As a former Girl Scout, I usually hit the top list consistently because I had a Nana who used to bring the list to work and gently ‘ahem’ ask co-workers to support her granddaughter’s troop. The woman was an excellent salesperson.

My daughter was a ‘theater kid’ in High School during the heyday of Rent. I can stand tall today and say that if I never hear a single note of that musical again, I will die a happy woman.

I had a dorm mate / good friend who inevitably would host study sessions in her room because she owned an air popper. We ate cornfields of the stuff in our 4 years of undergraduate education. And it beat using one of those Jiffy Pop pans over the dorm kitchen stove or a hot plate. (Though I will say, I still love the…

I mean how else are we going to find out if Mayonnaise is an instrument?

Alaska is amazing. They were the last leg of our trip coming back from Germany and the other airline trips before that had been horrible. One of the people at the gate overheard what had happened and came up to us and apologize for their partner airline and moved us up to first class at no additional charge.

I’ve used the vinegar / baking soda method for years to clean out pots that looked like they were lost. I’m glad you avoided the chemical removal method; those products always gave me pause. Which is why I would never eat at this persons house:

So not technically Shepherd’s Pie, but its also a great way to make a quick meal out of Thanksgiving leftovers, just sub out the “meat” with turkey.  Chances are you already have the mashed potatoes and leftover vegetables. 

Even as really picky child, I loved eggplant for some reason. My mom made a spicy eggplant parm that I still love as comfort food. This recipe sounds wonderful and may get my “I hate eggplant” youngest child to eat the stuff. I also concur that Chinese cuisines do some wonderful things with eggplant.  

Despite being from New Jersey, land of toll booth buckets on the GS Parkway, I had never heard of this.  Chuck-e-Cheese and Boardwalk tokens, but never Necco wafers.  

I remember when Santa Cruz county decided to tax grocery bags and work towards banning plastic bags. You would have thought you were taking away someone’s first born child by the way people were reacting. Now its normal for everyone to grab their canvas bags when they go to Trader Joes or Safeway.

Fry bread was pretty much a staple on our camping trips when the kids were young—its easy to bag all the ingredients, add water, knead and then fry over a fire in a cast iron pan.

We had been co-workers for a few months before that. My kids love to tell their friends how we met. We were both waiting on line for the copier at work and he and a fellow co-worker were talking about the fact that Oliver Stone was going to make a Doors movie.

And there’s always the German “Bier auf Wein, lass das sein; Wein auf Bier, das rat’ ich dir” which somewhat translates to Beer after wine is to be avoided, Wine after Beer, its ok for you.  

As a confirmed introvert, a restaurant proposal would have been a horror for me. The first person I was engaged to, did it on a Thanksgiving dinner during dessert in front of all his family, my mother and my sister. My family had no idea, but his did and it was awkward as hell, and pushed me to make a decision that I…

Its why they call it Penntuckey.  I went to college in Western PA and the culture shock in coming from the NY/NJ Metro area was severe.  And it wasn’t just the fact that Yinzers put fries on anything that doesn’t move.

I do purge my kitchen on a quarterly basis, but the one area I fail on is spices. I have a entire kitchen drawer of spices—some of which were bought for a specific recipe and may never be used again.

Their parody of “Gone With the Wind” is still one of the funniest things from that show. “Why Scarlett that DRESS!” “Well, I just saw it in a window and couldn’t resist”

I spent four of my high school years in band / orchestra with a teacher that came from the Whiplash school of music instruction. Every year, he would make the spring concert a combination of a jazz “big band piece”, an overture from something like West Side Story and a classical piece. One year he picked “The Barber…

Team fondue here.  Around the holidays, we always have a communal type event like this--fondue, Shabu shabu--those shared pot meals that seem to bring out great conversation, many bottles of wine and everyone around the table and interacting.  Plus fondue is a great throw together meal when you have cheese leftovers…

As a vegetarian who cooks with nutritional yeast (yes its a must add to “mock tuna” with garbanzos), and a German - American girl who’s eaten more than her weight in lifetime sauerkraut, I am doubtful this tastes like cheese.  But I will give this a whirl this weekend.  Still doubtful though...