My last SOTY post was three months ago and it's been that long because I've basically been completely ignoring the yard since then (and feeling guilty about it ( Read more... )

My memories of really learning to cook start 10 years ago, when I first started living alone. Faced with suddenly being head of my own household and in charge of feeding two small kids on a regular basis on a low budget, I started learning simply by doing. While I didn't really learn to do much in the kitchen growing up, I did inherit strong food ( Read more... )

This weekend... xuth and I threw a pizza ("pi") party. Last week I noticed that everybody else posted pictures of pi parties that looked to feature several store-bought pies. My pie parties are definitely better in that regard. I may have become a slight pie snob.


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A couple years ago or so I discovered I am somewhat lactose intolerant. (The investigation process was pretty simple: drink a glass of milk, observe various intestinal distress. Take a lactase pill before drinking milk, no distress. Well, there ya go ( Read more... )

This weekend was a nice calm stay-at-home weekend for me after last week's con-people-boston-visiting whirl. (The writeup on that one will come later)

It started with a bit of a busy-ness, as I prepped for my first Soup Swap Party. This involved making two large pots of clam chowdah (bacon and non) and doing a whole bunch of house cleaning, ( Read more... )

I don't have any one thing to say; I have a lot of little things.

1. I lost my ability to enjoy spinning in circles about 5 years ago, and as since have given up on things like contra dancing, which xuth enjoys regularly, but which will make me headachey and nauseated for the rest of the night after about half a dance. Upon recommendation from a ( Read more... )

I have been looking for some kind of snack food to keep around the house for the kids to munch on that is a) easy, convenient and appealing to both teen taste buds and sensible (*cough*) adults, b) packs a good amount of wholesome calories that is more nutritious than, say, instant ramen, and c) is easy on the wallet ( Read more... )

Dinner tonight is something that is starting to be a classic of mine: refrigerator soup. It's basically where you take various ingredients in the refrigerator/pantry/kitchen that need to get used up and toss 'em together in a pot, along with whatever else comes to mind. I end up planning a lot of meals around using up things in the fridge, as I ( Read more... )

Among the things I never thought I would willingly spend huge amounts of time and energy on, when I was younger: children and food. I'm not a super foodie. I'm not a scientist or an artist in the kitchen. I am usually perfectly happy letting other people create food for me to eat. But somewhere along the line, cooking became something of a ( Read more... )

There was this silly kitchen gadget meme going around a while ago that reminded me I was many months overdue to clean out my kitchen Stuff drawers and sort through things. Over the weekend I finally did so, and succeeded in thinning things just slightly. While everything was spread out on my table I decided to make a rough listing. So here are ( Read more... )