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Growing up, we always ate dinner together. This made our dinner schedule a little more...European than other American families, as we usually ate dinner between eight and nine pm. My dad ran his own business, and lots of times he wouldn't be home before eight, so that was when we ate. If he couldn't come home at all, we'd order out and take it up to his office and all eat together (an option that, I realize, not all families have). You could invite your friends if you wanted, but the only time kids were excused from dinner was if you were working past 9 pm. No TV, no phones, no books. By the time I was in high school, my mom was back at work, so we were all expected to pitch in and help make dinner out of sheer necessity, which was a blessing in and of itself. I'm so happy we had those family dinners together - I know not every family has the option due to scheduling or other issues, but I think it has a lot to do with why my sisters and I are so close to each other and to our parents, years after everyone's left the nest. It was a hassle, but for us, totally worth it.

I've loved reading Served, and I'm sad to see you go, but thrilled about your new opportunity in sunny California. It's beautiful, and I hope you enjoy the weather and the fun SoCal food and learn a lot at your new gig!

I've been looking for a good tortilla española recipe since I came back from my study abroad in Sevilla eight years ago - I have so many fond memories of my Spanish mom cooking this for me. I think I have finally found my recipe, because this is definitely how she used to make it. Thanks for helping me toward recreating a happy food memory, Nick, and I can't wait to try it!

I love those little spongmonkeys so hard, y'all. I was completely thrilled when they got their own commercial, but to be honest, most of my friends were creeped out by the ad. I don't understand this. The ad is obviously memorable, and conveys important information about the brand - THEY GOT A PEPPER BAR! What more do you need to know? :-D

I love vegetables on their own, but pretty uniformly hate them in anything involving bread. I hate veggie pizza; I don't eat vegetables on my sandwiches; I don't want lettuce on my taco; I don't want broccoli in my casserole. My mother despairs of me. I eat them veggies the time, though - just by themselves or in soups! The one exception to this rule is spinach, which is delicious in everything.

I second those who don't like cilantro. I think there's them that like it, and them that don't, and I'm definitely one of them that don't. I can immediately tell when it's in a dish, even a little, and it ruins it for me.

I love caramelized onions and cooked tomatoes and cook with them regularly, but I won't touch raw onion or tomato with a ten-foot pole. Bell peppers are the exact opposite - I love them raw, but I really don't like them at all when they're cooked, especially when they're part of a larger dish. The taste just overwhelms everything else.

Also, though I don't think this is much of a confession on this site, I'll put a fried egg on anything that stands still long enough. Period. A fried egg makes everything better.

You are very brave to be the one to try this recipe! That said, it looks...pretty good! I think I may have to give it a shot.

Maybe it is my untrained palette (which is unused to things like homemade chicken stock), but every time I've made my own stock in the past, I've hated the taste. I've tried several recipes, and nothing has worked for me. Plus, as I usually use chicken broth/stock in things like lentil soup, and even then only once or twice a month, store-bought stock is something I'm more than willing to live with most of the time. I'm glad that I now know which ones to look for. Great review, and thanks!

Massive ditto on Boudro's. SO GOOD. Hands down, my favorite place on the Riverwalk.

For BBQ, I've heard Tom's Ribs is fantastic, but it's way out on 410. Ditto for The Smokehouse (one of Texas Monthly's Top 50 of BBQ this year, I think) - highly recommended by others, but way out of downtown. So if you're going to be sticking to the Riverwalk area, then County Line probably is one of your best bets.

I don't do it anymore (my husband is kind of a stickler for food safety), but in college, I don't think I ever put leftover pizza in the fridge, and I'd eat on it for a couple of days, no problem. Re: the bugs - I think it depends on where you live. I don't know that I'd do it in a house or apartment that had existing bug issues, but I went to college in a pretty arid area, and it really wasn't a problem there. And I didn't die, or even get sick. The crust did eventually go stale, though. ;-)

Splenda, but only for coffee. I have my one coffee with my one packet a day, then use sugar for baking, cinnamon toast, etc. For some reason, I actually prefer Splenda in coffee to sugar. Go figure.

I've really been enjoying these stories, Hannah. While I realize that every server has different pet peeves, wishes, and experiences, it's always fun to hear what's happening in the day-to-day life of a server. For those who have never held a similar job, I also think the posts can be really informative. (by the way, I totally dealt with the name-as-a-weapon people - I didn't necessarily want their name, too, but I could just tell by the way they asked that I was going to get an "OMGLAWDORK! CAN WE HAVE SOME MORE ICED TEA HERE?!" yelled across the restaurant at the worst possible time.)

Fun post, and I look forward to seeing more! It's a little bit like Kitchen Confidential for the front of the house - but with less drugs and cursing. ;-)