What are your comfort foods? Something your mom used to make? Some special treat you rarely have except when you're sick or miserable? Are your comfort foods embarrassing?

And if you are the first one to guess what revolting and embarrassing comfort food I had for lunch yesterday, I'll send you a ten dollar gift certificate from Amazon. You have to post your answer here, though. Past and present roommates are excluded from this contest.

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

Answers

My mom used to make us Cambridge (pronounced Came-Brick for some odd reason) tea when we were sick or had trouble sleeping. You fill a mug 2/3 full with hot water, add honey generously, add a splash of vanilla extract, and top it off with milk. I drink it whenever I need extra comforting.

As for Beth's comfort food, she prefers... drumroll... spaghettios! (sp?) Am I close?

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

Peanut butter, mayo and tomato sandwich? (I'm cheating, you fessed up to that in another thread, and I found it... memorable.)

My comfort foods are tomato soup, when I'm sick, and gingerbread cake, all the time. And anything with whipped cream, really. The only comfort food I have that others find disgusting is toast with butter and molasses. I don't understand why people think that's gross.

Joanne

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

I am going to be more specific. Spaghettios with franks, because they are much harder to find than plain or with meatballs. (Um. Don't ask how I know that.)

Or maybe Dinty Moore beef stew? Wolf brand chili?

A college room mate used to always put a can of Ranch Style beans in her Top ramen. That was her comfort food.

Mine is grilled cheese sandwiches and cream of tomato soup.

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

My top comfort food is homemade mac and cheese, and it's even better when accompanied by cornbread and turnip greens.

My guess for Beth's comfort food is canned corned beef hash. That's what my college roomie ate all during finals week, and it was so disgusting that I would never admit to liking it even if I did. Blech! Now, my mom's corned beef hash is a different story. Yummy! That's a definite comfort food for me.

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

Oh, I love grilled cheese and tomoato soup. Also Campbell's old fashioned chicken noodle. Actually, I like a lot of embarrassing foods out of a can. Corned beef hash. Chef Boyardee Ravioli. I'm terribly fond of canned foods. I blame my mother.

But the comfort food of choice when sick is Haagen Dasz vanilla ice cream. Yum.

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

My comfort food is a BIG malt, made with lots of malt and butter- pecan ice cream. About a zillion caloires per teaspoon, not to mention a heart stopping dose of cholesteral. Whipped a long time in the blender, so that the nuts are sliced small enough to pass up the straw without clogging it.

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

I was going to guess either Spaghettios or Dinty Moore beef stew.

I have never before heard of cambric tea being spelled Cambridge tea.

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

Mashed Potatoes and Gravy. And grilled cheese cooked with lots of butter!

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

At first, I thought Beth must be talking about spaghettios or ravioli, but I just don't think those are really, truly revolting. Aside from Spam, the most revolting food in a can I have ever observed anyone actually eating is Canned Tamales! Ew. Blech. Now that's revolting--so I guess that's my vote.

I am all about comfort foods. If it's not a comfort food I don't want to cook it. My comfort foods range from pizza rolls to Vietnamese catfish in a clay pot. I also find sushi to be a comfort food (so much so that I had to learn to roll my own before I went broke.) And spaghettios with a little butter melted into them (like my mom used to!) Homemade chili with a slow burn and cheddar cheese on top. Tomato sandwiches on white bread with miracle whip.

I am not at all embarrassed about my comfort foods. Really. Weeeellll...okay...sometimes I get embarrassed eating gross meaty comfort foods in front of vegetarian friends. And flaming hot cheetos are kind of embarrassing. It soon passes though, once the comfort sinks in.

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

You guys are making me hungry. I must be eating too healthy lately.

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

Peanut butter & banana sandwiches. You got your bread, protein, fruit, and fat food groups. Have a glass of milk, there's dairy. Find some way to get vegetables in there, and it's an entire meal! Woo hoo!

And for beth? Spam.

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

I don't have a comfort food per se, unless you count ice cream when I have PMS.

My guess as to Beth's comfort food: Chef Boyardee Raviolios. I've never had it 'cause my mom refused to buy it, but the commercials as a kid were so damn appeali

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

Ding ding ding! We have a winner. Nice job, Nina. Angie, you should have gone with your first guess!

