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There's a place in Philly that my parents go to get banh mi but lately the shop has been skimping on the meats. So I've been filling my sandwiches up with a couple of slices of bacon - even though the flavors don't quite mesh together, it's more filling and I can't complain about the bacon!

Woot, another Gburg alum here too! I love Ernie's - just had lunch there two weeks ago. I must admit that their hot dogs were different from anything else I've ever had before but I enjoyed their burgers and fries. It may have a lot more to do with the atmosphere than the taste, but it was still pretty nice.

I'm so sorry for your loss. I always looked forward to seeing Dumpling and his adventures on SE.

My mom bought this mix and with some leftover batter, she made little cookies about the size of a quarter. They were rich and buttery, but the petiteness of them were perfect with a cup of tea. So now I have a box just sitting in my cupboard waiting to be made into cookies.

In case anyone is interested, she just followed the directions on the box to make the batter and baked the cookies for 10 mins at 350 degrees F.

Another vote for Singapore Airlines. Since it was 14 years ago, I don't recall all the meals I had but I do remember having lamb for the first time and really liking it.

I also appreciated how the menu reflected the cuisine of the region you were flying into. Like when we flew into Saigon, we were served Vietnamese food to get your tastebuds used to it (though it was certainly not better than what I had in the country!)

When I go to a restaurant, I usually request a Coke. Sometimes that restaurant serves Pepsi products (unbeknownst to me), so I am fine with a Pepsi instead. Even though I'm one of those who voted for "Soda", I think it helps clarify what soft drink I want by saying "Coke", since my family calls any drink with carbonation as a soda.

Btw, I have found the Wegmans' generic soda (W-Pop) an excellent substitute for Coke.

Probably not extreme but really unappetizing: A friend of mine and I were on a trip to Germany in high school and we saw what we thought was smashed banana on toast. So we each took a bite and had a slimy, greasy mouthful of "schmaltzbrot". Turns out that "schmaltz" is just pure animal fat - we should have opened our dictionaries before our mouths.

My mom typically uses dark soy sauce instead because it's so convenient for her. Nevertheless, the pictures above seem so enticing that I may have to try to make my own caramel sauce.

I remember seeing Williams-Sonoma selling Vietnamese caramel sauce and thought it was overpriced. This recipe has definitely confirmed my opinions about it.

We would get Dunkin' Donuts coffee for group meeting and they either put the creamer and sweeteners in the middle of the coffee caddy (as shown in the picture above) or give us a bagful. These solutions seemed to work well for us.

The coffee top caddy doesn't seem all too secure, especially if you're rushing back in a busy city and can easy bump into others. Plus, I doubt that the employees at DD have the time and patience to place those things on there nicely. Seems like dumping them into a bag or on a tray is the quickest and most efficient.

Perhaps they are trying to introduce a new unit of measurement to replace our Imperial system, Scändinavian ünits.

I guess you don't have to trek to Philly for Tony Luke's anymore? Seems like they'll be coming to your local grocer's freezer aisle.

@justcook: Le Grand Chef was great - just watched it all online! I really enjoy Korean dramas and that film was perfect.

@roboppy: you have no idea how much you've influenced me, muwahahaha ;o)

There should be a new Academy Award category: Best Foreign Food Film.