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Inspired by Matzoh Brei recipes, and too thrifty to discard yolks, we often stretch scrambled eggs with any sort of lightly broken up crackers soaked in the eggs--even Rye Krisps work if they're softened enough, and the rye adds flavor. And you can make egg salad with fewer, but real and whole eggs, if you stretch it with a few spoonfuls of cooked rice and again, something fragrant like Basmati just adds flavor.

A pot of pinto beans and a pan of cornbread. Chow-chow on the side.

Argh. Saw the title and thought this would be a selfish wish thread. Now I see all the thoughtful and worthwhile wishes and I feel like a selfish slob to desire all the hot, crisp, perfectly breaded and fried shrimp I could eat at a sitting, with a cocktail sauce that is 3/4 horseradish, 1/4 chile sauce.
So my sop to my own liberal idealism is: I wish I had our lovely, slim, new President's metabolism and I wish him all the best results in his quest to fix just about everything.

The friendly cow all red and white,
I love wiith all my heart:
She gives me cream with all her might
To eat with apple tart --Robert Louis Stevenson
Spam can't be absorbed by the penis. --possibly the weirdest line ever uttered in a CSI episode
Upon being served what he deemed to be inadequate portions, at a private dinner, Alfred Hitchcock was asked by his host: "I do hope you dine again with us again soon." Hitchcock answered "By all means, let's start now." --Bartlett's Quotations
Great topic--and I was so ready for this--ux and I write down weird quotes in a little notebook as soon as we find them.

We find endive available all winter. A Catalina style dressing offsets the bitterness: do what you usually do with vinegar and oil, add ketchup and sugar to taste, add drops of sesame oil to make it goood.
Broccoli steamed rare, chilled and tossed in soy sauce, dry sherry and a neutral oil to taste, strew with toasted seame seeds.

For any recipe, you can sub home-candied citrus peel for the neon stuff. Just use organic so the peels won't have pesticide on the surface.
An unexpected benefit of home candying--About 15 years ago, a seed from a grapefruit I was prepping germinated. The rootstock must have been Kaffir Lime, because now we have a 5 foot tree with leaves that look and taste just like the lime leaves used in Thai cooking.
When I saw this topic I thought, "Oh, trotting out the old anti-fruitcake jokes." I'm so glad too see all the creative pro-fruitcake comments.

This is fun.
1. Have you ever eaten horseradish? Yes

2. If yes, what would you put it on? In the ketchup or Chilli Sauce for shrimp, any type of Swiss Cheese sandwiches

3. Where do you shop for special meal ingredients? The Asian grocery, Hispanic grocery, the Middle Eastern grocery, the Desi grocery.

4. Would you order ingredients online? Cheese only. If so, which sites?Louvera's only.

5. 1 to 10 scale, how adventurous are you at trying new foods? Meats 0, everything else 9.

6. How far have you driven to eat-out? 30 miles.

7. How often do you prepare meals each week? 7

8. What colors come to mind associated with adventure? Sky blue. With white suggesting clouds even more so.

9. Do you consume artificial sweeteners? No.

when I was little
The only convenience stores. were 7-11's. The entire front was open in summer. You walked in to buy your penny candy (or your candy cigarettes or bubblegum cigars), and before you left, you could freeze your hand off rummaging around in the big horizontal cooler full of ice water for your favorite flavor of soda water.
The only fast food place was Dairy Queen. But you could get a huge version of what are now Big Macs at Bob's Big Boy diners.
The only ethnic food in average homes was El Chico TV dinners or cans of La Choy or Chung King.
The prevailing grocery bags were brown paper, even the produce bags, and sandwich bags and leftover wrap were waxed paper.

Pride goes before a Fall
My husand and I once hosted a from-scratch TexMex dinner for another young couple. It was the typical TexMex "Wednesday Special": Enchiladas, refried beans, and rice, but all home-made. What delicious ancho sauce on the enchiladas! Just as we all finished-- everyone stuffed full, our friends impressed, me really smug-- our elderly German Shepherd ambled in, paused right in front of us and took a runny, German Shepherd-sized dump. From Everything Nice to Everybody Nauseated in 5 seconds flat.

Yay! Pecan-0-mania. Soon, nuts will be back in season, along with:.
WInter squash
Varieties of apples
Sweet potatoes
Winter squash
Hatch Chiles
And break out the lapsang souchong for that first brisk day, it's almost like having a tiny, smokey fireplace.

These aren't delicious, but they are no-one's least favorite candy and they look so cute: Tie a couple of Kleenex over a Tootsie pop to make a ghost, use a hole punch to make eyes, dot glue on the "heads" and stick on the eyes. People do desk trick or treating where I work and last year I stuck a bunch of these guys in a shiney orange flower pot. for my desk. A co-worker immediately christened them BOO Pops.
I love Halloween!.Pumpkin Bear, the most treasured treats of my childhood were home-made carmel popcorn balls. It's crying shame kids can't have home-made goodies anymore. Kudos to all of you who decorate for the trick or treaters.

The standbys mentioned by everyone are all essential! Just depends on what you are cooking. But for experiments-- I love cardamom in western-style desserts--it's as great in apple recipes as it is in kulfi. Black pepper is also good in sweets.
I've also heard cilantro described as soapy. I feel for those people who can't enjoy cilantro.
What's IPA? I'm such a n00b.