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

My comfort food is (and my friends are always grossed out by this) is Kraft macaroni and cheese, either the regular or deluxe (!), and you use less macaroni so the cheese to macaroni ratio is higher. For emergencies only. My boyfriends mom makes such a rich m&c that even I can't eat it. She uses a pound of sharp cheddar and it's just scary.

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

I would like to clarify that I do not believe that peanut butter, mayo and tomato sandwiches come in cans, nor would I heat one up in the microwave. I just must have loaded the main page just before Beth updated, because it was the old entry, with the new links already there in the forum.

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

We believe you, Joanne. Sure we do.

You all know, of course, that canned ravioli must be referred to as "raviolis" or "raviolios." Even though I believe "ravioli" is already plural.

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

Ah well. I still don't think ravioli(os) are revolting! Such is the power of their comfort. Or maybe it's because I'm from the midwest, where we freely admit eating little debbie snack cakes.

I'm glad it wasn't canned tamales.

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

Ravioli is plural, yes. The singular is raviolo. How do I know this? My in-laws are learning Italian and driving cafe employees throughout the Bay Area crazy by ordering "Two cappucini and one biscotto, please!" We served them ravioli one evening and they ended up discussing Italian conjugations all night.

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

Angie: Jeremy likes those. I'm not kidding. He also likes smoked eel in mustard sauce and other tinned fish products. We don't talk about it much.

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

When I really need to feel better, two scoops of Mississippi Mud or Chocolate Mousse Royale from Baskin Robbins.

For Beth, Cheetos.

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

Ooh, I forgot Cheetohs! I love cheetohs, but only allow myself that treat when I am needy.I am a confessed cheese addict.

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

Beth--oh. man. I'm sorry. You are a very good girlfriend to overlook the horror of tinned fish products.

Is comfort food the same as soul food?

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

Don't pick on tinned fish. There's something very comforting about sardines in Mustard on a rainy weekend afternoon.

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

My absolute favorite comfort food is a fresh turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce sandwich with onions and a little mayo, preferably accompanied by sweet potato fries and followed by banana cream pie.

I like Thanksgiving - is it obvious?

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

Cheeseburgers and french fries. Preferably from places with names like Sams Burger and Giant Burger where they give you the fries in a wax paper bag. Damn, now I'm hungry.

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

mine is peanut butter toast cut into 3 strips.

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

Angie: Comfort food is not at all what is generally referred to as soul food, but "soul food" would be a good alternate name for comfort food. Soul food usually means foods that have been ethnically popluar amongst black folks. Soul food usually refers to items like chittlin's, greens, cornbread, fried chicken, and blavk eyed peas. I live down south and good soul food is some of the tastiest food around, but is usually very heavy and LOADED with fat. YUMMMM. Well, except for chittlin's.

My comfort food would probably be Captain Crunch with Berries!

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

All I can think about now is food. Help! I can't stop!

greenbeancasserolekielbasaandsauerkrautmashedpotatoesreubensmymom'schi ckencacciatoregarlicpimientogrilledcheesevanillaicecreamwithpeanutbutt erblackdiamondcheddarcheesebythepoundfriedclamsboiledclamswithbeerandb utterloxandcreamcheeseonanonionbagelbrownsugarpieandtheamazingsoulfood greenbeansmycoworkeratmylastjobmadeooooooohscottishshortbreadandlemonc urdsagpaneerspicywatandinjira...i think i may take the afternoon off and go home and cook!

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

It seems like your comfort food is whatever your own particular "soul food" happens to be, if we can just swipe that term and change it to mean whatever food is familiar to you and reminds you of where you came from.

Try not to think from whence I must have come if canned ravioli is my comfort food.

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

My comfort food is way lame... I cut up carrots (those baby carrots taste weird), cucumber, & bell pepper... Mix some sour cream & ranch dip mix. Eat.

I eat the crap on a daily basis. Veggies are the treat.

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

My comfort foods are all milky and/or sort of bland: buttered toast cut into slices & made into "log cabins", Kraft mac & cheese, mayonaisse sandwiches (white bread and Best Foods mayo), mashed potatos and butter, scrambled eggs with butter.

I'm not embarassed by any of them.

I love Spaghettios and canned ravioli and Dinty Moore Beef Stew and have them sometimes, but they're more treat foods than comfort foods.

