Tag Archives: tips

Eight Things I’ve Learned at My New Job

I think it was the summer between my junior and senior years of high school, but it might have been as late as during my senior year of high school that my then-best friend had the idea that we should spend the summer before college in Santa Monica, California waiting tables and hanging out on the beach. I thought this was a great idea, and then she told my mom about this idea.

Yes, my mom shot the idea down. No, she didn’t do it the way you think she did. There were no words like “absolutely not!” No, my mother simply laughed.

She might have been crying she laughed so hard.

When she finally caught her breath, my mother (MY OWN MOTHER) told my friend that she thought it sounded fun and was totally sure that my friend could do this thing and do it well.… Continue reading →

Holiday Gift Guide 2015 Part I – Food and Beer

Last year I did my first ever “gift guide,” and was surprised at how much folks liked the post. I admit, I hadn’t been sure people would be interested in my suggestions, but I decided to put them out there in case it was useful. This year, knowing it was well-liked last year, I’ve been paying a bit more attention to possible suggestions.

It helped, frankly, that Bill and I moved across the country and had to decide both what to get rid of entirely and what to put into storage for the next nine months. The toaster oven made the moving cut, but not the storage cut, for example. The electric kettle in that post, however, remains a part of my day to day living.… Continue reading →

Science, Beer, Food, and Blathering Gift Suggestions

Well, after blogging for four and a half years, I guess I’ve started to get the hang of things. Like, in December, a blogger should consider having a “gift guide” or something. Or a good cookie recipe. Or both.

Well, I have several cookie recipes, but nothing new for you, so I guess we’ll have to settle on a gift ideas. I tried to come up with a few things that I have liked, used, or given as potential gifts from each “section” of the blog (food, beer, science, blather).

Mostly, I think these things are neat, fun, or wonderful and I hope to help you find something spectacular for someone awesome in your life. Or, if not find, give you some a springboard for other ideas.… Continue reading →

Five kitchen items I regret purchasing

Note: I’m having impressive technical difficulties resulting, I believe, from a power outage on Monday. Namely, I cannot get at my photographs. Computers. So delightful. So frustrating! Anyway, I will edit this post to include photos when I can get at them. And next week I’ll share the story of what it’s like to cook by kerosene lantern when you have company over. ETA: Photos added 12 Sept 2012.

This was a delightfully hard list to pull together, actually. Not because I haven’t purchased a variety of kitchen tools I later wished I hadn’t, but because it seems I’ve been pretty aggressive about purging them from my home. In a small home, this is a vital thing, and I didn’t expect to be as good at it as it seems I have been.… Continue reading →

Five kitchen tools I use all the time

The other day, my friend Jen asked me to do a post on kitchen stuff I really love. She also asked me to do a post on things I regret buying, which will be the next post.

I have provided links for those things that are easy for me to find links on Amazon or elsewhere, in case you wish to purchase something. These are not affiliate links. Bill and I did, in fact, sign up to be Amazon affiliates when we fired up this blog, but they ceased running the program in Illinois. Just so you know. 27 April 2014 Note: The Amazon.com links are now affiliate links. This means that if you buy any of these, I get a tiny cut of the price.… Continue reading →