I can't say what I got my sister because she reads this, but we got our mother a giant "emergency supply kit" as a joke (several years ago our older sister, who is the world's worst gift-giver, gave us all headlamps for Christmas. And we were like, "Wow, she's really outdone herself." Then we had a six-day power…

Good grief — happy birthday to you, too! Maybe I just need to wish everyone a happy birthday?

Happy worst birthday ever!

Happy birthday!

I tried a new-to-me recipe for marshmallows (Bravetart's version), and it turned out so amazingly. The old recipe I was using was such a massive headache, but these? They're like a dream come true! And I made her peppermint variation, which had me gravely concerned due to the massive amount of peppermint oil she…

After finally admitting that the house wasn't going to clean itself, I think we're getting close to being ready for houseguests. But the instant they leave, we're going to have to mess the house up again, because I'm getting all wigged out by how tidy it is right now. Aside from that, I'm doing well — shopping's…

Yeah, the ads really bug me because I absolutely can't tell if they're supposed to be funny or not. And every time they come on (ten billion times a night), I pay rapt attention, hoping there will be some clue that I've previously missed telling me one way or the other.

My justification for making the mix yesterday (when I still have a fair deal of the Penzey's stuff to drink down — oh, the work I have to do!) was that I wanted to give it a test run before giving it as gifts. The initial mug of cocoa was good, but maybe further research is required? I mean, I don't want to give my…

Oh man, I was about to just ask, too, but saw this at the last minute. ABORT! ABORT!

Winter's all about hot cocoa/hot chocolate at Casa n Dick. I love Rancho Gordo's Mexican Chocolate for that, but also sometimes am just looking for a simple high-brow Swiss Miss experience. For a long time we've been happy with Penzey's hot cocoa mix, but yesterday I made a mix from scratch (using Brave Tart's recipe

Yeah, I read somewhere that if you try something ten times, you'll end up liking it. Like, that's supposed to be all scientific and shit. I tried to make myself like coconut that way, but only got to two tries before giving up.

I gave blood today, and instead of the delicious, delicious Chips Ahoys they used to hand out, I was given a Keebler Jumbo Fudge Stick. Which… on the one hand, it's called a "Jumbo Fudge Stick". Heh heh heh. But on the other hand, it's not nearly as good as Chips Ahoy. (I'm pretty sure I've complained about this…

Oh my god, I can't even tell you how much I love that I don't have to pump my own gas. I've literally never done it in my life. (And I even lived in Arizona for three years.) I'm such a precious princess. Heh.

I've always thought she looked like an inbred, puppy-mill golden retriever puppy — like, irresponsibly genetically engineered for maximum golden fluffiness — but I think your description is more apt.

I finally realized that I was just rolling over the same five days every year, and buckled down and took all my vacation time one year. And it was awesome. The next year my company announced they were changing the vacation allotment so that you got bumped up to four weeks after eight years of service instead of the…

I was just thinking last night that I've reached breaking point with Carrie Underwood's face. So it's nice to see I'm not alone.

Puff pastry is really fun! I've made it a few times to turn into palmiers, and it's so, so good.

Just the standard Thanksgiving fare for me: turkey, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, carrots, gravy, and stuffing. But oh my GOD was the stuffing good this year. It's the world's most basic celery/sage/onion kind, but it was like alchemy this time around. So fantastic.

I used to laugh so hard at that attitude in the New York Times
"Metropolitan Diary" feature. Where someone would write in something completely mundane and uninteresting — "On the subway this morning, saw three people reading books!" — and conclude in self-congratulation, "Only in New York!" Now, there's plenty about…

When I first started in my job, I stupidly decided to take very little of my precious few vacation days so that I'd be able to carry a week over and have lots and lots the next year. So I was working on Christmas Eve. I had an insanely stern and joyless boss at the time, and my office's heat was run off a thermostat…