Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

There will only be four of us, and none of us are huge turkey fans. So dinner will be a little different.
A steak of some sort (or standing rib roast, whatever)
roasted fingerling potatoes
some kind of vegetable
a salad perhaps
pumpkin pie
maybe an apple pie
a bread of some type

There's so much salt in pizza between the cheese, sauce, and meat (if there's a meat topping), nothing could possibly be in there. Seriously, would there also be a reasonable amount of time they could be safely in the display case, say a couple hours? the good ones go quickly anyway.

Truffles are easy, and almost everyone loves them. You only have to make some ganache, chill it, and scoop out your truffles (about teaspoon sized). You can roll them in different toppings (cocoa powder, chopped coconut, holiday sprinkles, whatever will stick).

My mom works in a school cafeteria. From what she tells me they make for the kids, chocolate milk is the least of the evils. Half their menu comes breaded in a bag. Get rid of the processed meat products (like chicken nuggets), trade the fake cheese for real, stop selling cookies and brownies, and dump the Gatorade.

That's the last thing we need--some other way to stereotype.

Not even the dog or cat is allowed in. The husband makes his kitchen visits as brief as possible. The kitchen is just too small for a crowd. If someone wants to hang out in the kitchen to talk, that's ok, just so they don't get in my way.

My mom was the worst mayo offender. She'd sneak it into mashed potatoes, biscuits, and whatever else she could. And then she'd save the jar (which I had to wash). There is no smell more gag-inducing than the smell of steamy-hot mayo. To this day, the smell of may makes me gag.

Mac n cheese topped with fried chicken cutlets. Side of broccoli. Not very healthy, but the man likes it.

I don't like my foods to touch (not even the juice from one running into the other). I think I get this from a couple of cousins who would mix everything on their plates into one big pile and use a spoon as a shovel. It was disgusting.
I remove the caramel layer from a twix in one piece, eat that, then eat the cookie in sections divided by the little indentations.
I separate the layers of sugar wafers and eat them one at a time. They can only be the really good ones that actually taste like something besides sweet cardboard.

Life is too short to eat "mock" foods. On the other hand, I don't consider things like soy milk and seitan to be mock foods. They're an entirely different product altogether than dairy milk and meat.

Turmeric. I think this is why I'm not a fan of curry.

If you're driving, the farmer's market is very worthwhile. There's a restaurant right at the gate that was pretty good last time I was there (May of this year). Mellow Mushroom is great for pizzas of all types. If you head north to Weaverville, Stoney Knob Cafe is a little eclectic place with a mainly Mediterranean menu.
@lambowner--Little Pigs is a "local" chain with locations in upstate SC also. All great.

Cookinglight.com has a nice feature on slow-cookers this month.