You know you're a foodie when...

[judiu]

When you don't smoke but you have a miniature blow torch on your set of keys

just in case you have to flame a creme brulee or sear some tuna

i kid you not!

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I must have one!!!!! That is the most brilliant key chain I think I've ever seen!! Boy would that save time at the next dinner party Ummm...anyone know where to get one in Vancouver?

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what about where to find one in denton or the dfw area?.....lol

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To all of y'all who are looking for the baby torches, I'd suggest a trip to your local head shop sometimes aka a smoke shop. Unfortunately, they're designed for those that smoke crack cocaine, which must be vaporized, as opposed to burned like tobacco, or other "smokeables".

I (thank god/dess) do not speak from direct experience, but from observation only!

[origamicrane]

one word EBAY

and no i don't smoke rocks, i rather smoke fish

[origamicrane]

When you know who Ferran Adria is.

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When your spouse, who doesn't really care knows who Ferran Adria is.

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When you are Ferran Adria

or when Ferran Adria calls you up for cooking tips

Edited January 25, 2005 by origamicrane (log)

[little ms foodie]

When you travel for business and before you make your appointment with your customers you book dinner reservations.

When you call your friends and say "we are eating at abc restaurant care to join?" vs. asking them their suggestions for fear they will pick The Melting Pot.

When you have a menu of what you are cooking made up for the week and will turn down invites to go out with friends because you really want to make French Onion Soup, Roast Chicken and Frites.

When you talk about chef's and their restaurants like you know them. And you assume your friends care.

When you shell out $150 to meet Anthony Bourdin and have him sign your Les Halles book.

When you post pictures of your dinners.

When your late to your friends 40th b-day because you spent the day doing the eGullet cookoff and your making char siu bao!

oh lord I could go on but I will stop!!

[MarketStEl]

I've come home with at least a case of wine, a bottle of Absinthe (just because I could and the idea of smuggling it in seemed so dangerous),

Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder, Katie.

(ducks)

One of my partner's closest colleagues at the Community College is something of a foodie himself and always puts out a nice little spread for the Christmas party he throws. This year's highlights--besides some really yummy sandwiches and goat cheese--were two toasts: one from a bottle of 50-year-old saragnac and another from a bottle of absinthe he bought back from his last trip abroad.

[twitch]But I'm really quite normal[twitch]...for a foodie

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I don't think I'm really in that league yet. Though I never travel to Rehoboth Beach without (a) dining out every night there even though we stay with friends whose house has a marvelous kitchen and (b) picking up several hot sauces at Peppers on Route 1.

[MarketStEl]

You consider cheese to be dessert.

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What about those of us who consider it the appetizer and main course as well?

Cheeseheads, I guess.

[MarketStEl]

When someone calls you a "foodie" and you don't punch them in the nose.

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When you consider a $15 breakfast (including tip) a bargain because those chopped chicken livers were just divine, and the conversation that came with them was just as tasty.

[suzilightning]

when you have just finished a wonderful meal with a friend and you start talking about recent places each of you have eaten and what you MUST order at each.

happened just last week...and i started laughing right then and there...

[Viola da gamba]

You consider cheese to be dessert.

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What about those of us who consider it the appetizer and main course as well?

Cheeseheads, I guess.

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You mean cheese isn't a dessert? Crap.

When you and your SO have a close-to-relationship-ending-fight because someone forgot to keep the sourdough starter alive. Oy.

[JanMcBaker]

When your siblings recount assorted childhood memories and you're embarrassed that you can't remember them. So you search your memory to see what you do remember and you discover--

-- That time in grade school that they let us go early because of snow and I found a navel orange in a snow drift (yes! honestly!) and I had never seen one before and wondering over the size and intense orange color, the navel and how thick the skin was and how it tasted.

-- That time Dad brought home the first Golden Delicious apples we ever had and wondering again, never having seen a non-red apple, and marveling over how sweet and crisp it was.

-- Mom's spiced pears, made with pears from the tree in our back yard.

-- Mom's tomato relish, when Dad brought home half a bushel of tomatoes. Reeaally good on a bologna sandwich. A bit messy, but really good.

-- Mom trying Julia Child's recipe for kidneys, after watching the French Chef. It was probably good, but I wasn't a fan of kidneys. Still remember that taste.

-- Actually getting up the nerve and going to restaurants by myself when I was a lot younger because I just had to, even when I was more shy.

--Remembering my scalp getting sweaty from some especially tasty and REAL ! sweet and pungent dishes in some Chinese restaurants.

--Trying Craig Claiborn's hazelnut cheesecake recipe ( but no nuts because I just didn't feel like it) and discussing changes for it with my Mom-- less sugar, and condensed milk worked well since we didn't have heavy cream on hand. Geez, I miss Mom.

--Helping serve samples and doing clean-up for cooking classes at the Reading Terminal Market and still not getting tired of seeing some of the same chefs preparing the same dishes.

-- Arranging to go on a Brooklyn pizza trip one day and to LaCroix for Sunday brunch the next day and not thinking there's anything weird about it.

-- Still smarting over that time several years ago that, for some godforsaken reason, I passed up the chance to get, oh probably $300-400 worth of Le Creuset for about $80 at a local thrift shop.

-- Pleased about the knives I got for about $10 total at the same thrift shop-- the owner must not know cooking! I think it was about 4 knives, including F. Dick and some German one. I think a butcher must have died. Also pleased about getting a couple wine glasses there for $1.50 each-- they look like Reidel ones I've seen. BTW, how can you tell?

-- Realizing that I'm never going to have enough cookbooks.....

