Amber Wilkie Photography's Profile

So you can use the Command hooks or you can buy the adhesive strips. As long as you keep the total weight within the limits, you can hang all manner of things. We have gallery wraps, artwork framed in lightweight wood frames, etc. It's a pain, but it gets the job done. Plus, they come off clean when you want to switch it up.

Refried beans recipe from my "house mom" in Mexico: boil a pot of beans for a long time, drain, then add an ungodly amount of oil. No need to use tupperware or anything like that - just throw the big pot into the fridge and reheat for the next night.

Refried bean recipe from my Mexican boyfriend (and the one I use to this day to thrill my very gringo husband): Put a fair amount of oil into a pan and fry tasty things in it (I normally do corn tortilla - makes good chips - jalapeno or two, onion, several cloves of garlic). Let the tasty things get kinda burnt, then remove from oil. Then add in a can of plain refried beans (you could make your own just by mashing up beans but I'm lazy), cumin, chili powder and cayenne. If you let the oil cool before you throw in the can of beans, you can stir first and then reheat everything to make beany perfection.

A doctor friend recently told me about a patient of hers. He came in for some not-that-serious thing and ended up telling her he had been using "8 to 10 bags of heroin" (what is a bag??) for FORTY YEARS. I'm sure he wasn't in the best shape, but he wasn't dead and he was able to speak with her lucidly.

The takeaway for me from this conversation is that all the tiny things we concern ourselves with are probably not that big a deal after all. I seriously doubt that dude is concerned with BPA, but he's still kickin' it.

This is pretty brilliant but mimee has a good point about the cheese. However, there are plenty of hard varieties that prefer to stay right where they are... this could open up a whole new world of sandwiches for me.

I pick these up at our local Asian market sometimes. I plan to make a show-stopper purple and orange sweet potato mash for Thanksgiving this year - fill half the dish with the purple mash and the other half with orange mash. It will knock 'em dead.

These are weeds in my garden - I can't get rid of them! Think they'd make a good pesto?

Agreed, you'll know. I thought buying a huge tub of olive oil at Costco was a great idea but it definitely went rancid before I could finish it. The word *rancid* seems too strong - it wasn't appalling, it was just definitely off and not a lovely flavor I wanted to add to my food. I keep my big containers of olive oil in the fridge now and transfer to a smaller container for everyday use.

My parents were not brilliant cooks. My mother made an infinitely variable "ethnic" chicken dish by dumping whatever sauce was appropriate on roasted chicken: chicken "cacciatore" w/ spaghetti sauce, "Mexican" chicken with salsa, "Chinese" chicken with teriyaki sauce.

The most important thing I've learned about cooking since leaving home is how to make VEGGIES. I hardly ever remember being served vegetables at home, especially of the unfried variety.

Here's the tip: almost any vegetable will taste delicious if tossed in olive oil and roasted at either 350* until tender or 450* until crispy in places. I made roasted broccoli w/ lemon & garlic for my aunt recently and she said she had never had broccoli made this way. It's too easy not to get on the ball. ANYONE can roast vegetables.

I never sift anything. I just kind of tap it out of the measuring cup. If all my baked goods are lumpy or flat, I haven't noticed. I also never bother mixing baking soda/powder and salt with the flour as most recipes suggest - those things can go in with the flour just fine. Hasn't ruined a recipe yet.

My elephant couch! Funkiest, most ridiculous couch ever - perfect for two people in love or one with a big bottom.

Couch: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aquaamber/2752707113/
Detail: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aquaamber/2744709653/