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

creamed peas (the canned variety of course) on toast is a great comfort food. my mom used to make it for us only when my dad went deer hunting each november for a week (he hates it!). i don't know how to make it though, so i usually go out and buy either a can of chef boyardee ravioli or a box of president's choice (do you have that in the USA?) white macaroni & cheese and follow that up with double stuff oreos for dessert when i am in need of comforting. OR i call up my friend ernest for his special ribs and homemade garlic bread... yummy!

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

Hehe..ravioli is (are?) NOT gross - even canned one(s). In fact, it's very close to my #1 comfort food - this is even more childish and yucky - ready? Chef Boyardee ABC 123's. Cold. Straight out of the can. Yummmmmy.

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

My comfort foods aren't particularly embarrassing, but they are kind of boring.

Homemade tomato sauce with capers and wine. I'll just eat big spoonfuls of it--who needs the pasta? Mashed potatoes with nutritional yeast gravy; "chicken fried" tofu; fresh blueberries with cottage cheese. And lately, baked chicken with the skin left on.

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

I have two comfort foods, one sweet and one savoury.

Savoury: Cook up some pasta, usually Orzo, drain, and then fold through with chopped Italian flatleaf parsley, butter, and cracked black pepper.

Sweet: Take one egg white, whip until soft peaks, then add 1 cup of caster sugar (fine white sugar) and beat until meringue. Then I eat this raw. I've been told all the horror stories about eating raw eggs, but I don't do food poisoning, the only time I get an upset stomach is when I'm overly stressed.

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

Yippeee! I haven't logged on since I sent my guess this morning. Thanks for the Amazon g.c., Beth. But really, ya didn't have to.

Here's probably the most disgusting comfort food I've heard of yet: peanut butter and mayo sandwiches. All togther now -- ecchhhhh!!! &%

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

Dude, I sent you a gift certificate; don't go dissing my peanut butter and mayo sandwiches. Seriously, you guys, you should try it. It's good.

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

Peanut butter and mayo sandwiches are my Dad's favorite thing to have for lunch --- along with a big glass of chocolate milk made with Quik. And actually, I tried one once --- pretty tasty. Never made it again, but hey I can see why someone would like it

My favorite comfort foods: All the delectable treats you can buy at Trader Joes --- one of the top ten reasons why I dread leaving the west coast --- cheap delicious munchie food.

That...and a pint of Ben and Jerry's New York Super Fudge Chunk or Phish Food will make me your love slave...

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

When I was a little kid, there were two things I loved.

Cold oatmeal -- cold, like leftover from breakfast, when it was lunchtime. It was chewy and chunky with ice cold milk and grainy sugar on it.

Cold Franco-American spaghetti (no meatballs) -- straight out of the can. It was so doughy, starchy with just a touch of acidic whang from the sauce. With ice cold milk.

Yum.

Pooks

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

Beth -

Didn't mean to disrespect ya, I had no idea that PB&mayo was one of your comfort foods! It was my father-in-law's favorite sandwich. It may taste good, but I dunno about the texture of two somewhat slick and creamy yet different tasting items as the main ingredients of a sandwhich.

But what the hell do I know? When I was a little kid, I dipped my McDonald's french fries in my coke. That's the way I ate the entire bag. I don't do this anymore because you will never catch me drinking a Coke or Coke product. I am strictly a Pepsi gal and I don't like my fries cold and soggy any more. &(*)

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

Red jello and oreos. You put a spoonful of red jello in your mouth and take a big bite of oreos and eat them both together...

When I'm really sick peanut butter and jelly sandwich with canned Campbell's chicken noodle soup, along with this homemade concoction of chocolate milk with a tiny bit of vanilla in it shaken with chunky crushed ice in a peanut butter jar, and you get to drink this out of the jar.... it bears a very vague esemblance to an egg cream.

Homemade chocolate chip cookies...buttered homemade mashed potatoes, canned creamed corn, and my own meatloaf, or just mashed potatoes and canned creamed corn for leftovers...meatloaf sandwiches...Haagen DazDulce La Leche ice cream....salted mixed nuts with lots of pecans....and there must be more...

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

Well.. Neat things that come out of a can... hmm.. condensed milk over sweet bread? Or maybe Chef Boyardee's beeferoni?. The best comfort food in the entire world is Mushy Mush (tm) Uhm.. it's that cake mix stuff you stick in the microwave and it cooks up all soggy with maple syrup, then you stick milk in it, and it's just... mushy mush :)

-- Anonymous, August 12, 2000

Nina: but did you ever do Wendy's fries dipped in Frosties?

