Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

for all the folks passing the info on THANK YOU. My partner is a recent organ transplant recipient, and knowing these things is very important. For those of you who included links of documentation, thank you even more...it allows those of us who choose to verify everything the way to do so.
As to panic responses....i think these happen more and more every day, be it health scares, weather scares, anything that puts people in danger is reported and then grows virally. For all of our technology, we humans do not do a good job of safety for our people.
Being chief cook and bottle washer for a immune compromised individual, I am learning that the fresher the better, the less processed the better, however the learning curve is steep, the costs are great, and living in the great winter of the midwest, freshness of healthy food can be difficult. We need to be focusing on how to make it better, easier, safer, and drop the defensiveness and sensitiveness over words.
~stepping down from my soap box

Dark chocolate, since I was a little girl and my grandparents brought some back from Europe. Until then, the closest I had ever had was semi-sweet chocolate chips. The box they brought back had 25 pieces, and I made them last through the summer letting little bits/bites of heaven melt on my tongue each day. Since then, I have had many different dark chocolates and I marvel at their variations. Given the choice...I will always eat dark chocolate, it IS chocolate.

Honeycrisp are by far the best. If there are none then Granny Smith has to be it.

our dogs know they are allowed in the dining area but not the cooking area. they will wait patiently to be tossed scraps.

When I joined the household there were dogs used to being where they wanted to be....not so much in my kitchen. It's dangerous for them and for me. It took about a week before we had an imaginary line that they did not cross when I was in the kitchen.

Kids and grandkids understood that pre-helping they could be in the kitchen in highchairs (strapped in), and learning came with a hat, an apron and a stool for them to stand on. I have had some great helpers over the years, they have had fun and learned how to behave in the kitchen (safe).