Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Fresh chilies! Jalapeños, habaneros, and anything else you can withstand will jolt your palate and warm your tummy.

Beef tenderloin steaks butterflied and stuffed with brie cheese, pan-roasted, and served with a buttered balsamic/dried cranberry reduction.

Jalapeño poppers, but I halve them and stuff them with minced red onion and soft goat cheese whizzed in a mini-processor with 1 canned chipotle pepper and adobo to taste. I arrange the halves cut side up on a parchment-lined baking sheet, cover each pepper with a strip of bacon cut to fit the length of the pepper, and roast them for 9-10 minutes or until the bacon is fairly crisp and the filling is bubbly. Cool slightly, then go to town.

That said, I completely loathe football.

The other night I used some lavender that I bought at least 15 years ago. It was fine. I keep some whole spices in my freezer, where they last for years. I toast them and grind them in my spice grinder.

I rarely throw out dried spices or herbs. I try to use fresh herbs whenever possible, but when I use dry, I give the jar a good sniff. If it smells like nothing but dust, I do throw it out. If I'm desperate, I just use more than the recipe calls for.

Here's what I do with spaghetti squash, inspired by Joanne Weir, but she boils it, and roasting really concentrates the flavors.

Spaghetti Squash with Beurre Noir

1 spaghetti squash, 2 1/2 lbs. or so (smaller squash tend to be more flavorful)
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 cup of freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. With a gigantic knife, carefully split the squash lengthwise (from stem to stern). Scrape out all the seeds, then rub the cut and scraped surfaces generously with olive oil. Place cut sides down on a parchment- or foil-lined baking sheet and bake in the lower third of the oven for 45 minutes. Then turn cut-side up and roast until tender, 15-30 minutes.

When ready to serve, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat, and cook it until it turns brown and just begins to smoke, 3-4 minutes. Remove immediately from the heat and stir in the nutmeg.

With a dinner fork, scrape the flesh of the squash free of the skin, and separate the “spaghetti” strands, mounding them in the squash. Serve dribbled with the beurre noir and the Parmigiano-Reggiano, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Yield: 2 ample servings, or 4-6 side dish servings

I adore the falafel and schwarma at Chickpea (Third Avenue just north of St. Mark's Place, and a newer edition on 14th near Third Avenue), and they're open late (times vary). And Lucien (First Avenue near 1st Street) has pretty terrific French bistro fare, also into the wee hours. But yeah, Pommes Frites is a real treasure. When they first opened, my partner and I haunted the place, night and day. On a cold winter's day, it's a wonderful tiny and cozy place to huddle in back on a bench, nursing a cone of frites with 2-3 cups of flavored mayonnaise.

Rib eye has the most flavor.

Last Christmas, my family gave me iGourmet's "Cheeses of the Month" for six months. That was just ideal. And friends gave me "real" truffle oils, white and black (not "truffle-flavored"), pistachios, and every year my mother sends Harry and David's amazing pears.

Ribeye is the juiciest and tastiest cut.

I completely concur with Ed, that, like him or not, Emeril brought serious and delicious food front and center in the American consciousness. He did become a bit of a caricature. And what's odd is that, when I met him, he was giggly and shy and, well, quite the opposite of BAM!

It's interesting how some food TV personalities "run their course" and get tiresome, while other programs and personalities (Julia Child, Jacques Pépin) remain fresh to this day.

1. Curry leaves.
2. Dog antibiotic for Elsa's ear infection last year.
3. Black sesame oil.
4. REAL black truffle oil, not "flavored."
5. I have a friend whose boyfriend is a scientist doing cancer research in Germany, and she regularly picks up (human) blood from cancer patients at a compliant hospital and keeps it in her freezer until he asks her to FedEx it.

The MYRA BRECKINRIDGE COOKBOOK is most unusual. It must have had a HUGE print run (trade paper) because I still see it for sale. It was written in 1970 by Gore Vidal's lover, Howard Austen, who died recently. A lot of the recipes are impressive, but the book's art direction is WILD!

Julia Child most radically changed the way I cooked and ate. She's my idea of God.