My regular comfort food (beverage, actually) is hot chocolate. My super-duper, hardcore time-of-need comfort meal is buttered, milked oatmeal with toast and tea with lemon and honey.

-- Anonymous, August 12, 2000

Oh, and Beth, I was gonna guess potted meat. But nobody ever knows what that is. I think it's maybe the cheaper version of Deviled Ham. You know -- smashed up meat parts and sodium in a tiny can. Serve on white bread. Bon appetit.

"Comfort food" to me means stuff my grandma forced us to eat, I think.

-- Anonymous, August 12, 2000

First of all i would like to say that this is an example of why it can be dangerous to read forums at 9:30 on a Saturday morning:

>smoked eel in mustard sauce

Um, ewww. My ex used to enjoy eating sardines in anything, straight from the can. My current boyfriend loves to eat ravioli or any other similar canned thing straight out of the can too. Yuck. I will gladly eat it but only after heating it.

My comfort foods: Perogies; mashed potatoes (especially if you make it bangers & mash); salmon sandwiches with a bowl of tomato and cream of selery soup which is what my mom used to make me as a kid; Kraft Dinner with extra cheese and a bit of ketchup; regular flavor potato chips. If i'm sick, chicken noodle soup and/or toast with butter and a cup of tea. The toast and tea thing even works great when you're hungover and feel like ass.

-- Anonymous, August 12, 2000

Quick side note: i can't believe i actually just used the expression "feel like ass".

-- Anonymous, August 12, 2000

Gwen, they call potted meat 'pati' over here in the UK, in some kind of effort to make it seem less gross, I guess. It's not actually that bad, as long as you stay away from the tuna and sweetcorn version and the salmon version. Seafood paste in a jar is just wrong.

Someone just brought me some KFC for lunch, and damned if I couldn't resist eating the original recipe chicken skin. I remember loving that as a little kid, and my parents telling me it was pure fat. Must be why it's so good!

-- Anonymous, August 12, 2000

I like paté, although it sounds like what Jackie is saying is they call plain old potted meat paté? How very sneaky of those Brits.

I've had potted meat exactly once. It was in grammar school, and we had some kind of food exchange -- we all brought an item from home and then combined them in bizarre ways (so people were eating things like tuna fish and marshmallow sauce). Someone brought potted meat, and I thought it was just the most wonderful thing ever. I never had it again ... which is probably good, so I can retain that happy memory.

I've never eaten Spam, however.

-- Anonymous, August 12, 2000

First, let me say (if anyone's still reading this late in the game) that this is one of the most entertaining threads I've ever read here.

Comfort food is food that's safe. Food you know you'll like. It's usually, but not always, childhood food, and usually, but not always, not very spicy. The point of comfort food is that it isn't challenging. Many of my friends cite mashed potatoes as their number-one comfort food. Like you folks, though, my comfort foods are almost always convenience foods: boxed mac/cheese (which I usually alter in some way - the most common one is to add a little frozen corn and chili powder), hot dogs, et cetera. I've cut back on some of these foods, but I still eat way too much m/c and hot dogs, mostly from exhaustion. No one's going to come home at the end of a long day and make mashed potatoes.

Soul food is the food your momma used to make, assuming your momma cooked. If you're an ethnicity, it's ethnic food. I didn't realize I was ethnic until I moved to the North and it was a rude awakening, but my soul foods are some of the few foods I'll actually cook, because when I want them nothing else will do and the only way I'll get them is to make them myself. Gumbo, for example.

Beth, my problem with peanut butter and mayo is the grease quotient. I have a sort of unwritten rule: One grease source per sandwich, no more, no less. A sandwich is dry without some source of grease (I don't count the meats, heh), but two is too much. This means that I am forever asking the waitresses to omit the mayo from the cheeseburger - mayo AND cheese just overwhelms me. Peanut butter, I'm sorry to say, I consider a grease.

I know, I know, I'm a freak.

-- Anonymous, August 12, 2000

Yes, it is sneaky, Beth. You can also get things like fresh mushroom pati, but they do call potted meat 'pati'. My father-in-law always had it in the house, so I tried it there. It's best on a sandwich made with a milk loaf (small, round, thinly sliced bread) with the crusts cut off. I like party foods, and if I can make boring things seem more like party foods, I'm more likely to want to eat them.

