mcdowell

Not necessarily. Different food stuffs are metabolized by your body differently, the excess calories disposed of differently. That's why diets like Lord Atkins are effective (at least for time, until the rebound). Lets try an experiment - we need one eGullet'r to eat only 3000 calories of bacon each day for a month, and one to eat only 3000 calories of apples...

But, by watching her, you're burning your calories vicariously, so it's all good. I get most of my excercise this way.

Basic Ceasar, extra anchovie.

I've found that for hangover prevention, nothing beats a three piece KFC meal, extra mashed potatoes, and a liter of water as you head home with a brain full of tequila. I once woke up in a Super 8 motel in a scarily small west texas town after a bizzarre almost-all-nighter at some strange little nudie club on the far, far outskirts of San Antonio, only to find my jeep littered with flakes of "extra crispy" and tongue tracks through the mashed potato container. I have no idea what happened in there, but I wasn't hung-over. I was missing my right shoe, however, and the gearshift kept sliding out of my hand for all of the day-old grease. Ah, I don't take pride in getting drunk. Booze makes you stupid, not something most of really need that much extra help with. I do enjoy a good time and, in the swamps and bayous where I used to play, the two would very often go hand in hand. I don't get stupid drunk anymore, my tolerances falling with age, but there is still the occasional hangover. Not all lessons learned are heeded.

Hot off the ticker, seems that the ubiquitous "Dr. Phil" is making weight management a focus during the second year of his successful daytime program. No plans for Oprah to participate. Ahem.

Funny, in the 80's I think I only woke up without a hang-over once. You're the anti-me. Menudo works wonders, spiced up and served with tar thick black coffee (no room for subtlety in these situations).

It's hard to tell through all that damned sauce. This isn't a sandwich that you can eat driving down the road, being thrown hand to hand and you alternate shifting your gears and turning into a curve at high speeds. You need to be sitting down to eat it, where you can let all that tartar sauce drip out. The Filet-o-Fish is a perfect piece of engineering. Good mouth feel, just the right amount of saucing, that nice gooey slice of American cheese, and, of course, the fish flavor. Oh, and it doesn't drip. For my money, though, the best fast food fish sandwiches are from What-A-Burger.

Nobody ever has enough kitchen stuff!!! As for me, I make a mental note, then come back to the store later, without my girlfriend, where I buy what I want and sneak it into the house. Just like any good addict. And like every good addict's lover, she sees right through me. Thankfully, it amuses her. The big stuff,well, I convince her that she wants it, then I buy it for her as a gift. She received a very nice Kitchen Aid mixer for Christmas this past year. Everybody's happy then.

The freedoms provided by living life the American Way used to put the burden of responsibilty on the individual. People were responsible for their actions. I was certainly raised that way. If I made a decision, I either reaped the rewards or suffered the burden of the mistake. I still base my life around this philosophy. It makes me careful about the things I do, and it makes me weigh the risk/reward curve very carefully (I tend to skew in favor of risk for high reward, but that's just me, and that can lead to dreadful personal paybacks). At some point in our cultural timelime, between Jimmy Carter and today, we stopped being responsible for our actions. Bad things that happened in our life, be it a big belly or a diseased lung, suddenly became somebody else's fault, a way to reap reward for bad living. That's offensive to me, especially given that we as individuals are provided access to more information about the potential consequences of any possible decision that we could make, in any arena, than at any other time in human history. We have the highest quality of life, and access to more choices on everything, than anyone, ever. How can that be the case, and yet still have people suing because an addiction to burgers makes them fat? It's embarrassing and offensive personally and culturally (somebody has to step up and represent the American Way ). Abusing any substance, be it bourbon or tobacco or hamburgers, will lead to nasty results. Whether there are formal studies or not, it's common sense. Should we be taking hard looks at the industries that put food in our bodies, forcing a certain corporate responsibility? Absolutely. Should we sue because a grease addiction contributed to flabby thighs? Get the hell away from me with those stupid questions.

The space between the driver's seat and center console in my car is a monument to french fries lost. A knowlegeable food archeologist could map my meals...

