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Take the stairs at least once a day either at home (4 floors) or at work (5 floors), make two new recipes a month out of my cookbook collection, and buy a house.

First food today was lunch: a toasted ham and cheese sandwich. For dinner I made homemade tomato soup. They were both supposed to be made for lunch, but I couldn't get up the energy to do the soup earlier in the day :)

Usually chao ga (Vietnamese chicken/rice porridge), but sometimes pho. If I'm feeling so awful that only quick and canned will do, then it's Homestyle Chicken Noodle in the red can. I used to prefer the traditional red can chicken noodle, but my brother-in-law dropped off Homestyle Chicken Noodle one time by accident after I'd had surgery and couldn't drive. It's been my quick comfort soup ever since.

My sister hosts and insists on doing most of it herself because she likes things her way. I'm not complaining though! I pick up my favorite olives from a Lund's or Byerly's olive bar along with a couple of pies as my contributions and I get to enjoy Alton's turkey recipe, the traditional mushy green bean casserole, a yummy strawberry and candied nut salad from Cooking Light, and garlic mashed potatoes to name a few of the items on the table. Topping it off, compliments of my Vietnamese mother, we have egg rolls and goi ga (chicken & cabbage salad). I love Thanksgiving.

I've lived with one, my boyfriend-then-fiance at the time. He cooked meals at home. Not always delicious, but they were always around. When I worked days and he worked nights, there was always something homemade waiting for me when I got home from work. Sometimes it was a new recipe he was trying, sometimes it was just something one of us was craving, sometimes it was a creation from whatever was in the fridge and pantry. Needless to say, I gained a lot of weight in that relationship. I've also lived with restaurant cooks and kitchen managers as boyfriends or roommates - all who I lived with cooked at home and usually preferred that over going out to eat.

My current stove has a drawer on the bottom so that's where I store large baking sheets and pot lids. In my last place, I had a gas stove with a broiler on the bottom. I kept a plastic box in the cabinet with the pots and corralled the lids in that. But the cabinet was in the corner and the box kept things from working their way into the dark corner where I could only reach it with by making a kid crawl in with a flashlight. (Not kidding - the door was really narrow because the landlord MacGyvered a dishwasher into a space that really wasn't big enough for a dishwasher and the existing cabinetry. Larger pots had to be stored elsewhere since they wouldn't fit through the door opening.)

@dbcurrie or anyone who cares to answer - I haven't made bread in many years and never in a dutch oven. Do you think I could halve the BOTD Dutch Oven White Bread to fit in my 3 qt? I don't mind having smaller slices of bread - I figure that's better than bread going to waste because I don't eat a loaf fast enough. Thanks!

@Traveller - I'm in the western 'burbs and would join you anytime! I've only had some really disgusting Pad Thai and would love to try some good Thai food. I've never had Tibetan food but I'm game. As for Pho - my mom is Vietnamese so I love trying other people's Pho and comparing. My friends and family aren't really into non-chains and since I would rather try new places WITH someone so we can order lots and trade dishes, I don't get to new places often.

I love Milk Duds, Dots or Junior Mints with a Coke in the movies. I would smuggle that stuff in but I don't usually plan in advance so I buy it from the concession stand. My favorite place to see movies is our local Cinema Grill. (They make a pretty good pizza!) When I'm there, I wouldn't think of smuggling food in since I don't usually buy the snacks, just dinner.

Rare to medium rare for me. My brother in law eats his well done. If he sits near me, I line up glass or salt shakers or table tents so he can't see my meat since it disturbs him so much. It disturbs me that he's destoying a piece of meat by having it done well.

I too got on the list by going to an outlet store. I would guess I get postcards five or six times a year but I know there are coupons they only hand out in the store. For example, my mom got my sister an LC Outlet gift certificate for Christmas and in the envelope there was a 40% off coupon. We asked where she got it since we didn't get it in the mail. She said she saw a pile by the register and asked for it (they didn't offer it.) On my most recent visit to get some pasta bowls, I got a scratch off coupon for the month of Feb.

My best deal was also unadvertised: the store moved from one side of the outlet mall to the other and on the day I went, everything was 60% off. The manager said she thinks they are able to run more deals in that particular store because they are much busier than other stores. Don't know if there's any truth to that, but I love the deals I get there.

Diagonal if there is soup involved - I find corners easier to dip without dripping since there is less bread to soak. 4 squares if the sandwich is being taken to work - easier to eat at my desk since I can pluck one piece at a time and not have to worry about picking it up and putting it back down if I get interrupted. I've tried 4 triangles but it's a little trickier to pack so that it stays together. Lately I've been using round Arnold Sandwich Thins - I've never cut those for some reason.

When in a strange gas station, I look for a chocolate pudding pie. They're like a Hostess fruit pie but they have chocolate pudding in middle. I never see them anymore but I loved them in high school and look for them now when I'm in strange gas stations because I know the ones I use don't carry them.

Otherwise, I would go for beef jerky, potato chips and Coke. And if the carrot and celery sticks in the cooler look decent, I balance my salt-fest with those. Another old favorite is the frozen chicken patty sandwich microwaved in the store with ketchup and mayo. When I worked in a gas station, I ate that for dinner often with a bottle of really really cold V8.