amidalailama's Profile

First, I will post my oft-posted comment: AT, do small cool dorm contest or talk waaayyyy more about dorm before and afters, all that. Dorms are the ultimate in difficult spaces to work with, and I think AT is up to the challenge. (and none of those I'm in college and in a city apartment nonsensical spaces, real dorms with modular furniture, terrible lighting, and cinderblock walls).

Second, agreements on these things...I can say that it's a great idea to get two sets of decent sheets/pillowcases, always having clean sheets is one luxury that you can control in the dorm, unlike most other things. Also, a surge protector is always useful.

I'm also currently an RA in an undergrad dorm, and we have to do fire code inspections to the letter of the law according to the fire marshal. Your college should provide some details about this, and no matter how aggravating they are, they come from a place of wanting to protect you. And usually they enforce these via fines, so...beware.

Amazon.com has free shipping on mason jars, they're great!

I've done jello, alcoholic slushes, ice cream, frozen yogurt cheesecake, and frozen key lime pie in canning jars, not to mention salads and snacks.

I also keep all of my freezer ingredients in 4 oz canning jars...their box allows you to keep them corralled and stacked at the same time, which is great. So I keep things like citrus juice, peeled and cut ginger, small hot peppers from the garden, homemade stock, leftover wine, citrus zest, etc in the freezer, it's perfect.

As a Cambridge girl, I love this! Outdoors, indoors, light, such a great place!

Butternut squash lasagna!

@L_dubs - yes! I read her book awhile ago, and the takeaway message I got was book clubs and persistence.

And funny enough, instead of book club, a couple girls and I started an articles club about a year ago with inspiration from Joanna Goddard (Alex the article-writer's wife!). It's been great! We set up a doodle poll once a month, find a time when people can come, and then one person hosts. We read an article from longform.org, come ready to discuss, but mostly just hang out. The best part is that girls bring other friends they know from church, from work, from school, and you have a much better chance of meeting that person you really click with.

I find that measuring coconut oil by mass is a bit more reliable - 1/4 cup is 55 grams.

Amazon.com has steel tubs in various sizes - good for parties and drinks, but fabulous for gardens. These are the cheapest containers I've been able to find. Yes, you will have to drill some drainage holes in the bottom, but that isn't too difficult.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002YJJJQ6/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

(also..free super saver shipping! bonus!)

If you've never had black currants of black currant liqueur (creme de cassis), this may fit the bill -- it has the slightly bitter and sweet taste of chocolate.

You can find them fresh at some farmer's markets in the summer, but they can be hard to track down...they're carriers for a fungus that also affects pine trees, so the logging industry successfully petitioned to have them banned in the early 1900s, and until very recently you could only have them on your land if they were already growing. Now, you can plant disease-resistant cultivars, so they're starting to become a bit more common.

Can you share your recipe collection with others in Paprika?

All I can think about is building shelving over the radiator to allow for more storage (and plants!)