Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I third grilling - make thick slices like mentioned above, and you'll end up with a great, non-slimy texture. Tonight, I'll be juilenning most of a zucchini, then heating very lightly in the skillet after my leftover chicken has come back to life with some heat, then tossing with pesto and spaghetti.

Things that taste good/are safe to eat at room temperature!

This goes double if you're flying or don't have room for a cooler if you mean travel by car. Try making your own granola, it's easy and really good, plus you can add your favorite nuts/seeds/berries/chocolate and enjoy the stares of envy.

Don't overlook the basics though: a lot of fruit and veggies travel fairly well. Apples or celery+peanut butter, oranges, cucumbers if you're really into them (one of my coworkers eats them like a banana!), bananas (higher squish factor - pack with care) and berries, baby carrots, kumquats(sp?) in a travel friendly container.

If you're travelling by plane, your options are obvious a little more limited, but if you are driving and can take a cooler along (or liquids!), you could pack smoothies, sandwiches, hummus etc.

in addition to making enough food for dinner so that you have leftovers, I also combine a lot of snacky things into a meal. Keep stuff in the office fridge like string cheese, yogurt, granola, hummus, cut& washed veggies (prep at home and bring in), edamame, nuts etc. Oh, and lots of fruit! mrsbao seems to be on the same wavelength :P

I probably won't get to making this until later this week. In an effort to stick to a budget/meal plan, I'm trying out a half veg/half carnivore menu (which was surprisingly easy to plan once I inventoried all the food I had - wow!), so I may just go with frying or light frying before baking so I don't get mushy falafel. I'll post results when I get there. Thanks everyone!

I'm not much into cake ... but I'm probably going to order lobsters from Legal Seafood for my birthday dinner :D

I've eaten lunches in bathrooms--especially when I was a student and spent hours in a tiny library where it was impossible to find a place (besides the bathroom) to nosh and work where you weren't in view of a librarian who would kick you out for eating. (And I wouldn't blame them a bit.)

I've eaten in research laboratories where food was verboten but long hours were required and no break room was provided. (God only knows what kinds of nasties I consumed with my Clif Bars and coffee.)

I once, as a kid, ate a burger and fries in my parents' pickup truck while the boxed ashes of my grandfather's remains slid around on the dashboard. (We were on the way to the cemetery that was his final resting place.)

In Japan, I did eat and drink in cemeteries during cherry blossom viewing season, but living in Japan meant never, never, never eating or drinking while walking down the street or on trains or on any public transport. Ever. Not even candy bars. Not even coffee. Even chewing gum was highly suspect.

Let me preface this by saying: Don't judge me.

I was a poor college student, out of my parents house for the first time. I was working and going to school, I was editor-in-chief of two campus publications, I was taking more units than neccessary and I always seemed to be too busy and entirely sleep deprived.

As editor-in-chief, if you left the newsroom, they would find you. They would hunt you down and drag you back into the newsroom to edit and make calls and fact check and blah blah blah. It was like you weren't allowed to breathe, but there was this unspoken rule that if you said, "I'm going to the restroom," people would just chill out and leave you alone and not come searching for you. On more than one occassion I'd run like hell, grab Subway, and eat my sandwich in the women's restroom, sitting on the floor, propping myself up against the wall next to the sinks.

In my defense, they were new, freakishly clean bathrooms.

do this with it,
http://suburbangourmet.blogspot.com/2007/07/stuffed-zucchini-with-beef-and-rice.html

Middle eastern dish, not supposed to be sliced like that (my grandmother flipped when she saw that I sliced it)

I never liked zucchini until my boyfriend had me try this version!

We cut them lengthwise into 1/4ths, then marinate them for 3-4 days, yes days, in Italian dressing. We like to use the dressing mix from Good Seasonings.

We like letting them sit for a few days because the vinegar has a chance to slightly pickle the zucchini.

Then we toss them on the George Forman until all corners are a nice brown. Those corners almost become caramelized and sweet and contrast well with the "pickled'. I like to toss them back in some dressing right after they are grilled too. I love the dressing :)

Zucchini pancakes are my favorite, too! I usually use flour and mild cheddar, with a bit of lemon zest if I've got it - salt and lots of black pepper - amazing as a substitute for eggplant parmigiana on top of pasta with tomato sauce and Parmigiano. You don't squeeze the zucchini in my recipe, so the insides are nice and creamy. I just had them last night but now I want them again!

Another thing that makes zucchini WAY more tolerable in e.g. a stir-fry context is seeding it. I learned this from Cook's Illustrated years ago, and it makes all the difference. Halve the zucchini, then scoop the seeds out with a small spoon before chopping or otherwise preparing for a recipe. It really eliminates much of the slime factor, because the seedy middle bit is what turns to mush. If you're careful not to overcook it, you should experience no slime at all with this method!