Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

.I haven't noticed before, but I'm sure I will now. It still won't be as frustrating as listening to someone say "ya know",every sentence.I wish that just once, an interviewer would speak up and say, "no I don't know, that's why I'm interviewing you, you moron.

Newman's Own Light Balsamic - you can't go wrong.

It's not exactly "store" bought but I came across Wistoria Garden's Very Nearly Famous House Vinaigrette at the farmer's market that the Eastern Market, in Washington, D.C. quite some time ago. To date I have gone ordered FOUR of their 12-bottle boxes. It's amazing and I love turning people on to it!

BUY IT, YOU'LL LOVE IT

I usually don't use store bought dressing, but when I do it's Newmans Own Light Italian with Lemon. It is very good.

Gosh, I am amazed no one cited "Ranch" dressing as a favourite - here in Canada, it is probably the most popular by far. Next time I am in the U.S., I will buy some, "Maries blue cheese" - several people have mentioned it and I love blue cheese dressing, but I make my own (not always convenient) because I can't find a good one. I don't think Maries is sold here.

Marzetti's Blue Cheese.

My husband also uses Marzetti's slaw dressing on sandwiches and in tuna salad, potato salad, and pea & peanut salad, in place of mayo.

I also use only Kraft Free Zesty Italian in pasta salad because it doesn't get slimy or soggy. If anything, if I keep the salad more than a couple days I need to add more dressing because it dries out.

I make this sauce often but only recently discovered the differences between the recipe in the earlier "Classic" cookbook and the more recent "Essentials".There are some fairly significant differences in the two recipes.The earlier uses olive oil in addition to butter and much less veggies and less milk and the order of adding the wine and the milk is opposite.

I am curious if anyone has noticed a significant difference between the two. I just made a batch and followed the original recipe except I followed the wine/milk order in this recipe. I will post a comment when I tase the results.

If you don't want the gamey flavor and still be able to age in your fridge you can try drybags that I use when I age steak at home. You take the ribeye or striploin and vacuum seal it into the drybag and let it age for 21 days, the moisture comes through the bag. At the end of 21 days you trim the steaks and they come out perfect. I recommend checking out their site
www.drybagsteak.com
It seems amazing but it works. You get very consistent flavor and texture everytime you age, no odors or off flavors.

Compassionate Shopper? If you are one, and in the UK, you might find Compassion in World Farming's Compassionate Shopping Guide useful

My rings come off pretty much as soon as I walk in the door and don't go back on until I leave for work the next day (at least I almost always remember to put them back on) I can't stand how it feels to have my rings on when my hands are wet or if I am working with food . I work in health care and wash my hands a zillion times a day so they spend much of the day in my pants pocket. Not great advertising for the wife of a jeweler but he is very understanding!!

Rings go on necklace, watch gets put away, hair goes up. If I put my ring down in a dish or something I'll forget to put it back on later, and I'll feel naked.

My first wedding ring was a plain band and after about three years of marriage, the solitaire diamond that went with it went into a box and was only worn on fancy occasions. So I rarely took the band off as it was very smooth and I never had problems with getting a rash or anything under it.

Fast forward to marriage number 2 - this time I am sporting a fairly large sapphire with diamonds on either side and a diamond wedding band. I've learned to take those suckers off any time I'm getting my hands gucky because stuff just gums up into them like no tomorrow. And recently, I've had trouble with my skin getting irritated under my wedding ring. Thankfully, my husband lives half way across the country and doesn't know if I'm wearing those rings or not. We need a lot more than rings to keep this marriage going - and next week we celebrate our four month anniversary - woo hoo!

I'd hate to lose a ring that really meant something to me (plus, I've worked in healthcare, and I know that it's unsanitary to wear rings when you have your hands in food), so I put any rings I've been wearing on short, thin neck chain... then, even if I forget to put it back on my finger, I'm still wearing them, and if I'm asked where my ring is, I can say 'Oh, I'm still wearing it, but around my neck while I'm cooking, so I don't spoil it' :)