Fresser

How about this, Fabby? You're the strawberry in my shortcake: All rosey-cheeked with a tempting shape!

I feel your disdain, Busboy. But part of Potbelly's history has gotten obscured. Potbelly was born in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago about 25 years ago. From its inception until 1998, Potbelly was a neighboorhood sandwich joint and was furnished with kitsch and tchotchkes carried over from its early days as an antique shop. The owners started out selling antiques and started peddling sandwiches to increase foot traffic. Then in 1998, some venture capitalist dude bought the single Potbelly store from its owner and built a second store in downtown Chicago. I was working in that same building at the time and remember the window sign announcing Potbelly's arrival in the Loop. When the store finally opened, I couldn't believe my eyes: customers were lined up out the door every day for months. Potbelly successfully transplanted the antique store kitsch to the Chicago Loop and their stores have mushroomed everywhere since.

I was looking forward to your interpretation, Fressie. Greasy, sweaty, yellowish? Thanks a lot, pal. Next time you need someone to help you find just the right garter belt, I'll be busy. ← Harrumph. Now I'll just have to find fishnets in control-top. As far as your "foofing," does it in anyway resemble snorfling?

What's a foofing? ← I'd venture a guess that she's going for some beauty treatment!! ← Ha! Fabby doesn't need any beauty treatment--she looks like buttah! A stick of buttah!

What's a foofing?

Yes. Bagpipers are essential at any important gathering. ← Maybe we should invite Fat Bastard.

I think we need a special t-shirt commissioned for this event. Ideas, anyone?

Alert the paparazzi: Mama Fresser herself would like to attend. Says Mama, "I want to meet all these eGullet people you're always talking about. Maybe I can even find a nice Mrs. Fresser for you!"

My trusty Fressermobile is at your service, Lady T! Maybe I should rename it the Heartland Shuttle.

Can you fit a whole cow? I need one transported to my deep freeze. ← It's a definite possibility--in exchange for some table scraps. Seriously, I've moved friends with the Fressermobile before. It's cavernous inside.

I hereby offer the services of the Fressermobile to shuttle visitors to and 'fro. I can seat four comfortably with room left over for luggage. Without passengers inside, I can lug a 60" television or a like-sized amount of comestibles.

All this talk of pickles has me jonesing for a corned beef sandwich. Not to mix metaphors, but RachelD, you're a peach!

Christine, If you were getting faint, you could have been either hypogylcemic (low blood sugar) or, if you had been sweating a lot, hyponatraemic (low on electrolyes). Keep orange juice on hand to boost your blood sugar. For the electrolytes, eat either bananas (a favorite of triathletes & cyclists) or prunes. Rock on with the new, svelte body!

Don't jump on the junk food bandwagon, Christine. Just because your metabolism kicked into hyperdrive it doesn't mean your body doesn't need solid nutrition. I recommend that fibrous breakfast of champions, the hearty bowl of oatmeal. Top it with bananas, blueberries and other fruit for a slow-burning hearty breakfast. For lunch, try some whole-grain breads with turkey or whatnot. Pile on some mayo-free coleslaw as well. See if this helps.

Hence the origin of the prudish (prunish?) enmity... Latka's nemesis at the garage was Alex "Rugelach" Rieger, played by Judd Hirsch. In real-life, Hirsch could not stand Kaufman. Unbeknownst to him, Hirsch was merely channeling the hamentaschen's jealousy for the latke, and, by transference, for the Latka.

Given that maize is the cash crop of the Midwest, does this surprise you? In fact, at the 1999 Symposium, professor of neonatology William Meadow stated, "Remember Fats Domino? It can be revealed here tonight that to avoid anti-Semitic prejucide in the R&B industry he had his name changed; it used to be Shmaltz Domino."

Gabriel Garcia Marquez never taught at the University of Chicago, but that wouldn't stop the mad satirists and incessant noshers from tweaking his book title. Sardonic wit and sour cream are the order of the day at the U of C's annual Latke Hamentaschen Symposium. From the Amazon.com compendium: Read all about it here: The Great Latke Hamentaschen Debate. So tawlk (and nosh) amongs yourselves.

Katie and I will have a posedown to see who has nicer gams.

I've also had the pleasure of cooking in Maggie's kitchen, and I beamed at the sight of the Traveling Riot enjoying my Pepper Chicken. I can think of no more affectionate act than preparing a meal for someone. Once when I was cooking spaghetti and meat sauce for a girlfriend named Diana, the thought popped into my mind to ask Diana to invite her sister and nieces over to join us. "The more, the merrier," I said. Diana's sister lived upstairs and had spent the better part of the day rehabbing an apartment next door, so she was too exhausted to cook. So Diana's sister and nieces bellied up to the stove as a quiet dinner for two evolved into a genial dinner for five. Diana was thrilled that I invited the whole family to the table, and frankly, I enjoyed everyone's company. If I can prepare a meal for someone, I feel pretty lucky.

I'm in. I'll even bartend for all of us. Bourbon has a wonderful soothe-the-savage-She-Beast effect at certain phases of the lunar cycle, doesn't it? ← ok- second saturday in may at our condo down the shore..... I'll even get rid of John for a few hours. ← I could make a guest appearance to serve Stilton and figs from a silver tray.

Dear HVR, Welcome to the Glucophage Groupies, an informal support group and band of cyber-kvetches. I've been diabetic since age 33 (I'm 40 now) and faced the trials of a diabetic diet. Read about it here at You'll eat it and you'll LIKE it!.

Next step in the Condiment Theft dragnet: sugar packets. Many McDonald's locations no longer offer sugar packets, but rather dispense sugar and artificial sweeteners into single-serve cups which they then offer to customers. They say it's part of their "Coffee--Customized" campaign, but the cynic in me knows the truth: McD is tired of ham-fisted customers pocketing sugar not for their coffee, but for their cupboards. Just the other day, I saw a 60-ish gent grab a literal fistful of straws from the self-serve tray at McDonald's. He must have crammed fifty straws into his grubby little mitt, which he then insouciantly stuffed into his pockets. Were anyone to have confronted him, he surely would have replied indignantly, "I'm a customer!" No, pal--you're a mooch.

Why, I ask, has puppy chow mix (which I enjoyed in my pre-diabetic days) not made an appearance in the PMS Cravings thread? It sounds like the perfect nosh for the menstrual munchies.

Said sandwich is known at Perry's Deli as the "Peter Panski." I ate at Perry's several times and can't once remember anyone ordering it.

Chef Grant, Gilda's Club Chicago can offer you support during your treatment. Also, Lance Armstrong's foundation will offer any help it can. G-dspeed to you, Chef. Steve