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Mine was the classic red-an-white checked Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. It taught me how to hard boil an egg :-) I still have it, although it's no longer my go-to.

This looks wonderful. I have some dried cooking lavender at home- how do you think this would fair using the standard clover honey I have on hand and some dried lavender for the key flavor?

Stopped at a shack halfway between Baltimore, MD and Charleston, SC I wish I remembered the name because it was the best Eastern Carolina barbecue I've ever tasted. The Brunswixk stew was great, too.

Any good cookie suited for dipping in coffee. I see a plate of small cookies as the ideal dessert- people are free to eat as few or as many as they like! To pick one favorite, it would have to be a classic, perfectly crumbly shortbread square.

This looks great! I was ust thinking about how I'd love to make lobster rolls but can't justify the price. I think I've found a compromise with this recipe!

Often, I will graze and pick on whatever food is around until I'm full. Things I will specifically eat for dinner that I can't get away with when the hubby is home:
Giant tomato salad with olive oil, oregano, salt and pepper. Sliced onion is optional.
Boiled edamame tossed with coarse salt.
A giant bowl of popcorn, sometimes topped with Old Bay.
Peanut butter and sliced bananas on toast.

Rum cakes are fabulous. A bonus is that they last several days because the alcohol keeps them moist and fresh. Check out Warren Brown's book CakeLove for a mojito pound cake that is pretty spectacular. I found a link to this blog: http://erincooks.com/cakelove-mojito-pound-cake/ that has the recipe for you. His recipes tend to be a bit fussy, but I always find they turn out great.

Chana masala- anything with chickpeas and curry and I don't even miss the meat!

Anchovy, squash blossoms, and fresh mozzarella pizza. Scrumptious!

"Expresso" is a mispronunciation of "espresso." There's not really room for debate in the right or wrong department. However, I can certainly understand the tendancy for non-native speakers of a foreign language to mispronounce borrowed words that are phonetically unfamiliar (same with "bruschetta" or "gyro"). It doesn't make the speaker a bad person or even less intelligent. I second I_destouches -- other lanugages borrow plenty of English words that end up horribly butchered on the other end. That's just how it goes.

Greek salad- tomatoes, cucumber, onion, feta, salt, pepper, a dirzzle of olive oil and maybe some oregano. Yum!

Biggest success- learning to make perfect pizzelle (the flat italian waffle cookies). They are finicky, but so worth it once you get it down!

@cybercita - thanks for the product recommendations. I will definitely tell her to try them out. I feel like so many "special diet" products are just disgusting. All of the advice to stick with whole foods that naturally fit the diet are probably spot on.

@missjess - glutenfreegoddess looks like a jackpot website! It's so hard to find recipes that are combination gluten-free AND vegan. Thanks for the tip!