Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Yay! I just got back from Argentina a month ago and brought back a bunch of alfajores. Once I had worked through all of them I realized I would need to make my own, but all the recipes I found online were for the shortbread type. I can't believe that a recipe for this style was just posted, and I can't wait to make them!

I do a lot of traveling and bring home tons of different foodstuffs, but the most illegal thing I ever brought back was a jar of wild honey (as in, comb and honey that we cut off a beehive we found in the bush) from Madagascar. My bag got lost and when I got it back it was missing the TSA lock and had a "your bag was searched" slip in it, but the honey was intact.

I just got back from Europe and had a long layover in Amsterdam on the way back; the passport control agent somewhat suspiciously asked me what I was doing in the Netherlands and circled that word on my customs form, so I was worried that customs might search my bag for illicit 'dried plants'; I was carrying back a couple of kilos of tea, so I didn't relish the thought of dealing with it. Fortunately the agent didn't care and I walked through easily.

Wow, the only one of these that exists in my area is TJ's, and I live in a heavily populated area. In fact, I've only ever shopped at a TJs and WF of this list, and I've lived in 3 different cities around the country. Many things left off the list are not small local chains! Kroger (as mentioned above)? Jewel? Stop & Shop?

In any case, I on occasion shop at TJ's, but it's out of the way, so not as often as I would like. Most of the time I shop at Stop & Shop or our local chain Giunta's Meat Farms (excellent for produce as well as meat)

I just bought a box of the Trader Joe's macarons! I haven't had a chance to try them yet, but I couldn't resist. I'm not expecting them to match the Ladurée ones I had in Paris last month, but hopefully they'll be tasty.

@thoomin: this recipe is identical with one that comes from a Washington Post article, but it has temps: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/mighty-appetite/2007/10/getting_handy_with_candy_corn.html

Also, I've had awesome success adding peppermint extract instead of vanilla, dividing the dough into two portions, one colored red, and twisting to make candy canes.

For me and my boyfriend, we get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, make lunches for the day, go to work... and only then get on the internet. We don't usually have time to dawdle around on the computer in the morning.

Seconding Andalous... it's one of my favorite restaurants in Chicago in general. If you want to sit on the floor, Kopi Traveler's Cafe in Andersonville has a platform with low tables and pillows. The food is really good there, but not Moroccan.

I feel like there are two different "new tech" arguments here. There's twitter recipes, and there's internet recipes. There's a difference that seems to be muddled based on this report. Cookbooks may be old technology, but the internet doesn't demand you read 140 character recipes. Many recipes devised by blog authors and posted for free on the internet include plenty of backstory and tips and such. (And I think Bubbe probably had more than 140 characters to write out on an index card... unless it was a *really* tiny card)

Having lived in Chicago and New York, brunch is a very New York thing. Sure, I went out for brunch in Chicago. Every weekend, pretty much. But there is something decidedly different about brunch in New York than anywhere I've ever brunched. The whole affair is different. And while I love Chicago probably more than New York, I'm very taken with the NY brunch.