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Briquettes or lump? I think it boils down to what you are cooking and for whom? If I want to grill up some hots dogs and burger meat, a few briquettes are fine. Briqs are cheaper, for me, cleaner and easier. If I am smoking brisket, sausages, tri-tip, or anything else that requires lots of love and perfection, I will use quality wood. I have found cheaper off-brand or store brand briqus require a lot of lighter fluid and don't give good flavor.

There was a legendary post on the Big Green Egg forum years ago by Elder Ward (archived at http://www.nakedwhiz.com/elder.htm) in which Ward brilliantly explains how to achieve a long burning, low temperature fire using lump charcoal for a long, low smoke. He opens an entire bag of lump and sorts the coal by size. Clean all of the ash out of the bottom of your grill (especially important for the Big Green Egg where airflow can be controlled precisely if ash isn't clogging the airway). Place the largest pieces evenly in the bottom like a jigsaw puzzle. Use smaller pieces to fill in the gaps. Light with a little square of wax/sawdust firestarter. Following Ward's method in my Egg, I can keep a steady 200 degree fire going for twelve straight hours or longer. Because the fire can't be set off center, I use a ceramic deflector to create an indirect kind of heat.

It depends on the day. If it's a salty-craving day, I reach for some dill pickles. If it's a sweet-craving day, there's nothing better than chocolate milk, eaten with a spoon rather than drank straight out of the glass. Brings back all kinds of nostalgic memories.

I never fall asleep early (that is, if I am asleep by 3 am, it's a good night for me), so if I eat at 7 pm (which is when we usually have supper), I may get really hungry by midnight - 1 am. I usually have some cheese and fruit or olives, maybe a glass of wine. If I happen to have some pistachio ice cream in the freezer, it's good too. It does vary though between sweet and savoury, and there's no telling which one I may crave on any particular night:-) Sometimes I may have weird cravings (Cluck-U wings, for example-:)), but most nights, the cheese and fruit/olive plate works for me.

I'm a knife-smasher, too.

And...I keep a bottle of lemon juice in the fridge for two purposes..."bleaching" strawberry stains from my fingernails and getting rid of the garlic smell or 20 pounds of chopped onions smell.

I just downed a half-bottle of wine. Check with me tomorrow to see if I'm sorry. :-)

Sometimes I'll crave things in the late evening and other times I'm not interested at all. I suppose the most usual would be some sort of fruit or a scoop of ice cream.

If I've had a dessert after dinner I'm much less likely to want a snack later at night.

Whatever fruit I bought but didn't finish off earlier. However, tonight, it was half a doughnut, since my husband saw the "Happy National Doughnut Day" banner on the SE home page. He said we had to celebrate his favorite holiday.

I love a good, cold pasta salad. Cold olive oil and feta cheese is like my weakness.

A huge cup of coffee before bed (I am impervious to caffeine, I swear.) and a piece (or three) of biscotti is nice too.

As a kid I always had frozen juice (we made our own popsicles) or Grandma's hot chocolate (a chocolate bar melted, with cream added and cinnamon.)

I used to be able to eat and eat without gaining . . . .at my age I shouldn't do that anymore, but I also can't quit my bedtime snack routine. Give me anything chocolate, or ice cream, or that big box of frozen cream puffs that I bought for a baby shower and forgot to thaw for serving. (yeah, sure!). Um, lately, in an effort to cut out the full fat noshing, I have been buying frozen fruit bars and lemon sorbet. Makes me feel less full, and less guilty.

The Paupered Chef (www.thepauperedchef.com) did a whole week of cheap and tasty lunch spots in the Flat Iron district. Check it out.

I don't like to eat heavy meals late in the evening, but if I'm up late watching a movie and get the munchies I usually go for my favorite... popcorn! Acutally I could eat popcorn 24/7 if I was able to.

Ice cream, please! Or in the summer when we have it, a lovely slice of frozen lemonade pie.

Let me clear up one myth- lump does not burn hotter. Cooks Illustrated Magazine investigated this a few years ago and found that the temps of both were about the same. I think the idea that lump burns hotter comes from the fact that lump burns faster. I think it was a guesstimate that if it burns faster it must burn hotter. But, per Cooks Illustrated, this was not proven true.

All of that said, I prefer lump because it has a cleaner flavor. If you are cooking steaks or burgers it probably does not make a flavor difference. However, when I crank up my Weber for an overnight smoke of a pork butt, the difference is readily noticable. If I smoke for say 12 hours using Kingsford, the coal taste from the charcoal is easy to taste. The lump is a pure BBQ smoke flavor which I prefer.

Maybe Kroger brand charcoal contains no coal but I know that Kingsford does (see www.virtualweberbullet.com). To each his own. Some may like the coal flavoring. I know of a pizza restuarant in Florida that bakes its pizzas using a coal fired oven and the pizza crust does pick up the coal flavor. Hower for pork BBQ I don't want the coal flavor.

I think that the issue of lump burning faster can be an issue if you are open top grilling because the lump can burn out faster. That said, for smoking, I have never had a issue with lump or charcoal running for say 12 hours with only one reload.