Trader Joe's has inferior produce but has cheaper "luxury" items. I agree that now that Whole Foods has taken out their bulk bins, there is nary a bargain to be found.

Not a must-have. We never had one, never missed it. Could never have given up the floor space.

Living in an apartment building, the food smells that bother me most are those from other people's kitchens. The people who lived below us used to start cooking dinner foods on Sunday mornings, and...

I persued this at a bookstore recently, but didn't buy it. The recipes looked pretty good and it's a fun concept. But as a previous poster mentioned, Trader Joe's is ruthless about developing new p...

I just made a major lifestyle change and have been acquiring most of my must-reads from the library. It has been going great, but it wouldn't be possible if the Chicago Public Library hadn't recent...

Tea or iced tea I am home, so the options usually are: healthy -- trail mix or fruit, yogurt unhealthy (summer) -- a scoop of ice cream or homemade popsicle, eaten w...

From trips to Paris: dishtowels (for self and as gifts) both new and vintage, an individual Staub ramekin-thingie (before Staub was widely available in the US), a small copper pan for melting butte...

If we are hankering to go somewhere nice and need to bring our son, we go early. We also go out more in the summer, when outdoor tables are an option. There are definitely certain restaurants where...

I remember reading another article about cloth v. disposable dipes that put it in a friendlier format -- that to some extent, the biggest environmental impact comes from the decision to have a chi...

I thought the butchering challenge exposed some interesting weaknesses. I thought Dale should have been included in the final four instead of Lisa. She does not seem very meticulous o...

I lay out newspaper, too. I also do my best to plant after the frost-free date, but before my downstairs neighbors have cleaned their porches for the season, so hopefully the stray dirt isn't too n...

I can only think of harvested veggies with envy. This early in the season, I've only got my balcony plated with radishes (doing quite nicely) and cat grass. Our local vegetable delive...

I have: an absence of vodka. My husband keeps reminding me we are out. We are also out of bagels, which are usually in the freezer. Way too much ice cream, including: Whol...

My husband stopped in on a business trip a few years ago and bought one of the compilation cookbooks for me, which was lovely. And he also brought home some things from the nearby spice shop anothe...

I read the book (checked out from the library, natch) but am struggling to come up with a cohesive comment. I struggled through it a bit, and it left me feeling a bit pensive. Our family has been ...

Lisa, Antonia, and Nikki are really weak. I was sad to see Stephanie go, as I thought she'd make it to the final three (with Dale and Richard as the other two).

The key is to watch your baby not the calendar. In the old days, people used to shovel in rice cereal, watch baby spit it out, scrape it off baby's chin and shovel it back in. We now know that a ba...

I drink tea every morning, and I've tried many kinds of Mariage Freres tea. I've tried to be less snobby about my tea, but nothing truly compares, even other expensive teas. Porte Rouge in Chicago ...

I just got my copy at the library. I was bummed that the book pick on obeedo was The Emotional Life of the Toddler, as I was rooting for Last Child in the Woods, so this pick is right up my alley. ...

We do belong to Costco. We originally purchased a membership because we needed new tires. Now we keep the membership for entertainment value more than anything. Living in an apartment, we just don'...