Every time I go to the grocery store, be it national chain or local 'Mom and Pop,' I get steamed. The person checking me out will scan my products and with a flick of the wrist, toss my products onto the conveyor belt to the waiting bagger. The bagger will then drop my products into a bag. Whenever the checker scans eggs, I always tell them "Don't toss the eggs, they will break."

Do grocery stores actually teach this 'flick and toss' method? I am spending hard earned money for these items, and do not want my items tossed onto a conveyor belt! Especially if I have spent time picking produce only to have them bruised by the tossing and then dropping into bags.

Any checkers or baggers want to shed light on this? Is this part of the training?

I like to carve happy faces in my pumpkins and then roast the seeds simply tossed in a little oil and salt. After Halloween, I will pick up a bunch of pumpkins on the cheap just to get more seeds!

Do you have this problem with Jack-o-lanterns in your area, too? http://denver.cbslocal.com/2012/10/24/jack-o-lanterns-are-no-trick-for-bears-but-more-of-a-treat/

I am hosting a Kentucky Derby brunch this year. While Mint Juleps are classic (but in my mind, a waste of good bourbon), I want to do a Bloody Mary bar. I am going to do pitchers of my special Bloody Mary mix, bottles of vodka, and a variety of garnishes for guests mix their own drinks and select their own garnishes.

I am a Bloody Mary purist, I like just a celery stick garnish. My sister, she will add as many garnishes as a swizzle stick or two will hold.

What are your favorite Bloody Mary garnishes? I want to provide a variety of garnishes for my guests.

I love cereal. I eat cold cereal for breakfast on occasion, but mostly eat it for a late day snack.

Growing up, Mom always cooked a hot breakfast before we went to school -- eggs, pancakes, etc., oatmeal, or my favorite, Cream of Wheat, always served with some kind of fruit. Cold cereal was a rare treat on Saturday mornings. My favorites among the rare childhood cereals were Quisp, Rice Krispies, and Grape Nuts. I also remember being super excited when Cap-N-Crunch made an appearance!

Some cereals as an adult I loved were Raisin Squares (no longer available), and Olympic Cheerios, on available during Olympic years.

Now I eat Total Raisin Bran (which I prefer over Post Raisin Bran), Honey Nut Cheerios, and still like Rice Krispies.

What are your favorites from childhood, and what are your favorites now?

I have a nice herb garden in the summer, but I am not having much luck growing herbs indoors in the winter. I have tried everything from buying established plants to trying to grow them from seed. I have more luck with the seed, but can never get a plant established enough where I can actually cut and use the herbs.

Do you have any luck, and how do you grow them? What herbs will grow indoors with some success?

Last week I took my Mother for a doctor appointment and while in the waiting room, saw an episode of Extreme Couponing. Sure, the people saved money, but I do not need 50 boxes of laundry detergent!

I do not use too many coupons, generally the coupons I find are not for items/brands I usually use. I tend to go for in-store specials, 10 for $10, that sort of thing. I also look at the Manager Special section of the meat department, the meat that is nearing expiration, that I will cook within a day (I stay away from the poultry, though). I also buy seasonal produce to save money.

What do you do to save money at the grocery store?

I am flying to my home state of Michigan tomorrow for Christmas. Whenever I fly home from my current location (which I love) Colorado, I start drooling over childhood eats I cannot find here and plan on indulging in and just cannot duplicate at home. Here is my list:

Yes, I am going there, White Castle hamburgers
Kowalski natural casing franks
Alexander Hornung Smoked Liversausage
Buddy's or Louis' pizza
Elaine's Bagels
Vernor's Ginger Ale (and maybe some Faygo Red Pop)

Where are you going and what childhood, local foods are you planning on indulging in?

My first experience with exploding food was years ago with a can of frozen orange juice concentrate. I placed it in the sink to thaw, and left several hours. I returned home and noticed dried bits of 'stuff' adhered to my upper cabinets. Traced the source to the now blown apart can of concentrate. To hours to clean the dried bits of pulp off about 70% of my cabinets, the ceiling, etc.

