Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

This man is a hero to us all.

When I was little my dad's best friend, Ralphie, was our default "uncle." Every Christmas and birthday he gave us picture books (usually Chris Van Allsburg) inscribed with our nicknames that he had made up. My older brother was Dickie Dickins, my older sister, Little Miss Dickens and me, the chunky monkey baby was dubbed Porky Dickens.

When I decided I wanted to start a blog as a creative outlet/ place to gush about food, on a whim "porky dickens" was the first name I tried. It was available, so now it's here to stay. I like it because it's silly, it's nostalgic and it's food related.

Lived there for four years. Every time I'm in New York we roll through for snacks on the way home! My favorites: Pasquale Rigolettos, Domenicks (which FYI, is family style and has no menu). If you're looking to pick up a pizza go to Full Moon or if you want to get some excellent Italian groceries and the Market is closed, go to Tino's. Right next to the Chase Bank. I looove.

Love her. Love the ranch. Want to go. When Deb from Smitten Kitchen visited her ranch and they gave cooking classes together my mind almost exploded with blogger girl crush! If you guys want me to come over next time I totally will!

Wait, how did he blog without electricity? Too extreme. Makes being a conscious eater/consumer look like a whole lotta crazy. We need to take steps every day to lesson our footprints, but I don't think chucking our fridges, and quality of life, is the way to get this sort of movement as widespread as it needs to be.

Yeah hangry is old news. And it's absolutely perfect to describe girlfriends like me when my blood sugar drops too low.

I actually get secretly mad at fellow diners when they order repeat dishes. I have successfully turned both my best friend and my boyfriend into avid meal sharers. It's SO much better.

If you plan on grilling at home at all, don't miss Dom's Sausage Company in Malden. They make their own sausages and they are seriously to die for. Also, where Dom's is located there is a great, inexpensive produce super store and also a large Super 88 market (hard to find Asian foods).

If you want to go out in Cambridge, it is close by. Also it's restaurant week here, so maybe planning a trip into the city to try a fancy restaurant at a cheaper pre fixe price is a good idea. I recommend Rialto at the Charles Hotel in Harvard Square.

Between me and my moms, we read every single one, every single month. Bon Appetit is the standout. You will cook more of their recipes then say, Gourmet or Saveur (which are both great in their own way) and Cook's Illustrated only has, like, 5 recipes and is bi-monthly AND is more expensive then the rest. The only thing that bothers us lately about BA is that they tend to use these hipster models that don't really look like they eat much of anything. The food alone though is great, every month I read it from cover to cover and mark loads of good recipes, some of which can be followed strictly or just used for inspiration and interpreted in your own way, depending on what kind of cook you are.

I like a soda every once in a while. But soda water/seltzer whatever you want to call it, I love. Sometimes you just need bubbles.

ditto to cookbook. A really good basic one. Bittman's How to Cook Everything is nice and my friends who have Giada books love her stuff.

Things they don't know they need that they really need: a good knife, a salad spinner, a big kid cutting board.

I'm glad that the 'bucks is attempting to get a little healthier. But I would put money on the fact that the calorie content of absolutely everything is still totally outrageous. If you're attempting to watch what you eat and drink- go online, check out the cals for Starbucks' drinks and snacks and prepare to be blown away. The amount of calories and fat in a piece of their coffee cake is comparable to a burger from McDonalds.

I have an existing fork, knife, salt and pepper in my desk drawer. I bring my lunch in a tupperware (usually a container from take out that I wash to reuse), in a cloth bag. I pack homemade salad dressing in a teensy glass jar that was originally a hotel jam jar (you know like the kind with room service). I still use the plastic tupperware containers, but I wash and reuse, so that's not bad, right?