Home

Twenty Minutes Well-Spent

September 18, 2013

I am a true expert at concealing my mess.

Witness: my dresser drawers. (I know, and yes, it's extremely difficult to locate anything at all in there.)

Visible clutter makes me nuts - I keep all the surfaces in our house relatively bare and do things like straighten remote controls, fold throw blankets, and position pillows just-so before heading to sleep at night - but something about things being behind doors or in drawers makes me feel like I can pretend that they just don't exist. In they go, stuff stuff stuff, I'll deal with it later (I won't).

Home

Must-Have Glassware That You Might Not Have Thought Of

September 18, 2013

There are some glasses you "need": sturdy water glasses, wine glasses, at least two champagne glasses just in case.

But there are also a handful of glasses that are just really nice to have...and that you may find you end up using more than your "regular" stuff.

First, everyone needs a really, really great mug that's just their own (this is mine; Kendrick's not allowed to use it because he has his own Best Dad mug). The mug doesn't have to be expensive (mine was $4.99) and should probably be weird (or animal-covered; I also love my monkey mug) if at all possible; the only important thing is that you feel like it's yours.

Home

How-To: Grow Plants From Cuttings

September 16, 2013

When my mom came over to my house after visiting our friends Eddie and Sharyn down in Florida and handed me a Saran-Wrapped package, declaring "I brought you cuttings," I was a little confused. I mean, they look like...branches. I didn't really understand why they were something that my mom might want to carry through airports. But after a little Googling I realized that they're the loveliest gift ever: they're basically a way to create little plant "children".

Aww.

I love this idea, mostly because I remember where each and every plant in our garden came from, and it's so cool to imagine that in a few years I'll be able to look at these and know that their "parents" are growing in my faraway friends' home (theoretically, I mean; we're talking Remedial Gardener over here, and these plants will need a bit more than a wish and a prayer to make it through alive).

Not all plants will grow from cuttings, but Sharyn assured me that this particular plant - a Mexican petunia - grows "like wildfire" (and can apparently even grow in rainless, concrete parking lots), so I suppose that's a good start.

Eat

Strawberry-Basil Fizz

September 5, 2013

When Kendrick and I got home from our Saturday adventures, it was that moment right before the sun sets when all you (or at least I) want to do is collapse into a hammock with an US Weekly. So that's what I did, and I was all relaxed and cozy...and then I turned the page and spotted a recipe for something called a Strawberry-Basil Rickey.

You know what makes those just-before-sunset-in-a-hammock moments even better?

A cocktail.

This particular recipe required things like fresh herbs and mortar and pestles and Cointreau, though, so as delicious as it looked, it wasn't going to happen. Not right then, anyway.

Eat

Cucumber Yogurt with Mint & Olive Oil

August 30, 2013

Doesn't that just look like a perfect storm of good things?

Last weekend, when we were wandering around the city, Kendrick and I passed a little frozen yogurt shop and peered in the window to read the menu of specialty concoctions. I was confused for a moment as to why anyone would put cucumber and olive oil on frozen yogurt (not that that's necessarily a bad idea, just a slightly confusing one), and then realized: oh. Not a frozen yogurt shop. A yogurt yogurt shop. (Chobani, specifically.)

We ended up continuing on our way without going in, but I kept thinking about that cucumber and olive oil yogurt all week long, and so today I thought I'd give it a shot myself.

« Previous 1 … 111 112 113 114 115 … 321 Next »