Very nice. Kinsey's writings are, to a post, educational and entertaining. I may not agree with everything he says, but I always look forward to his words. Great words. Congratulations to the New York crew. *edit to prove to self that one shouldn't type after 1am

Doesn't everyone do unlimited fountain sodas? Or is that a regional thing? Being from the south, I'd always imagined that everyone served endless gallons of iced tea from jugs large enough to hold, well, gallons. Then I moved to Boston and learned differently. Still, I thought that sodas were freely refilled everywhere.

Nothing worse than Texas well water, and no amount of filtering can fix it. Hot water stinks, cold water tastes terrible, and shower heads have to be replaced every 18 months from the gunk. Great memories. Live in Cupertino CA (South of San Francisco) right now and the water smells funny, but not Texas funny. I cook with it, but use bottled for coffee. Some things you just don't risk.

Oh, yeah. Horseradish, mustard, & mayo on roast beef. Hold the beef - just give me a spoon

In the old days they'd be fried up fresh and stored under the heat lamp. Hitting McD's at lunch rush, you almost always had fresh food. Three in the afternoon, however, was a bit more of a crapshot. They reengineered their operation the back half of the 90's, where they now precook food (not sure if that's on-site, or its shipped to them precooked), then stored in a holding cabinet and a new bun toaster. The cabinet creates a steamy environment where cooked meat patties are held until a customer orders a sandwich. (Interesting article, written from business ops perspective) Side note: looking for that article on cooking, I found a site that lists the ingredients used in McD's food. Interesting to skim *edited to replace "grilled" with "fried" -

agreed. it's my sandwich of choice lately at BK. however, McDonald's is fighting back with their double quarter pounder. I spent a summer back in '84 working the quarter grill at McDonald's. Loved the burgers then, but noticed that they're more "pressed" and dry since they stopped cooking them fresh in the store. One of my first home culinary adventures took place with a carton of stolen frozen fries and mom's "fry daddy". Didn't work out quite as expected, but that's a different story for a different thread. Love the Whopper. Nice and wet. My favorite fast food right now. The problem with BK is that their fries are absolutely terrible. Onion rings with that zesty sauce are passible. It's not unheard of to drive thru BK and get the burger, then hit the McD's across the street for the fries...

I've also been to 20 of the 27. I like Fuddrucker's burgers (but haven't had one in half a decade).

I ate at an In-n-Out just two days ago, my third time in three years. Rather, I ate in my jeep in the parking lot of the In-n-Out. The burgers & fries are good, and cheap, no question. Unfortunately, the chaos and noise level make it absolutely impossible to enjoy the food inside. Are they all that crazy? Or is it a location thing?

Given that she was eight months pregnant, the "champagne" was non-alcoholic. I believe that we ate at a fish-n-chips place on the Galveston sea-wall after visiting the Justice-of-the-Peace in a town smaller than my current house... spent the night with a lovely view of the oil wells just offshore, the next morning walking on the beach before heading back to the hotel, where we scrubbed the tar-balls off our feet with a little turpintine as we had eggs from room service. The marriage lived up to its beginning, ending much the same as it began a few years later, in a fish-n-chips place on some sea-wall somewhere on a different coast. I'm still scraping the tar off.

Pastrami on rye, extra saurkraut, homemade horshradish mustard. Breakfast of champions.

This is interesting. Here it is from the Horse's mouth, though I only count 20 states ("may be more based on contractual agreement"). There are a number of states that impose a yearly quota on wine shipped to an individual (if this is to be believed). Click here. I had no idea. UPS says that they will destroy wine shipped through states that don't allow it, if discovered. Too much scrutiny over internet sales, it says.

The Dilly Bar is a round ice cream bar: ice cream on a stick, dipped in chocolate/cherry/butterscotch dip, stored in the freezer. What great memories... Dilly Bar, DQ Belt Buster. Good stuff. Here's a picture of the Dilly Bar.

I volunteer to type for them!

Seems to be a theme here of people sneaking books into their houses. I just today snuck in Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking. I'll slide it on the shelf next to the others that are similar, then slowly start taking it out. Maybe she won't notice.

Well, uh... no comment. Point taken on the cleanliness, but sometimes the ride is worth the risk. Or something like that.