amarie8's Profile

I'm impressed! A way better list than the usual bechamel, bolognese etc. I'm going to try one of these, even though they're not something we'd normally eat!

The Smitten Kitchen cookbook is by far my favourite from this year, followed closely by Dinner: A Love Story (particularly because I have a toddler and we're entering the picky-eating phase very quickly!) I ordered the Joy the Baker one too but for some reason didn't realize all the recipes would be sweet (her blog has a mix of recipes) and was a little disappointed with it after reading the very thoroughly tested recipes of Smitten Kitchen - Joy's approach seems a little less methodical which is fine but I definitely liked SK better for it's mix of recipes, attention to detail and including the weight measurements for every ingredient!

I understand the convenience angle, and I won't say I'll never use them - someday when there's more than just my husband and one toddler to feed it might just start to happen even though we aim for more of a whole foods type diet. But for now I prefer to buy a 5lb bag of carrots every week and 'hand-process' them into carrot sticks for the week (my husband eats a LOT of carrots). It's nice, methodical work and I feel more confident about eating them. I have noticed a chemical smell from 'baby' carrots and it doesn't thrill me. Then again...I buy the baby spinach pre-washed in tubs, and what's different about that from eating processed baby carrots?!

manjar is right - soda-lime glass has a blue/green tint to it when you look at the edge of the dish. I've found Pyrex both made of soda-lime and made with borosilicate (I'm assuming; it has a greyish tint if you look at an edge of the dish) in Canada.

We're the upstairs neighbours for our tenants, and we have a toddler who is obviously nowhere near quiet. To some extent I figure she's only a kid once and let her horse around, but I do attempt to keep it in check. No major noise before 9am on weekdays and 10am on weekends since they often work evening shifts - so no toys that drag or roll on the ground etc, and especially not down the hall to the bedrooms. Thankfully our floorplan matches theirs, so our bedrooms are above theirs and our living space is above theirs etc. That helps. In a previous apartment our bedroom was below someone's kitchen, and they liked to wear shoes on their hardwood. Yuck.

I am attempting to add more rugs, wear socks instead of bare feet or worse, shoes, and just be sensitive in general to the toys that hit the laminate floor. They're incredibly nice and understanding of our toddler for which we are eternally grateful - the mutual respect goes a LONG way! After a particularly loud night with our daughter I left them apology cookies.

Oh man, if we ever get that fireplace of ours hooked up to gas again I am so doing this.

I freeze the extra tomato paste in ice cube trays, baggies of granola, cubed leftover baked ham for pizzas and casseroles, bags of fresh cranberries at Thanksgiving for muffins later, zucchini or banana pancakes for my toddler daughter so I always have a 'meal' on hand, homemade chicken nuggets (see weelicious), unbaked cinnamon buns, unbaked rolls of cookie dough (slice and bake - they take up less room this way)...

I love having a stocked freezer!

Freezing meat doesn't kill bacteria, it just halts the growth of it while frozen. So refreezing isn't terrible as long as the meat wasn't out for long before refreezing and used quickly after defrosting the second time.

I tend to assign specific rooms or tasks to each day of the week. For example, clean bedrooms and do laundry on Mondays, clean bathrooms on Tuesdays, do outdoor tasks on Wednesdays like weed and sweep the patio, deep clean the kitchen and dining room on Thursdays...and so on and so forth. Obviously there's some wiggle room as life isn't that orderly, but it helps keep me on track and keep things manageable. Much easier to get into a routine and remember, too :)

I am of Dutch heritage and coffee at 10-ish am and tea time around 2-3pm for whoever's home are fixtures among our friends and family. It's a good time to drop by unannounced - they're typically taking a break and can be hospitable without whipping up a whole meal. Now that I've started my own family I've lost this habit...but I think I need to make it part of the routine again! It's such a cheerful part of the day :)