​1) He seems genuine.

While Rachael Ray laughs at her own ridiculous stories and Giada's atrocious pronunciations grate on our very being, Guy seems very natural and genuine. No tablescapes, annoying flirtations or awkward pauses, just plain, peroxide naturalness. We'd like to have a beer with him, and assume he'd probably be similar to the Guy we see on TV.

Swedish appliance manufacturer Electrolux is reaching toward a Jetson's-like kitchen of the future. Concept kitchens are designed for a not-too-distant world in which most people will live in cities, and living space will be at a premium. "The appliances of the future will need to be integrated and adjustable," Henrik Otto, Senior Vice President of Design at Elextrolux, said in a statement. "We won't have room for a whole host of products each with their own specific function." Here are five of those fantastically freaky and futuristic Electrolux concept kitchen designs.

1) Electrolux Design Concept "Heart of the home" animation

Imagine a future kitchen that requires neither pots nor pans for cooking. At DesignBoost, Electrolux revealed a shape-shifting, all-in-one cooking station concept. Heart of the Home works as a kitchen table, a cooking surface and bar all in one. Its design calls for an "intelligent, amorphous, interchangeable cooking surface that adapts to users needs." This video shows the cook selecting a recipe, then marking an area with their hand to show how large the cooking area should be. After pressing down on the table's surface, it creates an indentation that works as a pot or pan. The temperature and cooking time is selected with a few finger swipes.

There's more to Irish food than just potatoes and shepherd's pie.

​Irish food gets a bad rap. Most Americans simply think of it as boiled-to-death meat served with overly starchy potato dishes, thanks to the plethora of bland Irish pub food that exists in the United States.

English fare gets the same bad rap, mostly due to the greasy bangers and mash that are so pervasive at Americanized British pubs. (And shame on a certain British pub in Idaho for showing NASCAR in the lounge one afternoon and refusing my repeated requests to turn the channel to a pivotal English Premier League soccer match.)

Anyway, back to Irish food. To understand Irish cuisine, it's important to understand the history of the land itself. Like in most cultures, Ireland has a strong agrarian history, dating back to the 7th century when monks first documented agricultural and foraging practices in voluminous secular texts. The potato wasn't even buried beneath the verdant landscape at that time. Staples of the early Irish diet included barley, oats, wheat and rye, most of which came in the form of sloppy porridge (gruel, if you will) and, on special occasions, flatbreads and cakes.

Chocolate is universally loved. This all-encompassing love fest has spawned many iterations of the brown and roasty confection. Here are just a few we thought you might find bizarre and intriguing.

1) Breathable Chocolate

Flickr: plushev

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The article from yesterday provided us with the idea for this list, so, of course we had to pay homage again to the chocolate you inhale, aka Le Whif. We think of it as an inhaler to save PMSing women and other chocolate cravers from severe attacks in which vending machines are toppled, and innocent chocolate bunnies are decapitated.

Presumably, Jack Bauer eats at least a couple of times during a season of 24. How else would he fuel his bad-assedness? Assuming all of his snacking comes during those convenient commercial breaks, we picked out a few items he's probably munching on for much-needed energy to fight terrorists; domestic and abroad.

1) Protein Bars

Flickr: bitmask

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They fit in a pocket or gun holster easily, provide lots of protein (duh), carbs and everything else needed to drop-kick a would-be suicide bomber encroaching upon the United States' presidential motorcade. He could rip that sucker open and chow down in less than 2 minutes. Product placement opportunity perhaps?

Fruit looks scrumptious as well as being packed with vitamins and nutrients that the body needs, right? Wrong. Although fruit is a necessary part of our diet, and of the food pyramid, some people have accidentally died as a direct result of eating the wrong fruit or too much fruit. Before you next munch on a healthy snack, keep in mind this list of poisonous yet tempting fruits.