-- Anonymous, August 12, 2000

Two words. Mashed. Potatoes. Pure heaven. I have been known to come home after a bad day and make a whole pot, and refuse to share them with anyone. When I'm sick, I want a grilled cheese and a bowl of tomato soup -- that was always my mom's magic cure. And, y'know, depending on how badly you need it, a bottle of white wine can be pretty damn comforting...

-- Anonymous, August 12, 2000

Gwen --

Never tried Wendy's fries dipped in a frostie. Sounds pretty good, actually!

Oh, and your description of potted meat reminded me of a comfort food I had as a kid, but haven't had in YEARS. Underwood Deviled Ham in Liverwurst on white bread. Oh, the shame....

-- Anonymous, August 13, 2000

I can't do the Wendy's fries thing - they're too potato-y for me. But you're right! That fry/ice cream thing is a gorgeous, gorgeous thing. McDonald's fries - incredibly salty goodness, with a big chocolate shake so thick your head collapses when you suck on the straw. That's beauty. That's fast-comfort-food.

Comfort food, though, and the eating of usually includes a ritual, a set series of actions that is almost as soothing as eating the food. The mooshing of the potatoes. The measuring of the milk for the mac and cheese. The curling up in the middle of the bed with the correct bowl or the stretching out on the couch with the correct lap blanket and selection of magazines. Not just the food but the feeling, and the atmosphere.

At least, that's my theory. That's why spiral macaroni and cheese - my fave comfort food - isn't nearly as soothing when someone else makes it for me, or if I eat it at someone else's house. I need to be in my own living room, eating out of my Tweety Bird cereal bowl.

Or, uh, does this say too much about me?

-- Anonymous, August 13, 2000

I have to agree with mashed potatoes, or Oreos, or mac & cheese from a box. But if I have boxed mac and cheese, I have to add peas. Green peas, usually frozen, added to the water as the pasta boils. Yeah, I know, I know.

-- Anonymous, August 13, 2000

I agree with Columbine. This is the best thread since the feminine hygiene topic.

-- Anonymous, August 13, 2000

Jen, I totally agree! The ritual is important, and so is the absolute perfection of the comfort food. If I'm making chili because I've had a rough week and it will comfort me, I don't want my boyfriend throwing extra stuff in it just because he thinks it will taste good. Oh no, absolutely not! Completely forbidden. The only correct way to make comfort chili is my way. And it must be eaten out of a mug, not a bowl, so it won't get cooled off too quickly.

-- Anonymous, August 13, 2000

Oreos with a huge glass of skimmed milk is perfection; I was so happy when Oreos hit my local supermarket, I bought boxes for everyone I knew. Can you imagine going your whole life without ever having an Oreo? To my mind, a country is stuck in the third world until Oreos are on the shelves of every grocery store in the land, and the UK is slowly realising this.

-- Anonymous, August 13, 2000

yes, Sherry...perogies...about 12... boiled, and swimming in Land-o-Lakes margarine. iced Coke on the side...and a good movie (a "thinker"). i eat 'em in the pot i cooked 'em in...

um, i gotta go...mmmf...mmmmm...GOD!

-- Anonymous, August 13, 2000

Jackie --

Has the UK gotten the chocolate dipped Oreos yet? And I think during the winter time, Nabisco comes out with the white chocolate covered Oreos. Heaven!!!

-- Anonymous, August 13, 2000

Ginger ale -- scrambled eggs and toast -- chocolate pudding -- fritos -- french fries dipped in a chocolate shake -- mom's fettucine carbonara.

Mom and I used to have "fettucine nights" when I was an adolescent. We'd either get a movie, or watch Star Trek when my Dad and my brothers were off camping, make a batch of fettucine carbonara (spaghetti, with egg and parmesan melted into and chunks of bacon, per mom's recipe) and sit around being girls together.

I miss that a lot now that I'm all grown up and out of the house.

-- Anonymous, August 13, 2000

Beth K., that sounds so nice. I would miss it, too, if I were you.

My aunt (who helped raise me) and I used to sometimes drive down Westheimer Blvd. in Houston and gawk at all the hookers and the drag queens. Then we'd go to Baskin Robbins and have banana splits. I miss that.

