He’s a keeper. Don’t fuck that up.

Some notes:

A lot of people like Christmas more than Thanksgiving because there are presents. I like Thanksgiving more than Christmas because there are no songs.

I’m still wondering who the hell thought “ah yes, with our company name, let us conjure thoughts of Boston, a city acclaimed more for their pizza than any other place.”

Canadian pizza chain...

When my family goes on long road trips that take us deep into the South, the Cracker Barrel is usually the only half decent option on the side of the road. if there is an IHOP or Bob Evans we would prefer that, but usually the choices are McDonalds, Waffle House (hard pass, we never eat there), or Cracker Barrel.

I had relatives visit from Ontario and they specifically requested that we go to Cracker Barrel. And not only that, but they fucking loved it. We spent another hour in the “gift shop” while they gleefully examined every tchotchke in the store.

Out here, it’s a political statement - if you think ordering from Chik-fil-A isn’t Trumpy enough, you book your group into one of the various Cracker Barrels.

My children (born and bred New Yorkers) absolutely adore Cracker Barrel. It’s the highlight of every road trip. 

I really like Katz’s but it is almost always too crowded and you should always go at off times. The Carnegie was not as good and definitely overpriced. I did like that the pictured sandwich has corned beef and pastrami. At Katz’s, I always get pastrami.

I love the idea of using (good) baby food when you need a super smooth puree.

I will always applaud ANY photograph of anything that provides something for scale.

In a way, all food photography annoys me ever since I learned (maybe 15 years ago) that so may photo sessions rely on distinctly non-food substances to make dishes look mouth-watering. If you have ever worked in the food industry, you know that fresh, off the skillet (or out of the oven, etc.) isn’t going to look very…

I generally avoid posting any food pics but for practical reasons I’d like to propose something like alternative to the stacking described above. I like to take a picture of a sandwich with a dollar bill for scale like so

The unfortunately named Woody Allen at the old Carnegie Deli was quite stacked. Good sandwich, bad man.

My dad used to make me PB&J’s in this style for lunch when I was in school, made a lot of kids jealous. Peanut butter on both sides of the middle slice for “insulation” from the jelly. I kept eating them into my late 20s until I realized that each one of those sandwiches is approximately 40,000 calories.

I am pro tall club sandwiches with 3 pieces of bread.

We go to the Smithsonian for the day and then go out for Indian food. It’s pretty great. 

When I was a kid, the snack table existed to keep the men and kids (in today’s parlance, non-cooks) out of the kitchen. It was full of wonderful dips, spreads and bite size morsels ranging from savory to sweet. This was the only time of year anyone would splurge for Owl’s Nest Garlic cheddar spread. Grandpa and I were…