Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I would have had some chicken stock going even before I'd posted something on SE. :-) From chicken stock, all things are possible.

My wife has braces now, which frequently get clogged. Very early on, we established that the kids and I would yell "CHUNKS!" when we see something stuck. :-)

Orange Whip --> Blues Brothers (John Candy's lines).

Many years ago, my family had a Latvian neighbor, who taught my mom to make "pirag" (a close relative of the pierogie, but made slightly differently), which was stuffed with ham and onion. It became a Christmastime staple in our household. I also had a Christmas Eve tradition with my mom -- I would peel grapefruit and she would section them. We'd refrigerate them overnight, and in the morning we'd have grapefruit, and then have pirag as a mid-morning snack.

The Boston Globe also printed a brief interview with Ed Levine today too:

http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/food-dining/2011/11/09/levine-seriouseats-com-explains-his-very-opinionated-palate/Xl0IbGXNWx1Fje4C1T4zMN/story.html

(they recently flipped over to subscription-only online content)

Michael Ruhlman, on his blog, has been trumpeting the virtues of turkey stock (both before the holiday -- made with turkey wings -- and after the holiday -- made with the pre-roasted turkey carcass) for year. I would highly suggest reading one, if not all, of his annual postings.

Years ago, when my wife and I had both been laid off from work, we went through a year of only cooking at home (no carryout pizzas or anything like that, and only one restaurant trip in that year, for a friend's birthday). Turned around our lifestyles, it did. We started on a journey of really learning how to cook (making chicken stock, using fresh herbs -- things like that). After awhile, we found we weren't eating any processed food any more.

Since then, I've adapted further. I've mostly given up refined carbohydrates. We eat a lot of lean protein and green vegetables. Joined a CSA. Started to explore the local farmer's markets. Read books like Fast Food Nation and The Omnivore's Dilemma.

I don't want to get all dogmatic about it, but I love the changes we've made. Our family is starting to realize there is no other way -- the kids will avoid fast food restaurants with friends, and one avoids school lunches altogether. My new goal is that when they hit college, they'll pretty much be able to cook a bunch of breakfast and dinnertime staples w/o recipes.

Diet? The word doesn't really mean much to us. Healthier? I don't know -- everyone has a different concept of what healthy means. Better? Absolutely, for us. I wish you well finding your own path.

Great idea, lemons -- another thing I do is that I save wing tips (when we make chicken wings) and I save carcasses from roast chickens (pre-roasted bones are perfect for making great stock). Store them in a freezer bag, and then every few months, I make a batch of stock.

I remember hearing, as a child, about an uncle that would eat ketchup on eggs. Most likely because he'd been in the Navy, on a destroyer, and they would eat powdered eggs. Only way that he probably found them palatable.

So I decided to try it once, circa age 10. It was edible, but I didn't care for it at all. Have never tried it again.

But one of my brothers must have witnessed that event. Because I heard from my nieces, his daughters, a couple of years ago that "our uncle eats ketchup on eggs." Some 40 years later. Insidious stuff, that ketchup is. :-)

Burgers, and as a base for bbq sauce. That's the only way I use it.

Redbones is okay. I tend to like Blue Ribbon more than Redbones, and tend to avoid all other BBQ places (I'm on a competitive BBQ team, so I'm pretty picky).

Since you're closer to Cape Ann than downtown Boston, why not consider something a little more local, such as fried clams? Couple of small places in Essex, like Woodman's and the Clam Box. There's a great small seafood cafe-like place in Ipswich, but the name escapes me at the moment.

Revere Beach for Kelly's? :-)

I think all of the other suggestions for the area are on the mark, although I've never been all that fond of the Friendly Toast.

Please give us a report when you're back!

I've made them several times, and you certainly don't need a smoker. A regular grill will do just fine. Hotter fire = crispier bacon, but you don't want it so hot that bacon crisps up before the pepper itself softens. At "smoking temps" (say 250F) the ABTs might take an hour and a half or so. Maybe more.

Also learned from personal experience that heat of the pepper is controlled by how well you "core" the pepper. If you ream it pretty well, and remove all seed and ribs, then it isn't going to be as hot as if you leave some of that intact. A well-reamed, well-softened jalapeno isn't always so hot.

You could certainly prep ahead of time, and even "par-cook" them (although I've never tried doing that) and reheat, or cook from scratch on a hot grill in about an hour.

All kinds of ways to stuff them -- one of my favorites, so far, has been to make some "sausage stuffing" I got from an Emeril recipe. Sauteed Jimmy Dean sausage and some diced onion, added some spices, then shredded cheddar and some cream cheese, until it made a sausage "glop". Stuffed the peppers with that, then put a half slice of bacon over the top of the pepper (I have a rack where the peppers stand upright).

Another hint -- although you might think thick-cut bacon would be good for these, it really isn't if the bacon starts out raw. You'll need to par-cook thick cut bacon if you want it to cook all the way before the pepper softens.

I'm sorry, but I can't recall the sizes of the two that I own. One is smaller, at least 7qt, and isn't used all that much. The larger one, which I think is 9qt or larger, is used more often, but when it is fully-loaded, it is difficult to move from stovetop to oven. However, we use it much more often than the smaller one. Family of four, two kids, 12 and 14.

We never have an issue with having too much. Leftovers are either stored for later in the week, work lunches, etc. or frozen for much later use.

There is no doubt in my mind, since we cook at home all the time (we only go out only once or twice a month on average), we would best use a 9qt or larger dutch oven.