If you have really dirty dishes (cooking pots, e.g.) that you don't want to deal with just then (or you don't have a dishwasher), put them in the sink with some dish soap and hot water and let them...

I agree that the full-court place setting is a bit much for what's being served here. But the White House is equipped with a domestic staff--and they have to do something. Obama may have ha...

"Superannuated hippie."

YL2008 - It's occurred to me. As absolutely charming as this idea is, what are the chances of one's own bees NOT eventually stinging one of the neighbors, given the city's population density?

Creme caramel.

The dishwasher gets emptied/filled every morning while I'm waiting for the coffee to brew, and I try to remember to change the sheets every Monday. Other than that, it's binge. Howeve...

1. The Union Square Greenmarket tends to have a nice selection of herbs and other plants, and some (not all) vendors' prices are extremely reasonable. 2. If you come by plant vendors a...

The remake of Sweet November wasn't great, but the apartment where it was mostly set was just beautiful.

By the way--if you come in late on your laundry, and another tenant is removing it so she (or he, as the case may be) can use the machine, she is likely to apologize. However, in this ...

Salt, butter and garam masala.

Could this be a matter of taste? I live part of the time in Manhattan, and part of the time in a suburb of Portland, Oregon. Oregon is beautiful, and smells great, but the 'burbs are isolated and d...

I'm hopeless at this sort of thing myself, but my mother and stepfather tell me that the key is to read all the gossip columns/blogs before going to social functions.

Fruitcake. (It only sucks if you choose fruit that sucks--like those creepy green cherries. I use dried cherries, apricots, and golden raisins, and plenty of rum. Also, if you cover the top with a ...

I vote for real trees. The fake ones seem kind of pointless, like fake flowers, but hey, it's your house. It took a few years of living by myself before I figured out that I didn't ac...

I think I read this a few years back in Martha Stewart : Pizza boxes to store those rolled-out pie crusts in the freezer. As far as pre-baking cakes go, fruitcakes are designed...

I'm with Tiamat_the_Red (who totally spelled mirepoix right). When you brown the veges (or anything else you eat), some of the molecules that make up the flavor get oxidized and beco...

The easiest way takes a microwave oven and a ricer: Microwave the potatoes (wash as many baking potatoes as you need, count them [giving you a number, N], microwave them for [2-4 x N] minutes; let ...

Not a slow-cooker thing, but similar in principle: - Preheat your oven to really hot. - Make your stew (or whatever). - Put a lid on the stew and boil it for at least two minut...

The big thing about pie crust is not to mix it too much. You want it heterogeneous on the microscopic level, so there’s a tiny bit of flour mixed with shortening, next to a bit of...

I like making pies, so I'm not your target audience, at least for this thread. But I also hate peeling or otherwise prepping the fruit. Instead, I've had a lot of luck using combinati...