That’s a nifty infographic. But it listed hot sauce as optional. Hot sauce is not optional.
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I didn’t make whichever combo said it was optional. 
But yeah. I’ve got this habanero chipotle sauce that an acquaintance of mine makes and I’ve been going through bottles at what is apparently an unprecedented rate. 
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I’m working more overtime these days, so before I left for work (but after the waffles) I made this:
which became this:
Is that a vegetarian shepherd’s pie, ready to be baked? Why yes it is! It used to be a vegan recipe, but real cheese is so good. My recipe now includes cheddar on top, and I’ve started spiking the mashed potatoes with a little parmesan / ground rosemary / sweet potato.
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Can you explain to me what’s the difference between ginger beer and ginger ale? I thought they where the same, only regionally name difference. Seems incorrect?
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My perspective, based on the products I’ve tried (in Canada & US):
Ginger ale is a drink with sweetness matching any other soft drink, and mild ginger flavor. Like Sprite with a bit of ginger, and pretty much no spice heat at all.
Ginger beer is usually less sweet, and should have significant heat from the ginger. Like, you should feel it in your mouth like the way you would feel the spiciness of a mild hot sauce.
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Ah, thanks. Interesting, also on the ‘brewing’ side. Will come back about it. Bedtime over here.
Cheese on top? What a delightful improvement! I have always splashed veggie broth on top to make sure the potatoes don’t dry out too much in the oven.
I always make it in layers, but I like the idea of the mince and veggies all mixed together, with only the mashed potatoes on top. AND CHEESE.
That looks great, and reminds me that we haven’t had shepherd’s pie in eons.
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I don’t feel like dealing with taking a photo right now, but our dinner – in the process of creation as I type – is broccoli and Gruyere cheese quiche. Pie crust from one recipe, and a modified cheese quiche recipe for the rest. I’ve had to beat back the girls from eating all the broccoli before I put the pie together. Kids these days!!
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Neither had we until a couple of nights ago (it was OK, but I was working at the same time and wasn’t concentrating enough to focus on making it taste really good. I should have added sweet potatoes to the mash and more herbs to the mince/veg).
This is my only big annoyance about the film Inside Out. The kids loved broccoli until they were taught it was disgusting! Fortunately we’ve often been able to convince them that it’s just a movie and broccoli is great.
Incidentally, Riley hates green bell peppers in Japan, but we want the kids to eat those too:
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Accccck, green bell peppers are horrible! The taste, and that smell… yuuuuuck.
Then again, I say that as someone whose guts won’t allow the ingestion of green peppers in general so… YMMV. 
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Interesting - do other colours have the same effect? How about spicier green peppers? Red bell peppers seem to be the most common kind by far here, but in China they were almost all green:
(The elongated (slightly spicy) ones were much more common where I was)
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I can eat red peppers, no problem. But greens? No can do. If you want to see me doubled over in agony, feed me jalapeños.
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For one of my daughters, she hates the taste of RED peppers (seriously?) but will eat any other color, and loves hot peppers. She’s the one who also loves sour, fermented flavors and generally avoids sweets unless they’re interesting…a french pastry rather than a candy bar, for example.
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Follow-up notes:
I followed the quiche recipe’s instructions for how long to pre-bake the crust, which was quite a bit shorter than usual (for the crust recipe I use), and I won’t do that again. It wasn’t bad, but I prefer my crust a little more flaky.
However, the quiche recipe in general was a keeper: a lot more custard-y rather than egg-y: 2 cups of half and half (or one cup cream, one cup milk for those who live in countries where half and half isn’t sold) to only 3 eggs. Just add salt and pepper to that and pore over the cheese/veg already placed in the half-baked pie crust and bake at 350ºF for 35-40 minutes until the center is cooked but slightly wobbly. I never thought to adjust the proportions like that, and it’s really amazingly better. Light, creamy, fluffy…yum!
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My son won’t eat cake, but he loves having cakes, especially decorated ones. Given the choice between cake and plain sheets of nori, he’ll take the seaweed every time. He also used to love dried squid. He’ll often make sweeping generalisations about the foods that Chinese people like (as obviously we wouldn’t be expected to know this stuff). “C’mon dad, I want noodles! Chinese people don’t like rice!”
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Slightly off-topic…
Last night’s lead-in story on all the news channels was that Portillo’s, a very popular privately-owned local chain that started out as a hotdog stand, has decided to start allowing ketchup as a condiment that can be requested to be put on a hotdog in their restaurants and drive-thrus.
To show how crazy this idea is, owners of other hotdog stands were interviewed on-camera, and all said some variation of: Yes, we have ketchup, because we sell french fries too, but if someone orders ketchup on a hotdog we just put it on the side on their tray and what they do with it when they get to their table or car is their own personal business…we would NEVER put ketchup on a hotdog for any customer.
That’s right: it’s socially taboo to eat a hotdog in Chicago with ketchup on it (allowances made for young children).
So what are your local crazy food norms?
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Mayo on fries! it’s actually really good, but some people seem to feel it’s weird. Is it my imagination, or is [the thing you put on fries] more regional than most other food choices. In Baltimore it was Old Bay. I’ve heard of malt vinegar, but never lived anywhere that this was a thing
I may have eaten a horse burger in montreal, but what’s weird - eating horse, or not eating horse? (they eat cows, don’t they?)
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