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I have lived in Missouri (St. Louis) all my life. We always called the second meal of the day "Lunch", and the last meal of the day, "Supper". Although Dinner and Supper could be used interchangeably My husband's family did the same thing.. I notice my older siblings are now calling it "dinner" when they invite us over. I have always used the word Supper unless we are going out to a formal meal, then I will call it Dinner.

We have always used the word soda. My uncle used to call it sodie.

I love all of those things. I don't have them anymore at my thanksgiving table, but if I'm served (any and all of it!) somewhere, I go for it and bask in nostalgia for days gone by with Nana and the whole fam!

So, for the record, I have never met or corresponded with Damon Gambuto (but, I would love to!). Also, for the record, I had Baby Blues delivered a few weeks ago, and had an extra-ordinary experience - story to follow.

To all the folks who are upset that Damon did not review the BBQ at Baby Blues, from what I can tell Damon Gambuto is a Los Angeles based burger correspondent, and he is great at what he does. Sometimes BBQ joints can offer up a good burger. In fact, Damon recently reviewed three burgers at Zeke's Smokehouse, which is directly across the street from Baby Blues. It is a great write up, and you can search for it on this site.

I went to Zeke's Smokehouse last night based on Damon's review and I loved it, and commented earlier today on that piece - thanking him, because the burger was so tasty. Damon gave baby Blues the same shot, and didn't love the burger. Oh, well. Get over it. At least he was brave enough to give that combination of flavors a fair shake.

BTW - I once had a a grilled veal chop topped with melted brie and lingonberries that was exquisite. Perhaps the burger would shine if the blue cheese and bacon stood out more and the sauce had whole berries rather than being more of a pureed sauce. It would probably require arugula to balance the sweet, salty and pungent with some peppery goodness. But, as a purist, I would still prefer a good, quality burger without all the hoopla and dressy fanfare. That's just how I roll.

I am assuming Lincolnberry is an Ebonics-esque play on lingonberry. If you are truly curious, give Baby Blues a call.

My experience at Baby Blues? My husband and I wanted beef ribs, and when I asked the gal on the phone how many came with the order she replied, "one - it's like a big steak." We decided to give it a shot, and each ordered one, which came with a choice of two sides. I opted for collards and mashed potatoes, hubby had corn and cole slaw. The sides were delish, but one of the ribs was burnt and less than half the size of the other rib.

I let my honey have the good rib and insisted he eat it while I called, because I am sweet like that (and we had just moved into our new place and he had been doing hard physical labor and desperately needed the fortification). The hostess got the manager who apologized profusely and asked if I wanted another rib. I did. Forty minutes later, the manager showed up at the door and told my hubz he cooked it himself. Maybe it was my sultry phone-sex voice, but I'd like to think it was solid dedication. Anyways, it was nice. A chuck blade, essentially. It didn't rock my socks off, but it was a good chuck rib weighing in at 16 ounces or more, and it was properly (lovingly?) cooked. The sauce was not my favorite, as it was a bit sweet and overly tart with vinegar for a tomato based sauce, and the XXX sauce was a bit salsa-like for my taste. The service, on the other hand, made a strong, favorable impression.

Thanks for the well-written review, Damon. As I left Zeke's last night, I glanced across the street and wondered if Baby Blues had a decent burger. Now I know what to expect.

Maack out.

Don't be hating on me, but Campbell's creamy onion soup is far superior to use in casseroles versus the cream of mushroom. When I took over Thanksgiving duty from my MIL, that marshmallow sweet potato monstrosity was banned from my menu. As well as the canned cranberry "sauce", I make my own SF version from the real cranberries from the produce section.

we got our bhut jolokia at the Gainesville, FL hot pepper festival '09. we transplanted it into one of those giant dog-washing-tubs from Lowe's with a few bags of potting soil and manure. fertilized it every few weeks and eventually (when it the heat got below 95 degrees) it flowered like hell, and soon after i had between 60 and 70 peppers on the plant. the peppers are just now starting to ripen; a beautiful display of orange, red, and lime green. the plant is a monster. i am 6'4'' and i can look at the bhut jolokia face to face when im watering it. it's def. the king of our garden.

anyways, im sure you figured out what to do with your chiles since you started this post a few years ago, but my recommendation would be to just experiment the hell out of it. make hot sauce, cook with it, preserve some, dry some, make insecticide, pin one on the wall (a sacrifice to the chile gods), so on and so forth. here's a little recipe i "cooked" up over halloween weekend this year:

"tabasco burgers with caramelized ghost chile and onion"

- 1.5 pounds lean ground beef
- 6 oz package of goat cheese
- 10 fresh tabasco peppers (red and orange for sweetness)
- 2 green SEEDED bhut jolokias (unripened for the tang)
- one whole sweet onion
- four cloves of garlic

1. chop up the tabascos and throw into the goat cheese package. shake and mix it up. put in the fridge.

2. chop up your bhut jolokias, the onion, and garlic and put in a pan with some olive oil. let that cook at a medium heat. it will take a while

3. combine all of the goat cheese/tabasco with all of the beef. yes, all of it. make into two or three patties -- or one big one if you're a t-rex

4. grill it!

5. go check on your bhuts and onions. the onion should be completely browned when caramelized, and super sweet.

6. put the burger (cooked to your liking) and the caramelized bhut-onion-garlic mix on the bun of your choice.

7. eat it.

OPTIONAL: we also made this blue cheese spread that i put on the burger -- and it was super awesome.

- a 6 oz container of blue cheese

- jar of sour cream

- fresh minced garlic to taste

- a few oz of lime juice

--- mix all that stuff. that's it. spread it on the burger. eat it. the spread also work as a great chip dip.

side note: prepare to gain 34 pounds after eating.

side note 2: prepare to take a very painful dump at an interstate rest stop the next day.

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My favorite is http://blog.peta.org/

Serious Eats & Chocolate & Zucchini.

Serious Eats and The Wicked Noodle. Looks like a lot of people like Smitten Kitchen, so I'm going to have to check that out!

BAKERELLA!

Serious Eats is my favorite. Simply Recipes is my second favorite.

I love so many sites. I love Serious Eats (of course), PW's and any cake blog. I have a major sweet tooth.