Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

My favorite potato-chip dip is one where I dump a carton of sour cream into a bowl, add an 8 oz package of sharp shredded cheddar cheese, season with garlic powder, onion powder, pepper and paprika to taste, put in fridge for 30-60 minutes, eat massive amounts piled on ruffled potato chips. My husband thinks this is the grossest thing ever and will not come near me when I make or eat it. He's probably right, but it's strangely addictive.

I suppose I could trick myself into believing that this is less fat-filled by using fat-free sour cream and baked chips, but it's not as delicious, nor does it probably matter.

oops, DIP, not dop. I don't know what "dop" might taste like. ;-)

I have nearly the same Rival crock-pot, but it has a press button function (warm, low, high) and a timer display that you can set at 30 minute increments. I believe it is also the 5-quart model, and it cost exactly the same price as the original pictured above (at Target). Plus mine is shiny red, hehe :-) In fact I am making pot roast in it right now! I love using it - especially in winter.

Chocolate-covered strawberries, chocolate-covered pretzels (do you see a theme here?) and any type of brittle or toffee crunch candy!

I have scorched more pans of mixed nut brittle than I care to remember.....

Like many others here, I am partial to Shake Shack (on the occasions I am in NYC), but in my current hometown of Madison, WI, there is a little locally-famous bar called the Blue Moon that serves delicious burgers. My favorite is the Blue Moon Burger which comes with blue cheese, garlic and raw onions. (I loathe onions - sorry - so I leave them off when ordering.) And you can order it medium rare too! Their fries are also crispy and delicious.

Dark chocolate cake with peanut-butter frosting!

Or pineapple upside-down cake.

Stuffed pancakes with apple-cinnamon-sugar topping....or banana nut!

I was at Burgers & Brew last year. It's a great idea and it is fun! I was given free tickets from friends or I probably would not have gone....for Wisconsin, it's kind of pricey for my budget.

I felt that the veggie red-rice burger was way too dense and flavorless, and smothered in too much mayonnaisey sauce; the Lombardino quail egg burger (which they are reprising this year) was beautifully presented but just all right tastewise (mine was too overcooked overall for my liking), but I loved the Bluephie's burger with pickled vegetables. It was just the right blend of sweet and spicy. And it was sorta fun to walk around and try to pair up your burger with different kinds of local beers. The Sprecher sodas were pretty tasty too.

I'll be interested to hear the reports from this year's event.

Always nice to see a Midwestern mention (that isn't one of the bigger cities) here on AHT.

My mother has a way with vinagrette salad dressing. All she uses is olive oil, balsamic vinegar, grated parmesan and a few seasonings and for some reason it comes out tasting like magic on a simple cucumber-lettuce-tomato mix. I know exactly what she uses and how she mixes it and to this day I STILL cannot get it to taste like hers! It's almost frustrating!

Red grapes, gorgonzola, romaine, walnuts and pears on challah, drizzled with balsamic. Maybe! I don't know if it would be delicious or disastrous but I would not mind finding out!

I also like a nice bruschetta on garlic bread....I'd leave it to the experts to upscale it. :)

Onion Lovers' Twist. I am not sure where my mother got this recipe - probably Betty Crocker - but I actually loathe onions, and this bread is the only thing I really LIKE them in! The bread itself is a basic white yeast bread, filled with chopped onions, garlic, poppy seeds and butter, braided into a lovely twist loaf. Even if you accidentally overfill the three "braids," like I often do (oops), and the butter leaks out, it still makes for a wonderful buttery, flaky bread that is best eaten warm.