graciela's Profile

I lived in a tiny studio apartment with my family as a kid. So a house with a room for each kid was pretty amazing to me. A two story house was the other thing that impressed me as well as a house or apartment complex with a pool.

Whenever it comes to pottery from a foreign country, I always think of a story in my chemistry book about a couple that got really sick after their trip to Italy. No one could figure out what was wrong with them. It turned out that the dishes they bought in Italy had lead. So just be careful with what you buy.

I like that they kept some of the decorative details like the legs and the molding on the bottom. The before was definitely dated and I think the after is a nice modern approach while maintaining some of the original's shape.

The only little thing I would have kept was the decorative trim on the top drawers. I think they would have worked if painted the same color as the drawer. But I like decorative little touches like that so it's just me. Overall, it's great. Thanks for sharing!

Since you have tempura up there, I would also recommend making pakora! It's dangerously easy to make. I say dangerous because it's so good but it's fried food so don't have it every day. Though I'm often very tempted! I don't have a deep fryer so I use a sauce pan with a bit of oil.

I can make a fair amount using 1C chickpea flour, 1/2C water, 1 tsp olive oil for the batter. Then just add your veggies, herbs, and seasonings. Spinach, onion, and cauliflower are traditional but you can use anything, I'm sure. But you want to be conservative on the veggies or else there won't be enough batter. Then just drop in spoonfuls onto hot oil and fry on both sides until golden brown.

When I was a kid my parents would just buy random stuff that looked good at the time and think about a meal later. That left a lot of perishable items knocking on expiration's door. It always seemed to me like a waste of food since we had to throw out stuff that didn't get used.

Now that I'm an adult, I plan carefully. I shop once a week and only buy the food I will need for that week's meals + some pre-planned snacks. We usually cook 6-7 meals a week that serve 4 so we can have lunch the next day.

My bf and I have a small kitchen so we only have a mini fridge. It's actually worked out for us because we buy only what we will actually eat. It's been good for the wallet and waist line. I usually look at the circular and plan meals around the produce that is on sale. We sometimes get a CSA box and forego the grocery store. So those weeks are planned around the CSA produce plus whatever is in our pantry.

But we do allocate one day a week to eat out. Every couple needs a standing date night!

I found some quince at a small Armenian market a few years back. But it's something I never see at the regular grocery stores. Same thing with cherimoya. I only find those at latino markets.

I've been making "pizza" using socca for the crust. This looks like another great pizza crust option.

Growing up, my family had a rice cooker...me! lol
But seriously, rice on the stove is not hard at all. I learned from my mom and grandma. I also always make it in a skillet. I didn't realize people cooked rice in a sauce pan.

I make my rice more like commenter Sofia than the recommendation in the post. But I'm Central American so not sure if that's the difference.

Garlic also has antifungal properties.

I don't mind Chobani but Fage is definitely the best.

The worst of the worst are the "greek" yogurts made by the big guys like Yoplait and Dannon. Gross, watery, and not really greek yogurt.