Katlian's Profile

Lauren, it's good that you read up on your zucchinis. I went to visit my brother a few years ago and he was so proud of his new garden. It was laid out in long rows and in one row there were about 30 zucchini plants. I asked him why he had so many zucchinis and he said "that's how many seeds were in the package." Needless to say, he gave away a lot of zucchinis that summer.

The person who owns the barn wood kitchen must be a much neater cook than my husband. How on earth would you clean flour and tomato sauce and sticky handprints off that rough surface?

I have to agree with previous commenters about two things: art and bed frames. If you live on the west coast don't put anything heavy or breakable (or both) over the bed unless it's bolted to the wall. We have art and photos all over the house but not above the bed. I don't want to be hit by falling glass or books in the middle of the night.

Vintage metal bed frames look nice but they can annoyingly squeaky. We spent a night at a b&b last year and the bed was so squeaky that we could hardly wiggle a toe without a loud protest from the bed frame. It definitely killed the mood and neither of us got a good night's sleep trying to lay as still as possible.

I love that tub in the first photo. Someday I will have a bathroom big enough for a tub like that.

My husband loved King Oscar crosspack smoked sardines in olive oil (black wrapper). No other sardines will do. He was completely distraught when they were discontinued.

Always. For two reasons: my husband is a very messy eater (you would think he had been raised by wolves) and we bought a new table and chairs last year (handmade in Minnesota) and we're trying to keep the dishes from scratching up the finish. I have two sets of bamboo placemats that we use for everyday because they're easy to clean and some nice linen ones for special dinners.

In the kitchen freezer: mostly the same list but also butter, because it's so much easier to make biscuits and pie crust with frozen butter, and sandwich bread because it takes me a long time to eat a loaf.
In the garage freezer: extra stock of summer fruits and veggies, the last few pieces from last year's hog, about a dozen chickens from the csa that we're rationing until they start delivering in the spring.

Technically shepherds pie should be made with lamb (lamb > sheep > shepherds) not beef. Pie made with beef is cottage pie. But, ground beef is cheap and abundant and ground lamb is not so beef has taken the place of lamb. I'm still disappointed when fake "traditional irish pubs" make their shepherds pie with beef; they could at least use the right name.

I like to make it with a pastry crust on the bottom, it gives the dish a nice variety of textures.

You also get coconut sugar as a by-product of making coconut crack.

Buy a fresh coconut, drain the water and crack it open (not as hard as it looks, I just tap them on my concrete patio until they crack). Remove the meat, peel the brown skin off it, and slice the meat into thin strips (no more than 1/8th inch thick, a mandoline works great for this).

In a large pot combine 1 cup sugar (organic or raw works best) and 1/4 cup water. Heat on medium and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the coconut and keep stirring over medium heat until the water evaporates and the sugar crystallizes. Transfer to a baking sheet and toast at 325° until golden brown.

The sugar that doesn't stick to the coconut will turn into golden flakes. I like to use it in my chai latte or hot chocolate. Okay, it's not as easy as the recipe above but you get delicious strips of sweet, toasted coconut too. We first bought this stuff at a fruit stand in Maui and they charged $5 for about 1/4 of a coconut worth.

I use parchment and/or butter for flat pans but for the intricate designs I use a baking spray with flour in it very sparingly. I have the bug pan and it collects too much butter and flour in the bottom corners.

I couldn't help but notice that all of your favorite bundt pans are made by Nordicware. I have several Nordicware pans and they are awesome. They're a little more expensive but the metal is much thicker and the cakes release perfectly. Nordicware's website has lots of bundt cake recipes and an annual contest.