In the United States Thanksgiving is this week, so a lot of folks will be cooking up a storm in preparation. Many other holidays will occur over the next month around the world and everyone seems to celebrate with food, hence, the TMI Tuesday theme…Cooking.

Jack’s Answers:

1. Haagen-Dazs or Ben & Jerry’s?
Given the choice between one or the other, I’ll go for Ben & Jerry’s.  I was introduced to the brand with their Chunky Monkey ice cream, of which a girlfriend of mine was quite fond.  Though atypical and tasty, I didn’t find the blend of banana, fudge and walnuts to be as mind-blowing as my girlfriend did; rather, it served as a gateway drug into the vast and wonderful world of hippie-produced ice cream.  Currently – and for quite some time now – my favorite of Ben & Jerry’s selection is Everything But the…

2. What is always in your refrigerator?
Milk.  Our daughter is just over a year and a half and she drinks quite a bit of the stuff.

3. What’s your worst kitchen disaster?
I can’t think of one.  I cook a lot, but I don’t have any stories of fires, food poisonings, or alien abduction and rectal probing.  My early kitchen experimentation usually involved me worrying that such a disaster was going to occur, but everything always worked out fine.  The worst thing that’s ever happened in my kitchen was the time I fell off a stepladder while changing a lightbulb.

4. Favorite kitchen gadget?
Quite possibly the ice cream maker we got as a wedding gift.  We use it fairly often to make a variety of homemade ice creams that never fail to please a crowd.  Beyond that, there’s one particular metal spatula that we own that I love using when making burgers or steaks.  It’s hard to explain this without sounding stupid, but it gives me great confidence when cooking meat.  The spatula is like an extension of my arm.  Also, we have a citrus squeezer that is ergonomic and easy to use; given the amount of lemons and limes that get squeezed in our house, without this gadget we’d have horrible arthritis.

5. What was your last meal? Did you like it?
Honey-chipotle chicken crispers at Chili’s Grill and Bar, with corn on the cob.  I enjoyed it thoroughly.

6. What’s your favorite cookie?
I’ll go with oatmeal raisin.  Homemade oatmeal cookies stuffed with raisins (and perhaps walnuts as well) are my baked drug of choice.

Jill’s Answers:

1. Haagen-Dazs or Ben & Jerry’s?
Haagen-Dazs.  I’m not particularly interested in the ice cream, but I love those chocolate-covered vanilla ice cream bars they make.

2. What is always in your refrigerator?
Tapatio hot sauce.  We use it a lot, and there is always at least one bottle, sometimes a couple.

3. What’s your worst kitchen disaster?
Probably the time in college when I borrowed a three-quart saucepot from my roommate to cook rice in.  I ended up burning the rice, and my other roommate said to put a little bleach at the bottom of the pot and let it soak.  The bleach ended up eating holes in the pot and I had to replace it.  Unfortunately I couldn’t get the pot by itself, and I had to buy the entire set.  It was really expensive.

4. Favorite kitchen gadget?
I have a particular set of measuring spoons that I love.  They’re shaped like hearts and are sometimes given as wedding favors.  Instead of the regular “teaspoon” and “tablespoon” labels, they say things like “a spoonful of affection” and “a pinch of joy”.  I also have a fondness for whisks and wooden spoons.

5. What was your last meal? Did you like it?
The last thing I ate was some chicken I had for lunch with Jack and his family.  It was good, but it disagreed with me

6. What’s your favorite cookie?
Oreos.  I only like the outside, thoguh.  I prefer to scrape out the white center and just eat the cookies themselves.

Instead of just telling us about your favorite cookie why don’t you share the recipe via The Great Cookie Exchange Extravaganza.