Your List of Five

I'm having some furniture delivered today and I realize I have no cash to tip the drivers.  Since I don't want to be all, "Hey, thanks for carrying those three couches and the massive dining room table; may I offer you a letter from prison to convey my gratitude?" I decide to swing by the bank.

The new place has a two car garage but presently one garage door opener and it lives in Fletch's car.  Since I'm too lazy to pull out, go back to the garage, shut the door, and then go out the gate, I figure walking will be easier, and also healthier.  (Fitness has been low on the list of priorities for the last month, but it's working its way back up again now that things are calmer.)

I grab my bag, throw on an extra shirt and a fleece and head to the ATM.  Yeah, it's cold out but I walk briskly.  I get to the bank and when I do, I realize I've never had the vantage point of being on foot before.  And what do I see? 

An enormous Mexican bakery.  Seriously, huge.  And I can smell it from where I'm standing.  Before I even realize what I'm doing, my feet bring me directly to their door.  So I stop in... but ONLY to see if they have healthy, low-fat, high-fiber muffins. 

They do not. 

They do, however, have almond croissants, which rank on my top five list of food Kryptonite. 

With heroic restraint, I buy one and just as I'm leaving the warm, sweetly fragrant store, an employee stops me with an entire slice of Boston cream pie.  The whipped cream is perfectly peaked and the chocolate layer looks thick and dark.  The crust is so flaky it leaves little buttery flakes on the doily.  "You want to try?  Is very good," she tells me.

Unfortunately, pie is also on the Kryptonite list. 

And even though I'm on a health walk, it would have been rude to say no.

Pie guiltily consumed, croissant in hand, I decide to take the long way home.  My newly chosen path leads me right past a Cuban coffee shop where I find Kryptonite item number three - cafe con leche.  (Mexican bakery?  Cuban coffee shop?  Yeah, not living in Naperville, either.)

By the time I get to my house, I'm high on carbs, hopped up on caffeine, and shaky from all the sugar.  I'm decidedly less healthy than when I began my walk.  I'd say this was a monumental fail... were I not so content right now.

Anyway, busy for the rest of the day, so you guys should talk amongst yourselves about your own food Kryptonite.  (Feel free to post recipes, too!) 

P.S.  My other two items are spaghetti carbonara and a filet topped with melting goat cheese and a balsamic reduction.

P.P.S.  My mouth is watering just TYPING those items.

P.P.P.S.  Yeah, salad for lunch today.  A big one.

Comments

[Renie]

Ok. just got home from night school and now I'm starving. My list of kryptonites:
1. Diet coke over crushed ice in a glass glass, with the light shining through its the deep rich brown syrup. I'm an addict.
2. chili cheese fries with the correct ratio of chili to fries; chili in the middle, fries remain crispy, cheese melted all over. There's a little hole in the wall place by me that gets it right.
3. McDonald's McRib. Always makes me think of my best friend, also a Jen, who passed away 8 years ago.
4. tortilla chips with cheese and guacamole.
5. rocky road ice cream, and bonus:
6. Fruity Pebbles.

[Soren]

Food kryptonite, love it.
Here's mine, in no particular order:
-tiramisu
-banana pudding (layer up some ripe bananas, vanilla pudding, and nilla wafers, repeat... let sit, and eat#
-bread pudding with some sort of sauce #this and the above, from my time living in Atlanta and having a doting step-grandmother who cooked southern... sigh...#
--dense chewy brownies #not cakey ones#-- no nuts, no frosting
--anything NEW to me #starting to be a precious short list# b/c I believe if it's new, I have to try it
--Montreal bagels, preferably sesame seed.

Jen-- have you tried your steak topped with foie gras? or foie gras butter? ohfortheloveofg-d it's phenomenal!
I know a chef who makes foie gras cheesecake #not sweet)... serves it in a foie gras trio on a tasting menu, and if gilding the lily were a food thing, this would be it...

Wish I knew Chicago better, I'm enjoying the Where's-Waldo-as-Jen clues!
:)

[H]

1. Carl's Jr. (maybe Hardee's on the East Coast) Jalapeno burger
2. Putanesca
3. Walnut pancakes with syrup
4. Dark toasted sesame bagel open-faced with cream cheese lox and tomato
5. Take 5's (OMG - so good with the pretzel and the nuggat and the chocolate)

[Sunshine]

Publix Birthday Cake! With Buttercream frosting.

