MomOfLittleFoodies

The closest Sonic to me is about a half hour away, so we generally only go to Sonic when on road trips. I always order the Chili Cheese Tots and a Cherry Limeade.

Please tell me this is a joke..? That sounds like an emetic, not a sweet. No, I don't have a TV, long (not interesting) story. This is the single most vile sounding dessert ever. To be fair, most of her desserts fall into the "most vile sounding dessert" category. Google "Sandra Lee Kwanzaa Cake" sometime. *shudder*

Fat Guy, have you considered the Laptop Lunch system? I work as a noon supervisor for a local elementary school, and the Laptop Lunch system seems to be easy for the little kids to use. The other popular options are the Snaplock/Lock and Lock style containers.

I use cheap wooden ones, granted we're a Japanese-American family living in the US, so chopsticks aren't everyday utensils for us.

Right now they're offering grilled sandwiches (panini-ish) and I'm hooked on the Deli Trio, which I suspect is the one people are saying is like a Cuban. My go-to burger at JITB is the Sourdough Jack. Their salads are pretty good too.

I guess I'm not a self-respecting egullet member. My almost 13 year old actually likes Chef Boyardee ravioli. This is the same child was eating sashimi and chunks of parmesean at a preschooler. It's nice to know that there's a lower sodium option out there for him.

I can believe that. Most of the development in the IE is relatively recent. I spent my childhood in the East San Gabriel Valley and the Pomona Valley, and I remember when the Inland Empire was still mostly rural... and I'm only in my mid 30s. I'm jotting this one down for the next time I visit my parents.

Here's my most recent Hall of Shame entries... Cilantro Lime Big Fish sandwiches from Burger King, and Chicken McNuggets from McD's with the Sweet Chili dipping sauce (which is just thickened Mae Ploy).

When it comes to tuna, I want it completely raw, or completely cooked. No rare duck or pork please. The only meat I like rare is beef, and even then, I like it to be at least warm in the center. On the hot dog thing, I like mine with mustard. None of that fancy stuff either. Just yellow "ball park" style mustard.

I have a milk allergic daughter, so maybe I can help. My daughter likes things like little sausages, chicken wings (split into drumette sizes), Sunflower Seed Butter and Jelly sandwiches, chicken legs, cheeseless pizza, musubi/nigiri, chicken nuggets/tenders or fried rice.

Top Ramen appears on my shopping list frequently. I buy Spam 2 cans at a time. I actually like fast food burgers. I don't like bleu cheese or cherry/grape tomatoes. I love Cheetos and Chili Cheese Fritos. I eat Hamburger Helper once a year.

As far as burgers go, I know this isn't really fast food, but local for both of us... Nations makes a MUCH better burger than In-N-Out. Sure, a cheeseburger at Nations costs twice as much as an In-N-Out burger, but it's worth it. I love In-N-Out and Carl's Jr, but I'm originally from SoCal, where both are more common. I'm a sucker for a Western Bacon Cheeseburger from Carls. If you want a good local burger, there's this little hole in the wall place here called Gordos, near the hospital, that makes a mean burger and awesome fries.

I have kiddos with food allergies, so my reasons for patronizing some chain restaurants is pretty much the same as John's.

In CA, waitstaff get minimum wage at the very least, without tips calculated into it. It's state law... so when I dine out, I don't factor the "poor underpaid waitstaff" into my tipping at all.

Some Subways will NOT take special requests. One of the ones in my area will not make something if it's not on the menu, even if you're just asking for a salami sandwich.

Oh, that nice park has a few domestic geese hanging around that someone could probably get away with abducting. Those are the mean ones anyway.

The party meatballs are popular at our house... most often served with mushroom gravy over rice.

I've had really good luck substituting 1/4 cup mashed tofu per egg in boxed brownie mixes. A lot of the other vegan egg substitutes just don't do the job for brownies... not enough moisture. I had to bake egg free for 6 years when my oldest child was egg allergic, and it took me 5 years to find a decent egg free brownie.

Picture a Twizzler, but one that's just sweet--without that sickly artificial strawberry flavor. Last week I had a discussion with a co-worker who's from the East Coast. He maintains that East Coasters love Twizzlers and hate Red Vines, while West Coasters love Red Vines and hate Twizzlers. Since this California girl's tastes support his theory I couldn't deny it. Is there a difference between Heath bars and Skors taste-wise. I like both, but I don't eat them frequently enough to have done any analysis. To me, Twizzlers have a weird rubbery texture that places it somewhere between one of those crappy fruit snacks and fruit leather. Red Vines have a kind of vague berry flavor rather than Twizzlers obviously fake strawberry flavor. Between the flavor and the texture, I just can't bring myself to eat twizzlers. For some reason they remind me of that children's chewable aspirin Mom used to give us. I can find Skors and Heath bars at pretty much every grocery store in my area. The difference I've noticed between the two is that the toffee in the Heath Bars is much softer, almost mushy, in comparison to Skor bars. I'll eat both, but for eating as a chocolate bar, I prefer Skor bars because they don't make quite the mess.

corner of Treat and Oak Grove in Concord. I forgot to mention their simmer sauces that come in glasses. Some very good Indian style, Italian, etc. I embellish them a bit with extra onions and curry powder if I have time and I usually fry the chicken first to brown it a bit, but even without that they make a nice quick meal. Add the curry naan bread and you're done. Yup, that's exactly the same one I shop at. I'm familiar with the simmer sauces... I miss the Cuban Mojito one they used to carry. It was awesome with pork.

Oreos, Skor Bars, and Red Vines.

Subway is a food of desperation for me... I only get it when I'm desperate and there are no other viable options. Back in the 80's, Subway was actually pretty good. Nowadays I can get a better sandwich at the grocery store deli, so guess where I go? As far as big chain sandwich shops go, I prefer Quiznos, but in general I prefer to patronize local "Mom and Pop" kind of establishments, or small local chains.

Not for laundry, but for vending machines. There's nothing worse than needing a bottle of water or a can of soda pop, and only having a dollar bill that is too screwed up to go through the dollar slot on the machine.

I can go either way... sometimes I want sweet, sometimes I want savory.

Not food related, but I always appreciated rolls of quarters as gifts in college.