Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

One of my closest friends calls me a food snob because I like to cook things that are complicated. I do it mainly for the challenge, and bc I use that skill as a way of showing love. To tell the truth, I love eating at Bocuse and at a rib shack. We had Easter Dinner and I made a roasted leg of lamb and a dessert from the Le Bernardin Cookbook, but do you know what my favorite thing on the table was? The spoon bread made with Jiffy Corn Muffin mix!

I think that 'foodie' should be more of a label for a cooking enthusiast than for an eater (for that, I think 'gourmand' is the best label). For me, a foodie is a hobbyist- someone who isn't necessarily formally trained in the culinary arts, but wants to learn about lots of aspects of food and cooking. Someone who would read Harold McGee for fun. Someone who tivoes Chopped on Food Network and pauses it just after they open the basked and says what they would do with the mystery ingredients. Someone who is not in the culinary profession, but given different circumstances may have chosen that path. Someone who is very intuitive about food. Someone who, given some training, could be a chef. Someone who actually learns- and applies- things that the judges have said on Top Chef. I think the truest essence of the label foodie has more to do with eagerness and enthusiasm than it does $$ and pretentiousness- being artsy just for its own sake instead of for any other reason.

@pavlov- YES! Buffalo Rock Southern Spice- just don't breathe while you're pouring because you *will* have a sneezing fit! But that stuff is really spicy and not too sweet.

mmmm....you weren't kidding about the garlic chips- those things take *maybe* 15 seconds.

I added in a slurp of armagnac in bc all my bisque recipes call for a little sherry and I don't have any (I live in France). The smell is amazing, can't wait to taste it (it's cooking while I type).

And to whoever said this is just 'throwing beans in a pot' is sadly mistaken. It is 'French in a flash' for a reason - canned beans don't take time. But that doesn't mean that it's simple - there are a fair number of prepr steps, they are all EASY but not simple.

how would anchos work? I am wondering if their smokiness is worth exploring here to give it a little more depth, or if it would be competing with the other flavors...ideas?

Your writing was amazing and I had this dish on my mind for a while before getting to make it. It smelled awesome, I used a Cotes du Rhone (we're in France), salted the water/wine (2 bottles of each) with a handful of kosher salt and followed the directions to a T, EXCEPT we didn't have parsley. It was just so-so, and I was really disappointed! We needed to add salt and parmesan because it was pretty bland. Part of me wants to try it again with a different wine to see if that helps. My husband, not so much.

But BRAVO for your writing- honestly I have had this on my mind for a week because of your description! I think that if I could taste it 'for real' I may be able to pinpoint why mine was so blah and boring...

Random thoughts on what is already here-
Microwave for kids- when you have a 9 yr old and a 14 yr old who want to heat something up and you don't necessarily want to supervise (my son is going through a --shudder-- canned ravioli phase), the microwave is great. We also use it as our rice cooker.

The other thing I wouldn't give up would be my KitchenAid. Each week I use it to make pizza dough, shred the cheese for the pizza, shred carrots and make pasta (granted most of those are with the attachments).

Microplane- for grating a bit of parmesan for pasta, you can't beat it, but otherwise, eh.

I am laughing at the 'cherry pitter'- the year I processed about 5 kilos of cherries for jam, I was DARN glad to have that thing! (no, I haven't used it since, but in its day...)

I think panini irons are a bit silly (not the grill things that COOK them-- not as much anyway!)- if you have a flat pan and a cast iron skillet and pot, you use that as your press! :-)

I miss my pizza stone, we used to just leave it in the oven all the time, never had a problem with it (didn't need a place to store it either!).