Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Pasta for sure. Aldi's is my go-to for a tight budget week. Their produce isn't organic, but it is cheap. I used to be a grocery/market snob, but sometimes necessity breeds wisdom.
Aglio olio with some fresh veggie in it is one of my faves. Full of flavor; ingredients on hand. Cheap except for the olive oil, but sub some other oil or butter for half the olive oil. Pasta water can thin out a lot of pasta dishes, too.

I just ordered half a hog for my own personal use.
It's a lovely thing. I used to raise my own, for about .99/pound (cost of piglet, worming, feeding, everything but time). With the cost of corn, about 5 years ago, my cost went up to 1.99/pound. At that time the butcher was selling local hogs at 1.49/pound. HMMM. (No brainer, time especially) The pigs are probably from a farm raising its own corn to feed its own livestock.
Now it is at 1.89/pound. Still worth my time to get it from my award winning butcher, with a kill license, and get what I want, how I want. Pork belly, good. Pork jowl, yummy. And I keep the fat and make lard. No, it is not something I grew up doing, but I find what I make is better than Crisco any day of the week - for pie crusts, biscuits, fried potatoes, pancakes, etc.

What people are realizing now, is that heart disease and diabetes were not an issue back in the fifties (before processed food). Our grandparents ate bacon gravy over lardy biscuits with butter on their toast. And then they dunked the toast in the bacon grease. Never a fat farmer to be found, and no heart disease. I think most of my farmer forefathers (dairy/apple) died of aneurysms, and they were so god fearing they didn't smoke or drink, either.

In other words, eat what you want, but be wary of where it comes from. I am starting to think that USDA means very little. Pork fat for everyone!

Paula has a knife line now? I somehow find that funny! Some of my favorite knives (got lots, love knives) I got from hosting a Pampered Chef party. Cheesy, I know, but I like them. I probably wouldn't pay full price for them, but having the party made it worth it for me.

I also love Tommy's on Coventry. Lemongrass. Slyman's. Murray Hill Italian places. There is a great little Middle Eastern place by the West Side Market, too. Can't recall the name; walk around. Hope it's not snowing, but Buffalo - you're used to it!

Cleveland is known for immigrants. You go to different areas on the edge of town you can find pockets of good stuff. Don't think you want to get that involved, right? Coventry and Murray Hill have great galleries, as does Tremont.

Cleveland Rocks!

Not at all, but from the sounds of it, I would probably like your kitchen, and it is at least 8 hours away!

Not asked in a malicious way at all, Now that I see it!

@Monkii, posting the original thread is 90% selfish, what happens thereafter is not. Basically you agree with me. And like I said, sometimes the original post is not selfish at all. "Depends on the week." St Patrick's Day was a good thing for me to look forward to; maple syrup is always a good thing. Next, I don't know. Thanks for the comment on the other thread. First thing, clean out the oven chimney....

@ecca (and others) The other night when I was cleaning the counters, I kissed my Kitchen Aid mixer. I hope no one was looking. I have a mediocre electric stove, but that has never bothered me. Perhaps another thread, but I have always had an electric stove at home, and a gas stove at work, and boh (shrug my shoulders here).

I bought the old family farmhouse and totally get the window thing (ell).
This part of the house is circa Civil War and I get breezes from all sides, newish windows now, but still I gotta be careful where the bread dough sits. Like all old houses, pre-depression anyway, no storage. I also have utensils hanging from the rafters, that YES, I do use, and I have a framed magazine picture on the wall.

The saving grace of my kitchen is the fireplace my father built, yes built, from the basement up. It is about 11 foot wide at the base, with a 4 foot fireplace. It burns 24/7 in the winter, so we cook on it at least once a month. He built in an oven (separate fire source than the fire place, smoke joins the chimney, somewhere, hopefully) on one side. My parents gave up on that shortly after completion (30 years ago), and I haven't tried since buying the place some years ago. Love ya, pop, but a little scared! Oh, today is the 25th anniversary of his death, and no, I am not that old, he was just that young. May be a good day to try what he called the "dutch oven".

Sure, now it sounds good, especially with some pasta, homemade foccaccia, salad... but I was definitely a picky kid.

Who's that food network shortcut cook, semi- something. It sounds like something she might feature in a recipe. I would probably use it on bagels, toasted day old bread, and maybe in a dip when fresh herbs are hard to come by. Thanks for the "hint"!

A little late, but when living in Italy i missed peanut butter, maple syrup, and at Thanksgiving I really wanted a pumpkin pie. I tried to make one from a pumpkin, but couldn't get across to my Italian friends the different kind of pumkins, so I didn't use a "pie pumpkin". It was yucky!

jowl bacon. yum.