My nominations. The sandwich knife (or spreader). I spent decades never having owned one of these. Now, I'll never be without one. The cheese grater. The Italian kind - you drop a chunk of fresh Parmigiano in and turn the handle to rotate the grating wheel. Finally, the ricer. Makes so much better mashed potatoes than…

I certainly don’t have room on my countertop for a crock pot, Instant Pot, rice cooker, bread maker, or similar rarely-used monstrosity. A toaster is indispensable though. I even paid $45 for a GOOD toaster. I’ve got a beautiful Breville convection oven that I use about 20x more often than the regular oven, but I…

If you’ve never seen the YouTube video by Yourway2norway about what Norwegians eat for lunch, it’s a must watch. It’s called “matpakke” and they eat it every day.

A week at the shore eating lobsters, oysters, steamers, scallops, chowder and whatever fish arrived on the day boat. 

Can you make your owns Ssamjang? I’ve got some Gochujang, some red Miso and some sesame oil. Is that a starting point or do you need to get the real thing?

You really believe that fast food sourfaux bread is real? Besides, rye is as classic with a patty melt as it is with a Reuben. If they served one to me on some fakeass sour tasting bread I'd be pissed. 

Yes. I've never had a patty melt not on rye. Wikipedia says sourdough is substituted in the South? 

The Whopper is by far the best thing on Burger King's menu and blows McDonald's and Wendy's burgers away. Take away everything that makes it good and dump some gross fucking orange sauce on it and that's supposed to make it better? There are days when I would choose a Whopper over Five Guys or Shake Shack. 

I've never had a patty melt on sourdough in my life. You must live on the west coast or something. 

I would love a piece on what other soups are consumed in Vietnam besides pho. I consume pho ravenously but would like to branch out.

These things are big in CT too. All the grocery stores carry them this time of year, in every flavor. They have billboards and tv commercials about them. In New Britain there are delis and bakeries where all of the staff and customers speak Polish only, and all of the signs are in Polish. Great spots to visit but a…

Frozen shrimp in a bag are a good option. They’re handy, inexpensive, and you can determine their origin and choose the size you want. Buy a bottle of cocktail sauce (I make my own because I like LOTS of horseradish). Put a few in the fridge and they’ll thaw overnight, or you can defrost them quickly under running…

Was the Arch Deluxe really a bigger flop than the McD.L.T.? Remember that thing? What a disappointment. Each half was served separately in a clamshell package. A monstrosity of a container and BOTH sides were cold.

Where did you get those British cans of beans? Well, the Brits seem to think that Heinz is a British company anyway. Mmmmm, beans and eggs for breakfast. 

Tamales are king! 

That's a hack I've never tried before. Sounds promising. 

The one about the McBurglar.

I'd like to see the results of Dr. Cheskin's Rorschach test. 

Yes, the gummy lumps! My cooking technique is too good to get them now, but I love 'em. Boba tea pearls got nothin' on my mom's gummy lumps. 

Looks kind of like Cincinnati chili, which I've never had.