Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Coming home drunk and, ahem, otherwise chemically altered one college evening back in the late 70s, I had a nasty case of the munchies. Being a college apartment though, my choices were limited. I settled on the dubious combination of Rice Krispies and Sloe Gin.

Not bad. Though for the life of me, I cannot recall if Messrs. Snap, Crackle, and/or Pop slurred their respective utterances.

Putanesca. An easy sauce that is ready by the time the pasta has cooked.

Salt and grease. I am fairly certain that when I am drunk you could give me a plate of deep-fried cholesterol and a salt shaker and I would be happy.

I've always wondered about the "first things first" colloquialism. I've never put the apostrophe in there, thinking the "things" referred to the plural form of thing - one has a number of singular things to do, and this one that follows happens to be first.

But your spelling is interesting - adding the apostrophe makes this "first thing is first..." A bit redundant perhaps, but not entirely inappropriate, especially in a context (ie, directions) in which redundancy may be helpful.

Rats, now I have to rethink this.

I will eat PB on and/or with anything; always have, always will. My current obsession is a well-toasted English muffin with some peanut butter slathered on (and read that word how you will), drizzled with Sriracha sauce. BREAKFAST OF FREAKIN' CHAMPIONS!

BTW, when I posted this obsession as a facebook status, I was roundly denounced by my "so-called" friends, only to have Mark Bittman, in his column on peanut butter this past week, validate my weird tastes by admitting to it himself!

The latest fascination has been tortilla chips dipped in sour cream and then liberally drizzled with sriracha (rooster) hot sauce. Love that stuff to the point that I'm going through three bottles a month, living alone. (Which, come to think of it...)

Ahh...the classic Maxwell Street Polish. Mmm...

Actually, that's what they're called, and to the best of my knowledge, the name comes from a vendor who served them at the old, now-gone Maxwell Street Market. This was an eclectic quasi-flea market (think less organized) with, for example, torn (and thus dubious) packets of tighty-whities so cheap that when the grease from a Maxwell Polish's onions began running down your arm, and you were sans napkins (a flea-market vendor with napkins? I laugh at your naivete!) that a pair of shorts - washed at least, if not new - were sacrificed to the gourmand cause. Lordy lordy I miss that place!

A riff on alfredo, with gorgonzola: Shallots sweated in olive oil, a cup of heavy cream, a cup (or more) gorgonzola, salt, white pepper. Toss with pasta (I prefer rigatoni), and garnish with chopped parsley and toasted walnuts.

First time was at a place called Gaylord in Chicago. I had Bengan Bartha (spelling?), a very savory eggplant dish, and was hooked for life.

One of the best things about living in Des Moines is having easy access to La Quercia's products at retail and restaurant locations around town. Chefs like George Formaro in Des Moines (Centro, and D'Jango), and Kurt Friese in Iowa City (Devotay) really put these products to fantastically sublime use.

La Quercia has a great mail order business as well: http://www.laquercia.us/

And no, I am not affiliated with them. I'm just a rhetoric professor who appreciates good food more than he probably should. :-)

Pagliai's is THE place for pizza in IC. I would not have gotten through the grad program without it.

And yes, Midwesterner's love their cheese, but too much cheese is the refuge of a pizza joint lacking confidence.

My two favorite things about the great Des Moines Farmer's Market: Reichert's Dairy Air Goat Cheeses (an amazing feta, for example), and munching on a pupusa from Pupusas de El Salvador while strolling through the stalls.