Tiny Banquet's Profile

Jessica ND, I can see why you might take issue with my comment. :) But I don't think it's accurate to imply that changing one's name is disrespectful to one's parents. As Whipperwill said, names sometimes just don't feel right. I'd like to think that most parents would respond as mine did, and would rather have a happy and independent-minded kid rather than one who avoids taking big steps in her life in an effort to please them.

Although my mother respected my decision to change my name, she almost never remembered to call me by the new one. Which was a bit annoying, but totally understandable, and not worth making an issue of. (I'm speaking in the past tense because she passed away). My grandmother, although she was in her late 70s by then, surprised me by taking to my new name right away and almost never forgetting to use it! People are surprising sometimes.

I agree with everyone lamenting kooky spellings. Fairly or not, it just doesn't look intelligent.

God is in the Details, I think you're maybe a bit behind on that, if being "creative" is the idea. Just the other day I was talking to a barista who complimented me on my name (Madeleine) and told me she wished she'd called her daughter that instead of Madison, since there were half a dozen Madisons in her school. Place names have been popular with trend-chasers for a while now.

I'm not sure it matters anyhow, about names being supposedly popular. Growing up I was named Jessica, which was supposedly one of the most popular names of the area, but all throughout elementary school and high school I only knew one other, and she wasn't in my class. I legally changed my name after I graduated from college anyhow, as soon as I was making some money and could pay a lawyer, because I hated it. I've never regretted it. I'd recommend it to anyone saddled with a name they just don't like.

libre, I'd be worried about that too. I use organic perlite instead. I mix in a small amount to aerate the dirt, plus a layer of gravel at the bottom of each pot to improve drainage. I'm not sure how sustainable it is -- it's a type of volcanic rock -- but it's got to be healthier for edible plants than styrofoam.

Another container gardening tip: Experiment with growing stuff from your kitchen trimmings. You can grow a pineapple in a pot from the crown of a pineapple you ate, for example -- I'm not anywhere near ready to harvest a new one yet but my plant got through a NYC winter just fine, inside on a sunny window sill. I've also got half a dozen little lemon trees in progress, which I started from the seeds of some incredible imported Italian lemons I bought at a specialty fruit market. I loved the flavor so much I thought it was worth a shot trying to grow my own, and now the plants are about 18" tall. I also have a 5' avocado tree that I started from the seed of a particularly delicious avocado. Obviously these are long-range gardening experiments, but it's fun to get a plant going from something you ate.

Edible flowers are great too. They brighten a container garden and are beautiful in salads or on desserts. Last year I grew borage from organic seed; this year it's come back again, and I have some organic marigolds growing too. I don't bother with nasturtiums because I can buy them at the greenmarket, but they have a nice, peppery flavor. Borage is cucumber-y and has pretty blue flowers.

I grow lots of herbs too, and I'd caution people that they're not inherently easier to grow. Some of them are pretty fussy about watering, and they do require trimming to thrive. In terms of being easy to care for, my Alpine strawberries have been effortless compared to my herbs. I planted them in a window box last spring, got some incredible berries from them, and after tucking them under a layer of pine boughs for the winter, it looks like they're set to produce a bumper crop this year. All of the 6 varieties I planted are flowering again and producing the first berries of the season right now. I've linked to it here before, but here's what they looked like last summer, along with my lemon seedlings in their early days:
http://tinybanquet.blogspot.com/2012/06/strawberry-letter-23.html

I live in a small apt. and just recently adopted my first cat after having had dogs my whole life. Litter smell was a big concern for me, and before my cat Vivian came home with me, I was planning to teach her to use the toilet. I have a co-worker whose cat goes in the toilet, and all those YouTube cats do it, so why not? But the litter box turned out to be such a non-issue, I'm not going to bother. I use Arm & Hammer Double Duty and it doesn't smell at all. I tried that World's Best Cat Litter stuff once when the store was out of Arm & Hammer and I hated the smell of it so much, I ended up putting the bag in the lobby with a note asking someone else to please take it. I thought it smelled horrible just on its own, and, because it wasn't anywhere near as good at clumping, it didn't absorb cat smells well, either.

I appreciate these lists, too.

One thing, though, pineapple is of particular interest to me because it's one of my favorite fruits, and I used to buy conventionally-grown ones because they have tough, inedible skin. But after reading about how they're grown in a Guardian article a couple years ago, I buy organic. The fungicides in particular sound really creepy:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/oct/02/truth-about-pineapple-production

@ vintagejenta: If they're local, maybe ask their workers at the next farmers' market? Or see if they have a website. One thing to consider, there are quite a few small & medium-sized farms that might not want to pay the fees to get certified as organic, but that use minimal or no pesticides.

I completely agree with the other commenters who are irritated by these posts-that-should've-been-Tweets-if-anything. Come on, AT editors, would any of you want to read someone else's blog if this is what it consisted of?

I don't see any particular reason to believe that most people are very creative to begin with. Particularly people who anxiously reach for their gadget every time they have a few moments of down-time. In any case, it's disappointing to see Apt Therapy feeding traffic to this kind of link-bait. Every time I've accidentally clicked through to a Fast Company "article," I've had the impression that all they do is "Hey, we received a press release" journalism. Change a few of the words, slap a pandering title on it, and it's good to go.

I used one of those bags to grow borage and lovage on my Harlem fire escape last summer, with a layer of gravel at the bottom. My plants seemed pretty happy in it! There are a couple photos of them in their seedling days here:

http://tinybanquet.blogspot.com/2012/06/strawberry-letter-23.html

Am I the only one who thinks it's kind of shallow to name a store after the home of famous hoarders? It's not exactly a cute story; both of the Collyer brothers died in their home, which was packed so full of junk that it took days to dig them out. Naming a gift shop after them is a bit like opening a restaurant and calling it The Donner Party.

"According to Forbes, economist Arthur Okun developed the original Misery Index in the 1960s . . ." Thing is, it isn't the 1960s anymore. We're now drowning in shrill, link-bait listicles written by 20-somethings who are either working for free or working for peanuts, and who don't have a handle on anything other than hyperbole. Can we stop pretending to take this stuff as seriously as actual journalism?