Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I can absolutely validate this. This was my favorite treat as a child. Even if we were allowed to have soda, I preferred milk with my salty buttered popcorn!

Wrapped around a fig!

If you're traveling in southern IN, try Bobe's in Vincennes.

I like adding smoked paprika.

Plan ahead! Read the recipe all the way through. Prep the ingredients in advance. And trust your own judgment.

Oh, @salpico, are we secretly sisters-in-law? Because your post describes my in-laws to a T...I'm sure my MIL has already started boiling the Christmas vegetables! I choose to be thankful that I won't gain weight from her holiday dinners. :)

Several years ago my parents' miniature dachsund managed to eat all the excess grease from the turkey that was sitting in a coffee can, destined for the trash. When we found him he was lying on the floor looking extremely morose and somewhat near death. After awhile he managed to go outside where he threw up all the turkey grease and apparently begain feeling more like himself. So much so, in fact, that he then began re-eating the vomited grease. All of us about threw up at that point. We still miss that crazy dog though.

Am way behind on CSA vegetables. Braised beef with turnips and carrots / mashed potatoes & celery root / sauteed greens with onions and feta.

My brother and I were expected to be present for family dinners from birth till we moved out. When school activities kept us from dinner with the family, my mother mortified me by bringing me a plate of homemade dinner at school while everybody else's mom brought them McDonald's. (Yes, I am ashamed now of how I felt then!)

For my husband and me, making a point of having "family dinner" matters. Yes, we eat together every night, but the nights we make a point of sitting down at the dining table together, rather than having dinner on the couch and watching tv, definitely make us more connected. When we have children I expect we will make even more of an effort at this than we do now.

I looked this up a couple of months ago and found advice to add either salt or sugar (depending on the intended application) to keep them from getting lumpy/gummy. I added about 1/4 tsp salt to 4 egg yolks, beat them with a fork, and froze them and subsequently made a great hollandaise with them.

Mine was at Otto - there must have been a set party menu because they brought tons of delicious vegetable side dishes, several pizzas and endless bottles of wine. It was perfect.

Midwestern girl in NYC for 8 years...every time I go home I must have biscuits and gravy, and pork tenderloin sandwiches.

My husband and I have done a big family meal (the meeting of the parents!) at Zucchero e Pomodoro on the UES. Nothing intimidating, simple but tasty Italian food, lots of choices, always good service. We live on the UWS now but I can't think of anything here that I would recommend as much as Zucchero for your purposes. Congratulations on your graduation!