Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

This is pretty amazing! What an incredible resource for anyone traveling in the South! Makes me want to get in the car right now.

So often on roadtrips you see little local joints along the side of the road - having a guide to the best of them will for sure change my eating on my next trip.... Thanks!!

I baked a loaf of bread once and I still don't know what the heck I could have done to screw it up as badly as it did - it seemed to be rising ok, I don't think I made any substitutions to the recipe, but man, it was just awful - awful texture, awful flavor, just bad.

No knead bread has always turned out nicely for me. And I make a decent focaccia with fresh rosemary from the garden.

in terms of actually being in my neighborhood, I would have to say Munch's in St Petersburg, FL - great old-school southern diner food - big breakfasts and sandwiches. and super cheap too.

I like a NY strip. Medium rare, please.

gingerbread men

potato gratin might be a new one for us this year. I'm kind of tired of regular mashed potatoes (I know, it's heresy! ....but true).

my very first cookbook was a Better Homes and Gardens (I think?) book called "Cookies for Kids."

as an adult, moving away from home into my first shared apartment, my mom sent me the copy of Joy of Cooking that my grandmother had given her when *she* had first moved away from home.

Oh there are so many. I am married to a native El Pasoan, who is addicted to tacos, so I have many different categories of taco to consider:

Other El Pasoans might agree that the first time I ate Chico's Tacos at 2am after being out at a family event. Very memorable, but hardly a 'great' taco in any gastronomical way.

Walking around ciudad Juarez and geting as many different kinds of tacos as there were vendors. Carnitas, Carne Asada, chicharone. Delish!

We are slowly building up the skills to recreate these flavors at home by trial and error, because even the best mexican cookbooks (Rick Bayless etc) don't quite get us there...

pan fried, broiled, grilled, deep fried, seared....really depends on the fish!

grilled or broiled salmon with a soy ginger marinade and pineapple salsa is a current fave.

also in heavy rotation: baked snapper filets with roasted tomatoes, onions, olives, capers, olive oil and lots of parsley on top...mmm....

this winter I've been on a soup-making tear. if it's not nailed down in my kitchen it has probably been used in a soup in some way or another this year. Highlights have been a Pinto Bean Soup, a Pumpkin soup and always, Chicken Vegetable Soup with a nice warm crusty bread and a small green salad, is my go-to meal for cold weather.

The best thing I've eaten this year? Hmm. I went to France for the first time, so pretty much everything we ate there qualifies - from the saucisson sandwiches on baguette from the epicerie across the street from our hotel in Avignon, to the amazing three-course meal we ate at our tiny country in near Isle sur la Sorgue, and of course Paris, and Pierre Herme macarons and felafel, and, and , and....

At home? 2008 was the year that I decided to just relax and trust my instincts in the kitchen - many good meals, from home-made pizzas on the grill, to roasts. Oh. I also learned about butter this year, so everything got way more deliciouser!

ny strip, or skirt steak, depending on current financials.

for those windfall days - a porterhouse is delish.