Meat pies are one of England's great gifts to the culinary world! One of the best meals I've ever had was a lamb and apricot pie in a pub somewhere in Oxfordshire on a rainy night: I haven't been able to reproduce it yet.

Pies are something that lend themselves to mass production: making the crust for one is labor intensive, but making several dozen at a time doesn't make that much more work. I think of the 19th century as the heydey of meat pie making, after the US had started to go its own way. Pies are great for an urban environment: a pie shop can churn them out, workers and people without cooking facilities can buy them to take home, they can be eaten cold if needed, they're filling - all things that make them ideal for city dwellers. The US, being less urbanized and possessed of greater fuel sources - all those trees cluttering up the landscape - seems to have gone in more for the kinds of things that could be cooked over a hearth. In addition, the US had other early influences from Native Americans, the French and Spanish colonists, and early German immigrants, cultures that didn't go in much for pies AFAIK.

So we're pretty much left with dessert pies and the occasional pot pie.

Get yourself over to Maison du Chocolate, near the Arc de Triomphe: wonderful chocolates, better than Belgian.

What I like about Parisian markets, malheureusement, are things I can't bring back to the US: pates,charcuterie, soft-rind cheeses,fresh fruits.... You can get some varieties of jams and similar confections that are hard to find in the states, such as rose or chestnut, and hard cheeses can be imported under certain conditions (they have to be shrink-wrapped, for one). Pastries are generally allowed, but IMHO they're not great for traveling. I'd be interested in the French lentils from Puy, but I can make neither head nor tail about the US regulations on importing beans.

You may also want to look for seeds: commercially packaged seeds stating country of origin are generally allowed. And of course you'll declare everything - if it's illegal and you declare it the worst that will happen are that it will be confiscated. If the cute beagle finds it and you didn't declare it, it will be confiscated and you'll be fined. (A friend was stopped once because she was carrying a bag that she had used in France for taking food on a picnic: she didn't have anything, but the USDA dog caught the lingering scent of sausage a couple of weeks afterwards. She had no further problems: the dog got its reward anyway.)

I'm going to have to side with the USDA on this one: the name and packaging are deliberately misleading. One can argue that a reasonable person expects "mayo" to be mayonnaise, which has a legal definition in the US; the package depicts an egg, which unless one reads the fine print strengthens the notion that this is indeed mayonnaise. Note that Veganaise and other mayonnaise substitutes don't have this problem, because they're not presenting themselves as mayonnaise.

Now I want to whip up a batch of real mayonnaise: egg yolks, mustard, lemon juice, and the good olive oil

It's usually not the server's fault. I don't send food back often, but have when
-the wrong dish was delivered (usually on a busy night); mistakes happen - I just mention that I ordered something else
-a dish was overly salty, to the point of being difficult to eat. Then I just said, "it's too salty"
-I asked for meat rare and it came well-done. That's the kitchen's problem.

If I just don't like something, it's my problem. If a dish is not as ordered or described, that's the kitchen's problem. Sometimes I'll suggest that the kitchen might do something differently,like if I order pickled ham hocks with grits and I think the grits would benefit from some salsa, but I don't expect a kitchen to drop everything for me. Now if I ask a server to recommend something without dairy and I get a dish with a cream sauce, that's a problem

The main (and AFAIK) only purpose of the dill is flavor. So you may have some weird tasting pickles, but if you've otherwise used proper techniques and equipment they won't kill you.

Was this home-grown cilantro? I ask because every time I've tried to grow it I got plants with wispy, dill-like leaves rather that the big, flat, parsley-like ones I get from the store.

ETA: when I make refrigerator pickles I add coriander seeds - the seeds of the cilantro plant - to the pickling mix. Different taste profile, I know, but it is a common pickling spice.

I liked the Lunch Room in Lackawanna the couple of times I was there for lunch (it's just down Ridge from the enormous white basilica and across the street from the ugly orange city hall). If you want to try the local specialty, beef on weck, and don't mind an excursion, Bar Bill in East Aurora is good (and East Aurora's a nice little town for walking and shopping: stop in at the Roycroft Inn to admire their craftsman furniture); Schwabl's in West Seneca is also known for its beef on weck: it's like stepping back into the 1930s (except for the prices).

I don't get the Wegman's hype. The one in Amherst was OK, the one in South Buffalo was not. Check out the local farmers' markets if you get a chance: there's actually a lot of agriculture in the area, and apples should be just coming in. Canada may not let you bring fresh produce back, but many markets sell cheeses, wines, and packaged products such as cider, jams and jellies. I try to stock up on horseradish when I'm there.

A whole chicken? It takes my household of 2 the better part of a week to get through one of those!

Take one of the breasts, chop it fine, mix with mayo and salsa. Then cut one or two avocados in half lengthwise, remove the pits, and stuff the holes with the chicken salad.

There's always quesadillas with chicken and avocado. If you have fresh or canned green chiles, and onions, you can cut strips of chicken, layer them with strips of chiles and onions, and bake (add cheese and olives if you want, or not). Top with some sour cream and you have a variation on pollo con rajas.

A uniform??? Why do you need a uniform for a community college course? I can see guidelines like "no loose clothing" or "hair must be covered" but IMO a uniform is a pointless waste of money. So is a 10" bread knife if you're comfortable with an 8" one. (a fine point with me: we have 8" and 10" chef's knives in the house, and I hate the longer one. My husband, who is a foot taller than me, prefers it - I just can't get comfortable leverage with it).

My town offers one or two night classes in particular techniques or cuisines: if yours does, those might be more suitable for what you want to do.