I took advantage of a Black Friday deal and tried some of XCJ’s offerings, and I really enjoy their chili crisp. Admittedly my spice tolerance isn’t great, but I thought it had solid heat without being overwhelming. Theirs also seems to have more Szechuan pepper than others I’ve tried, so you get some good mala…

If there’s a Caribou Coffee near you, they make a Malted Mocha that’s diabetically delicious!

My best friend from high school and I dressed as the fur trappers for Halloween one year. We made a papier mache canoe in two parts (a front and back half, like corny horse costume), and ran around all night singing Alouette. It was glorious.

Star for the Bad Blood reference!

Once in middle school they were serving “chicken o’s” for lunch, and my goofy-ass social studies teacher stopped class to ask “What part of a chicken is the o?” He might have been trying to point out to us how horrible public school cafeteria food is, but was probably just making a joke about eating chicken buttholes.

Good call on Waffle House. I’ve never actually been to one, but the American diner breakfast is a thing of beauty, and should absolutely be on the list of anyone visiting the States. 

For the novelty factor alone I feel like its a must-visit, if you’re from outside the States and want the American fast food experience. It’s a throwback to a bygone era, and where else are you going to get that? Plus, you can eat like 10 tiny burgers and pretend you’re a giant!

I have had exactly two White Castle experiences:

I wouldn’t say my hometown is famous for this (because Minot, ND isn’t famous for anything besides train derailments and floods), but a couple of local diners had a haystack on the menu, and I haven’t seen it many other places. To construct a haystack: two halves of a buttermilk biscuit, add a layer of hash browns, top…

I actually got into the Wimsey series over the last year, and thought The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club tackled shell shock and veterans’ issues in a surprisingly thoughtful way. That it also has the most delightfully British title of all time is just a plus.

A couple years after I graduated college I went to a wine walk at the zoo in my hometown. Reps and distributors had tables set up throughout the zoo with 2 cheap-to-mid-range red and white wine samples per table, and you wandered about looking at the sad animals and drinking tiny plastic cups of wine. Aside from…

Honestly, since I’ve started making dried beans regularly (thanks Rancho Gordo!), leftover bean broth has almost completely replaced traditional stock in my freezer. Just beans, olive oil, s&p, and whatever aromatics I feel like that day, and it’s absolutely killer. It’s always uncannily savory for something with no…

I always save any bones left over from roasts, etc., but whenever I’ve tried saving vegetable scraps to make stock it has always ended up tasting muddy, if that makes sense. Just sort of muddled and muted and not very appealing, which I assumed was just due to me not being super mindful about what I threw in the…