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What's the deal with the folksy introductions to each issue? How did you come up with that?

How do you pick what gets covered in an issue?

Your pieces suggest you live in a very rural setting but the test kitchen is in Brookline, Mass which is solidly suburban. Do you have a long commute? Does it influence your ability to cook at home on weeknights?

What percentage of the cooking in your family is done by you?

What advice has come out of the test kitchen that you just cannot bring yourself to follow?

Why do gingerbread recipes call for dissolving baking soda in hot water? What's the point of doing that?

As a subscriber to your magazine for the past two years, I would like to pose a two part question:

Do you think your magazine does reflect the most recent trends in the american kitchens of eating healthier, given the alarming numbers of obesity cases in the US population and do you think it is about time that your test kitchens steer away from how to make the perfect fish and chips? It is a very unhealthy dish, no matter how you cut it. Please more healthy dishes in your magazine, otherwise people will loose interest in your publication, despite the very nice format it comes in.

I want to make ice cubes with pomegranate seeds in them for the holidays. I've tried a few times and they always come out cloudy. What's the secret?

You try boiling the water first? That gets rid of the dissolved gases and makes regular ice cubes clear. Might be worth a shot.

I really enjoy watching your show. I like how you keep your focus on the home cook and don't do a lot of "fancy" restaurant type cooking even though most of your techniques are professional. I also really enjoy watching you in the blind tasting panel.

Question, what does Adam Reid do when he's not testing gadgets? Please don't tell me he spends 8 hours a day in the lab with electric can openers and zesters.

Do you have any suggestions for holiday gifts for my coworkers? The last few years I've made seasoned roasted nuts but I'd like to try something different.

We have been working at home with healthier baking - crumbles using agave nectar and whole grains instead of white flour and crusts made of almond meal instead of flour and butter, for instance. America's Test Kitchen always seems unafraid to deviate from the standard technique in a given recipe. Any suggestions for us with regard to baking? I've found that too many "low fat" recipes simply use scary processed ingredients and chemical concoctions, the end result being an unsatisfying substitute for the real thing.

A question: I know that the folks at Cook's Illustrated emphasize how important it is to follow the letter of the recipe. They do the testing so we don't have to. But often times I find myself needing to cook only for myself or for myself and my boyfriend and I simply don't want to make a dish that serves 6 or 8 people. In some dishes, like baking, it's not really possible to halve the recipe, but how about for other dishes (like, say, risotto)? Would it be OK to halve these sorts of recipes? To rephrase the question a bit -- when would it be appropriate to alter the recipes to adjust for serving sizes and when do you think that doing so would negatively affect the results?

Anusha73 - it's not their job to care about obesity and how much people stuff their face with fish and chips. some of us have restraint and self-respect. they ant the best way to make something taste good. that's their mission. if you want healthy recipes, there are a million outlets for that. otherwise, cancel your subscription. i find it hilarious that you somehow know that people will stop reading their magazine if it doesn't feature healthy recipes. they've been around for awhile. by the same token, why don't you ask all of the top restaurants to stop using butter? please, stop the policing.