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I suppose they could go to the old (ancient) fare of hard tack. But I guess that those could be used as weapons as well if thrown. My daughter worked in the regional jail for a time as a commisary distributer. Not every inmate got stuff. They only got stuff if they had $$ in an account they set up. No money, no stuff. We're talking semi-luxury items (for a jail, like books, candy, etc. ). And it was also one of the privileges that could be taken away as punishment. toward the end of her employment there she was 6 months pregnant and there were some inmates who threatened her and her baby! Jail is not a vacation.

Ed, I don't know how old you are or what generation your parents grew up in - but I was the child of Depression children...and if it went on your plate you were expected to clean the plate of every morsel so nothing went to waste...poor children in India were starving because you weren't eating your food. Very bad child-rearing. Definitely setting up kids to overeat. I on the other hand was so picky that they had to force me to eat. I swore I would never do that to my kids...and I didn't. But then they wouldn't eat what I cooked - and I wasn't a bad cook. Now that they are grown they claim I never fed them and their palates are all very expensive/extensive.
So I guess the moral of this story is that you'll blame your parents no matter what they do. Great job on your diet. Lose a few pounds for me!

I love Alton, too. No real reason to watch FN without him so I'm glad that he signed a new contract with them. He has forgotten more about food than most people ever learn. I can't hold in my little brain just the stuff he teaches on his show. I love to remember the shows where an AB groupie(s) "love" him. Hilarious. Unfortunately, the chain places have run out all the good local owner restaurants around here. I can't eat out any more because the chains all seem to think that (uber) salting is "seasoning". Practically encrusted with salt. I was never crazy about salt except on french fries, but now I'm about to swear off eating out for good.

As for the blender and the bathroom comment - during Christmas on the Gold Box Forum there was a discussion about a guy (at a Christmas party) who claimed to have gotten the "best gift ever" for his wife. The guy was a husband of the poster's co-worker. Well, it turned into a very long discussion about what the gift could be since the guy had given 3 hints to the OP. So everyone guessed and guessed for days until the OP could get in touch with the co-worker to ask what her DH had given her. Everybody was very anxious to know. Turned out that the "best gift ever" was a smoothie maker for her bathroom! Talk about a huge let-down. You wouldn't believe all the fantastic ideas that were discussed. We were given the 3 clues for our guessing game and so we knew it was a gift to use in the bathroom. One of the funniest threads I've ever come across on a discussion board. And there were so many women who were angry that he gave her an appliance as her "big" Christmas gift. As far as we know the wife was quite happy with it! LOL!
We just hope that she doesn't fall victim to the obvious electrical hazard. OH! Wait! Maybe he's hoping for his own big present considering the electrical issue....hmmm....

I would love to have cork floors. With all the hardscape in houses these days (like hardwood, ceramic tiles, and walls and ceilings) I'd welcome the dampening effect of the noise and ease of standing on it. Also they are hypo-allergenic since they are sealed. No smell. I wish they were a little more aesthetically pleasing to my eye, but I would like them in spite of that. The fact that it's environment friendly is an added bonus. Seems like what's old is new again. Ancient tech is back!

For the record, Oreo Cakesters are delicious, whoopie pie phoney or not. Tried them last night and ate both in the pack.

My mom has always been petite (about 110 pounds on a 5 foot frame) but she never seems to diet or go hungry, which I didn't understand because our family eats rather fat-laden ethnic food, and my father, while a healthy weight, has always had a belly. I never noticed my mom's unique eating habits until I myself became conscious of eating healthy, in my later teens. I suddenly noticed her eating habits and I can't say I was surprised anymore about her healthy build. My mom always ate at regular mealtimes, never ate between meals, consumed her food very slowly and deliberately, flavored her food strongly, never skimped on fat and grease, ate smaller or fewer portions than the rest of us, and always had a small, rich dessert before bed.

I will never be a slow eater, and I skip way too many meals to adhere to regular mealtimes, but I've learned a couple useful things from watching her (she always encouraged us to eat frequently and didn't teach us her eating style, so I learned most of it from watching). I've learned from her not to eat between meals, so I get good and hungry before mealtimes. I then try to make large, full-fat, complex meals that satisfy me at breakfast, lunch, and dinner.The rule of thumb I learned from her was, If you're hungry between meals, you didn't eat enough to satisfy yourself at mealtimes, so don't skimp during meals because it'll backfire.

I don't think her advice fits everyone, though. It is truly suited to a particularly Asian style of cooking and eating: long, multi-course family meals with several helpings of rice to fill you up and a variety of heavily flavored, non-low-fat toppings, sauces, curries, and stews to satisfy all your taste buds, heavy on vegetables with meat or seafood served once a week.

My kids used to laugh about my mother in law's fretting that she wouldn't have enough food on the table, and then pushing more on everyone because there were left-overs. It's definitely a cultural thing. Hopefully the 'clean plate club' will be disbanding at some point in the near future. As one of my friends is fond of saying, if you want a little behind, you have to leave a little behind. And while I'm dishing out platitudes, I'll just add the one I found in a fortune cookie. "Life is a journey, not a destination." It's like that with managing food intake. You can't expect the issues to go away just because you meet a weight goal. It's something you're going to live with forever. And Ed, it seems as though you've made a breakthrough. Congrats!

Everybody loves Alton Brown! He just seems to be the type of guy that we would all want to have a beer with!

In fact, over at 43People (http://spriestley.43people.com/) I have listed Alton as one of only 5 people I would really like to meet - Alton, if your're reading - the list isnt in order of importance otherwise you'd be at the top!

I edit the FoodBlog Chowbelly (http://chowbelly.wordpress.com) and would LOVE to do an email interview with Alton sometime!!

You should try to explain to a Nebraskan what a whoopie pie is!! And they call themselves Germans............lol