A while back I posted about Lilo, the Incredible Fabric-Eating Cat, and how she scarfed down the corner of a throw pillow my mom made for me a a few Christmases ago. After she made it her prey, it looked like this: I let it sit in the mending pile for many months, because I wasn’t sure how to fix it. … Read more
This is a more adult version of the classic – more sophisticated and better for you than condensed Campbell’s, but just as quick to make. It also tastes phenomenal. I used home-canned tomato juice as the soup base, which guarantees very tomato-y flavor (Brandywines are my favorite for juicing). But this recipe will work with tomato juice from the grocery … Read more
My cat Lilo has a bad habit of eating fabric. One of the things I’ve done to help dissuade her from this habit – besides making sure that every bit of fabric not upholstered to something or currently being worn by a human is out of her reach – is to grow wheat grass for her. She enjoys eating it … Read more
In November, the Olly Writes blog gave me my first introduction to halogen ovens. Apparently they’re quite popular in the UK, but in the United States most people still haven’t heard of them unless they been, um, lucky enough to see the Flavorwave infomercial with Mr. T. I read up on halogen ovens. They use a halogen and infrared light … Read more
I never ate cabbage growing up. Maybe it’s because cabbage in a consummate winter vegetable, and we lived in places where the growing seasons were long and winter was more of a blip than a season. My first real introduction to cabbage happened in my first few hours as an exchange student in Germany. I had barely slept in the … Read more
An illustrated tutorial shows an easy way to clean a stained porcelain sink. Read more …
We had turkey for Christmas and of course there were leftovers, so it’s time for the post-celebration ritual of making turkey stock in the slow cooker. Stock is made by slow simmering of bones and a small amount of trimmings in water. It’s a great way to use parts that would otherwise go unused. Stock tends to have more body than broth, … Read more
I had an ugly ergonomic chairpad in my office that had seen much better days. When I got a new desk for my office, I figured it was time to spruce up the chair, too. So I decided to sew a cover for the seat and the back. First, I traced the outline of the top/bottom and edges of the chairpad … Read more
The first time I saw a Swiffer, I fell over laughing. Certainly this strange marriage of a broom and a mop wouldn’t catch on, right? Brooms and mops are inexpensive and reusable; for a Swiffer, you’re stuck having to buy refills for the rest of the tool’s life. Clearly, I’m not a natural-born product developer. I’ve since come to accept that Swiffers have … Read more
I have an awesome little red wool rug from Ikea next to my front door. It’s the perfect place for standing while kicking off wet shoes. For my cats, it’s the perfect place for taking a nap next to the heating vent – or in Lilo’s case, chewing on raw hide. (Even though the rug is wool, she’s … Read more