Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Black Raspberry Chocolate Chunk - mainly because it makes me think of my husband. :)

Beer-boiled brats - just to crisp the outsides and give them a hint of smokiness.

On weekdays, I love my travel, ceramic, large handle coffee mug that lasts the drive to work and the trek up the stairs to the office. On weekends, it's a normal, smaller coffee cup so I get the luxury of having two cups of piping hot coffee.

Hey AmandaE,

1 North Belmont is no longer. Now it's a Neapolitan Pizza Place called Stuzzi. Been there for appetizers and wine and it was pretty good (but pretty loud). I can't vouch for any other restaurants that no longer exist but I did really like Kitchen 64 both times I went. It does get pretty busy around dinner time esp on weekends. Cafe Gutenberg has a pretty good brunch - not a whole lot of selection but good quality. Havana 59 food is wonderfully seasoned and has a really cute rooftop patio overlooking Shockoe bottom. I love Kuba Kuba. I have been once for dinner and once for brunch. The California Huevos and Spanish Torilla are hearty and delicious.

Cheese quesadillas, grits and scrambled eggs, roasted veggies or peanut butter with some kind of fruit if i'm feeling really lazy

I don't mind hand washing dishes but I HATE to dry them so I leave them in the second side of our two part sink until they're dry. The boy can't stand it. I tell him if it bothers him so much, dry them and put them away.

Also, the boy uses the dishtowel to clean up EVERYTHING in the kitchen (including wet dog food) and doesn't put it in the laundry when it's dirty so I inevitably go to dry my hands and just have to end up washing them again(after I have retrieved a clean dish towel).

I work in marketing research and am trying to save my money to go get a degree in food studies or something of the sort. I have only been in a 9-5 position for four months but it has already proven to me that i would much rather be doing something I am passionate about and of course that something is food.

Oh yeah, and I live in the Northern Virginia area and went to school at The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg

thank you all for your insights. I am absolutely aware that most serious eaters are not generally impressed by chain restaurants (I like to think of myself as one of you all). I wanted to get your opinions to compare them to the information being written in newspapers and in the press releases for the restaurants that are using Food Network personalities. I value the opinions of most of the people I see posting here on a regular basis and thought that the question would spark some good dialogue, which I think it definitely did and I look forward to incorporating this information into the final project

Farley Drexels. My friend and I made chocolate chip cookies in 4th grade and forgot to add the flour so the chocolate melted. We took the cookies out of the oven, added the flour and Farley Drexels were born (named after our favorite series at the time Judy Blume's Fudge).

Mom's Apple Pie Company has the best pie I have ever tasted. They do not use preservatives at all and grow a lot of their own produce on their farm. The crumb topping is to die for and I love the sour cherry, blackberry and well...pretty much everything. They ship their pies all over the country too!! Absolutlely out of this world.

Tutti gli salumi italiani...Capicola, prosciutto, mortadella, pancetta etc. etc.