I have a similar strategy: I like to bring fruit or a salad (with homemade vinaigrette on the side. People are strangely impressed by homemade salad dressing.). I've found that potluck food tends to be heavy, and people appreciate something nice and light.

I save the fancy things for dinner parties.

I've done it, but it's not as good as it sounds. If you want to go fancier than regular white bread french toast, I'd go with brioche.

Sous vide is good for the things it's good at doing (143 degree eggs that are the same consistency throughout, duck confit, that sort of thing). It's certainly not good at everything, but it has it's place!

I almost always butter my bread, with a few exceptions:

1) If the bread is being used to soak up juices from mussels, salad, stew, etc., then I probably won't butter it.

2) I also like lard, lardo, duck fat, and olive oil on bread. If I'm using one of those, I bypass the butter!

When I put jam on toast, I also butter it. This might put me high on the gluttony scale. I'm okay with it.

But on the flip side, I don't care that it's erroneously called "artisan" at the local coffee shop as long as it tastes good.

By that, I mean that these words are often (not always) markers of quality.

I could imagine it being useful for alcoholics who wouldn't want to keep wine that they would drink in the house. That's pretty much the only thing I can think of.

I have never bought it before, mostly because I'd still need to buy a bottle of wine to go with dinner (of course, I've never had a problem finishing a bottle of wine before it goes bad. A great bottle, I share, a decent bottle is usually fine for two or three days). If I want something that stays for longer, I'll go with vermouth or sherry for cooking.

For me, thinking about food intellectually means with consideration to where it comes from, how it's made, and how it's presented. Food and wine pairings come into play here too. I read a lot of books about food and wine: from the history of the fork to references on winemaking to memoirs of chefs. I like to know what's going on with the food: where it came from, how it was prepped. It's about curiosity and learning new things. There's always something about food that I've never heard of before. Saying that "food is food" is fine, but for me it's more appropriate to say that food is life. For me, the only thing more important to me than food is family and friends. I don't think those values need to be universal, but I don't see anything wrong with valuing food about almost everything else.

I like pour over coffee too. The coffee I buy is locally roasted in small batches, and the coffee shop I buy it from does both drip coffee and pour over. I go there because the coffee is better, not because I want to be seen there. Attention to quality isn't the same as being pretentions or putting on a show, in my opinion. I don't see any virtue in eating mediocre food just because it's plebeian.

I love both Publican and Girl and the Goat as well. As others have mentioned, check out The Purple Pig (better than Publican, IMHO) or Avec.

If you're into the meaty meals and a great beer list, I'd also recommend Au Cheval. Amazing foie gras and scrambled eggs, great bone marrow, and some fantastic beers (check out the sours).

I can't even remember the last time I was at a restaurant with a kids menu. I hated ordering off them as a child (why is it that children can only eat beige/fried food? The server always looked at me askance when I ordered something from the regular menu as a kid, which I always found rather rude), so I'm just not interested as an adult. If I wanted that sort of comfort food, I'd just go to a restaurant that does comfort food for grown-ups.

What about good old still water? You can put it in a mason jar with some citrus wedges (beyond lemon and lime, orange, blood orange, and grapefruit are also great). Cucumbers are nice too.

We only had water. Sometimes we were allowed to order a soda at a restaurant, but we had to ask first. Orange juice was (and still is) for special occasion breakfasts (Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, mostly).

My parents usually had a beer before dinner, but not with dinner. Now that my brother and I are adults, we serve beer and wine with dinner.

Absolutely agreed. There's so much negativity in this thread, much of it directed towards people who care deeply about food. More information about where the food comes from, and who is choosing to sell it, and why, is a good thing. Patronizing markets and restaurants where food is sourced thoughtfully is also a good thing. I don't see what the issue is.

I don't know when thinking about food intellectually became "pretention." Then again, that word is (ironically) used by people who don't seem to know what it means.

That moment of shock has happened to me as well. I like to think of myself as a recovered eat-out-aholic, because now I really only go out to eat when the food is actually worth it.

What works for me won't necessarily work for you, but here's what I do to curb the desire to eat out. I like being able to decide to eat something on a whim, which means that really detailed meal planning doesn't work well for me. However, I do have a Whole Foods that I can walk to on the way home from work, so on days when I'm going to leave at a reasonable hour I pick up something on my way home. Usually, this is something quick. Examples:

-A nice piece of fish and some swiss chard. I'll saute the chard and the steam the fish on top of it. Squeeze some lemon, add some capers and chopped parsley, and serve.
-Steamed mussels. Super simple: just soften some shallots in butter, add a cup of white wine, add the mussels and steam until they open. Serve with crusty bread ad more white wine.
-Steak with vegetables. Today I roasted some Brussels sprouts and served it with a broiled ribeye. It was great.
-Chicken thighs, pork chops, lamb chops, etc., pan-roasted with vegetables. I season with salt and pepper, get a cast iron skillet good and hot, and sear in oil (or duck fat) on both sides to get them nice and crispy. Then I toss in the vegetables (usually whatever is in season, although frozen vegetables work just as well) and cook in a 375 oven until the meat is cooked through and the vegetables are soft.

