jetsie

Interesting article. I'd been wondering how square plates had caught on in the past ten years. Maybe it's my groovy generation, but the big square plates still make me think, "Ugh, food served in ashtrays!" On the other hand, I always liked the very small square dishes and plates used in Japan.

My five year old took this picture of the peanut butter and honey sandwiches he made himself today. <a href=" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/33/57238281_d4c08a3751.jpg" width="500" height="335" alt="sandwiches" /></a>

Peaches, toast, peanut butter, baby soap, air conditioning: little kids in the summer.

There's always the burnt marshmallow, which some have patience to make into a s'more.

Sometimes I wonder if there's a secret, addictive ingredient in Slurpees. So many people crave them. I don't like the whipped, airy ice and chemical flavor. (Though I do otherwise like the flavor "blue" and cheap popsicles.) Pass me a Del's Lemonade--heavy slush and lemony goodness.

Since water is pretty much all I drink, I buy bottled water (usually Poland Spring or Volvic). I'd prefer to drink tap water, but the local tap water tastes like chloramine and swamp goo, dredged from the banks of two nearby rivers. Filters cannot remove the off flavors.

Phew. So it's not just me. I hadn't heard anything about the show, but happened to watch it tonight, and was amazed at how drearily obvious and dull it was.

My parents were both decent cooks, so we had nothing to complain about. The only bad food memories involve my mother's brief love affair with Salmon Wiggle, and my father's experimental phase, where he would make things for us like scrambled eggs with mouth-numbing amounts of dried spices and powdered garlic, which he'd color green or puce. Yeah, real funny, Dad.

I like mayo with sandwiches, burgers, and potato salad. Can't stand the weird flavor of soy oil, so I use Hain's safflower mayo. I tried Hain's canola mayo a few times, but it's oversweetened. I don't see the point of "lite" mayo. One of these days I'll make a nice aioli and wallow in it.

I'm not Asian, but lived in Japan for a few years as a kid, so I was comfortable using chopsticks from an early age. The Japanese make colorful chopsticks with kids' cartoon characters on them, so we kids were utterly in love with them, using them for everything. In the Chinese/Japanese/Korean/Vietnamese restaurants I've been to in the U.S., chopsticks and Chinese spoons almost always seem to be the default utensils. Sometimes forks are offered or set out in addition, especially if the diners are not Asian. I usually prefer to use the utensils, dishes and glasses/cups that are traditional to specific foods. It's purely psychological for the most part, for me. My SO and in-laws are Vietnamese and use the long, square-edged chopsticks (and Chinese spoons). This type of chopstick is held very differently from the tapered, pointy Japanese-style chopstick, so I had to relearn my technique. My SO thinks Japanese-style chopsticks are hard to use! My in-laws always use chopstick holders on the table. At family gatherings I notice these days that the over-50 people are always given chopsticks, while the younger people often eat with forks, which they tend to use like chopsticks, in the sense that they pick up relatively big pieces of food and gnaw bites off them. When I amusedly pointed this out to my SO one day, he got offended, though I wasn't trying to criticize at all. I know I look awkward eating with chopsticks (even after thirty-some years), because I sit up straight and bring the food all the way up to my mouth, very Western style. As seen in this thread, it's hard to talk about cultural etiquette differences without offending.

Growing up, I remember being fed lumpy oatmeal, lumpy cream of wheat, and lumpy cream of rice. (Not surprisingly, I really like lumpy food.) My kids eat oatmeal almost daily. I eat it a couple of times a week, to boost milk production. Sad to say, oatmeal gives me heartburn and makes me feel really hungry all the rest of the day. I used to have a friend whose husband (from Scotland or Ireland--can't remember) insisted on cooking and letting his oatmeal ferment for days before he'd consider it edible.

I never want waiters kneeling or attempting to cuddle me unless I'm at a chic preschool-themed restaurant. If this does not describe your place, you can just tell your waiter it's a little too informal for your style.

I can never find those heavenly little menthol licorice pellets. Lakerol menthol licorice pastilles (sugarfree!) are pretty good, though I don't find them often.

Though I didn't grow up in New England, most of my family's been there since the 1600s. I used to go back most years for the holidays, and we did always have pumpkin, apple, and mincemeat pies, with other fruit pies for variety. (Plus Indian pudding!) Never saw a cranberry pie that I can remember. The first time I went to a friend's for Thanksgiving and they had dark, rich, chocolate creme pie . . . HALLELUJAH! This year I only had pumpkin pie. Kids and SO are not big pie eaters.

I know people who fall into this category. Whether it's institutional cafeteria food, 7-11 microwave sludge, or the cooking of a good chef, they fall on it with the same gusto and raves. I don't get it, but at least they're easy to please.