Hey! People who read fiction for pleasure: How long does it take you to read an average novel of your preferred genre?

Working in the yard today. After last fall's massive earthworks, I have a modest bed set aside for some perennials. Got a couple of small lavenders into the ground, and I just planted bulbs for crocosmia. On the shopping list is lady's mantle and lamb's ear, maybe a single fountain grass. The bed is mostly sunny, with a few shadier nooks ( Read more... )

I want to go on a short trip this spring. But where? I have never been to either of the destinations below:

Poll Destination, Schmestination

A question for persons with opinions based in experience ...

What is your favorite leather soap/saddle soap for serious deep cleaning?

Indulge my curiosity!

Poll Tool Users

Mmm, I love home roasted red peppers. It's a shame that we polished off the last of the good bread earlier at dinner, because I've got a cutting board bearing the last traces of the sweet, smoky liquor that oozes out of a pile of fresh hot roasted peppers and sopping that stuff up with a piece of nice bread would be a great dessert ( Read more... )

It's prime chili-makin' season, and coming up on prime soup-makin' season, too. For years I've been getting along fine with a modest "big pot," which allows me to make 4-5 quarts of chili at a time. Right now, though, I'm making chili (while local peppers are plentiful) and socking it away in the deep freeze, so that when I want chili during the ( Read more... )

The backstory is long (and I forget most of it) but I've started wondering about something, and I don't have the knowledge base myself to answer it ( Read more... )

Help me, internets!

I need to gift my brother with a bottle of single-malt scotch. Something nice, but I don't need to go nuts and spend $100+ on it (I'm thinking $40-$55?). He's only gotten into scotch fairly recently, so something smooth and not too extreme in any particulars (nothing crazy with iodine, say).

Please make some suggestions!

So, flying out of Pittsburgh Int'l Airport ... Southwest, or US Airways? The prices are pretty much identical, and we can get a nonstop flight on either airline. Opinions from folks who've flown more recently than I?