In addition to this, I like to have leftovers to use as lunches throughout the week. A great way to do this is to bring back Sunday dinner by roasting a chicken, or making a pot roast, or a batch of soup, or stew, or chili. Serve it with salads until you run out of it.

If you have eggs, you'll always have something to eat. A Spanish tortilla with aioli can be made with eggs, potatoes, olive oil, and garlic. A quiche requires only eggs, milk, cheese, flour, and butter. If you want a frittata, you don't even need the flour and butter. Never underestimate the beauty of a bowl of beans with a fried egg on top, or sautéed greens with a poached egg, or even a simple omelette.

Having stuff on hand to make a nice charcuterie plate is great advice. A bit of prosciutto, some fontina, olives, good bread with olive oil, seasonal fruit and a glass of wine is a fantastic no-cook dinner.

I don't go crazy with squeeze bottles full of sauces and ring molds, but I like to make a nice plate when I sit down to eat. I plate food for myself the same way I plate it when I'm serving someone else. Usually, it's a pretty but rustic presentation, with a scattering of fresh herbs. I often pour myself a glass of wine as well.

My solo meals are served at the table, on plates, with silverware. If I had china, I'd totally use that, but I'm currently china-less. Sitting down to dinner was always an important ritual when I was growing up, and I don't want to dispense with the ritual just because there's no one else at the table. It's just the way I was raised, and it makes me feel good to do it.

I live alone, and I cook a nice meal for myself pretty much every night. On top of that, I usually plan to eat in with friends once a week or so. I think you're right in assuming this is more common among hounds, although many of my friends do the same thing (we're mostly mid-twenties, childless, and with incomes too low to be able to afford takeout on a regular basis).

Thanks for the Kalona tip; I'm in Chicago and I've never tried it. My go-to is Kerrygold.

Agreed. At the end of the day, we're talking about the skin and meat of a dead bird. It's not fit for human consumption until it's fully cooked. Splashing it with water is not going to magically change that.

There is absolutely no reason to "wash" meat unless you want to spread bacteria around your kitchen. Anyone who "washes" their meat is not being clean: they are being slightly more dirty. That is why the recommendation is to NOT wash chicken. It's not being lazy, it's basic food safety.

Yeah, my mom rinsed off poultry in the sink. She also served asparagus out of the can. She doesn't do either of these things anymore, because neither is a good idea.

If your chicken looks gross or dirty at the store, don't buy it. It seems like that would be common sense. A quick pat dry will dry up any juices from the bag. If you're really concerned, buy a high quality chicken that hasn't been injected with a saline solution, so you won't have many juices to begin with.

Not really. I drink a lot of sparkling water, and I would never turn down champagne, so that's enough bubbly for me. Sometimes I'll make my own ginger syrup for ginger ale, but it's work so I don't make much. I do like whiskey and diet coke, but I've been trying to eliminate it in favor of other mixers.

I used to drink a ton of Dr. Pepper. After giving up HFCS and cutting way back on sugar, I can't stomach the stuff.

Instead of compromising on quality, I've cut back elsewhere. Most of the time, I walk to the store instead of driving (bonus, I get some exercise in). I see cable as a luxury, not a necessity, and I don't need the fastest internet at home when I have fast internet at work. I love to go out to eat, but I only go to places where the food is actually better than what I can cook at home. That eliminates many restaurants. I also bring lunch to work everyday.

The biggest way I've saved is to eliminate food waste. That means buying only enough for a few days and cooking what I have before I go back to the store. If I'm sick of potato and leek soup, well, tough luck.

Eating seasonally helps quite a bit. No need to buy expensive asparagus right now, when Brussels sprouts are cheap. For meat, basic butchery skills make things cheaper: if you know how to break down a whole chicken, you can get all the pieces (and bones and giblets) for the price of just two boneless, skinless breasts alone.

I use every single scrap of food, when possible. Bones get turned into stock, and I use vegetable scraps for vegetable broth. The chicken liver isn't trash, it's breakfast. Bacon grease gets saved, so I don't need to buy as much butter. The grocery store will give me pork fat back for free, which I render into my own lard.

I think Americans are going to have to learn a few things about their food supply. First, prices have been kept unreasonably low by corn subsidies, leading to mono-cultures that can't withstand environmental change. Second, we've been stopped making food a priority, expecting to get a lot of (poor quality) food for barely any money, which isn't sustainable. Third, we have forgotten that food grows in certain seasons: we expect fresh tomatoes in the dead of winter, even if they're completely tasteless. And fourth, we've eschewed variety, largely eating the same foods over and over (mostly corn and soy products, and I'm including meat from corn-fed animals) and bypassing the great variety of produce available at all times of the year. Finally, Americans cook less and less, even as cooking shows grow in popularity. We need to learn that these practices aren't sustainable, and soon.

