Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

@Indy: No, I'm just passionate about food on film.

@Teachertalk: (waves) I remember Tom Jones. I even mentioned it in my rantlette. And I was even alive then, albeit far too young for the content of the film. I'm betting my parents left me with a sitter to see that one.

Oh, and I thought of another good food moment on film. In Monty Python's Life of Brian when he gets the job as a food vendor at the gladiator matches. "Lark's tongues, wolf nipple chips, otter noses...."

That is one of the weirdest lists I've ever seen. It's got some really bizarre choices (Harlan Pepper's nut naming from Best In Show? Really? It's a nice enough scene, but it's hardly a Great Food Moment in Film) and it's missing some obvious requirements.

Where is the great roast chicken seduction from Tom Jones? The banquet scene from Beckett? The pie fight from The Great Race? Dinner on the ship in Galaxy Quest? John Goodman scarfing down fried chicken and squashing the frog in O Brother, Where Art Thou? Erotic use of butter from Last Tango in Paris? I've never even seen that last one, but it's infamous enough that I've been hearing about it for most of my life!

For a more obscure moment, how about the hiding of the whiskey in Tight Little Island?

And 87? Really? What a strange number to choose.

Oh, and one more thing. It's not a film, but a television series, but for my money one of the very best food moments on film ever is the figs in I, Claudius.

I think the most important thing is to really, honestly consider how and what you tend to cook. After all, what one of us can't get along without is the sturdy kitchen arm another of us leans on. I couldn't do without my KA stand mixer and my rolling pin, but then I bake a LOT. Someone else may get far more use out of a rice cooker, which is something I can't imagine myself using very much. Yet another recommends an immersion blender, but the only use I've found for that so far is to redecorate my kitchen with lentil soup! Seriously, I was given one once, but I never did get the hang of the thing and I gave up. One person will swear by microwaves, another by toaster ovens, and yet another will sneer at anyone thinking either has any place in a serious kitchen.

My primary piece of advice in re: kitchen gadgets is to only invest in the ones you think you really need. As @wadejay says, many of them aren't really necessary if you have a really good knife or two and the chops (pun only partially intended) to use them well. Live with your cooking for a while and figure out what tools will do you the most good before you offer up valuable counter/drawer space to them.

Have you seen a copy of Nigella Kitchen? She's got a couple pages of it dedicated to listing her all-time worst/most pointless kitchen equipment purchases and listing how they didn't fit into her life. It's a sobering list.

I think it depends on a number of factors, such as: how much you enjoy the process of bagel making, whether you have access to really good bagels in your area, and whether you have the time to make bagels when you want them.

Some people will find it absolutely worthwhile to make their own, and others won't.

I don't know about you, but I would whip up a yummy buttercream to go with that cake!

Cold soups.

It's funny, the weather felt like february until the middle of june, whereupon it suddenly decided to be the middle of august. I'm spending my days covered in sweat and hating the idea of anything warm. And so I'm tossing any veggie that can be eaten raw into the food processor with water or broth and whatever seasonings sound good.

Fun, easy, and Mr. Twistie is - like me - a complete soup whore.

One Thanksgiving when I was just a tiny tadpole of a kid, my grandmother was enjoying one of the turkey legs when my cat - whose table manners left much to be desired - leapt up on the table and began a tug-of-war for that joint.

My terribly proper grandmother bopped my cat on the head with the turkey leg and went back to eating. My cat never jumped on the table during a meal again.

I used that old chestnut of Jordan almonds. I figured if people didn't take them, I could eat all the leftovers. MWAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!!

What? I actually really like Jordan almonds! And some people did take them and eat them.

That said, I recommend @jpeckjr's suggestion of a single excellent truffle, assuming you have a temperature-controlled enough environment. It's hard to go too far wrong with chocolate. I didn't give chocolates largely because we were married in a redwood grove in June and there was no way to be sure the chocolates wouldn't melt.

The best non-food favor I ever got at a wedding was wildflower seeds in a small ceramic bowl the MOB made. She was a talented amateur ceramicist, so I keep the bowl for condiments, and the seed could simply be strewn across a lawn or field in hopes of pretty flowers rising up at some point.

I threw the seeds into a vacant lot I felt needed prettying up. It was cool the next spring to see poppies and other cheerful flowers pop up randomly.

The one time I ever ate at a Chili's, I didn't have a burger. Unfortunately, everything I did order was so greasy that I have never bothered to eat there again. From reading this, I am not inspired to change my routine.

@tastefixation + 1.

Sometimes I'll want nothing but eggs for breakfast, other times I want cold cereal, yogurt, or toast and bacon. I'll go on kicks where I cook a lot of pasta for dinner, or soups and stews, or chops... and then I want something else, and I do that.

I may get stuck in a rut, but never for long.

Are you kidding me? I have to choose just one thing??????

Um... okay... carne asada!

But just about anything Latin and grilled is beyond fab and gear in my book.

Over the years, I've gone back and revisited things I didn't like the first time, because tastes do change. Sometimes it's a matter of changing the texture somehow, and sometimes I just plain hate the flavor and nothing is ever going to change that.

Tripe, mushrooms, and cherries are things I will just never like. At this point, I figure if I was going to start liking them, I would have before this. After all, I'm forty-eight, and I have tried all these things in dozens of different ways prepared by really talented cooks doing their best to make them interesting/palatable for me. Just. Not. Working. I give up.

On the other hand, I loathed parsnips and beets for years. I still have to do something with the texture of beets and I need something to cut the sweetness of them, but I've found a couple ways I can eat them happily (beet risotto and borscht with a LOT of other veggies and beef in it) and I have grown to really love parsnips.