Chinese Preserved fruit only found in the caribbean or caribbean restaurants if we lucky

Curry chicken roti with hot pepper sauce

Stew Chicken and Macaroni pie

Subway turkey sub with the works including mayo and sub sauce

[Foodie]

--Cake balls http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cake-Balls/Detail.aspx
--Chocolate turtle Chex mix
--Chocolate milk
--Kneaders French toast
--You know how when you make hot chocolate and you put in too much mix so some of it doesn't dissolve but forms little clumps, and then you eat them and something magical happens in your mouth...

[LOTUS]

1. Homemade Chex Mix
2. Chick-fil-a
3. Heath Bar
4. My mom's carrot cake (she's stingy on frosting though)
5. A dish my assistant and I affectionately call "cheese balls" -- baked proscuitto-wrapped mozzarella with roasted tomato sauce and balsamic reduction.

[Lorraine]

top5 part2
These are the foods that keep me in my Sunday ww. Meetings
1. Canoli - my in laws are Italian Lord help me at Christmas.
2. Birthday cake remix from coldstone
3. Fondue from the melting pot. My bff and I ate ourselves silly once. Bras were unhooked and zippers were unzipped after that meal. I didn't eat the whole next day brecause I ate so much.
4. Hostess chocoate mini doughnetts. They taste even better when a cute bartender has brought them back for you to share with your bff
5. Peppermint icecream. Again tastes. Best when the cute bartender has brought out a scoop of it with a candle in it for your birthday.

Jen,
I love your books. I read them all while taking the train into work. I can't tell you how many times I ended up with a stupid look on my face because I was trying to supress an outburst of very loud laughter.

[Terry]

1. Snickers bars
2. Smartfood popcorn
3. Girl Scout cookie Thin Mints
4. Switzer's licorice bites
5. Newman's Own Tequila Lime Salsa and bag o' tortilla chips
6. Pasta of all and sundry sorts with fresh grated cheese...
7. Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia
8. Cheese
How many lists do we get? *hangs head*

[Erin Rodriguez]

Ooooh! I forgot to add fresh Krispy Kreme donuts!!! Nothing better!

[Erin Rodriguez]

1) Guava Pastelitos
(Cuban Bakery specialties)

2) Chocolate-covered Potato Chips
(Don't knock it til you've tried it! A local chocolate shop here in NY makes them and they're to die for!)

3) Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate with whipped cream from Starbucks

4) Penne ala Vodka

5) Filet mignon and buttered scallops - made hibatchi-style

[Kathy]

Well, of course the kind of food depends on the mood, but my top 5 right now are:
1. Perfect Grilled Cheese Sandwich--texas toast. Not squashed, buttery, but crispy brown-NOT BURNED-with 2 slices of melty, gooey American Cheese. Sonic's are great when they get it right. So are Steak and Shake's.
2. Diet Dr. Pepper over Sonic Ice. (Real Coke, if hungover) umm, are we seeing a sonic trend?
3. Twice Baked Potatoes
4. Brown-sugared Bacon
5. Crispy, home-made french fries dipped in mayonnaise.

Am I about to start my period?

[Meg]

I only have two food kryptonites: carbs and fats. And occasionally protiens. Mostly when they are covered in carbs and/or fats though :)

[OutdoorDogs]

Okay, here goes...

1. A juicy filet, rare of course, topped with a delicate goat cheese round and a slice of freshly roasted tomato.

2. Guacamole. On ANYTHING.

3. My homemade lasagna. (The only meal I know how to make.)

4. My mom's fried chicken and apple pie. (Which I will never have again. RIP, mom.)

5. A heavy cabernet. The kind that makes that pinchey feeling in your jaw on the first sip. And yes, this is a food. It's a grape, fruit serving sorted.

[Abby C.]

Food, Glorious Food...

In no particular order:
1. Entenmann's Cheese Danish. Yes, I've eaten an entire one.
2. Milk chocolate covered pretzels. Screw the South Beach Diet and their mantra of "You can even have Chocolate!" Dark chocolate just isn't the same.
3. Baked sweet potatoes...not bad, necessarily, until you add my favorite marshmallow and brown sugar topping (twice, of course).
4. Spicy crab rolls in brown rice, with the entire packet of soy sauce. Sodi-YUM!
5. Cheesy italian bread from a pizza shop...it's like cheese pizza...but SO much better.

