Box wine is great for this, and if you’re a single like me, Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice makes it very easy to do a lazy-mulled-one-for-one. Throw a slice of citrus in a mug with the wine and a tea bag, and nuke at 30 sec. intervals (or whatever makes sense for your microwave). You want to warm up the wine and… Read more

An inexpensive red - Merlot or Pinot, Winking Owl is $3. Because leftover? LOL. Read more

Mr Firestorm is 100% the Quality Control Specialist. Mostly because he refuses anything with only one key flavor or that is kind of bland — he likes all his food over-spiced to the point of insanity. He is the guy who, when he goes to Thanksgiving with my family, will flat out bring his own bag of spices because he… Read more

You forgot one. The “You know what you should do next time?” guy.

The Scene: You’ve just made dinner for your family and your husband eats it and seems to like it,. But then the suggestions start rolling in. “You know what you should do next time? You should add a little honey to this sauce, it would offset the… Read more

We have a place like that in Chicago (Sweet Pepper), in that it’s Chipotle style and you choose your ingredients...but it’s not a chain and the arepas are really good. my go to is barbacoa, smoked gouda, plaintains, and garlic sauce (basically garlic mayo) and red pepper (A creamy, slightly sweet red pepper sauce) on… Read more

PAN also makes a good fish fry dredge. I generally use it 1:1 with flour and then my seasonings. Soak your fish in a mixture of buttermilk and Crystal or Valentina hot sauce. Dredge up and fry! Read more

It’s a pantry soup - diced shallots or onions if you have them. Brown those. Open a can of tomatoes, toss in a couple of sliced carrots or sweet potatoes. Just enough broth or water to make sure the vegetables are covered. Simmer until the vegetables are tender. Add salt, pepper, a pinch of ground red pepper for… Read more

How about pandicnic? I feel like it needed to drop a syllable to roll well. Possible side effect includes it sounding a little bit lewder. Read more

I’m a fan of terrible portmanteaus. Can this be a pandemicnic? Read more