bpalms's Profile

I feel like $30 is a worthwhile investment if it helps you drink more water instead of buying soda or juice. Or if it makes you excited to do more entertaining.

Sometimes the gadget joy is worth inviting a unitasker into your life.

I think I am the only New Englander who hates maple syrup. We were pretty poor when I was growing up, and only ever had the fake stuff. As a result, I find real maple syrup cloying and super unappealing.

On the other hand, I only crave pancakes like once a year, and find an obliging greasy spoon to get my fix.

This place is literally one town over from where I grew up and where my parents still live. I never knew!

The turning point for me was realizing kale was way easier to handle when it's chopped quite small. Before it was an floppy, unwieldy, unchewable thing that I wanted nothing to do with.

A friend made a kale salad for a party with parmesan, lemon, and red pepper and it changed my whole outlook -because the kale was chopped practically into confetti, and matched with nice sharp partners.

Now I've been known to cook an egg or two in a nest of kale and onions and call it dinner. :)

Stunning. I have no other words! Fingers, toes, arms, legs and eyes crossed.

I LOVE Pearl River. Seriously. I have to make a conscious effort not to go there when I'm broke in the city.

For me, it's less about the actual STUFF as it is the way my home functions that makes it feel grownup.

To echo numerous posts: to me, being grownup means having what you need and the flexibility to cope with the unexpected gracefully. That can mean having the accouterments to put a guest up comfortably, host a little party, or just be able to feed yourself easily if you are dead tired and haven't been to the market.

On the flip side of that is the need to be pared down to what is really useful. I have a below-average tolerance for 'stuff' and my living space needs to be free of clutter in order to be comfortable to me. The ability to shed the unnecessary things and fill my home with unique and functional items makes me feel the most accomplished and grown up.

I might be the world's worst meal planner. It's something about the sticker shock of buying a week's worth of food in one go [too many years as a broke college kid, maybe].

However, I always have bananas and peanut butter, as well as something to put them on. That's planning, right?