Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

"What are the thing that you've learned from this site that affect your everyday food life?"

It gives me cravings I never thought I'd have ... Anyone for some more Bacon-n-Butter? ;-)

Oh, YES! DEFINATELY!! I love this site and have gotten really helpful food prep suggestions, food storage ideas, and great recipes to boot! Certain foods I've never heard of before I am now trying.
@chisai, I agree, alot of the people on this site are great.. If you don't mind my asking, where can I find a Lock and Lock?
@LunaPierCook-this site does give me cravings I never thought I'd have--(except for horse):o)
Also gives me great feedback on where to find great places in NY--you guys haven't been wrong yet!

I think the biggest thing for me is that I am constantly getting inspired by posts on this site - whether on the main page or in a talk thread. I live alone, and until very recently was in school, and when it comes to dinner its been all too easy to just make some pasta with jarred sauce or throw a bag of salad in a bowl, top with whatever dressing I have on hand, and call it a day.

Now I see that it isn't that difficult, or time consuming, to cook good, healthy meals, even if it is just me. And, I am getting tons of great ideas for when (hopefully soon) I am no longer just cooking for myself!

And, of course, there is the added benefit of getting to talk to all of you (mostly) wonderful peole!

Serious Eats is exactly what I was looking for in so many ways. I can get great answers to any questions I have,great recipes,food news,tips on where to eat out when I travel. And everyone seems like real Foodies not Food Snobs. But most importantly Serious Eats makes me happy!

It's easy to read. Great web design especially on the 'talk menus'. Beside the talk board, it's also where I start looking for new and creative recipes - and affiliated comments. I browse here a lot.

Without any doubt, it is the community. Recipes I can get from books or a Google search.

In life on this side of the computer screen, the usual reaction when people taste my food is, "This is really great..."

And then comes the "...but..."

And that can be "I don't know why you go through this much trouble," or, "I'd never make this," or, "you know you can buy this in a store," or, "you're crazy to put this much effort into cooking."

The people on SE understand why I make these things rather than buying them, even if it's not something you, personally, would choose to make. And we can talk about it in detail.

DH understands why I like to cook, because he has hobbies, too, but when I start cooing over the methods and ingredients and comparative values of different appliances, he starts getting lost. He'll listen, but after a while, there's nothing he can say.

Here, I get feedback from people who know what I'm talking about.

And no matter how much I cook, I have those "aha" moments here where someone mentions something they have made or want to make, and suddenly I'm thinking, "I've never thought of that." And then I'm writing shopping lists for the next day's challenge.

Oh yeah. And I love being able to answer other people's questions when I've got the experience. And you-all don't look at me like I've grown a third eyeball when I say that I've made this before, and this is how it's done.

@italiancupcake - I got them from Amazon, though they're also available from QVC. I'm a Prime Amazon customer and get free two day shipping, so they're always my first choice when I want to buy stuff online.

I forgot another thing I really like about this site. There's not a whole lot of food snobbery going on. I can proclaim my occasional love of spam and I receive no lectures on how, you know, perhaps I should go elsewhere. I have "foodie" friends in real life, but their interests aren't as varied, as broad, as what I see on this site.

One of the things I love the most is the personalities. Being in college, most people don't understand why I get worked up over new trends in food, new chefs, things like that, but here, not only do people understand, they get just as fired up! It's entertaining to no end. But also, like so many have said, I just get so inspired by reading everything that goes on here. The first thing I do every day is check my email for the newsletter; the last thing I do before I go to bed is check the Talk section. Haha, it's gotten to the point where I have SE bookmarked on my iTouch so that when I'm in the grocery store, I can look up that recipe I just saw and make sure I have all the ingredients. It's gotten to the point where I feel bad nuking leftovers for dinner because I know if I put the contents of my fridge up in a post, I'd have a dozen suggestions for dinner ready in an hour or less. You guys are awesome! ♥

And...you guys are always around. No matter what time of day or night, or when during the week, there's usually someone else around. Or if I've been busy and haven't checked the site, it seems like there's someone else there because there's always something new to read.

@db - so true - everyone is always around, no matter what time of day or nite....

love the site, the people .... the topics.... and i love the fact that i have these visual images of you all.... like a storybook.

you're all good company.... couldn't live without you!

@Cycercita- Soooo when do you have time for Vegas?

I cook more for me. I read something about an ingredient and it takes me somewhere I've never been before. I travel a lot for work, so cooking is especially rewarding (a stove? a fridge? my own mugs? heaven). This site pushes me after a hard days work by tempting me with that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
I might be dead on my feet right now, but chinese roasted pork belly buns for $8? Let's do this.

All of the above AND my boredom at work is significantly relieved. Though not my mid-afternoon snack cravings;)