1) Apricots

​The velvet-skinned apricot is a relative of the peach. They are a terrific source of beta-carotene which converts to Vitamin A in the body. It can help keep the eyes, skin, hair and gums healthy, as well as help the body fight infection. They can be eaten dried, canned or fresh. A fresh apricot can provide the daily recommended dose of vitamin A. In all the 50 known varieties of apricots, however, the pit contains amygdalin. This is poisonous when consumed in large doses. A person would have to split open the pit to expose the dangerous and deadly chemical to the body. In fact, apricot pits are sold in some health food stores as a natural supplement. Don't eat more than one or two pits a day. At the least, stomach discomfort or nausea can occur. Sometimes too much amygdalin can be fatal.

​As is the case with most occupations, kitchen professionals have their very own vernacular, ranging from esoteric to downright nasty. This strange chef-speak is hardly recognizable to those who have never worked in the restaurant industry. First of all, there's a lot of heated rhetoric in the kitchen. (Gordon Ramsay-like tirades, as seen on television, are not uncommon amid the flaming pans and sharp knives.) This kind of gross misbehavior is tolerated in the kitchen, as long as the food is impeccable and the operation runs smoothly. Other than garden-variety swear words, used in many variations, chefs use a universal lingo on a daily basis. Here are a few sayings that will have you sounding like a real chef.

1) "Set It and Forget It"

The phrase "set it and forget it" gets used a lot in the kitchen, especially in the sauté station where cooks have to juggle many pans at one time. It simply means that once an order comes in that you can set the pan and push it to the back burner, until the meals on that particular ticket are ready to be fired. This method allows line cooks to get a grasp on the food items that they are responsible for cooking in an organizational manner. Of course, the term gets used throughout kitchen, from the broiler station to the pantry. And many kitchen professionals actually use the phrase in their personal lives, as long as it doesn't pertain to unpaid bills.

We're not sure if our love of Jim Gaffigan comes from his ability to make comedy from food or the fact that he speaks in weird voices, but it's probably a combination of the two. Anyone with an entire 5 minutes of material dedicated solely to Hot Pockets is someone we'd like to hang with, but until we meet up and become BFF's, we'll just watch his You Tube clips and laugh until we spray milk out our noses.

1) Hot Pockets

No version of this less-than-delectable frozen pastry is overlooked in Gaffigan's ode to the self-contained diarrhea starter.

The Greek love goddess Aphrodite was known for making potions that stirred sexual desires and helped to ease anxieties relating to performance, as well as increasing the chances of fertility. And because of this lusty distinction, certain foodstuffs were coined as "aphrodisiacs" throughout time. The Greeks were the first to actually make a list of foodstuffs that increase sexual arousal in humans, even though more food is available now than it ever was in ancient times. Of course, mythology plays a big part in what foods are considered to be sacred in terms of sexual arousal. Nonetheless, try some of these food items this Valentine's Day--in an effort to make your sweetheart horny. Think of it as early-day Viagra.

1) Basil

​This aromatic Old World herb, called the "royal herb" by the Greeks, is believed to have strong aphrodisiacal powers. There are many varieties of basil grown throughout the world, dating back to ancient times in the Mediterranean, Africa and Southeast Asia. The most common varieties are sweet basil, lemon basil and the red-stemmed Thai basil. This licorice-flavored (anise, if you will) herb is quite versatile, but it was the Italian creation of pesto that made the herb popular in America. But, besides making pesto, you can put your honey in the mood with a plate of pan-seared sea scallops drizzled with basil vinaigrette or a caprese salad-- made with fresh mozzarella, sliced tomato, and fresh basil leaves.

We love to eat, and in order to do that and do it well, we must cook (because that's what happens when you live on a freelance writer's budget). Keeping these pantry and/or refrigerator items in our kitchen makes life a lot easier and tastier.

1) Tomato Paste

flickr: Island Vittles

​Used to thicken, flavor, color or enhance just about any savory dish, the uses for this pantry-lurker are innumerable. A few ideas: use a couple tablespoons when cooking a roast in your crockpot to create fantastic gravy, or put into chili, spaghetti sauce, soup of any kind or to create the base for a curry.