On Slashfood, Bob Sassone recently submitted a post listing 8 foods he wouldn’t give up, no matter what. Inspired by his post, I give you the 8 Foods I Won’t Give Up Meme:
1. Cheese
This is at the top of my list. I love cheese. Sharp cheese, mild cheese, hard cheese, soft cheese, stinky cheese (not too hot on mold-veined cheeses, though). I love, love, love to taste something new every time I’m at the cheese shop or at Whole Foods (who has an EXCELLENT selection of cheese, btw – and won’t hesitate to cut the cheese exactly to your specifications). I’d sooner die than give up cheese. If there were such a thing as an all-cheese diet, I’d be so there.
2. Chocolate
Now that I’ve had truly good chocolate, there’s no going back. There’s just something about chocolate, it’s almost like a drug because no matter how crappy you feel, it instantly makes you feel happy. I wouldn’t be surprised if my chocolate purchases this year have paid for my chocolatier’s vacation. 
3. Meat
I’d be hopeless as a vegetarian. I just love meat too much. There’s just nothing else like a thick, juicy burger or a huge, well marbled tender steak. I can understand ethical objections against eating meat, and I do my part by supporting local farmers who have all-natural, hormone free, grass fed organic, free range etc. And I’d be willing to slaughter my own if I had to. Still, nope, no way, not giving up meat. Saturated fat be damned.
4. Full Fat Grocery Items
I’m sorry, on some things, there just is no reasonable substitute. Mayo, sour cream, butter, cheese – you must all come to me in your natural forms, none of this reduced fat abomination.
5. Fresh Fruit
Freezing does bad, bad things to strawberries, raspberries, etc. No thanks, I’ll just wait until you’re back in season again.
6. Carbs
Any diet that tells me that having an extra cup of spinach is bad, bad, bad is not for me. I’ll compromise and try to eat more good carbs (fiber-rich foods, whole grains, etc) but give them up altogether? No way.
7. Bacon
Particularly Schaller & Weber double smoked bacon, which just makes *everything* taste better. Death on a plate, yes – but the foundation of many of my dishes. I couldn’t live without it.
8. Alcohol
Because let’s admit it, sometimes there’s just nothing else like a good cocktail. I’m no lush, but giving up booze completely would be a buzzkill.
I tag all of you. 
If you trackback, I’ll do roundup of all responses.
NuStar and TexStar Announce Plans to Expand Infrastructure to Move Eagle Ford Shale Crude and Condensate to South Texas.
Energy Weekly News April 22, 2011 NuStar Logistics, L.P. and TexStar Midstream Services, LP announced that they have signed a letter of intent to develop a new pipeline system to transport Eagle Ford Shale crude and condensate to Corpus Christi. site eagle ford shale
TexStar will build and operate a new 65-mile, 12-inch pipeline that will have the capacity to move 120,000 barrels per day of crude and condensate from Frio County to Three Rivers. TexStar will build at least two truck unloading facilities which will be located along the pipeline to gather crude oil produced in Atascosa, Frio, LaSalle, McMullen, and Live Oak counties. At Three Rivers, the TexStar pipeline will be interconnected with a new storage facility to be constructed by NuStar. That storage facility will be connected to NuStar’s existing 16-inch pipeline that will have the capacity to transport 200,000 barrels per day into NuStar’s Corpus Christi North Beach Terminal. That terminal has approximately 2 million barrels of storage capacity, and the Port of Corpus Christi Authority recently approved a land lease option agreement for 15 acres contiguous to the existing property, which will provide terminal expansion capabilities. TexStar and NuStar expect to complete construction and begin service on the projects in the second quarter of 2012.
“We are excited to partner with NuStar on this project, and our combined facilities will provide South Texas producers with an open access, reliable, and low cost outlet for their oil,” said Phil Mezey, TexStar’s co-CEO and Chief Operating Officer. “Use of NuStar’s existing pipeline and terminal infrastructure in Corpus Christi will assure producers of a secure and reliable solution for getting their oil to market in the near future.” NuStar President and CEO Curt Anastasio also discussed the benefits of the project, and noted that it is part of a concentrated effort in which NuStar expects to significantly expand and modify its pipeline and terminal infrastructure to transport and store even greater volumes of Eagle Ford Shale crude and condensate.
“TexStar is an ideal partner for NuStar in this project because they are a very well managed company and they have a proven ability to complete projects like this quickly and efficiently, which is a win for both of our companies and our customers,” said Anastasio. “And this project is part of a larger strategy to give our customers even greater logistical flexibility by moving the crude and condensate from the Eagle Ford region to Corpus Christi, which gives them greater access to major refining and trading hub markets since Corpus Christi has waterborne capabilities for loading vessels. go to web site eagle ford shale
“NuStar’s existing pipeline and terminal infrastructure in South Texas provides the foundation to pursue and develop these and other logistics opportunities in the Eagle Ford Shale region,” Anastasio added. “These projects will strengthen NuStar’s position in South Texas, and our ability to provide logistics services to oil and gas producers, gas processors, refiners, and other stakeholders.” About NuStar NuStar Energy L.P. is a publicly traded, limited partnership based in San Antonio, with 8,417 miles of pipeline; 90 terminal and storage facilities that store and distribute crude oil, refined products and specialty liquids; and two asphalt refineries with a combined throughput capacity of 104,000 barrels per day. The partnership’s combined system has over 94 million barrels of storage capacity. One of the largest asphalt refiners and marketers in the U.S. and the second largest independent liquids terminal operator in the nation, NuStar has operations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Turkey. For more information, visit NuStar Energy L.P.’s Web site at www.nustarenergy.com. About TexStar TexStar is a full service midstream company focused on providing a full suite of midstream services to producers in South Texas. TexStar’s goal is to provide the highest netback possible to producers for their oil, gas, and natural gas liquids by providing low cost gathering, treating, compression, processing, and logistics solutions, as well as access to multiple product outlets. TexStar’s management team has decades of experience operating midstream assets in South Texas and has owned and operated over 1,500 miles of pipeline and two large gas processing plants. TexStar is in the process of rapidly expanding its existing gathering assets in the Eagle Ford shale area and is currently working to install additional gas and crude oil pipelines. TexStar is headquartered in San Antonio, TX and is a portfolio company of EIG Global Energy Partners and HM Capital Partners, LP. More information can be found at TexStar’s website www.TexStarMidstream.com.
