Kajikit

It never would have occurred to me to ask for a boiled egg for breakfast... but then they're not something I eat often. I do usually ask if they can do poached eggs, and the answer is usually yes. Of course, how WELL they're poached is the luck of the draw, but they're usually edible.

Given the choice between a gilded or transferred chocolate and a plainer one on the same plate, I'd take the simpler one. I know that that decorative stuff is 'non-toxic' but that doesn't mean that it's really any good for you to eat it...

Last year I was able to buy golden syrup in the supermarket in Florida - it was in a squeeze bottle with the pancake toppings. I haven't looked lately - a bottle lasts me several years because I only use it in two 'family' recipes. Another source is one of the 'English shops' scattered around the US.

I haven't peeled pumpkin or squash in years... I stopped after I figured out that the toughest pumpkin will get very soft when it's cooked, and then you can scoop the flesh off the skin without risking life and limb trying to carve it. The skin is easy to peel off if you don't want to eat it. Most of them have skins that get soft when you roast them anyway, so I generally eat the whole thing.

The Savory bars sound good, but they're not sold in Florida.

Unless it's vitally important to maintain the correct oven temperature for the entire period of baking (eg. for cookies and cakes), I never pre-heat the oven. Savoury foods go in when the oven gets turned on, and they can heat up at the same time as the oven does. That goes for frozen foods too.

Fresh lemon juice cuts the cloying sweetness of cream cheese frosting and doesn't overtly change the colour or texture.

I used to use a regular streusal, just flour, sugar, butter, oats, but apple crumble (crisp) turns out beautifully with an oatmeal cookie topping. It's got more substance to it, and it seals in the juices below.

Well, he *IS* the guy who was able to write his own cookbook in just 3-1/2 weeks, you know. He obviously does everything faster. As soon as he opened his mouth, you just KNEW he was going home... it was a relief that they didn't make him cook! I felt so sorry for the girl he screwed over by mangling her pork, but that'll teach her not to rely on totally untried chefs to do anything for her!

If you don't take it home, they're going to throw it out. What good is it to anyone in the garbage? You paid good money for it, so why be wasteful? A good steward of their resources don't waste them. (But there's no point in taking it home if it's not enough to at least be lunch for one - otherwise, THAT becomes wasteful because you're not going to eat it either way.) I'll happily take stuff home and I usually eat it the next day, heated up appropriately.

Isn't that a danger to your teeth? The unpopped part of the corn is hard as a ROCK.

My shopping list consists of a)basic staples that we've run out of (or nearly run out of) and they stay on the grocery list until I actually remember to buy them. and b)things that are on sale that week. I occasionally also add c)special items I need for something particular I want to make (like split-peas and ham-hocks if I feel like making soup, or a particular baking ingredient that an interesting recipe needs). But mostly I wing it. A lot of the time I don't even remember to take a grocery list with me - when I get home I look at the list that was on the fridge, cross out the things that I remembered to buy, and rewrite the ones that I didn't for next time. I NEVER plan everything out to the last detail. My brain just doesn't work that way - and my shopping is largely determined by what's on sale, or what catches my eye in the store. (we haven't had roast pork for awhile, let's get one, and that means we need something to roast with it... or 'whole chickens are only 50c/lb, we have to get a couple!')

As a customer, it's only fair to expect to pay more to sit down in a coffee shop and eat a nicely-plated dessert than it is to pick it up from a farmer's market stall in a cardboard box. There are all sorts of extra costs for you to make it happen.

If you make it from scratch, put ham or bacon into it and bake it with extra cheese on top, then it's a main dish (especially if you have salad to have with it.) If it's plain or out of a box, it's a side...

I will not eat in a noisy restaurant. I hate loud noise in general, and I seem to have a lot more trouble with 'ambient' noise than most people - if there's too much noise in the background, I won't be able to hear my tablemate/s speaking to me, and I certainly won't enjoy my meal.