regular fries taste better.

Do you have a local grocery store that you've sworn undying loyalty to?
Yes. Wegman's. It's a cult, only without the bug juice. Praise be, oh great Weg-Man.

Dining Etiquette

Is it rude to eat on mass transit? Why would you want to eat a bagel under someone's arm pit in a place that smells of urine and body odor?

Who should pay at a birthday dinner?: Pay for what you ate, except for the b-day boy or girl--split the cost of their meal evenly amongst all.

Should women get special treatment at restaurants? Nope.

Should picky eaters fake food allergies? No. At least not severe ones.

Eating on a Budget

How can you live locally and sustainably on a budget? I'll get back to you.

Do you know how much you really spend on food? I'm putting my head in the sand like an ostrich.

Has the credit crunch affected what you eat? Not enough, probably--see answer to previous question.

How are you saving money at the grocery store while still eating seriously?
Again, see above.

In the Kitchen

What are your favorite kitchen tools? My teeth.

Why don't recipes include salt amounts? They assume you know how much you like.

Do you wash melons before you eat them? Yup. Well, not watermelon.

What rice cooker should I buy to cook in? Can't say, I don't own one.

In a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, should the jelly side be up or down? Up, up, up, I say! Or open-faced.

Eating Out and Grocery Shopping

Are soul food restaurants dying all over the country? Or being commercialized, like most 'ethnic' food.

Is Whole Foods becoming Costco with a side of Trader Joe's? Well, WF still sells food in packages small enough to carry...

Do we really need organic potato chips? Nope.

Why isn't Chinese food hip? Shh. I love Chinese food. Don't tell anyone because if it becomes hip they'll jack up the price....

To Heart my fav food blog comedian, my notes:

Food Preferences

Is vanilla ice cream with black specks better than vanilla ice cream without?: If mine does not have specks I am not eating it. I have certain specks for my ice cream. If those specks are not met I will not even bother

What do you call cola drinks?: I call them Mr.Tomato's addiction. Can anyone stop him from drinking Coke?

Are you skeptical of molecular gastronomy? Foam on my food makes me think someone hocked a lugie on it. Sends shivers down my bottle.

What's your favorite Halloween candy? Here is one for you, I don't buy halloween candy. I am anti trick or begging. Our neighborhood does a giant party for the kids so we don't have to deal with it.

What's the trick-or-treating age limit? See above

Who likes sweet potato fries? Mr. Tomato does not eat sweet potatoes.
I know should have been on the premarital questionaire.

Do you have a local grocery store that you've sworn undying loyalty to? Wegmans (they dropped the apostrophe years ago)
If I don't go to the Wegmans every month I go through withdrawl. Also Trader Joe's. If you don't go to one you will never know. You will never get the secret handshake down or be able to get the decoder ring.

Dining Etiquette

Is it rude to eat on mass transit? Mass transit by it's very name is all about people eating in your face. The Cape May – Lewes Ferry has food on it. You have not lived till you eat a crabcake while the ocean is tossing you all over the deck and I have never seen anyone complain. (Now you get ferry jokes)

Who should pay at a birthday dinner?: The last one left gets the bill, if you don't want to pay don't go instead send a Starbucks gift card so some barista person who knows coffee better than Juan Valdez can tell you how you should drink your coffee, how to order it and then remind you you are nothing without them.

Should women get special treatment at restaurants? Every damn day and twice on Sunday.

Should picky eaters fake food allergies? No. They should be proud picky eaters. Is there something wrong with being picky? Who said that?

Eating on a Budget

How can you live locally and sustainably on a budget? Budget, oh who started this shit? Is Mr. Tomato back there? I am allergic to budgets. Or I am picky. One of those.

Do you know how much you really spend on food? I never wonder, I never ask, I know Mr. Tomato knows. When I am driving home the cell phone rings. He is in front of the computer and Quicken goes cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching and he says "honey are you on the way home?" and I say why? and he says nothing but puts the phone to the speaker "cha-ching, cha-ching" then he says, "that's why!"

Has the credit crunch affected what you eat? You cannot eat credit. You can only chew on it then you have to pay it back. Also No.

How are you saving money at the grocery store while still eating seriously?
I never save money. I make extreme efforts to spread it around.

In the Kitchen

What are your favorite kitchen tools? Do I have that much space? Damn.
This year my Mauviel pans (omg love them) They are nice and heavy and if I have to I can bludgeon someone with them.

Why don't recipes include salt amounts? Salt is like a pronoun, when conjugating verbs the first conjugation is always you (first person)
in recipes it is always expected you are going to salt. You (salt) LOL

Do you wash melons before you eat them? Never I live dangerously.

What rice cooker should I buy to cook in? I have a rice cooker, it is in he basement. I use a 2.5 quart pot. 5 mins on the boil then I turn it off, wait 20 mins. Rice perfect every time.

In a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, should the jelly side be up or down?
It depends if the earth is in periapsis or apoapsis, and is it daylight savings time? Really I never pay attention to details?!

Eating Out and Grocery Shopping

Are soul food restaurants dying all over the country? No just people's ability to eat soul food.

Is Whole Foods becoming Costco with a side of Trader Joe's? I am not crazy about whole foods. There is one down.

Do we really need organic potato chips? It is a sign of the apocalypse.

Why isn't Chinese food hip? On the east coast Chinese food will always be hip.

oh hell I meant I (first person) while conjugating verbs. See what cooking and talking does.

shilling your web page is punishable by us saying stop correcting the regulars. It is a plague ffs.