Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Hahaha this post made me so happy. I, too, am psyched about tonight's new Fringe episode.

I have strong love for both Eric Ripert & Alton Brown, but I think I have to go with Eric Ripert for this one.

Cape Cod chips, for the win. I love Madhouse as well, but nothing beats Cape Cod for me.

I think #4 is a little harsh for people who are REALLY beginner wine drinkers. I certainly have friends who only know they like dry reds or non-oaky whites or whatever.

If you're giving a generic broad description like that, the server or sommelier is probably going to understand that you're not super knowledge about wines & help you through the list.

Coffee Heath Bar Crunch from Ben & Jerry's. Or a Skor Bar. Can we tell I have a toffee problem?

I too, am a generous tipper, on most occasions. I always tip at least 20 percent, unless I've had really horrendous service. However, on the other side of the "keep the change" dialogue, I once had a waitress keep the change, even though we hadn't told her to! We had planned on tipping separately and needed the change from our bill back, but the waitress never reappeared. She just kept whatever change was leftover. So we left her with just that, even though I would usually never tip so low (although she had been a truly horrible server anyway).

And @jnash, I disagree with your comments about not tipping at places like Starbucks. I used to work at a local ice cream store where we would get our asses kicked when it was busy. We didn't depend on making tips but we always appreciated when people realized we were working as fast and hard as could to serve them, even with a line around the block. Same goes for a busy Starbucks. Now I always at least leave my extra change at places like that when it's incredibly busy.

Ribeye, medium rare.