I've been to arthur bryants, gates, kc masterpiece, and jack stack in kansas city several times each and jack stack's is my favorite. That sauce is phenomenal.

I bought some at safeway in CA last night. It was actually better than expected. The potato flavor doesn't hit until late in the bite and it is mild and not off-putting. Otherwise it tastes like any other salty-sweet combo dessert. And of course it's ben and jerry's so the quality of the vanilla, caramel, and chocolate is all very high.

Definitely not. I know its hypocritical and whatnot, but it just gives me the heebiejeebies, and no amount of rational argument is likely to change that anytime soon.

And to those refusing on the grounds that every drop of milk should be donated, yes there is a need, but many women overproduce and there are logistical barriers to donating every last drop. I think the argument that its unethical is a convenient "rational" argument that allows us to sidestep the issue of why exactly this is so unsettling (which I imagine is the point of this young woman's project).

Hmmm. I'm an enormous rootbeer fan and have tried everything on this list on countless occasions and probably all of your regionals as well. I also run my own blind rootbeer tasting parties with friends from time to time. Barq's is good but I have no idea how IBC, Boylan's, or A&W came in below Dad's or even trader joe's for that matter. IBC would have taken the cake for me out of that group.

I hope you throw bulldog into your regional mix somewhere, or even our own Sacramentan river city rootbeer as they're both excellent.

@JoanMC

I'm gonna go ahead and pile on here too. I got my undergraduate degree in nutrition, then went to med school. My med school nutrition education, despite being only a couple months long, was much more in depth, and much more clinically relevant than my entire 4 years of undergrad education. There will be some variation from school to school but by and large, nutrition education for physicians is pretty decent.

And seriousb is right on about the nutritionist title. If you want someone who you know has nutrition training, find a dietician with RD by their name. It requires an undergrad degree in nutrition, research experience, and has fairly demanding licensure requirements. "Nutritionists" often have little, if any, training. A lot of them are little more than salespeople for the supplement companies they've partnered with.

Serving unhealthy food to children inflicts a real negative effect on society called a "negative externality". All of us pay this cost whether we shop at McDonalds or not, thus this cost isn't transmitted through prices and the "invisible hand" of capitalism has no efficacy on this issue.

Parental education can only go so far towards solving the problem because the parents who purchase these meals for their children collectively pay only a small fraction of the total cost to society of these products.

The point being that these are some of the few situations where regulation is actually necessary to ensure that capitalism functions effectively, and that individual consumer choice remains the prime driver of business activities.

I don't know that banning toys in happy meals is the way to do this, but some type of regulation that ensures that product costs encompass the costs of their negative externalities is a step towards individual liberty and capitalism, not socialism.

I don't know where this idea came from that all government regulation is "police state nonsense" but its not from Adam Smith or any economics textbook I've encountered. Laissez-faire capitalism is not capitalism.

Well we finally dove into ours yesterday and the result was .... ok. I have to say I don't think this recipe is exactly for me. It tasted more like custard than ice cream and it was quite syrupy and very, very sweet. Like the kind of sweet that burns your throat.

The technique seemed pretty good but the ice cream actually ended up being more dense than anything I've had before premium or otherwise. When we try it again I think I'm going to cut down on the sugar and the egg yolks. And maybe I'll whip up all the cream at the start instead of only half of it.

For Calvinator and anyone else wondering, I followed the directions above and it filled up two regular sized ice cube trays almost exactly. They just went into the freezer so I'll report back on my results after tomorrow.

Yeah the whole temperature problem is a big barrier for me. When the exterior is cool the interior is still scaldingly hot. Then when the interior has cooled to an eatable temperature the exterior has started to cool to the point of hardening. It's just not worth the effort if you ask me.

Definitely Val's in Hayward, CA. I've tried and failed to replicate it many times.

The underground restaurants you all are talking about seem very different from the ones in my city. We have two near us and they're both run by well known professional chefs. My understanding is it's kind of a test kitchen and a more casual and congenial atmosphere. You can mingle around in the kitchen and watch what they do, ask questions, have them make you off menu things etc. They're well staffed and costly but not ridiculous. And I wouldn't worry about health code stuff, they are legitimate businesses who are required to follow normal regulations, they just operate differently.

I just want to say that I'm glad the word "ginormous" has become a part of the common vernacular. It's a good word.

@HeartofGlass

I think you're mixing up memories of frosties and slurpees. The early frosty remained the same for about 40 years. It was clearly chocolate flavored (with just a touch of vanilla) and was always served with a spoon, not a straw/spoon hybrid. It was also awesome.

If anything, it's identity crisis is occurring now. It was unique and unchanging for decades. Now it's kind of trying to be a milkshake, kind of trying to be a blizzard, and who knows what it will be tomorrow.