Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Yum!
Have no kitchen right now...home remodel...don't ask...but want to try this one. Except for the heat of summer, anytime is fine for turkey time! And hey...I'd make this as a stand alone with some homemade gravy and cranberry sauce and be a very happy camper.

Of course! I mostly use bananas in cereal/oatmeal so bruising isn't as obvious as out of hand eating. If it's peel and eat...I prefer not green but not overripe. Lots of bruising/browning...ditto above...banana bread, pancakes, smoothies, muffins, banana daiquiris...yum!

Please buy organic bananas...and fair trade also if possible! Not to be a groove killer but the majority of bananas are picked using child labor (NY Times did a great article about this a number of years ago) so at least have the kids not sprayed with toxins (that we've banned in the USA and they're using) while they're picking and packing our bananas! It's the least we can do and a first step in improving the lives of the young workers. More people wanting organic bananas, more organic production, less kids exposed to toxins.

Cook's Illustrated (CI) to learn a lot and use (though I also think it stinks you get double dipped for the online sub), and Everyday Food to learn and use a lot. I've read many of the above and if it had to be one, it'd be CI.

Cooking Light? I know it's really popular but the majority of our country men & women weigh what??? Low fat is crap. I've had high cholesterol and been able to lower it (lower the bad stuff and raise the good) by eating grass fed beef and whole fat everything (organic and raw when possible...how can I afford it?...CSA/co-op/greenmarkets & smart shopping) and no meds. This was a tough question because each mag has different things to offer...Saveur, Fine Cooking, Gourmet, Eating Well, Martha Stewart Living and Vegetarian Times all appeal to me. I haven't seen or gotten the Jamie Oliver mag yet but I love Jamie so I'll have to check it out.

To answer the question...of course not! Never say never and never say always. I must not be eating enough local food (anybody who knows me would laugh hysterically at this point) as I haven't gotten burned badly enough to feel like this...or my standards are awfully low!

Am I down with eating bad food produced by good people? No, but I'd like to help them become better producers with feedback. We need all the good growers/food entrepreneurs we can get. I had an experience where I bought pickles made by a CSA farm I love. They looked great but were kinda mushy. I spoke to the farmer and they realized what happened and learned what to do next batch/time. I think they decided to stick to being growers and not continue with value added items as it can be harder than it looks. I used them in tuna salad, etc and they were fine but not good for plain eating. Unless something is down and out manky/nasty, I can find a way to improve and use a challenging purchase. And if it is manky, any decent food seller will want to know, feel dreadful about it, and make restitution.

Ask for samples, if no samples ask what they'll do if you don't like their food (out of luck, money back, exchange). If you have an issue, speak up...though like others have said, one person's salt lick is another's just right - food is sooooo subjective. If you don't want to speak up, don't go back.

As far as thanking my lucky stars for Smuckers & Oscar Mayers? Food is better than no food however, I'm an upper lower class blue collar person who's been buying local/organic/natural for too long to feel very celebratory about agribiz and industrial food production. Not ungrateful mind you as I was raised on it and once I'm eating out and about...who can keep track of where everything comes from? I'm watchful and do what I can but don't get mental about it.

I finished the hot choco once and may never do it again. Decadent beyond decadent. So far, I've been putting it in the fridge and having choco delight (thicker than pudding but I pretend). Will try the freezer.

Consider not putting it in the microwave and just letting it sit in the fridge to get to choco delight stage. Microwaves change chemical structure of food (especially fats) into things that scientists haven't discovered yet and the new compounds they have, mostly haven't been tested for safety and some of them have been suspected of being extremely bad eats (carcenogenic). For people putting their stuff in ecocontainers (see above photo), microwave is ecologically advised (less energy) but health-wise, nuh-uh.

foodinmouth says there's no PF Changs or Cheesecake Factories in NY. If you mean NYC, ok. Otherwise, check out their websites & locate. Out on LI there's two Cheesecake Factories...Smithhaven Mall in Lake Grove & The Mall at the Source (who names these damn things?) in Westbury. Westbury has PF Chang's as well, & Houston's is next door at the Roosevelt Field Mall. I haven't been to any of them but it's on my list of things to do.