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Funny, I make cheesecake pops when I have a chunk of cheesecake that's too big to toss but too small to serve on its own. First I shove a plastic spoon into a big chunk of cheesecake, then dunk it in melted chocolate, then put it in the freezer. I served a tray of these things and all I heard were moans of pleasure. (My cheesecake is made from scratch. I've seen Shamdra Lee do this where she murders a frozen cheesecake with a scoop, winding up with a cheesecake carcass.)

Re: Soup Sips - do you mean in small cups? That does seem rather silly. I like to serve "dessert bites" on Chinese porcelain spoons. Even if you have 2 it's not like wolfing down an entire dessert - but you get to have a tasty sweet in small measure.

candidly, i quite agree with most of the list. i appreciate the "response" you offer here (but generally don't agree with you). many foodies i know have been grumbling about the "trends" identified in the Chicago Tribune piece for some time.... there is a lot of pretension and indulgence in the food world and i think it is a good thing for a provocative commentator to offer a "reality check" from time to time....

and you reference the Tribune piece as the "bashing of supposed elites"... "supposed"???? excuse me? who else but "elites" can afford $40 "bistro" entrees and most of the restaurants that feature "foam" and "molecular gastronomy"?

I completely agree with number 9 and 4 - Molecular Gastronomy and Foam! I went to wd-50 for a friend's birthday celebration about a year ago and it was a truly horrifying experience. I ordered the foie gras "gravel" (essentially foie gras that was freeze dried and then shattered with a hammer) and a fish dish and shared a dessert with the table. All of the dishes were too tiny for a proper meal and all covered in or accompanied with foam, I went home with a horrible stomach ache. My boyfriend and I both rolled on the bed feeling the pain of eating dishes of science experiments. I wanted to like wd-50 but I am sorry to say I can't and I won't.

I disagree about a lot of the candy items mentioned here.
I, for one, LOVE the fun-sized (or mini, if you prefer) candies. It's a tiny bit of something insanely tasty, enough to give pleasure without causing tummy pains. When I was a young'un and I went trick-or-treating, one house gave out mini Clark bars. Yum-o-delish! I polished those off first.
I think the chewy peanut butter kisses taste absolutely divine.
Candy corn, I think is plenty of tasty, as are the candy pumpkins made of candy-corn base. Think little dollops of hardened cake-frosting.
As for apples and raisins, those I didn't mind in the least.

However, some items, I do agree about.
Toothbrushes -- a boring reminder
Religious pamphlets -- disappointing and WEIRD to boot.
Packages of "normal" food -- oh, for crying in Manhattan, what kid wants to receive a can of baked beans or a box of oat bran in his little plastic jack-o-lantern.
One time I received cough drops -- and not the Ludens or Pine Bros or Smith Bros or F&Fs, which are tasty and could pass as hard candy (as can the Ricolas). These were nasty little green pellets that were -- and tasted like -- MEDICATION. Like I said, for crying in Manhattan! For crying in Manhattan, Chicago, and San Francisco

Oh well. At least I didn't get a ROCK

Lachlan, your account of the dish sounds great. Often one of the toppings for this dish is fried noodles, which sop up the soup and take on a wonderfully chewy texture. Sounds like we're dealing with different manifestations of the same dish.

I miss bbq munchos, planters cheeseballs (there is another brand available now in a large container that are good but...) and morton raspberry filled powdered donuts. Oh, those were the days.

I agree on some of what you said, Michael. But, you can keep the communal table.

And, the elevation of chefs to rock stars has just given us expensive food cooked by someone who isn't the celebrated chef, since he or she is out on a book tour.

@ AHNY_Arthur: That looks really good!

I like to add nice jam to mine. PBJF. With a icy cool glass of milk.
Kinda like the noise you make trying to answer to phone with a mouthful of said sandwich.

I second (or thrid/fourth w/ever) the pizza idea. Your fridge is probably STUFFED!? lol :) good luck!

I almost thought I had nothing to add, but then @vegetarianka mentioned white pepper. While I don't detest it, I never cook with it as I think it has a musty aroma. I've never liked whole caraway in rye or pumperknickel bread but then I made Bobby Flay's red cabbage sauerkraut, and Jacques Pepin's stuffed cabbage, both of which have caraway as an ingredient and have made me appreciate caraway as more than just an annoying seed in an otherwise tasty slice of bread.

Pizza. It's traditional on one of the busiest nights of the year for both bars and pizza parlors.