Just thinking about all that is sending me to the gym, although I'm already sweating...Thanks Jen! :)

[kl]

I couldn't help but notice Spaghetti Carbonara on your list and I thought I would mention the best place in Chicago for Carbonara - La Donna. It's up in Andersonville, but it's worth the drive. Sometimes it isn't on the menu, but if you ask for it, they will still make it for you. My apologies, in advance, to your cholesterol level.

[Jen]

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ice Cream (Haagen Daaz Light Mint Chip or anything else)
NY Pizza
Cheese

There are just so many more though.

[Karen]

ok ... posting the first five left me feeling sad and longing to recognize the next five

fresh mozzerella with roasted red peppers and calamata olives, olive oil and balsamic vinegar
homemade mac & cheese served with stewed tomatoes (heated with a pinch of sugar)
lemon pepper wings from Wing Stop
twice baked potatoes
filet mignon grilled by ex-husband ... won't be having that again (which makes me both happy and sad at the same time)

[Anna]

Oh man this was hard...

1. Fried Pickles
2. Fried Okra
3. Eggplant Parmisian
4. Green Bean Casserole
5. Chipotle Burrito Bowls

I'm pretty hungry right now.... drats

[Karen]

In no particular order:

Sonic orange cream slush
pizza/pasta/anything Italian
queso/enchiladas/anything Mexican
cheeseburger with refried beans, fritos and salsa
Popeye's red beans and rice

[Julie]

1 - Chubby Hubby Ice Cream
2 - Fried Chicken
3 - chips and nacho cheese
4 - Onion dip - lipton is the best
5 - tater tots

[dawn]

this is like trying to decide which of your children are your favorite.

*(giordano's) deep dish pizza
*tex-mex and particular, brisket tacos
*tiramisu...mmmm. rum, cake and creaminess? genius.
*cupcakes. german chocolate, please.
*tuna melts at luna grill & diner in washington dc/arlington va

[mickey]

Only 5?!? Ok, I'll try.....

1. Mongolian Beef from Yen Ching

2. Fleishkele (that's as close as anyone in my family can come to spelling it)- an old Russian/German/Polish family dish that's basically a fried meat turnover.

3. Stonyfield After Dark Chocolate Ice Cream

4. Dr Pepper- NOT diet, thankyouverymuch

5. oyster crackers (my go to snack when battling PMS nausea- am I the only one who suffers that?)

[Natalie]

I already posted my 5 so this is just a response to everyone else's...

First, I printed out some great recipes and can't wait to try them.

Second and most important...it is so nice to know there are still people out there that like to eat "crap". I live in San Diego and most of the folks here are constantly on a diet of some kind. I probably should be too but why deprive myself of such goodness that everyone is talking about.

I feel so validated by every post...so thank you for admitting your food weaknesses...

By the way, I did go have Wings-n-things for lunch the day I posted and it was heavenly eating it with all my colleagues who were eating their lean cuisines.

[amy]

I have like a list of 100 or so. My comment is not exactly what you requested, but I thought you'd enjoy it anyway.

Inspired by SAPF, I signed up for Weight Watchers online this morning. I attended a meeting on my lunch break despite the whole "cake and those who provide it are your enemy" mentality.

Then I went to a drive through here in Atlanta called Guthrie's and got the best deep fried chicken fingers with this amazing dipping sauce, french fries, and real full-sugar coca cola over crushed ice for lunch. (There's three of my kryptonites right there.)

I begin the whole Points journey tomorrow. It's time I grow the f up...I'm nearing 40 myself.

[LilyG8762]

Better Than Sex Cake....it's delish! You decide if it's better than sex:
Ingredients:
1 (18.25 ounce) package German chocolate cake mix
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
2 cups hot fudge or caramel topping
1 (12 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
4 (1.4 ounce) Heath bars or Butterfingers

Directions:
Bake German chocolate cake mix according to package directions.

While cake is still very warm poke holes in top of cake with the end of a wooden spoon, poor sweetened condensed milk over top. Let cake cool.

Pour hot fudge or caramel topping over top of cake and let set. Do NOT refrigerate.

Once cooled spread on whipped topping and garnish with crushed Heath ™ Bars or Butterfingers. (I crush them while they are still in the wrapping then sprnkle them on top.)

Be careful when cuttting and serving as the gooey goodness can cause a mess if you are not watchful.

Can be hazardous to your health. It can be addicting and it will taste good at all hours of the day. But then again there are so many ther things that do too!

