tinamonster's Profile

Plenty! It's my favorite cookbook overall right now. Just make sure to leave out the two tablespoons of sugar that seem to be in every recipe.

If you have chocolate cake skip the frosting and use rum or bourbon or coffee. Probably stretching the bounds of what counts as a cake ball but it's delicious, really yummy.

Funny, that's been the drink I mix myself for about the last year. Overholt, Regans and a splash of vermouth.

Back when angostura bitters were out of stock everywhere I picked up several new kinds of bitters to try in my manhattans and the regans orange bitters was my far and away favorite.

I'd recommend trying the Regans if you can find it. I tried a couple of other kinds of orange bitters and it did not work as well.

While I have music in nearly every format, to answer your question I'll present a couple of points (for me) in vinyl's favor:
- It's cheap. Whole albums can be had for $1 at thrift stores and yard sales and a vinyl stereo system of very high quality can be put together for pennies compared to what a computer or even an ipod will cost you.
- Just like eating is an act enhanced by eyes and nose, listening can be similar. Records come with big, beautiful and colorful art and paging through booklets while listening can be really fun.
- I also have a large collection of digital files and I've spent a lot of frustrating time moving, renaming, re-tagging, organizing, backing up etc. I also have a large collection of records. They may take up my space but they don't take up my time.

As someone who really, really, really loves music I like to hear it in as many forms as possible. Listening to digital radio in my car is a very different experience to listening to my ipod while I jog or listening to a record in my living room.

I think it is important for each listener to trust and follow their own ears. Luckily we don't have to choose just one! For me, a person saying that they only listen to mp3 files is like saying they only eat food with a fork. Forks are great for many things but sometimes using a spoon is necessary to get the full flavor and some things need a knife to be enjoyed.

Do eat at il latini with as many people as possible. They give you a variety of dishes based on your party's size and if you bring lots of people you get to try everything.

Also, visit the Pharmacia Santa Maria Novella, an ancient perfumery. Not directly food related but worth a visit. NY Times Article

I live in a little 1900's bungalow that used to have natural wood trim but has been painted. Every day it makes me sad and if it wasn't a rental I would have undertaken stripping it. And the apartment still has a bit of a cavernous feel despite everything being painted completely BRIGHT white. I think some of it is inherent in the proportion of the space and in the style itself.

My painted windows and dinette don't close and open properly any more due to layers thick of paint and physical functionality might be something you hadn't considered. A few coats of paint might not gum it all up but after several years you might have a mess on your hands like I do.

I am nth trying different paint on the walls and more lighting. Also perhaps bringing in some texture and color with textiles would help. Bright runners on the little twin bookcases and dinette could help. You could hang some neat and colorful little curtains inside your dinette set's windows and lighten it up considerably.

I've written a lot already but wanted to add if you do decide to strip it later you will be exposing yourself and the environment to some nasty nasty chemicals.

Hope that my info and experience helps. Good luck with your decision!

Balsam and Cedar, Bayberry and China Sea. I'm not sure which are still in production. It's been a while since I've been to a yankee candle store.

Mango and sticky rice, preferably with the mango chilled and the sticky rice warm. This is hands down my favorite desert.