Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Anna Maria's on Bedford in Williamsburg Brooklyn. After an afternoon party at Brooklyn Brewery, I knew I needed something to eat before the subway ride home, so we bought slices and ate standing on the corner. At the time, I believed it was the best slice I had ever had but never thought it would stand up again. I ate it again about a year later (sober) and I have to say, it was still pretty good but not the best ever.

strong, dark, with half and half. never ever flavored.

smitten kitchen, orangette, gluten free girl, homesick texan, joy the baker... there are so many. I'm fairly obsessed!

I grew up in a family restaurant and worked in high end restaurants for seven years through college and grad school. Now I have a desk job (I pursued my other love, books, and wound up in the publishing industry), but I miss it. I miss the quick pace, how your brain is firing in three hundred directions, I miss coming home at night with sore feet and sleeping like a rock. I miss going out to the all night diner with my coworkers, still in dress, and rehashing the night. As our diner waiter told us one night, listening to us laugh at one particularly ridiculous table, waiters can rehash a shift longer than the shift itself. I always liked that.

Yup, I miss it. I could have easily been a career front of house-er.

A vegetarian column with an international twist-- curries, asian noodle dishes, etc. But I'm also enamoured of the suggestion for cubible dining-- I am always looking for portable breakfast ideas that don't skew sweet (yogurts/granolas/cereals), so that one is genius.

Its a toss up between smitten kitchen and orangette, though PWC is a fave as well.

homemade macaroni and cheese. Or I'll make a meal out of homemade pita chips and hummus with feta.

I love his 101 lists in the New York Times-- summer dinners, picnic foods. they have been the basis for some of my favorite summer grazing dinners (eaten on the bed in front of the window unit in a desperate urban picnic).

What we refer to as boozy-ade in my house: lemonade spiked with vodka. Of course, lemonade by itself is also a favorite.

I learned to make soups from my grandmother, who spend 25 years running a cafe and lunch spot. Try as she may to pare down her recipes, when I make them, I still wind up with enough soup to feed what was the daily lunch crowd. But I love that! I have quarts and quarts in my freezer which is such a blessing when I'm in a rush!

mondaybox, you just made revealing my favorite sandwich a little easier-- grilled american cheese/peanut butter/banana/fig jam. It was a sandwich at a grilled cheese restaurant in my neighborhood, and I tried it under the assumption that it might be weird enough to work... and it absolutely worked. The restaurant since closed, but I now always have a jar of fig jam in the fridge.

From the Once Upon a Tart cookbook-- chocolate chip oatmeal cookies with dried cranberries (wheat germ is added for an extra crunch-- incredible cookie!).

Betty Crocker walked me through my first quiche, and then a chocolate cake...