(I'm speaking in generalities here, and I think I'm mostly preaching to the choir here on Chowhound. I certainly mean no disrespect, especially to people on this board, these are just some things that I've noticed).

Because I make two-egg omelettes, and I don't like the three whites to two yolks ratio. It's pretty silly, I know.

I love eggs in all forms, including scrambled. Especially scrambled in a ton of butter with some creme fraiche thrown in at the end.

Here's my "strange" egg thing: I make a lot of mayo, which requires only the yolks. I end up with a ton of egg whites...and I usually throw them out. I'm aware that I can add them to my scrambled eggs, or make a meringue, or eat one of those egg white omelettes, however I tend to think that egg white omelettes are completely inedible, no matter how much butter (or duck fat) you add to them.

I go with less sweet but not completely devoid of sugary taste; here's my family recipe:

CORNBREAD:
2 c. corn meal
1 c. flour
1/4 c. sugar
4 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
2 eggs
1 c. milk
1/4 c. vegetable oil

For corn bread, mix all ingredients in a bowl and beat. Put into a greased 9" - square pan and bake at 425 degrees for about 20 minutes.

My main tip is to sauté your onions and celery in bacon grease. Seriously, bacon grease is key.

I'm doing a duck for Thanksgiving, which isn't all that different. I'd suggest scoring the goose and pricking it all over, so that it renders as much fat as possible. Doing it breast side down is going to help render a lot of the fat, but I'd only do it breast down for half the time. Goose and duck breasts should be served medium rare, but that's not going to happen with a whole roast bird. Go for 160 in the thigh and let it rest for a half hour before you cut into it.

Cook time will depend on the temp of the bird to start, plus the quirks of your particular bird, plus the quirks of your oven, plus the quirks of the universe. Make sure you bring it to room temperature first, so it will cook evenly. It's up to you to decide whether you want to do higher temperature (usually results in crispier skin) or lower temperature (usually cooks more evenly). Once you choose, you can get rough time estimates from googling, but I'd plan on letting your thermometer be your guide since no two birds cook exactly the same.

Have the liver for breakfast (cooked in lots of butter and spread onto toast, or put into an omelette).

Make sure to save the fat; throw some of it on your mashed potatoes.

What I usually do is think backwards from the time of the meal, figuring out what needs to be done at what time. So if I want to eat the turkey at 4, and it needs to rest for a half an hour, it needs to come out of the oven at 3:30. I do this for every single item that needs to go in the oven, and every single step required to cook each item.

I write it all down, with minute by minute instructions for when to put everything in the oven. And I keep everything at the same oven temperature as much as a can. This means reworking recipes to make everything work at 375 degrees, or doing stuff in the morning and reheating. Oh, and I use the broiler liberally.

Give yourself a lot of extra time. I like to do most of my work in the morning, that way I can spend time with my family in the afternoon. There will be issues, and the best thing to do is the plan for them in advance. This is probably a given, but make sure you stay relaxed and mindful in there, and remember that the point is spending time with people who care. Really, the food is less important than the company.

Lawry's seasoned salt. Mom rubs it all over chicken breasts and broils them. I use it on pan-roasted chicken thighs.

Also, Spaghetti-O's with Meatballs. I can't even begin to understand why.

This happens to me sometimes (ah, grad school). And I'm just as frivolous with that last $50 (well, you said we, and I just live alone so it would probably be my last $25). Anyway, my usual m.o. is to buy a whole chicken, whatever vegetables are cheap/in season (definitely carrots and celery), milk, eggs, a baguette, some cheese, and as much wine as possible.

During my cheap week, I would roast the chicken with some vegetables for Sunday dinner, and definitely use some of the leftover chicken, minced and cooked in a sherry bechamel sauce over toast for lunch. I'd combine the chicken and vegetables with pantry items (rice!). Eventually, I'd simmer the chicken carcass for awhile and make a nice batch of chicken noodle soup, or chicken and dumplings. Stretch out the rest of the meals with stuff from the pantry or freezer, and end the week by using the vegetables and cheese to make a quiche or frittata. Wash down everything with table wine, and hopefully it will be payday by then.

But seriously, I could probably live off the stuff in my pantry and freezer for at least a month, so during the poor times at the end of the month I usually just don't buy stuff.

+2! I just shop from my pantry.

I have pictures of me as a toddler covered with flour, helping out with making cookies. There definitely wasn't a time when I didn't cook, although the first thing I remember really learning to cook was scrambled eggs when I was about 7 or 8.

When I was in middle school, my mom put me in charge of assembling pizza (putting the crust in the pan, adding the marinara sauce, topping it). By high school, I was making dinner for the family about once a week or so. My favorite things to make were chicken pot pie and crab fettuccini alfredo. Both were mostly made from scratch, although we used crescent rolls for the pot pie crust and store bought noodles for the fettuccini. I rarely eat pasta now, although I do enjoy a pot pie now and then!