tessa6461's Profile

Display Name: tessa6461
Member Since: 4/27/10

Latest Comments...

This doesn't seem scale-able to me? Sometimes I just want to make enough rice for my lunch, sometimes for a big dinner for lots of people, so I just use a ratio (typically around 1 parts rice to 2 parts water, though it changes with the type of rice).


Cooking Rice: Do You Use the First Knuckle Method?
9/13/12 12:08 PM

I always make a "sacrificial slice" that I expect to get stale, and press against the end of the loaf... over the following day to two as I slice off fresh pieces I just put that (now very stale) piece back against the fresh cut and put the whole thing back in its paper bag. That one piece will get rock-hard by the end of the loaf, but behold! Within the rest of the loaf remains all squishy and fresh!


The Best Ways to Store & Reheat Bread: Advice from a Baker
8/3/12 12:15 PM

Several of my friends have decided that gift-giving is my Superpower, but really my secret is just that I buy things that would make good presents when I see them, rather than when I need them. I know that eventually I will need a gift for my brother, so if I see a $20 vintage tool set at a yard sale I just get it and put it in my "present box" in the closet and let it wait till the next birthday/Christmas/arbor day.

Result: everyone gets weird, quirky, how-did-you-ever-find-that gifts, and I get to be smug over my superpower.


Holiday Shopping In August … Seriously
8/2/12 3:04 PM

When my now-husband and I were first dating it was long-distance. One night when he was visiting we passed by one of those quarter gumball machine type things, only instead of candy you got these tiny plastic monsters for a quarter. Of course I had to have them! TINY PLASTIC MONSTERS!

When we got home I was a little stuck with what to do with my new acquisitions, so he grabbed them and balanced them on the door frame to my room to "protect" me when he wasn't there to do it for me.

...years (and several apartments) later, we still have those little monsters carefully balanced on the door frame of our bedroom. You know. Just in case.


Displaying Unusual Objects in Your Home
6/26/12 1:16 PM

I hate to even share this secret (nobody reading this is in Berkeley though, right? I'm not going to have to share am I??) but Trader Joe's will sell you perfectly good pine nuts for, like, $8/lb.


Why are Pine Nuts So Expensive?
9/13/11 12:21 PM

Use Padmapper! http://www.padmapper.com/

It searches through Craig's List along with a bunch of other sources, compiles them, then lets you filter what you do/don't want, and displays all the results on an easy-to-use map. Seriously, not sure how I lived before this thing.


Insider Advice: 5 Tips for Finding Apartments on Craigslist
8/23/11 3:33 PM