-- Anonymous, August 13, 2000

Well first off, pate SO isn't 'potted meat' and it is a kinda french thing more than english thing... a spread for your bread or crackers, and while traditionaly made from piggies I also make several vegetarian types... walnut and mushroom being my fave!

as for comfort food... well it would have to be chocolate.... or if something more substantial was required... probably something in a chinese takeaway would suffice...

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2000

Jim, tsk tsk. Don't you know that there is only one correct way to eat perogies?! They must be fried until golden brown in margarine or butter, with chopped onions and a smidgen of garlic. They should then be placed on a plate, sprinkled with shredded cheese, and you should have some sour cream for them too.

They are fantastic with a glass of wine.

Beth, this is definitely a great topic, the only problem with it is that i'm starving.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2000

Gwen, did you go to the Baskin Robbins that's on Westheimer and River Oaks?

Speaking of comfort foods, in high school we were across the street from a Swiss cafe and pastry shop. (and the baskin robbins) I remember running across the street with friends before school and getting those almond crossants. MMmmmm.

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2000

Maybe I'm weird, but I hate Oreos! They taste salty to me. I love wedding cookies, those little cookies smothered in powdered sugar. They're a real comfort food, but I can't indulge myself too often because I can eat a whole bag, with skim milk to wash them down.

I also like cherry pie filling from a can, chilled.

Peanut butter and tomato sandwiches are great. I don't know many other people who eat these, but they're really tasty. My mother fixed them for us when I was a kid, and I've always liked them. Peanut butter and banana runs a close second. I wouldn't try PB and mayo, though --that sounds nauseating!

-- Anonymous, August 15, 2000

Shepherd's pie- ground beef, real carrots, frozen peas, onion, bisto gravy, ketchup and HP with some thyme, the topped with mashed potatoes (potatoes, milk and butter, mashed not whipped). Definate comfort food.

I also love love love pasta, with butter and parmesean cheese. And rice with butter and soy sauce.

And Egg Cups- which is a two soft boiled eggs, broken into a Mug, mixed with HP, then spread on toast. Yummy.

Finally, tomato eggs- scrambled eggs with chopped tomato and cheddar cheese at the last moment.

Yum.

-- Anonymous, August 18, 2000

Allie Anne - what's HP?

-- Anonymous, August 18, 2000

Hewlett-Packard. They used to just make printers, but they've branched out into spices and condiments.

-- Anonymous, August 18, 2000

Pate isn't potted meat - it's a concoction of chicken liver and stuff. Yummy.

-- Anonymous, August 18, 2000

HP sauce is House of Parliament Sauce....it is a kind of steak sauce, dark brown with tamarinds. Tastes a bit like Worchester Sauce. Very yummy on steak or with eggs. It is a square tall bottle with a turquoise blue label and has etchings of the parliament buildings on it.

-- Anonymous, August 18, 2000

Thanks for clearing up that mystery! I had just about decided it was Hot Pepper...

-- Anonymous, August 18, 2000

My favorite comfort foods are fresh cut fried potatoes, cheese in a can with Club or Saltine crackers, and Dreyers Double Chocolate Chunk. McDonald's french fries, buttered tortilla chips or Saltines, and a Wendy's Frosty will do in a pinch, though. Or Soft pretzels from Mr. Pretzel or Auntie Anne's in the mall, dipped in cheese, of course. Hubby-made Homemade Pizza... yuuuum. Rotel Velveeta cheese dip with Townhouse crackers. Homemade Orange Julious... Grandma-canned- Hot pickles... Oh my gosh. This thread is KILLING me!!!

-- Anonymous, February 04, 2001

Most of my comfort foods are all sweets. (Hmmm, go figure) Especially stuff with really gooey caramel in it. Nestles Caramel Treasures send me over the top, and those new candy bar ice creams (Twix & Milky Way) call to me from the frozen food aisle.

If I'm sick though, I want my mom's super-awesome homemade vegetable beef soup. Gads, that stuff is incredible. Too bad I can't ever make it that good.

-- Anonymous, February 05, 2001

I think it's hilarious that we've revived this ancient thread, but it's cool with me as long as I don't have to give out another gift certificate.

My current comfort foods of choice: Sun Chips and Reese's Pieces. If I'm having a bad day at work, that's what I want. You can tell how bad the days at work have been just by looking at the size of my ass.

-- Anonymous, February 05, 2001