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I have a wok that I got as a wedding gift 30 years aog that I love.

We never figured out what happened, but there was the cake with unsliceable frosting. It looked beautiful, but the knife would not go through the thick shiny smooth chocolate frosting. My brother finally got some scissors and, starting at the bottom, snipped his way across the cake. He then used a knife to cut the cake. Everything tasted okay, but the frosting was somewhat rubbery.

Although it's not in the budget, I love a good porterhouse.

I love Reubens. (And if you have it at brunch time, it's brunch food!)

A neighbor when I was growing up had a small country grocery.She sold homemade sausage which was magnificent. Ah, memories of supper of her sausage, grits and gravy, with collards (seasoned with bacon drippings, of course!) yum

Don't know if it's considered brunch (It is if you eat t then!0 but my favorite from a NY deli has to be a Reuben sandwich!

My most vivid pork memory is walking to the country store down the road from us, in the snow, to buy some sausage for supper. The circumstances of thes event were that this was a real, honest to goodness snowstorm. This was in SOuth Carolina, and although we got the occational ice storm, heavy, non-iced snow was a real shock. Of course the roads were all closed, phones and power were out. But we had a fireplace and a oil burner in the basement with a flat surface on which it was possible to cook. So my Mom sent me out the the store for sausage. The propriotress lived next door to the store, and we were friends, so I stopped at her house for a visit and also bought her cwonderful, homemade country sausage and trudged back home wiht it in the snow. That night, we had sausage and grits with gravy. Mmmm.

A close second is my MOther preparing Virginia Ham. It took forever, with the cleaning, soaking preparing and baking. This was a whole ham, wrapped in burlap at the market. No water injected. And a smell of ham that would last for days. I havent' seen a Virginia Ham for years, and Iif I could find it, I know it would be out of the budget, but boy oh boy, ham and baked sweet potatoes. Mmmm!

bagel and cream cheese with good coffee

I use garlic alot. As for what goes bad - here are several candidates, but I'd have to say basil is the worst. I can only get it in bunches at least 5 times what I need, and rarely use it. And it goes bad so quickly! (My runner up is celery, turning icky in the vegetable keeper.)

Actually, my most interesting experience was at a small local restaurant in the mountains in the Philippines. We asked for recommendations, and the chicken dish was acceptable, but not exceptional. Our beverage, however, was something else. The description sounded rather like lemonade. However... The taste could best be described as a cross between a concentrate of unripened lemons and unripened perisimmons - unsweetened. After swallowing a mouthful, neither of us had any saliva left, or a particular sense of taste. We did not have water, and were extremely thirsty, and tried dumping the entire contents of the sugar caddy into our glasses, to sweeten it enough to be able to drink it. (It didn't work.) I think we managed to eat our food, as it had been a very long day, and we were famished. The food was forgetable, but we'll never forget the beverages.

So many choices! I'd have to say I'm torn between good gravy and a good pie crust. Can't do EITHER of those fat free! Although, growing up in the South, anything seasoned with pork fat has been instantly improved in flavor!

I’ve had numerous disasters in the kitchen, but one stands the test of time as the funniest kitchen horror story of my “career.” It was Easter time, and I found a fun recipe in the paper for chocolate-coated cream eggs. I had no problem with the filling, but the chocolate coating just was not sticking. It kept sliding off. I eventually discovered that if I let the chocolate cool, I could pack it on by hand, rather like making a snowball. The finished eggs were attractive, with a dark gloss. After dinner, I proudly presented my special dessert. At the first bite, we discovered the problem. There was a blur in the newsprint, and rather than the intended half block of paraffin in the coating, I used half of a box. No wonder the coating wouldn’t stick! Thirty-five years later, the family still refers to this as “Lisa’s Chocolate Crayon Dessert!”