alicelost's Profile

If you have hardwood (or tile/laminate/etc) or mostly hardwood, look for a vacuum specificly designed for that– shoutout to my Miele, which I love and could not tolerate having cats without.

@Melly2805, I know I'm going to get flak for this, and it's obviously not the solution for you if you entertain frequently, but we put our cat box in the dining nook becuase it's the place where we spend the least amount of time (30-60 minutes/day), and either we keep it very clean or you could argue that we're so used to it we don't smell it, but either way it's not a bother to us.

There's a version of this in the cookbook Jerusalem that I adore. It uses Greek yoghurt instead of sour cream, and it includes a single chile pepper and a bit of date syrup for sweetnees. So good! I'm a hummus fan generally, but I vastly prefer beet dip to hummus.

I disagree with @jojomomo about grinding your own hazelnut flour. I've done it successfully in other recipes, and it worked for this recipe too. What I get out of my food processer seems very similar to the commercial products I've seen, but much cheaper (it's a little less consistent, but it's not less fine or powdery). I do think it helps to have made nut butter (the more times the better), so you know the stages of grinding nuts and you know when to stop before it goes to far.

On to these cookies: delicious, quick, easy. What more could I ask for? In the future, I'll leave off the lemon glaze (I don't love what it did for the flavor, and I really don't love what it did for the texture; the cookies are softer everywhere the glaze set in). If you're not a salty-sweet fan, you should probably also cut the salt a bit. I used kosher salt (like the recipe called for), and I would still describe them as overtly salty. It's on the edge of what I find acceptable, so I can see how others might not like it.

I clicked through to suggest the Campari and IPA, but because that's already been suggested, about a new negroni with pisco?

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/pisco-negroni-50400000125923/

Also in the Bay Area, keep an eye out for Zach Houston, who does typewriter poems on demand. I haven't seen him in the East Bay in quite a while, but I see him in the city every now and then.

I've never returned anything to a grocery store (and I probably never would), but reading the comments reminds me of the few times I have written to a company to complain about something (once, mold in a sealed container, once a completely new recipe without noting the change on the package). They both offered to send a coupon (only one actually got to me, but I probably wouldn't have used the other anyway on account of not liking the new recipe).

I agree as well. I would never like whole wheat pasta if I thought of it as a substitute for white pasta. Occasionally, though, it's just what I'm craving, and I'm always glad it's around.

I'm not judging people who don't have seven to ten minutes to make breakfast in the morning (trust me, I get it), but here's how the timing works for oatmeal. Last night, I spent no more than five minutes starting overnight steel cut oats (I may have also been intoxicated at the time). This morning, I scooped cold oatmeal into a bowl and microwaved it for one minute. Done.

It would be just as easy to scoop it into a jar/tupperware and take it to work. So while I disagree with the writer's tone, I agree with the point. You don't need to buy over-packaged frozen oatmeal discs to have instant(ish) breakfast.

I agree with kbedore. I appreciate the science, but in practice "use the pan, and cook something greasy when it gets drier" seems to be all I need to know.

Yeah, I'm just going to jump in the chorus and say that I don't eat/cook ANY meat, yet if I had to ditch all my knives but one, I'd keep the chef's knife. I feel pretty strongly about that, and I know a lot of other people do too.

That said (and I'm really not here to be the contrary one), I'd also like to point out that for some people, in some situations, a set may not be a bad idea. I bought a set when I first moved out on my own (the only knife I had was a cheap-o paring knife), and it has been perfect for me. I use all the knives about equally (the chef's knife gets the most action, of course), and I got them all for about the price of the chef's knife alone. So if you're currently knife-free (or functionally knife free) and you think a set might be right for you, you know yourself and your situation best.