Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Interestingly, I'm the complete opposite with peanut butter, and if you speak to many nutritionalists (including the one at the gastroenterology department at UVA, who first told me this) they have quite a different take on peanut butter. Used in moderation, it is a weight loss aid. If I am getting peckish in the long hours of the afternoon, I help myself to a teaspoon of peanut butter. Very filling for its calories (if you pause for 15 mins to give your stomach time to register it), it is the perfect filler to carry me through to the evening.

I guess the real point is the 'moderation' part :)

That is a pretty fair suggestion. Though to be honest my main complaint is generally the extra carbs. I'm doing my best to limit them (not eliminate, I don't believe in dieting by malnutrition ;) ). So really, I just take the beans on the side, and make them the main course :)

I made an interesting discovery a couple of weeks ago. Up until then I, like you, always drank juice (not soda to be fair) instead of water. I didn't really like water very much. My husband then made a suggestion - stop drinking iced water, stop running the tap until the water is cold, instead, drink the water at room temperature. At that point I had a real revelation - water at room temperature tastes really good, it is sweet and surprisingly flavorful. From then on, I stopped craving juices for their flavor, as it was all there in the water. For me, this applies mostly to tap water, as I find most bottled waters taste quite salty - but that might be worth exploring too, if you find one you like.

I'm a fan of the much smoother malts - Edradour, Tomintoul and Old Poultney all vie for position as my favourite. Before that I really didn't much like whisky (coming from Scotland I wouldn't ever dare show my face again if I called it 'Scotch'!), having had many people advocate the peaty island malts to me - not a starting point for the uninitiated IMHO. My suggestion is that the best way to learn a love for whisky is to take a week or so, and go on a whisky tour. Beautiful countryside, some adorable and charming distilleries, and plenty of helpful people ready to explain every nuance of the differences in technique (caramel [crime!] vs. sherry casks for the colouring, for example).

Awww, the poor guy knocks his own eye out!

Pumpkins and butternut squash - I find them almost interchangeable. Roasted, pie, curried soup, cheescake... why do I only have to pick one method??

Ewww!

Why not haggis? It's seriously tasty, and believe me, there's not a sheep's intestine in sight. It's all good meat (a hell of a lot better than that found in many burgers and chicken nuggets). It may (if you're lucky) be packed into a sheeps stomach lining, but that's just packaging (and how eco!), not to be eaten.

I've always loved five guys (assuming they are the same as the Virginia version) but I'm still impressed to see them doing so well in a comparison like this. Does the New York version have peanut shells all over the floor too?

Were the women that 'hot guy' came in with generally older? Maybe he's a gigolo?

I hate to be too negative, but I think part of your problem is your mileposts. Losing a pound is not in fact weight loss, that's wearing different clothes, shoes, no belt, having slightly less food or water in your system. Being seriously impressed that you haven't gained weight during a week is not a productive target. I think you need to set an actual target of pounds lost each week, and then if you don't lose that many, the week was not a success.

I long ago decided that I was not going to keep the weight down by changing my diet to eat only those dull foods. Apart from anything else there's no way I would stick to it. So like you, I operate portion control. On the other hand, I'm not adverse to filling up my stomach with something filling but low calorie - a bag of carrots, a big bowl of fibre etc etc - when I know I'm going out to eat. I am wondering if you go to these restaurants hungry? It might be easier to exercise portion control on the high calorie foods if you are only hungry enough to eat a mouthful of them anyway?

I think that sourdough has its place, but that it isn't kept in it. When I lived in Virginia, my local Harris Teeter sold 'baguettes', which were sour dough. I can remember far too many cheese and wine evenings, bread puddings and other events where sourdough was the feature. It doesn't stay in its place in a cheese and wine event, and it sure does make for an odd bread pudding.