Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I love that show! The pies look pretty good too.

I agree with the airplane food comment. My airplane breakfast looked similar to that, but without the egg. It's a better deal to keep the grapes, apples and cheese stashed in your fridge! I agree with the pumpkin spice latte too (except, make that a mocha!).

Yuck! I noticed Pizza Hut sells "Tuscany" pastas, according to a large sign outside of a Pizza Hut I pass on my way to work. The pizzas themselves are barely edible and end up making me feel bleh (hubby has to have his fix once in a while though!) -- so how could those sandwiches and pastas fare?

Yes. I can't remember what the restaurant was called, but I believe it was on 9th or 10th St. It was an Italian eatery -- just dirty, the bathrooms were gross, and my MIL's food was cold.

Warm chocolate brownies with vanilla ice cream. Ice cream in general -- some bad days, I come home, get out the ice cream and have a few spoonfulds. I feel better instantly!

Love this topic. Love road trips. I've got to have my chocolate Odwalla bars. They've helped me many times when we've gone on trips without stopping for "real" food until the late afternoon or evening! My husband also is one of those guys who would rather drive and drive than stop somewhere. Though, we recently made an all-night trip to Oregon from California and stopped at an IHOP at 3 in the morning. It was desperation. We were exhausted and hungry, and neither of us had eaten dinner. But normally, yes, I end up "holding it" until I'm about to burst.
When we came back from Oregon, we had gotten coffee drinks at a drive-thru coffee place. So naturally, an hour later, I had to go. We stopped at two gas stations and both bathrooms were so repulsive I ended up holding it for another two hours or so until we got home because hubby wouldn't stop again!
When my husband and I drove around Ireland earlier this year, we stopped at Euro Spars or Spar marts to get snacks -- usually cookies and muffins. We tried to get things that were different than what we have here and noticed that the soda -- made with real sugar and not high fructose corn syrup -- tasted much better!
So, it tends to be that when we're on road trips, we don't eat healthy food. There's often some point where we stop at a gas station and buy ice creams and Starbucks coffee in a jar or soda -- that's usually at night when we're getting sleepy.
I've packed salami and cheese in a cool chest with bottles of water. About a day later, it starts smelling gross, and I'm too repulsed to drink the bottles of water. So, I have to get better at packing road trip food!

Oh yeah -- one more thing!!! Battered and fried zucchini is sooo good. I can't get it right, but my mom does it well. Flour, egg, milk, salt, pepper and whatever seasoning you like makes the batter. Slice the zucchini thinly, dip it in batter, cook it in olive oil until the batter is crispy. Yum.

How cool that you mentioned Brentwood. I recently moved near there, and my husband and I discovered the farms. We were able to pick cherries, peaches and apricots. It was fun. There was a u-pick strawberry farm as well, but that wasn't good because most of the strawberries left at the time were rotten! We plan to go back soon. You can even get a farm trail map that shows you where all the farms are and what they offer -- as well as when the fruit/veggies will be in season. I am a country girl, so I know that local fruit/veggies are only available in season; my city boy husband did not and was disappointed when he found out it would be a couple more weeks until corn was ready and that watermelon won't be ready until the 4th of July!

I remember one day my boyfriend at the time and I forgot it was Mother's Day and went to a popular chain restaurant. Yikes!

@ Alm 25. "but my grandfather says sodie-pop"

My grandpa says the same thing out in the country in Northern Calif. We say soda here of course, but when I went to school in Oregon, they all say pop. I actually argued with one of my new Oregon friends about whether to say soda or pop. My husband, who's from Oregon, quickly adapted to our soda ways.

I agree with Luna. When my husband and I go to London in a couple weeks, we're bringing our host Twinkies. ... By special request from the host! Knowing the strength of processed Twinkies, at least they won't get smashed up in our checked luggage or go bad in the six days that the Twinkies will be staying in our luggage. :)
When I went to Australia, I stayed with a couple of host families, and I brought them California walnuts.
It is definitely more special to bring people something they might not get in their country/city.

Where's the pizza one? My husband can't go a week without pizza! Barbecue would be a good one too.

I like all the info here. My husband and I have a meager journalists' income and plan to travel out of the country every year. We've saved up for about a year for our trip to Ireland/London (leaving in a few weeks) and have paid for stuff for the trip throughout the year, rather than all at once. We're pretty much all set to go, and we've had emergencies to pay for such as an auto accident and vet bills for our dog. All we have to pay for is food and the remaining balance on our bed and breakfast stays (we're staying at a friend's house in London too). We already picked out some of the cheaper places in our Ireland and London travel books. The way we save: buying clothes only when we're desperate and rarely going out to dinner. It's been hard for me not to buy clothes! We bought clothes we needed for our Christmas gift to one another.
We're already looking forward to our next trip: Honduras. It will be nice to go where our dollar will buy more!