Two years ago my sister hosted Thanksgiving dinner. She wrapped the excess stuffing in a foil packet and placed it in the oven with the turkey. Unfortunately, she wrapped the packet too tight and about an hour before the turkey was done, her oven door blew open sending steaming hot bits of stuffing all around her kitchen - floor, cabinets, windows, everywhere. Luckily, no was in the kitchen at the time, including the dog!

I just had a bottle of red wine explode on me, an spent a while cleaning up. Have any similar stories to let me know I am not alone?

I just moved to a city that is 5400+ feet above sea level. I like to have a supply of hard boiled eggs in the frig for a quick source of protein (I pop out the yolks) on mornings where a fast bowl of cereal is all I can muster. I have gone through about 3 dozen eggs in the past few days experimenting with cooking times. My eggs are either too soft, extremely hard to peel, cracked with the whites leaking out, or so over-done they are inedible.

I have read a lot on the internet about high altitude cooking, but would rather have some tips from people who actually cook at high altitudes!

Don't know why, but I am always surprised at the number of people I know that do not cut up their own whole chicken. Most do not know how and some are afraid of handling raw poultry. They buy pre-cut chickens instead. I am not talking about buying a package of just chicken thighs or breasts, but a pre-cut chicken with breasts, wings, legs, thighs.

Mom taught us kids how to cut up a whole chicken when we were wee little kitchen helpers. We can all cleanly dispatch a chicken in no time. Plus, we can save backs and wing tips for stock, and the neck/gizzards/livers for another use.

So, I am curious, do you cut up your own whole chicken?

I have just recently started to appreciate wine. I would like to build a relationship with one of the local wine shop stewards to aid me in my exploration of wine, but how do I go about it? What questions should a good wine steward ask? What questions should I ask of the steward?

I will tell you that my favorite wine is Ladoucette Pouilly Fume. But at almost $40 a bottle, it is not always in my budget, and I try to support US companies as often as I can. Should I start by telling the steward this?

Any guidance is truly appreciated!

Anyone else getting the PBS "Create" channel? I live in Michigan and came across the Create channel several months back. It broadcasts all day long the home/cooking/travel shows that used to be only broadcast on Saturdays in my area. My local area broadcasts some favorites like Jacque & Julia, Lidia Bastianich., Ming Tsai, Sara Moultan, America's Test Kitchen/Cooks Country (which I love - I am a recipe tester for both), Joan Weir, etc. If anyone is looking for these shows (as an option to FN), check it out Create if you haven't already!

Now - it only they would broadcast in High Def!

Mmmmm, Polish paczki (pronounced poonch-key) -- my ultimate Fat Tuesday treat. Paczki are jelly donuts taken to the extreme. They are larger and with a heavier dough than a normal donut, traditionally filled with prune, raspberry, or strawberry jam, and glazed.

I live in Michigan in an area with a large Polish-American population and paczki have always been a part of the Fat Tuesday tradition for me (and I am neither Polish or Catholic)! Around here, everyone is Polish on Fat Tuesday and eats paczki, just like everyone is Irish on St. Pat's Day. I was surprised the first time I was out-of-town on Fat Tuesday and no one there ever heard of them!

So you enjoy paczki in your part of the world, and where do you hail from?

My 77-year-old Mother has recently been diagnosted with diebetes. Fortunately, she is not on insulin (only glucose pills), and I am taking care of her and her nutritional needs. I am attending diabetic classes in two weeks and am trying my hardest to meet her 60 grams of carbs (plus protein, fats, etc.) per meal guidelines hoping to keep her on the tablets rather than insulin.

My greatest challenge is making sure the carbs are met without having her eat volumes of food, or foods that are high in carbs but also sugar (like fruit juice), or foods that are high in carbs but also fiber, that negate the carbs.

There is so much information on the internet and in the library and from the doctors regarding the diabetic diet that I am getting overwhelmed. Do you have any suggestions on foods that will help me get through the next few weeks that are high in carbs but low on volume that could help me narrow my research? Any help is greatly appreciated.