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I still make my mom's "slumgullion," a mixture of ground meat, macaroni, onions, green peppers, and tomatoes. She made it with ground beef, but I make it with ground bison and whole wheat pasta. It's my ultimate comfort food.

I bought a bottle in my late teens when I read about it an article in Esquire (or some similar mag). I brought it to my brother as a housewarming present, and we cracked it open. Way too potent for me back then. For all I know, I bought a lousy brand.

I'm still intrigued by it, and though I'm not much of a drinker, I have since developed a sometimes taste for Courvoisier, I'd be really interested to hear from others what I should look for next time I'm in the liquor store.

66 seems so young. Was she a smoker?

Thanks for the shout-out, AK.

I like the quality of their produce, fish, and meats. I like the prepared foods, too. I am lucky enough to be able to afford shopping there occasionally. I disagree with a lot of what he wrote, but I am willing to let him state his position. I think either he's crazy to have not considered his editorial wouldn't piss off a lot of his customers, and he decided to go ahead with it anyway. Well, good for him in that regard. That takes cajones. I think it's ironic that for every one on the left who is boycotting them, there appears to be someone on the right who are willing to shop in their place. And it's also interesting to note that the value of their stock has been at year-long record highs during the whole boycott.

A lot of people seem to automatically resent Alice and everything she does. While it may be true that she treats her staff may not scale to a larger organization, that really doesn't matter. It works for her and her organization, and she chooses to be generous.

I use an electric pressure cooker, and I think it's great.

I've written a couple entries about my experiences with it on my blog. Here's one where I describe the pressure cooker
Here's one about a recipe for 1-hour chili (without soaking the beans).
And here's one for a really great grilled lamb and tuscan bean soup I came up with.

Finally, I even wrote an entry about why people seem to be afraid to use a pressure cooker.

I made the GFC version of the recipe ... including a marinade in milk overnight, followed by poaching the chicken in the milk to insure complete cooking. Then I mixed the herbs and spices they listed with 2 cups of flour. I was really pretty disappointed. It wasn't half as good as the recipe for fried chicken I worked out a while ago dry brining the chicken, then marinating in buttermilk and onions.

My favorite is blueberry pie with a nice flaky crust, with lemon zest baked into it.

No, wait... peach pie, with a shortbread crust, and a big dollop of vanilla ice cream.

No, wait ... gooseberry, no, blackberry, no, strawberry-rhubarb... aw, do I really have to pick just one?

That's great news, chanterelle -- for everything but my waistline. I like the watermelon cream smoothies the best, but their burgers are top-notch, too. When I was in Huntsville, recently, I brought my brother to one for lunch, and he couldn't believe the carhop service with the rollerskates.

@BobbieAnne : I miss, miss, MISS Arthur Treacher's--do they exist anywhere anymore? I have one not more than a mile away from my house, on Rt. 1 in Alexandria, VA. I've only been, maybe, twice in the last 10 years though. It's just can't justify a meal where everything is deep fried anymore.

cooking monster

Potbelly is apparently open in only a few states (mid-atlantic, midwest, and Texas). They're pretty great.

My wife loves White Castle, tho there aren't any around here, which is probably pretty lucky. I've never really understood the attraction of the slider. Seems to mostly be about the damp, oniony roll, if you ask me.

I wish we had Sonic's here in northern Virginia. We only seem to get to go when we visit the in-laws down in Tennessee. We do have Checker's, though. Not sure how widespread they are.

And we used to feel special about our nearby Krispy Kreme, but they've become so widespread in recent years, that their rapid expansion is threatening to undermine them in this crappy economy.

A new place called Z Pizza opened up near us. They offer unusual, handmade pizzas.

cucumbers!

Like Micheal Z, I have made butter before, but not on purpose. Aside from the academic, I can't really see much point in making butter. It's certainly not any cheaper. Compound butters are where it's at.