Really? WHERE? I used to get them at GoodEatsCompleat (or something) but they seem to be gone now.

The internet is here to help! I learned to cook by reading my aunts' copies of Cook's Illustrated. It was a bad way to learn, because they assumed competence and I had to fumble and deduce, but there you go. (Also, both my aunts were practiced cooks and would answer my teenage questions with competence if not grace.)

I disagree strongly. If only because I and many many other women I know also experienced "raw carnal desire". Frequently. And powerfully. And we don't go randomly harassing and abusing men just because we're horny. (At least, we don't do it nearly as often.) If we can behave in a civilized manner, so can adolescent…

My favorite sauce is a modified mornay. I saute onions in the butter and then a minced garlic clove before adding the flour, then whisk in a mix of milk and stock (lighter than a bechemel, more velevety than a veloute). Add in big handsful of cheese (cheddar or gruyere, usually). Season with thyme and mustard.

The idea.... I'm... I need.... water..... <<gasps>> <<fans self>>

I send my husband and daughter in with lunch every day. (I work from home so ....) Usually it's some variation on leftovers. Today, for instance, he's got leftover mashed potatoes, beef burgundy stew, and roasted squash. For days without left overs, I have various strategies.

I would totally love *certain* cleaning implements. I've had my eye on a hand-tied broom with a hickory handle for years. But I'm weird. My favorite present last year was a ladle. (Hand carved from salvaged olive wood in Tunisia!) I agree that unless you're married to a weirdo like me, don't get cleaning implements.

A strategy that's taken a lot of my stress from the holidays is to just buy books.

I had one pair that did that, too. No clue why, but you're right, it was like they were designed to devour themselves, all icky wool-lint between my toes. The rest of them have been fine, though. Maybe we both got a pair from the same sub-par batch? Incidentally, I suggest Socksaddict because they are cheaper, but I…

And please don't forget thoughtful socks under your boot. With out thoughtful socks, your boots are not worth the rubber in their soles. As a Bostonian, I recommend SmartWool over the calf hunting socks from Socksaddict. Smart women wear Smartwool (told to me by an LL Bean shoe lady). $21 (ish), which is much cheaper…

I'm going to leave this here:

My sister in law gave me some of the best parenting advice I ever got. "When the kid first starts eating solids, her poop will be the color of the food she ate. Do not freak out." I loved that she told me about that. Because mostly I was sane but if the kid pooped bright green (spinach) and I was in one of my…

All my hippy environmentalists are getting American Canopy: Trees, Forests, and the Making of a Nation: by Eric Rutkow this year.

As a parent, I approve of your strategy! My daughter has so many local aunties and uncles and surrogate grandmas ... all of which give her a more flexible definition of normal, a broader experience in the world, and me some time to read a book without going insane. I have a kid but firmly believe that you should only…

A thing I've been doing is including it in sex ed. My mothers in law are gay and many of my daughter's friends' parents are gay. I have no clue what my daughter's sexuality will be but we just include it as one of the smorgasbord of sexual options. And when we're having our sex ed conversations, we don't default to…

And they should mention that in big letters on the box. Not in fine print on the back of the insert. First time I ever took it, I freaked the hell out.

A useful source of good information:

Oh, my plan was totally a layered cookie bar — which i'd then cut into slices and cover with chocolate. So far, what I've got is KA Flour's Pecan Shortbread with ground hazelnuts instead of pecans and brown sugar instead of white (from the Cookie Companion). Make a batch of Alton Brown's caramel sauce, with about 3/4…

Okay, I googled that. The recipe is here. It's just assembling store-bought things. Which means it's one shopping trip and five minutes from eating. (Because I am insane, I'm building a recipe in my head that involves brown-sugar short bread, homemade caramel, real hazelnuts, and nutella.)

You have just done my mother's shopping for my dad and made a middle aged Connecticut man very very happy.