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Without the turkey there is no gravy. Gravy is the essential T-Day component. ALL non-dessert food is there merely as a vehicle for the gravy. Hmm, even some of the dessert food is improved by it. I say the heck with it. Gravy should be the main course, with everything else as a side.

I'm hooked on Farmville and Cafe World. Farmville is a bit time consuming, but once you have things up and running, it really doesn't take all that long, and with both, once you learn 2 basic game cheats, things move along swimmingly. Now if only I could figure out how people much lower than me in ranking at the Cafe have managed to get 20 stoves at a time, my lunchbreak time would be complete. :-)

@Pav rocks!

Anyhoo... Does one need a microwave? Of course not. Nor do you need a blow dryer, but it sure makes doing your hair in the morning easier. I rarely cook in a microwave, but it's an awesome quick reheat tool. As a person who takes one day a week to prepare the bulk of my week's meals, it is invaluable. Look, you'd never use it to reheat, say, roasted chicken, if you wanted to eat the skin, or would you use it to reheat pizza if you cared AT ALL about the crust, but outside of that, it does make life easier.

Hmm, I've never blown a fuse on my microwave. Though maybe I have and just thought it died? I will check this when my current one passes away.

Peposo. Its an Italian dish that's simple, delicious and can take upwards of 15 hrs. to cook and is amazing.

I will definitely send things back if there's a major problem with the food. Now, if I order squid ink pasta and discover that I don't like squid ink pasta, that's my bad and I'll deal, but if my meat is over cooked or my pasta mushy or it's way too salty (and for a girl who loves salt, it takes a lot), I will, very nicely, send it back. If it's an actual problem, and not simply that you don't happen to like a dish, I find that most restaurants respond well. There are exceptions, certainly, and those are the restaurants I don't go back to.

@LanaRae - Great idea! Thomas Keller has an awesome recipe for it that I'd love to try out. I always get brain freeze on French food. The only thing I can ever come up with is beef bourguignon, which don't get me wrong, it's a perfect dish, but I make it all the time. I wanted newer (for me) and the cassoulet is a great idea. Suggestions on starter, dessert?

Pommery Green Peppercorn Mustard, or, being all chichi - Moutarde au Poivre Vert. This stuff is so good I'll just eat a spoonful of it they way one does with peanut butter. It's not cheap, but man, I go through it like like wildfire.

I don't have any anything for you myself, but I found this on chowhound. There are some pretty great ideas there.

I'm with you @ChrisHam. I don't want to see either of them anywhere near my food. That Hosea won TC still astounds me.

Umeboshi! Hands down my favorite. I have to say though that it's a flavor that people either love or hate. I can't grasp quite why anyone would hate it because it's so ridiculously delicious, but, there ya go.

I love chopped kimchi also, but it's really garlicky and maybe not something you'd feel comfortable eating and then rushing off to class after.

@deetroit is right on with the olives. They work really, really well.

The important thing to remember is that you don't have to use Asian ingredients. For a while there I was obsessed with making them with a mix of roasted jalapenos and cheddar cheese.

Spicy tuna is very popular filling, and deservedly so. Canned tuna, Kewpie mayo, and Sriracha.

Oh! And small cubed spam browned well, then mixed with wasabi. Wrapped with the nori it's like an awesome triangular musubi.

Some flavors are not going to work with the nori (like the jalapeno mix, or the olives) but others pretty much beg for it. If you want a wrapping that is not nori with accompanying ocean flavor, you can also use yuba, which is a wrapper made out out of tofu skin (it happens when you boil soy milk, much what happens with regular milk, but with far more delightful results). I know it may sound gross, but trust me, it's just wonderful.

I'm really interested to see what you come up with. Please let us know.

I'm actually a big fan of plain white rice. Every once in a while I think I should jazz it up a bit, but I always end up disappointed because I miss the purity of it. The one exception to this is Zarela's Creamy Rice, which is just amazing, but is not a simple "add to" rice dish. That said, it is just about one of the most delicious things you'll ever put in your mouth.

I grew up in Hawaii, where spam is king. If it is used properly, it's quite good, but "properly" is the defining word. When I was growing up, people got spam and eggs, not ham and eggs. Basically, the thing is to cook it over a fairly low heat, in not too thick slices, until it's nice and brown on both sides. The low heat will leach out a lot of the fat. I usually have it twice a year now, when I get massive spam musubi cravings, which is something I stand powerless against. lunchinabox has a great, step by step recipe. I've actually seen recipes that called for the stuff uncooked (yes, I know it's cooked before canning, but it's kinda gross) and there's no way that's gonna taste good.

That said, I think that a lot of people, if they didn't grow up with it, are gonna hate it in exactly the same way that I couldn't choke down a White Castle burger if you paid me.

I use an 11 cup Cuisinart also, but my best, friend, who is a great cook, swears by her Cuisinart DLC-10S Pro Classic 7-Cup Food Processor. I house sit for her a lot so have used it myself on several occasions, and I have to say it's just like mine, only smaller. If I were in the market for a smaller model, it's definitely the one I'd pick. They have it right now at Amazon for $99.95, with free Super Saver shipping, which is not a bad deal at all.