That knife looks ... seductive. On a different note, I’m going to do preserved lemons this year, just to try ‘em out.

As an ex-Navy Marine Engineer, I’m fully qualified to report on this: Booze is a depressant, yes, but with precision drinking and accurate application, the first thing it depresses is inhibition. The professional will drop back on consumption once they hit the right amount of uninhibited behaviour, and, with the help…

Favorite Salad: Originally found at Louie’s, the restaurant at the Upham Hotel in Santa Barbara, which was a couple blocks down from my apartment for a dozen years.

1) Red Onion, diced and broken up - I leave it up to the knife and whim, but it needs to be easily forkable.
2) Toasted Pine Nuts - experiment with what you…

I voted for you this time. if that counts.... I’d like to see it, too.

Still good for curing leather, though.

As for tongs - The best I’ve ever used, privately or professionally, are from OXO/Good Grips. They are very stiff, have a easy to use locking mechanism for storage, hang from hooks if you want, and come in three sizes. Very strong - far more so than anything I’ve encountered with wooden bolsters along the handles [BBQ…

All these people need [the ‘churchers’] is a captive bolt gun to the forehead. <Kachunk!> Repeat until there’s none left.

Photography is both a hobby and a passion for me, and has been for about a decade-and-a-half. I’m what was once called a ‘serious amateur’ - not quite pro-level equipment, but a strong enthusiast for best-in-slot gear on occasion. But I didn’t start that way. Let’s forget my 3-5 years in film as I basically had to…

Considering the entire world, if she didn’t perform where ‘human rights’ were trespassed upon, she wouldn’t perform anywhere.

Surprised me with this, you did. Truly, it felt like the reality. Soiled, I now feel.

It's because she's now a Belieber.

I loved the theme to Max Payne. I don't care if I worked or not, but it wasn't distracting.

It's actually a vegetable knife.

Lard also makes a flakier pie crust than butter.

Okay, yes, the bullet - the copper-jacketed lead shaped like a flattened sphere with the base cut flat - was real. 'Squib' refers to either that or some other projectile being lodged in the barrel further up than the position of a loaded standard round.

It wasn't a real bullet. It was a squib left in the barrel from an improperly fabricated dummy round. There would have been no way of knowing just by looking at the blank rounds as they were inserted. Yes, it was indirectly the result of the production crew's parsimony in not buying real dummy rounds, but there was…

Monks shave their heads. A good film example is Seven Samurai opening scene when Kambei shaves his head to mimic a monk in order to rescue the young boy. However, for women it sometimes is a self-shaming atonement.

Sad state of affairs.

I'm willing to buy something new and try again. They'd be great for my mother. I just don't like whatever I'm doing wrong.

They also make a box grater - not a lot of stores have it in stock, but it's excellent for people with grip issues [arthritis, for instance].

Also a boon to my aging mother [creeping up on 80] - she still cooks and likes to make soups, [Leek and Potato is a fave for her] and she used to use a bucket blender [we still have that for frozen drinks and smoothies] but hauling heavy pots full of hot liquid was getting dangerous. Now she just leaves it on the…