[Busboy]

When you're a heterosexual male with unlimited computer access, and you spend more time on food sites than porn sites.

[Al_Dente]

When you're a heterosexual male with unlimited computer access, and you spend more time on food sites than porn sites.

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word...

[MarketStEl]

When you're a heterosexual male with unlimited computer access, and you spend more time on food sites than porn sites.

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word...

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Why restrict this to heterosexuals?

(Okay, maybe substitute "chat rooms" for "porn sites" for the gay men...)

[kguetzow]

I'm a newbie and my wife is already assuming that there must be some porn connection in here. Pizza club is code for swingers that eat too much.

[chow guy]

When you spend more then 3 hour driving round to at least 4 different shops across the city just to gather that one missing ingredients for one dish that you are cooking tomorrow.

When your friends call you up for cooking tips and restaurant recommendations.

When the sole purpose of you being invited to a dinner party is to cook the dinner

When you read a celebrity chef latest cookbook and think "man you're getting desperate" or " that is so!!!! not the way to make it!! "

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EXACTLY! all of the above.

In fact I just spent way too much time (and3 stores) foraging ingredients for Pad Thai.

[hillvalley]

When you get home after a nightmare from hell 13 hour day and all you want to do is roast some cauliflower.

When your first trip home frehsman year of college is planned around the meals you will eat.

When you plan birthday celebrations around where you will eat. And you start planning months in advance.

When you trade emails with friends about what you made for dinner.

When other friends leave you voicemails telling you which restaurant they just ate in.

When you spend your textbook money on cookbooks.

Edited January 27, 2005 by hillvalley (log)

[Busboy]

When you're a heterosexual male with unlimited computer access, and you spend more time on food sites than porn sites.

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word...

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Why restrict this to heterosexuals?

(Okay, maybe substitute "chat rooms" for "porn sites" for the gay men...)

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The funny thing is that I've spent so many years working in liberal communications shops, I actually asked myself if I was being sufficiently "inclusive" enough before I posted. In the end, I figured I'd stop at dragging my own demograhic group into the gutter and let other cohorts speak for themselves.

Edited January 27, 2005 by Busboy (log)

[irodguy]

When you call your favorite restaurant for reservations and they tell you "they will make room" but only if you bring a batch of cookies

[Luckylies]

you gained 15 lbs from looking at Egullet food porn.

ordering off a menu you cant decode in another language is fun...an adventure

walking around the supermarket is fun every single time

you tell strangers about your dinner or the beautiful pie you made (you have pictures)

you invite people to sit on the floor of your apt so they can enjoy duck night.

you cook three course meals when you're drunk.

you wake up in the middle of the night to check on tomorrows dinner.

[Susan G]

You realize most of your time, money, and psychic energy are going towards acquiring, preparing, and planning the ingredients for the next meal.....and the food industry isn't your profession.

All your friends and family give you cookbooks/le Creuset/ Williams-Sonoma gifts as presents.

You realize the happiest part of the holidays - -the part you will best remember years from now - is the food you all shared together.

[HerndonJake]

You realize most of your time, money, and psychic energy are going towards acquiring, preparing, and planning the ingredients for the next meal.....and the food industry isn't your profession.

All your friends and family give you cookbooks/le Creuset/ Williams-Sonoma gifts as presents.

You realize the happiest part of the holidays - -the part you will best remember years from now - is the food you all shared together.

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This about sums it up for me-perfectly.

Spend most evenings reading through cookbooks or magizines. I have 6 cookbooks from the library currently needing my attention.

Of course, my friends and family give me the above mentioned gifts because I request them specifically...

and I purposely purchased a nice le Creuset fondue pot to start the holiday tradition for the kids-chocolate fondue...

yeah, that pretty much describes me as well Susan.

[jgm]

You realize most of your time, money, and psychic energy are going towards acquiring, preparing, and planning the ingredients for the next meal.....and the food industry isn't your profession.

All your friends and family give you cookbooks/le Creuset/ Williams-Sonoma gifts as presents.

You realize the happiest part of the holidays - -the part you will best remember years from now - is the food you all shared together.

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Yes, this fits me to a T, too:

I spend the day thinking about food; I spend my lunch hour reading cookbooks. I know the operating hours of every grocery worth going to, so that I can make a mad dash after work before they close.

My mom gave me 5 cookbooks for Christmas. My husband gave me another 3. And I ordered several more with my year-end bonus money. For my upcoming birthday, my husband is giving me a cooking class at the local Williams-Sonoma, so that I can meet other foodies to talk cooking with--and quit boring him to death. And my Christmas money from my boss will buy goodies from Dean & DeLuca, as soon as they come in...

I am still glowing from Thanksgiving 2003, when my very very anal ("I don't eat vegetables") nephew complimented my sweet potatoes. When I ran across the recipe in a magazine a few months ago, I got to relive the whole thing again. Oh yeah...

[Daniel]

When you meet customers from all over the country and you give them suggestions of where to eat in their own cities that they have never heard of.

[Larry 1749]

When your home page is www.egullet.org !

When your friends tell you to put them on a cancellation list and call them any time your have an extra seat at your table

When people are reluctant to have your over for dinner because they do not feel that their food measures up.

When your mother in-law gives you the keys to her house because she may be late getting home and only trusts you to start Christmas dinner. Not your wife or her other daughters but you!

When people visit form out of town you have them bring specialty cheeses and the like form their local gourmet market that you can’t get here.

[=Mark]

When eating lunch out with friends or family and the main topic of discussion is making plans for dinner...