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I think it's wrong how whole classes of children are punished because of the behavior of others. Not all kids are obese and not all kids will turn obese simply because they eat a few cupcakes every month.

My siblings and I were all given at least one sweet snack everyday for school (e.g. chocolate chip cookies, rocky road granola bar, bag of chips, etc) and none of us had weight or health problems. However, we weren't going to McDonald's 5 times a week like some kids today appear to be doing.

What kind of a childhood would it be if kids weren't allowed to eat sweets? I still eat at least one sweet thing a day and I still don't have health or weight problems.

Let's not ban the sweets altogether. Why punish kids whose parents are responsible and aren't stuffing them full of Big Macs every day.

Well done is great for people who prefer not to see blood in their meat. Bloody meat is just so caveman. If I wanted blood, I wouldn't bother cooking meat. I'd buy a hunk from the deli and my dog and I would fight over it on the kitchen floor while the blood is flying and the sinew is ripping. Ah, that sounds so lovely. Doesn't it?

If you prefer dry, fluffy rice to wet, sticky rice use this method:

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Forget the ratios of 2:1 etc, just ensure that there's a lot of water compared to the rice you plan on cooking. Rinse your rice. Throw your rinsed rice into the boiling water and allow it to cook at medium heat for about 10 minutes or until it looks mostly cooked. Test a few grains. Don't be afraid to test. I do not cover the pot while the rice is cooking.

When it seems the rice is almost cooked, drain the rice and place the drained rice into a casserole dish or other ovenproof dish. Put a little margarine or butter on top of the rice and bake in the covered dish for about 15 minutes at 350. Take it out of the oven, fluff it with a fork and it's ready to eat.

I've used this method with Jasmine, Basmati, etc, and the rice which normally turns out sticky when cooked in the normal way becomes perfectly dry, fluffy and clearly separated into individual grains. I hate wet, sticky, clumpy rice so I find this method is perfect.

Lemon vinaigrette to be served over chick pea salad.

Yay! Robyn is the best. Serious Eats just made it's best decision ever. I hope you're paying that girl well, because she's worth it. Don't let Gourmet or Bon Apetit snap her up.

I think everyone was in agreement that the school cafeteria needed to go on a diet. But banning cupcakes is tantamount to outlawing one of the last remaining bits of childhood that kids today have left. Merry-go-rounds, walking to school, trick-or-treating, and simply playing outside are now nearly things of the past.

OK, so the cupcake crisis is not exactly up there with global warming. But it is, nonetheless, important to our national heritage (and to our fundraisers), and it doesn’t take a think tank to solve the problem.

It’s apparent that the only way we’re going to have our cupcake and eat it, too, is to build a better one. Americans do it all the time. It’s our nature. Ban it? Why, when we can just improve it.

To be successful, it must be indistinguishable in flavor and texture from the original. Can it be done? It already has been done by hundreds of thousands of parents across America who have risen up (ahem…) and have overcome the cupcake crisis by simply adding a few healthy, and sneaky, ingredients.

As a “sneaky chef,” I discovered that because kids love them so much, cupcakes are the perfect “carrier” to deliver valuable hidden nutrition. How? By simply adding a few hidden ingredients. And what school nutritionist could object to a cupcake invisibly enhanced with pureed blueberries, spinach and whole wheat pastry flour, and with only half the fat and sugar?

With this simple solution–call it a “nutritional compromise”–our kids can enjoy a time honored tradition, and we can relax in the knowledge that they are also getting some much needed nutrition.

Parents, we must unite to save the cupcake, and the bake sale, as one of the last vestiges of childhood innocence and American nostalgia. By adding some sneaky nutrition, we can get cupcakes taken off the endangered species list and back into happy tummies. Let’s start baking again for fundraisers, and keep the fun in childhood and the specialness in birthdays.

It’s time to let ‘em know there’s a new cupcake in town!

Well done.

What's worse?

A) Eating dinner at Jack in the Box with your ex-husband
B) Eating a steak & shrimp dinner with your best friend who slept with your ex-husband?

My answer? C

(For jaf: my answer for what's worse? #2 --- someone who hates cooking)

To the question of raising one's own children (ie, parents being deemed "unfit")...the cupcake thing isn't a question of one's own children, but rather all of the children in that particular class or school. If a parent wishes to send a cupcake with their own kid to school, excellent.

I'm very confused about the notion that not having cupcakes at school is some sort of punishment for children. Certainly parents can organize birthday parties outside of school where they can serve cakes of many varieties.

Maybe instead of "No Child Left Behind" it should be "No Child's Fat Behind."

I just love Robyn's photo titles. Crack me up every time.

As far as the cupcake issue goes, we didn't have cupcakes in school. On the other hand, many students sold chocolate, lollipops and other treats to raise funds for their sports teams or other pursuits during school. Does this stop as well? And, what about Girl Scout Cookies?