sklose's Profile

I just painted my bedroom with Benjamin Moore's 1604 Silvery Moon and am thrilled with it. It's more grey than blue and perhaps a bit lighter, but not too far off from the photo.

Stone Soup is the first one that comes to mind. My mom was a kindergarten teacher and used to do a unit where she asked each of the kids to bring in an ingredient. Then they'd read the book and make soup with whatever the kids brought in from home and talk about sharing and cooperation.

All of the Little House on the Prairie series too! I have such clear memories of those meals -- blackbird pie!

I would love to make short ribs in the french oven. That's my favorite Le Creuset color -- fingers crossed!

I'd have to say carbonnade.

I'll have to go with Ella Fitzgerald's "Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas." It's all good, but I have a soft spot for 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.'

The red one would be a fantastic addition to my kitchen. Fingers crossed...

Cooking for myself tends to fall into one of two categories:

Relatively utilitarian (produces enough for plenty of leftovers, cheap, nutritious — something like a big pot of lentil soup, for example);

Or pure hedonistic pleasure, either taste-wise (amaretto-soaked cherries swirled into homemade chocolate ice cream) or for the joy of the process (making risotto, kneading dough, forming dozens of tiny meatballs to put in a pot of tomato sauce).

I'm actually in the middle of dealing with my own bedbug problem now. I've had one professional treatment (I used Metro Pest and would highly recommend them; professional, friendly, cheaper than the one she's booked--my 1BR was around $400) and will have the follow-up visit next weekend. Yes it sucks, but it's so much better to be aggressive right away than to let them get established.

Bedbugger is a terrific resource: http://bedbugger.com/faqs. It was hands-down the most helpful site I found.