Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

hmm, yes; my mother's family has always EATEN THE SAME TRADITIONAL MEAL FOR T-GIVING AND CHRISTMAS!

don't get me wrong, I love the nostalgia and the respect attached, the food is tasty. but it is all 1950s food: ugly as hell to look at, and really pretty weird. (lots of canned stuff, marshmallows in 'fruit salad', etc.) this includes a killer southern cornbread dressing, though.

so some of the dubious-seeming dishes I enjoy, anyway, with appreciation.

(however, last christmas i was given license to do the meal completely myself, and i totally changed the menu to a beautiful bounty of my own!)

artisan bread, peppers, (or mushrooms if they count as veg), peaches, pork, vino, and ice cream

Ahh, havent written on the site in a while!

I did have a bit of my leftover CHICKEN LIVER PATE from T Giving. On crackers. Along with a veggie burger. Ha! The silly things I eat when I'm at school. Poverty food--but always find money for that large vino bottle!

chicken liver or foie pate and croutons! autumnal and preview of luscious meal to come.

@pavlov:

holy poo! that sounds f'in delish! and insanely naughty,naughty!

hmmm, I suppose I should mention this: I am going as a student (for career related purposes, a weeklong internship) with three other ladies. Which means I won't be rolling in cash! Further, none of us is familiar with the area.

Thanks, @hunkerdown. keep the ideas coming!

you guys are fantastic!
Thanks for all the ideas.
@hmw: those were entertaining. and helpful.

The new guy has identified a love for risotto, so after careful consideration, I'm gonna break out the big guns and choose a combination of his and my favorite ingredients, and... well, hopefully it will be a lovely play-in-the-kitchen-date.

I kind of get it. Seems like the idea is for them to delve into some representative food component of the city--and then 'hold their own' in their treatment of that food component up against the native pair.
I mostly think it's pretty stupid, though.

To be honest, though, I was giggling quite a bit watching it the other night. Aaron is pretty fun on camera.

@juliebugs: that made me smile really big. how funny, like it's shameful.

I actually do enjoy sonic (esp. onion rings) and i love wendys. i just think their stuff is just good.

really glad to see this. I'm straddling the fence here. I always..yeh, pretty much always adamantly assert my feelings about treating culture and food with the most respect possible. I feel we have duties to preserve centuries-old traditions and absolutely treat these traditions--here, through food, obviously--as such and with great veneration.

On the other hand, I think that as we all gain increasingly more access to information about food, the cultural lines and the standards begin to blur. That is, things are 'borrowed' and we 'cheat', 'fuse', etc.
I guess this means that all ideas have their places.
And that credit should be given where due, and not where it doesn't belong.

i hate you.

hm. I eat fish quite often; I'm gonna say the particular flavor profile of the dish needs to be properly suited (to some considerable degree, anyway) to a red. whichever red that may be. so I believe I'm agreeing with @gutreactions--sure, drink whatever you love or are in the mood for; but to best enjoy the pairing, the fish dish needs some strong-ish character.