Bonnie: I do love almonds.

For heart health, I try either to nibble an ounce a day or use almonds in place of bread crumbs as a coating for fish or chèvre  or to add crunch to my salads. For the most flavor, be sure to toast the nuts before adding them to salad. Just heat in a 350-degree oven or in a skillet over medium heat for 5 to 10 minutes until fragrant and golden, watching carefully as once they begin to toast almonds can burn easily.

For nibbling, though, I like them a bit spicy, which is why I like Blue Diamond Bold. The Salt & Black Pepper has the cleanest ingredient label proving just the right blend of salt and pepper. But I also like nibbling their Wasabi & Soy Sauce and Jalapeño Smokehouse, though the former has a few too many flavor enhancers to be labeled a Bite of the Best.

As you know, almonds are purported to be good for your heart. Research shows that eating an ounce (about a handful, depending on the size of your hand) a day while enjoying a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease by lowering your LDL (or “bad”) blood cholesterol. That diet means limiting foods high in saturated fats — including foods such as butter, whole milk, beef, lamb, pork and coconut oil.

Almonds are also high in monounsaturated fats (the good kind), are an excellent source of vitamin E and magnesium and contain some calcium and iron.

Bryan: Whatever happened to lunch? I sit and ask myself this question from time to time as I remain shackled to my desk, not from fear of an overbearing boss, but from an e-mail inbox that just won’t cease. I believe the two-martini lunch has gone the way of the dodo as email and other forms of instant communication continue to demand such rapid response times that deals may be won or lost over appetizers.

This dilemma never used to bother me, as my old office was on 47th Street and Ninth Avenue in Manhattan’s theater (and restaurant) district. A quick phone call and two-minute walk was all I needed to find a wide array of amazing cuisine at my fingertips; take-out lunch was king and I was its subject. Though my dining table may have been my desk, I was never wanting for something more. That was, of course, until I left the city to occupy my new office in the heart of midtown Atlanta. The new neighborhood offered a few interesting lunch options at first, but the unfortunate truth is that these options quickly lost novelty after a few months.

What might a slightly jaded Epicurean do when faced with the prospect of Chick-fil-A or starvation, you might ask. Snack. I have six drawers in my desk at work, one of which overflows with snacks; CLIF BARs, granola, dried fruit and nuts compose my daily lunch menu and I was very pleased when Blue Diamond recently supplied a chic new addition. Though almonds were never high on my list of favorite nuts (peanuts and cashews still hold the dominant slots), these flavored varieties are a truly welcome change from the normal coverings of coarse salt or chocolate. The Jalapeño Smokehouse selection has a potent punch that spice lovers will relish and casual munchers will find slightly addictive; the Salt & Black Pepper a bit less so. Almonds are a healthy snack, supplying ample protein as a faux lunch in these fast-paced days. Toss a few in a Baggie with some Craisins (and maybe some M&M’S) for a midday energy lifeline.

Eric: I remember when I was growing up I would scoff at anything that contained nuts. The mere sight of a chopped walnut in a brownie or a single peanut’s presence in one of my chocolate chip cookies would be enough to enlist the “surgeons tools” — my pudgy little fingers — to dissect the baked good until it was simply nut-free. I fast forward my life 10 years and can’t imagine a world without nuts. I can understand that over time a person’s taste buds can change, but when I look back, I can no longer imagine how I ever felt disgusted by these wondrous little bites.

Unlike my brother who under uses nuts as a “faux lunch,” I see them as a real treat, and have come to savor a small bag every time I walk by the Notenkiosk (nut shack) in my area. Most of the time I get the usual 150 grams of warm macadamia mix, a combination of pecans, almonds, macadamias, cashews and hazelnuts. When I really feel like venturing away from the usual purchase, I end up getting a bag of my favorite, Smoked Almonds. It’s nothing special, just almonds that are smoked and sprinkled with salt, but to me, this is the ultimate snack, Unfortunately, it’s one that disappears within minutes after being poured into the nut bowl in my room while my girlfriend and I usually battle it out for the last one.

I can’t say I’m a big fan of Blue Diamond Bold flavored almonds, but this is just me. I know from the experience of tasting this type and other varieties in my mother’s house, that the company produces a quality product, but I just don’t enjoy flavorings on almonds (or on any nut, for that matter). I do, however, like my brother’s suggestion of making your own trail mix (or granola, like my father does) but in my opinion a non-tampered-with nut will always create a better end result.