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Could a restaurant be so appealing, so irresistable, that you'd wait a year to get a reservation?

This one apparently is: Talula's Table in rural Pennsylvania, has been called the most difficult reservation to get in the country. Talula's is about an hour outside of Philly, has only one large farm table that seats 12, and is run by a husband and wife team. There's a store that sells cakes, pies, soups, and over 150 different kinds of cheeses (the co-owner spent her life studying cheeses).

But the real treat appears to be the restaurant. The eight-course tasting menu, which features fresh and primarily local ingredients, is the same every day for about 5-6 weeks, and then changes depending on what's in season.

The day that one NPR reporter visited, the menu was as follows: egg custard; mushroom risotto; hand-rolled rigatoni with snails; pampano roasted with a mango-saffron broth; pork osso bucco; lamb; blue-raisin chutney semolina; and for dessert - deep breath - a coffee-infused bavarian creme with bittersweet and white chocolate over a piece of buttery shortbread, covered in a blood orange jelly.

And for the record? If you want a reservation, call them tomorrow starting at 7 a.m. The first person to call that day gets the next reservation a year from now, and the process repeats itself the next day, and the next, and the next...

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So far, Nicole and Sarah have given their thoughts about Alan Richman's GQ list of "The 20 Hamburgers You Must Eat Before You Die." (A .pdf of the entire article is available here.) Since Sarah and Nicole have both hit at least a few spots on Richman's list, I figured it was time I start catching up, especially since I live only minutes away from the restaurant that occupies the number one spot on the list, Le Tub, in Hollywood, Florida. Le Tub has had roughly the last half a century to garner praise for its burgers, and the evidence, in the form numerous framed and yellowing newspaper clippings, is obvious throughout the restaurant. The rest of the decor is also worth mentioning. The rickety, open-air bar and restaurant sits perched on the Intracoastal Waterway, and it's as if the entire place has been whittled from a huge chunk of driftwood and is now held together by little more than fishing nets, banyan roots and the occasional rusty nail. And, of course, there is a bathtub planter outside, as well as a variety of toilets and toilet seats strewn about the lush, overgrown property.

Lone eaters seem to be at the biggest risk for poor eating habits. Over 40% of those who live alone don't even prepare one meal a day at home and both eating out and take away meals seem to be often turned-to options. But one of the biggest problems is not a lack of skill or motivation, but that fact that a lot of fresh foods and recipes are just not designed for one serving. Milk spoils, loaves of bread mold and salad greens wilt before they are fully utilized. Recipes have to be cut down from 6 servings to one. As a result, eating out is easy. Shopping and bringing food in is hard.

One of the things that solo cooks can do is plan their meals in advance. Having a few set meals each week means you can plan a trip to the store to get exactly what you will need, rather than overbuying things that look good but will go bad before they are used up. Stopping by the store two or three times a week for smaller purchases, instead of making one larger trip, means that you can always have fresh perishables on hand. Cooking some foods in advance, like soups or pasta sauces, means that a fresh meal can be ready even faster than something microwaved, if you are willing to make time once during the week to prepare a full batch. Last but not least, it is a good idea to buy one cookbook that is designed for meals for one or two, like Small Batch Baking or Solo Suppers so you'll always have one book on hand to turn to at a moment's notice.

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