TravelingRae's Profile

Oh, the nostalgia! I don't remember what the first #4, the rubber ball thing, was called, but I remember how it felt in my hand.

My Cabbage Kid's name was Rutwell Fairfox. What a name!

Freeze solid, then nuke until hot and it won't matter in which direction you slice it as you will have more juice than you know what to do with!

I like to make my own to control how much sugar goes in it as I like it very tart. I like strawberries in mine, but usually just go the water, sugar, and lemons route.

Surprisingly, some of the best lemonade out there is at Cracker Barrel - fresh squeezed with pulp and quite tart. I have been known to stop in just for that. Completely opposite of the rest of their overprocessed offerings.

I sold my house as-is to a woman who bought it sight unseen as a weekend retreat. Six months after she bought, it she sent me an email to let me know she finally went out to look at it and that, "Wow, the house is in bad shape! I thought you said it was in terrible shape. I got such a bargain!"

I guess that moving somewhere sight unseen has a great deal to do with your standards and expectations. :)

Your little house on the prairie sounds like it might be quite charming. You'll have to post about it once you get there!

I'd create a matching unit for the other end of the wall, put the entertainment centre in the middle, and make the whole thing look like a giant built-in.

You might also want a good 12V (car) charger. For Apple products, nothing beats Mikegyver's solutions (http://www.mikegyver.com/IdeasnProducts/). I don't get anything from him for promoting that link. I just think more people need to know about his products. Sure, you can charge through an inverter, but his solution is so much more energy efficient. The laptop charger has a USB port that charges my iPad or iPod Touch at the same time.

I've been living full-time in an RV for five years now and have traveled all over North America. I'll never again live in one place, but if I did, I know exactly what I'd be looking for even though such a place likely doesn't exist.

I'd want to live in a fairly urban and artsy small city in a village-like neighbourhood where I can walk day and night to markets, movie theatres, restaurants, a coffee bar, and a pub. I'd need a place to park my car and traffic shouldn't be too bad the odd time I want to drive to a nearby big box store. Great public transportation is a must. Eugene, OR, and Ottawa, ON come to mind except for...

The climate. I could never again live in the Pacific Northwet (not a typo) or somewhere with 'real' winters. I want a mild climate with four seasons, but none reaching temperature extremes regularly, and LOTS of sun. If I could have Hampton Roads' spring, fall, and summer and San Antonio's winter, that would be perfect.

And since I'm Canadian and moving to the US is not feasible for me, the city would have to be in Canada. So I keep on moving around. Right now, I'm in a great spot in Dallas that fits a lot of my criteria.

"something most newer cooks don't usually have around" I'm French and have been cooking for more than 25 years, and this is the first time I have been told that I should have Madeleine pans. I am a little shocked by this oversight on my part! ;-)

But worst... I have never had a Madeleine! Your pictures make me think I should remedy that ASAP!

My absolute favourite household task is doing my laundry by hand using my Wonder Wash and spin dryer. Seriously, I could do hand laundry all day. My least favourite household task is watering my batteries. That's not a typo, I live in an RV, and the house batteries have to be topped up with distilled water. I wound up splurging on a battery watering system and that has changed my life.

A bucket on the floor. I am going to steal that idea.

I live in an RV and when I did my big remodel a couple of years ago, I put in a countertop dishwasher. It was amazing. Dishes are my keystone when it comes to housekeeping. If I'm on top of them, then the rest of my home is spotless. If I get a little behind, then everything else starts to slide. Having the dishwasher was life changing. I was cooking more at home and my kitchen was always spotless.

That said, life changed and I began to spend less and less time in places where I was plugged into power, so I couldn't use the dishwasher as much. I finally gave it up. Now, I try to wash up the day's dishes after evening every night (I'm alone so the pile isn't that big!), let them air dry, then put them away while the water for coffee is heating in the morning. Having a routine really does help.