[Erin]

1. Diet Pepsi
2. Salt and Vinegar Potato Chips
3. Balsamic Glazed Chicken( Rachel Ray Recipe)
4. General Tso Chicken
5. Ghiradelli(sp?) Dark Chocolate Squares

If any of these disappeared on me, I would cry myself to sleep for months! Ha

[joycelyn]

vanilla cream filled donut from "donut a day", which I hadn't tried until this year and now I can't get enough. If I have to work early on a Saturday or Sunday it is my reward for being out of the house so early.

Grilled ham and cheese sandwich made on sourdough bread, warm and gooey

Chocolate in almost every form...but no chocolate milk or hot chocolate.

garlic mashed potatoes with tons of butter and pepper

warm from the oven cookies of almost any kind

there are so many more...but those are the first ones that came to mind so we'll go for those.
jww

[Aimee Wolons]

Movie Popcorn with butter of course
Soft Pretzels with Cheeeeze - the fake kind
Nachos with cheese or just mexican in general
Sugar Cookies with frosting
Diet Soda

Cheese sums up most of mine too :-)

[Tracy A.]

Ok, here goes...
1. Hellman's mayonaise
2. Maire's white Italian bread
3. Pasta w/olive oil and garlic (still love garlic even though my ex-husband used to tell me that I smell like an 80 year old man who ate a vat of pickles when I eat garlic. What exactly does that mean? Yeah, I was young when I married him...)
4. My neighbor's AMAZING shrimp pasta salad (Mmmmmm. Pasta and Hellman's. Are you sensing a trend w/the fat and carbs? I'll admit it...).
5. Lastly - are you ready? PRINGLES NEW-FANGLED POTATO CHIPS, or does everyone eat a whole tube in one sitting?

[Beverly]

Changing the subject - Heather Armstrong (dooce.com)posted today that she is pregnant.

[Shelly]

ANYTHING that is both potato and fried. So, hash browns, french fries, waffle cut fries, potatoes lyonnaise, potato chips.
Also, hot malasadas (Portuguese donuts) and coco puffs.

[Denise]

1. Baked Mac and Cheese (the kind with parmesan cheese baked into a crust on top)

2. Movie popcorn (not regular popcorn and definitely not microwave popcorn)

3. Carne asada burrito from any of the dive Mexican places that are not located near my new house in Suburbia

4. Chocolate croissant

p.s. About your window covering issues, many of my neighbors have put up the temporary, paper Roman shades that you can buy at the local Ace Hardware and they don't look bad. I think they're fairly inexpensive and might tide you over for a while.

[Joyce]

New York style cheesecake

Oatmeal raisin cookies
Dirty martini's w/ 3 olives =)

[Lisa]

1. Warm crusty bread and butter. Extra points for sourdough or good Italian.

2. My oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Not complete until you've added lots of milk chocolate chips, a 6-pack of ground Hershey bars and some pecans.

3. Gnocchi with tomato cream sauce.

4. Fried cheese curds with ranch dressing.

5. Warm asiago or cheddar bagels with vegetable cream cheese.

[Yajaira]

1. PIZZA
2. Red Velvet cake (especially from Doughboys in Los Angeles which I just read might have closed... :(
3. White chocolate covered strawberries
4. LASGNA
5. Buffalo wings with Ranch dippin sauce

[JenBun]

Sigh. So tempting...

1. Chips with cheese and guacamole
2. Cheesecake
3. Veggie sandwiches on fluffy bread with mayo and cheese and avocado
4. Ice cream with Magic Shell
5. Anything with frosting, or chocolate, or cheese, or in burrito form, or a la mode.

[Dominique]

1. Fried Okra
2. Milo's french fries
3. Velveeta cheese dip
4. Fish tacos
5. Boiled shrimp

[Jeannie B.]

I was having such a blast reading your post and the comments that I wasn't going to post, but then I realized I hadn't seen Ben & Jerry's Pumpkin Cheesecake ice cream on anyone's list. It's a limited edition flavor and I dare you to try it and not lurve it!

[Beach Gal]

OK, 5 Kryptonites (and picking only 5 wasn't as easy as I thought!)and let's all be truthful, all this really is is PMS food!!!

1. Clam Chowder
2. Nachos with sour cream & salsa
3. Turkey sub with tomatoes, pickles, mayo S&P from Maria's Sub shop- Scituate, MA - OH OK any kind of sub
4. crab rangoons
5. cake with frosting

I know it's only supposed to be 5, but let's not forget French Fries!!!!

[nadine]

i seem to be chained to a predictable pattern. depending on the time of the month, the pattern can intensify. my cursed chain of slavery is, in order of binge:

1. chocolate, milk, dark. liquified, solidified, any which way i can.

