Turnip greens

There are only two flavors of iced tea: sweet and unsweet.

Barbecue is probably the most argued about food in the country. There are plenty of arguments to be had over dressing, though, because proper dressing is made with corn bread.

I always order a chili burger, frosted orange and onion rings at The Variety.

I thought the cultures question was confusing. Southern food has a lot of African influences, but it's hard to point to cultures.

Get your freaking out done now so you can enjoy the date.

Freaking is well underway.

Yay Suzi! That's awesome! You're going to wow him....

IO-not food-N, the character of Violet Turner on Private Practice is THE most unsympathetic, annoying, grating, miserable-excuse-for-a-therapist on TV. I cannot find one redeeming quality about her. She opens her mouth and I just want to yell at her to STFU because no one gives a shit about her and her woe-is-me tales.

I put pound cake as a recipe that's handed down. And Sugar for an ingredient for pound cake but I should have put sour cream.

What kind of wacked-out pound cake is that?

(Now you can use it for another answer!)

SUZI, yay, that is fun! I am so excited for you. Put on something pretty, have a couple of drinks and have fun.

Lessee, I am very Southern in my approach to iced tea. I do not myself drink sweet tea, but I damn well have a big pitcher of brewed tea in the fridge, summer and winter.

That's basic hospitality, too; you have a guest, you offer tea.

Let's see, for argued about: cilantro; BBQ ingredient: vinegar; What do you eat on New Year's day?: Tylenol.

Southern chef: Emeril; pound cake: butter; recipe handed down; pie.

Southern drink: bourbon.

That's all I can remember. My brain is fried.

Have you ever had it?

Yes! My roommate after college, her family owned a clam cannery, and were big into seafood of all sorts. Which was odd to me, being from a nearly landlocked state. And they do oyster stuffing at Thanksgiving. ...I still find it icky. But I dont' like sausage stuffing either? I don't like meat in my stuffing. (...THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!)

I don't either, meara. Oyster dressing and sausage stuffing are okay, but not really my cup of tea. Even giblets only get into my stuffing by way of still being in the bird that gets stuffed.

We always had ham, so the Stuffing Debate is alien to me.

Getting the kids bed ready is stressful. As stressful as getting the kids school ready, but without the impending arrival of the bus, which does dial it up to 11.

I hear you, Kat! Mornings, especially can put me in a screaming mood.

Yay Suzi date!!!

I skipped and skimmed over about a billion regional food-related posts.

because we're worried about Slinky's weight loss and ravenous hunger and such. Fingers crossed that it's diabetes or something else that can be managed with drugs/insulin.

That or hyperthyroid would be my guess based on experience with my cats. They both have the hyperthyroid and those were the symptoms, along with hair loss. And that was also the symptoms when Swifty was diagnosed with the diabetes.

The vet thinks hyperthyroid rather than diabetes, but he's doing a full blood panel to be sure. Slinky peed on him out of spite. I mean if you had instructed her to pee at a specific time, it could not have been timed better. She really doesn't like being doctored.

My cat just got diagnosed with hyperthyroid and had all those symptoms (weight loss, hunger, fur). He's been on meds since Feb and has gained about 2 lbs and his fur look shiny and pretty.

According to the vet, she had lost almost 2 pounds since last year, but is still within healthy range, though at the very low end of it. Hopefully the blood draw will yield an easy-to-treat diagnosis.

Kato, who has definitely lost weight since the winter, is 76 pounds. We never got his exact weight over the winter, so I shudder to think what it really was, given that 76 pounds is POST-weight loss. He gets old-man glucosamine now (in fact, Kato and Tim can take the same glucosamine, and all 3 of us take the same fish oil; it's kind of hilarious), but other than that, he's in fine fettle.

And Toke is Toke. She is the same weight, good health, indifferent to all pokes and prods. She is pure equipoise.

Didja' hear a dog was with the Navy Seals when they took out Bin Laden? A dog with titanium teeth! (It bit a board a while back and busted some teeth. Cheaper to give it titanium teeth rather than train a new Navy Seal pooch.)

Awesome slideshow: [link]

That link is the best thing I've seen all day. Those dogs kick ass. Literally.