Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I have to give a shoutout for Axel's in Merrimack, NH. It's a roadside stand with a pretty great lobster salad that comes in a buttery, toasted bun with not too much lettuce. You can get the lobster roll, fries, and coleslaw (that is crispy and not too sweet) for less than twelve bucks.

Actually in the northeast (New England in particular) people call them jimmies. Which is what I call them.

Tres leches cake. I love it.

The smell of bacon will forever remind me of my dad cooking us breakfast on Sunday mornings.

It is so hard to pick just one, but my first love was The Amateur Gourmet.

Adore the Friendly Toast. I haven't been in years but now I can't wait to go back! It is an institution in Portsmouth....one of my favorite places when I was a student at UNH.

Fresh vegetables! I especially crave steamed broccoli that is sauteed with a bit of olive oil and lots of garlic.

I made a wonderful chocolate cake topped with fluffy white 7-minute frosting for a birthday several months back. It came out perfectly and the frosting has become my "go to" recipe ever since.

I shop at Hannaford and have noticed the star ratings pop up within the past year. If I remember correctly, I read that even the one star rating has a certain level of nutrition it has to meet, so something like bacon, even a leaner cut, would not get a star at all.

I think the system is probably helpful for people who don't have a lot of knowledge of what's healthy, or they don't do a lot of cooking. For someone like me, and probably a lot of us here, we're not going to grab a box of Healthy Choice cookies with a 2-star rating because we still know it is a lot of unnatural/processed crap. But for a person who normally goes for the package of double-stuff Oreos (and damn they are tasty), the star rating guide at least steers them in a "better" direction.

As a VT neighbor, Ben & Jerry's has a special place in my heart and emotionally, is probably my favorite. I also admit I love their creative and quirky flavors and flavor names. When it comes to pure taste, especially for basic flavors, Haagen-Dazs wins.

Seared tuna with a very rare center. Perfect.

My first cookbook when I started learning how to cook was the Better Homes & Gardens cookbook.....the one with the red and white check cover. It was really great for a lot of basics.....I still reference it on a pretty regular basis.

Canned chickpeas! My favorite there's-nothing-in-the-house-and-I'm-starving meal is to saute a diced onion, clove of garlic, diced tomatoes (fresh or canned), and a can of chickpeas. Season with salt, pepper, and garam masala. Yum!