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Butternut Squash? Apples? Cranberries? All in one? It's like fall in one happy package. (aka Butternut Squash Apple Cranberry Bake)

Philly's has this transit strike right now. As a result, train commuters are now driving and it took me 30 minutes to drive .3 miles. No, literally. That means my speed was half a mile an hour. So when I walked in the door, I popped open a bottle of wine without taking off my shoes.

Then we had grilled cheese with muenster cheese, red onions (cooked down in olive oil) with seasoned salt. AKA Comfort food.

Now, as we watch the Phillies-Yankees game (hint, we are getting spanked) we are eating boxed brownies. NO SHAME.

I'm not a server, nor have I ever been, but this list seems excessive to me. Steaming the labels off of bottles of wine? Never introducing yourself or giving any sense of person? I am also going to assume that not giving opinions means don't do it unasked, because if I ask your opinion, I want it.

Also, what insecure person feels insulted because their dining companion was complimented? Or that the other choices were poor because the server said "good choice" with their order?

And I imagine that sometimes a waiter can not be standing there waiting for you to finish a conversation so they can do their job. I mean, they can politely do it without rudely interrupting, but if you sit there and chat for too long, they are unable to do their job. There is a science to how restaurants function.

Obviously, some of these are great tips, but it seems the author was reaching to hit the magic number of 100 (I can't imagine what the next 50 will be like).

I own a cow in the Netherlands. Ok, not really, but we sponsor a koo, they have this program where you basically sponsor a cow and get updates on the cow...well until they go where good cows go. And you can visit the farm and visit your koo and the kindly Dutch farmer will serve you tea and you will awkwardly sit in the kitchen cause you don't speak Dutch.

Anyway, my friend who lives in Amsterdam gets the updates and says she takes her nieces and nephews to see the cow...and then they go to Burger King for a meal. Too funny.

SeriousEats and PioneerWoman are two of my visit every day blogs. And The Kitchn. I follow Smitten Kitchen and Baking Bites too!

We need more information on what you like, besides "great."

Personally, I've been dying to try out Raghavan Iyer's new restaurant Om. It's billing itself as contemporary Indian cuisine.
Chino is also fun for a group and the Sushi and Seven is really good. But Om would be my personal pick!

Happy Birthday! Mine was a few days ago but I didn't do anything--been stuck in bed since Tuesday with a horrible stomach bug.

Here's another option: Let's all make homemade treats and have a treat exchange! It will be like Serious Eats care packages!

@tusti: What the hell does India or China have to do with ground beef? Especially India, where the majority of the population doesn't eat beef, period, and the folks that do eat beef don't eat it ground.

I could pass for 16...right?

I totes thought this was plastic but ITS NOT!

Oh I hit post too soon, but that's okay, this way it gets broken into two easier-to-read comments.

The rub in all this is that I get annoyed with what people consider "curry," which doesn't exactly exist (get Raghavan Iyer's "660 Curries" where he discusses this. I swear I don't work for him, I just really like him). My husband made the mistake of ordering "curry" on our one chance to eat at Moosewood. I told him it was a mistake, which he realized when he got a dish that tasted more of turmeric than anything. The book I talked about also discusses "curries" and the Anglicization of the word as well as the food, which is interesting.

And @blitzcheetah, tell me about it re: Starbuck's "chai tea lattes." I die everytime someone order's one. My husband has a chai blog, though, which he is regularly updating again: www.chaientist.com. Brings up a second topic: are experiments with chai more authentic from us because we are Indian and less of a bastardization? Why do I think that it is okay for someone within the culture to mess with a food but from outside a culture it's showing a lack of respect?

If there is spiciness involved, something with dairy is always good. What about yogurt, milk. Or take what @engmcmuffin said about classic corbet, but just serve a tiny scoop of good ice cream.

Actually, Whole Foods has some pretty good hot dogs at their meat counter! They were sampling a few today, yum!