lepacrimson's Profile

I've been looking for a pretty cake/pastry display stand that would look nice on the counter but also keep the cake fresh. So far, I've only found lovely cake stands and ugly, plastic cake keepers. I'd love to see some options that marry the two functions.

I love the posts that suggest ways to use up an item that might be going bad in the refrigerator, like the recent ones on buttermilk (loved that buttermilk quick bread recipe!) and ricotta. I also enjoy posts that explain how to process a tricky item (like the videos on seeding pomegranates). Finally, I love the posts that solicit comments/advice about kitchen gear.

I finally tried out this recipe and wanted to report back that it's easy and delicious. We had the version with pesto and parmesan with a chickpea/spinach stew. We'll be making this regularly. Parents, take note: it's a great loaf to bake with kids and they love eating it, too!

It must be fun to read all of these fawning comments. I have no business trying to win something so lovely when I have such a small, dumpy kitchen (with no storage space). But I do love cooking and these pieces would be so fun to work with. . . Sigh.

My mother is European and bought my first son a stainless steel feeding set from the Netherlands. This was a family (or local) tradition when she was growing up and she still has her first plate/bowl. My son's set includes a shallow bowl/plate, a cup and utensils.

It was the best present he has ever received. It is beautiful, will last for years, non-toxic and we use it three times a day. I don't know why these sets aren't more popular in the U.S., especially because people know that eating off of plastic isn't healthy. We haven't been able to find a set as nice as my son's online and grandma had to go to a jewelry store in the Netherlands to get one for our second son, who was born recently. She's a flight attendant, so that wasn't a real hardship for her. For those of you who won't be in the Netherlands before Christmas, here's a link to a site we've ordered from but I'm sure you can find others: http://www.silversuperstore.com/baby/tantalyn.html.

These match my living room perfectly!

I am the kind of person who always turns to books to figure out how to do things so I buy and read a lot of parenting books. A friend once made me feel a bit insecure about it, saying that she just relies upon instinct. I talked it over with a friend who is a therapist and she reassured me that what people call a parenting instinct is just replicating what one's parents did. So, if you like how your parents raised you, that's fine. If you don't, turning to books isn't such a bad idea. She also told me that one of the largest causes abusive behavior towards children is expecting them to act in a way that is not developmentally appropriate and that learning about child development can help prevent this.

My parents were quite abusive and neglectful so the last thing I want to do is parent like them. So I'm turning to books to learn about child development and to help me explore how I want to approach raising my kids. Favorites include:

Playful Parenting
Unconditional Parenting
The Emotional Life of the Toddler
Simplicity Parenting
Positive Discipline
Our Babies, Our Selves
Brain Rules for Baby
Child of Mine

I also love the website ahaparenting.com, which really resonates with my approach to parenting.

I made this soup for dinner tonight and it was the best recipe I've ever found on this site. It really was phenomenal. My toddler son especially loved it. Thanks!

I made this for dinner tonight and am not sure that the vinaigrette is necessary. Once I poured it over the oranges, I basically had orange soup. I think the salad would be better with a drizzle of olive oil. Also, this recipe is classified as "quick" and it's not. Segmenting seven oranges takes a while. Overall, I like the flavor combination but don't feel the result was worth the effort.

Seriously, AT, this isn't a snuff site. Get rid of the ghastly images.

You have fabulous taste and your house is dreamy. The tiles are especially spectacular.