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1/2 cup olive oil to cook vegetables in seems like a lot. Is it really that much?

Pork has become one of my favorite meats. My favorite pork products are bacon, pulled pork bbq sandwiches, the lomito sandwich at San Antonio Bakery No. 2 in Astoria, and that super tasty pork at Momofuku.

Adam, thanks so much for checking on that. Bummer that the cheese is only available this way - shipping it costs an arm and a leg. They must ship it in a heavy cold pack or something. I guess I'll have to do without. :(

Ketchup, mustard, and mayo! However, if it's Shake Shack, just the Shack sauce.

Dark. Wasn't convinced of the deliciousness of dark chocolate until a trip to Antwerp years ago. Currently loving the Scharffen Berger 82% bar. Ritter Sport makes a 70% or so bar as well, which is lovely.

Costco's has a remarkably tasty fruitcake available during the holidays. It is filled with pecans and cherries and other non-dayglo fruits. It reminds me of the kinds of fruitcakes I see for sale at Saks during the holidays for $50 but at Costco it is only $12.

Bouchon also has a delightful fruitcake like loaf. I think it is also seasonal. No problem with bad fruit overcoming the cake there, of course.

I don't like fruitcake, even when it's homemade by a talented cook (like my mother; she made it as part of her Christmas baking binge for several years).

I know I'm not alone. I once heard the Chieftains sing something called "Miss Fogarty's Christmas Cake." You can google the lyrics easily.

It wasn't until I was grown that I figured out why I hated it so: it's mostly the day-glo fruit - which is composed principally of bitter, leathery CITRON. That, plus the fact that there is far too little cake. Oh, and the raw taste of whiskey or brandy, not calculated to appeal to a child's tastebuds.

And yet I love pannettone, which is a nice challah-type bread spangled with the same day-glo fruit. But not nearly so much, and no whiskey.

If the Corsicana Fruitcake is anything like the "quintessential fruitcake of the South" that brooke29 links to - no wonder it's a thriving business. No citron!!

I always thought fruitcake was some sort of holiday gag gift. I would never think of actually eating one!

I don't eat cooked fruit, with a notable exception of Apfel Strudel (somehow, it grew on me ever since I tried it in Salzburg), so to me even the idea of a fruitcake does not sound appealing at all. However, when I saw Alton make one, I wanted to make it too. Not to eat it, mind you, but to make it...for somebody who does like a fruitcake.

I thought there was only one that makes it way around the world?

I had a recipe from the depression era (poor boy cake?) that was boiled and had no eggs. Tasted exactly like every fruitcake I've ever tasted. I tried substituting chopped gumdrops for the fruit, but that couldn't help the taste and texture.

I'll always taste, just in case, but haven't met one I could enjoy yet.