Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Bud's Famous Eggnog would have blown these out of the water. Just sayin. I think it's just available in California though. Either way, it's good stuff.

What's the big deal? I like weird, over the top toppings on my hot dogs. I'll take two please!

Oh no! Kenji I am so sorry for your loss! As someone who has lost a furry companion I know how bad you must be hurting. My deepest condolences to you and your wife.

As a Northern Cali/Silicon Valley native these chains are my go to's:

Happi House; udon and tempura are not at all bad, and the salmon teriyaki is always a good option. Oh and the brown rice is yummy.

Erik's Deli; Pilgrim's Progress, with a Root Beer, and some Salt & Vinegar chips . . . That's a damn good lunch right there. I love their wheat bread and sprouts, and the fact that they use sliced bread instead of baguette type breads. And their clam chowder is pretty okay too.

Hobees; Breakfast items are good, coffee cake is awesome, the rest of their offerings are okay. I really only like coming here for their breakfasts. Their hash brown items are very tasty, so is their sweet stuff.

Foster's Freeze; I like their burgers, which are just good drive-in type burgers. The crinkle fries are great. And their vanilla cones are awesome! So big, so creamy, just great. I tried a brownie sundae here once and it was alright, the fudge sauce was good, but the brownie was bland. Their pineapple banana shake is delicious. As are their grilled cheeses and BLTs.

Stacks; I'm not sure if this is a regional chain, but I love em anyways! Best breakfast for a chain. Bacon waffle, and the bacon skillet. Everything is delicious.

In-n-Out; This is a no brainer. It's freakin In-n-Out.

I think that covers all my favorites.

Hmmm, secretly? No. Openly? Hell yeah. I like food from chain restaurants, oh gawds the horror! I must be an American with an underdeveloped palate, and no sense of fine cuisine! Pfffft. I don't see what the big deal is; people get their knickers in a twist over such silly stuff.

There's good stuff in chain places, and it's usually for a nicer price than a non-chain. A Double Double, animal style, with a coke from In-N-Out is just glorious. The Magarita Grilled Chicken at Chili's is a great flavorful meal, and a healthy alternative to their other options. Super Taqueria (does it even exist outside CA?) carne asada tacos, with a huge jugo de piña is the shizz.

Don't be ashamed fellow chain restaurant lovers! Say it loud, say it proud. There's no need to stay in the closet about this. :)

My thinking is that good food is worth sharing.

With family we always share, but I do ask first. When it's the older members of my family it's all about respect; I won't just dip my fork uninvited. With the younger generations it's pretty fair game. Sometimes I ask first, sometimes I don't. My cousin and I are a divide and conquer sort, so eating from each others plates is a norm.

I do have some friends who I won't I ask to try their food at all, because we just aren't on that level as far as how close we are. However I do have one friend who, when we go out to eat, knows we're gonna snatch food from each other's plates.

People who are stingy and prissy about sharing their food irk me. I mean what's the big deal? Sharing is caring. :)

I was only in line for 15 minutes and my scoop of Oatmeal Cookie Chunk was not ony delicious bit big too! I love Free Cone Day.

I loved the old SE, but I'm getting used to the new one. Honestly, I'm not sure why the redsign was even needed though. I thought it was great the way it was. Oh well.

My only gripes are the little article snippets and smaller pictures. Oh and that single ginormous photo is a little annoying too; takes forever to load and occupies more space than it's worth.

So this is what's been missing from my life all these years. Oh the joy of finding true love!!!

One of the worst cooking mistakes I ever made had to do with donuts. I accidentally swapped the salt for the sugar in my donut recipe and thus I ended up with salty donuts. The situation was mildly depressing at first. But oh how I laughed when I took my botched donuts to school and surreptitiously left them in the teacher's lounge. Ahhh, memories.

And my little sister used to think bagels were salty donuts since they have the same shape; kids, LOL.

I really like the ice cream idea. That sounds great. Thanks @LizLemon. Maybe I can try a makeshift ice cream maker, since I don't have a real one.

@sadispix, the romanoff idea sounds tasty. I bet my mother would really enjoy that one.

Thanks for the ideas everyone!

I bought a set of the Komachi knives at Costco and I've had them for about 5-6 months. They still work just as beautifully as they did the first day. I have 3 different paring knives, a chefs knife, a bread knife, and a santoku knife. These are the best knives I've ever used (so far, haha).

If it's a hangover stomach ache starchy, salty, greasy foods do wonders for me. My instant fix for a hangover is a sourdough jack from jack in the box and some Ginger ale. At least out of all the hangover cures I've tried that works the best for me; soaks up all the alchohol. After that I just start pounding back liters of water. Oh! Hot water with lemon and a touch of honey is really good if you have a headache too.