2. salt/carbs: anything w/intense cheese flavor, crackers, chips, pretzels. whatever i can quickly find to follow up the opening chocolate salvo.

3. & 4. do above steps two more times. and i usually do.

and my favorite sane thing to eat in all the world?
5. lobster. oh yeah, with a salad.

oh, my world seems so dark right now...dark...hmmm...i do have some semi-sweet chocolate in the fridge.

gotta go. now.

[Scarlet]

coconut cake

fries with honey mustard (or boardwalk ones with vinegar)

milkshakes

beer

salsa

[Adele]

Ok, my heart is breaking - I wasn't going to post but the "broccoli rabe - hands-down my fave vegetable. Especially when sauteed in olive oil and garlic with Italian hot sausage and tossed with orecchiette" post did it! I am an Italian stuck in rural Iowa - I don't think I've ever seen broccoli rabe here! I miss that & grandma's eggplant parm. My others are Ben & Jerry's One Sweet Whirled (do they make that anymore?) Dunkin Donuts Coffee - 1 sweet & low, little cream (need that after taste from the sweet & low!)and warm home made Toll House Cookies!

[Natalia]

Ah yes, Cafe Con Leche! If thats your kryptonite, try BEING CUBAN and LIVING with your cuban grandma that makes cuban food every single day! It usually consists of white rice, black beans, either grilled chicken breast or steak and fried plantains or yuca...Dieting in my house is non existent..if you want any recipes, feel free to e-mail. I have plenty to share.

[Stacey]

List of five you say....where to start...becuase my list could include maybe "50"

1. Oreo Cookie Ice Cream
2. Fried Chicken (KFC please)
3. Fresh Cut French Fries (fried in some good ole' lard) with cheddar cheses and bacon (which makes the world go round')
4. Middlesworth BBQ chips with yellow mustard
5.Baby Back Ribs

[Jenn-with an extra n-]

Good Question :)

*home made (well from a box) yellow cake with chocolate frosting.
*Tiramisu
*Cheese Pizza, Pesto Pizza, Stuffed crust Pizza (so yeah pizza)
*snickerdoodles, warm ones
*Taco Bueno, lots of it
*Ben & Jerry's Cinnabon Ice Cream

So basically cheese & sugar are my favs....

[Schmeesa]

1. buttery mashed potatoes, with extra butter
2. Ribeye steak, medium rare
3. Good bread with butter
4. Hot Americano or very strong coffee with plenty of cream
5. Pastries. I'm obsessed with a cheese brioche made at a bakery here in Portland with the perfect ratio of buttery pastry and a ton of sweet cream cheese goodness in the middle.

[Amanda]

In no particular order...

1. Dough Balls. They are a "delicacy" in my small town. Fried pizza dough dipped in nacho cheese sauce and marinara sauce. Everyone who comes to visit me has to get an order.
2. Beignets avec Nutella. I had the largest one of these in St. Malo, France last summer and let's just say it's a good thing I don't live in St. Malo...It was sprinkled with sugar and filled full of Nutella. Oh, yum.
3. Mexican Pizza. Honestly, I blame my best friend for getting me into this...because when they went on sale on stocked my freezer with this pizza and am actually have leftovers for lunch today.
4. Salt and vinegar chips.
5. Any sort of creamy cheese dip: queso, chili cheese, buffalo chicken, etc.)

And to Jessica who mentioned Ian's Pizza in Madison...thank you for reminding me of the best hangover food I've ever had. :)

[I Am Landlocked]

1. White Cheddar Cheeezits

2. Chocolate devil's food cake (icing or no icing--doesn't matter--but pref with milk)

3. Wasabi green peas

4. Jacket potatoes (doesn't that sound more sophistimicated than baked potatoes?)

5. Eggnog lattes at Starbucks (like pumpkin season, only better)

[CPorter]

I love anything that has pasta or cheese associated with it but my 5 are...

1. Mac and Cheese
2. Fettucini Alfredo
3. Oreos and Milk
4. Stuffed crust Pizza from Pizza Hut
5. Any mexican food with a lot of cheese and sour cream

Now I have to go eat my lunch because after reading these I am even more starving!

[Brandon (yes, i'm a girl!)]

Hi Jen!

We are having a girlfriends weekend in Chicago Dec 12-14. The four of us are HUGE fans and would love to meet you or have a bookclub mtg with you. We are from San Diego and LOVE Chicago. Hope you can fit us in.

Thanks.