Here’s my hot tip: The zillions of books and online resources for gardening can be helpful, but they’re likely not tailored to where you live. For weirdly specific Baltimore problems (rats?!?), I bet your local branch of the University of Maryland Extension has weirdly specific advice to match. They should also have…

Or a small clover-like woodland plant. (Which, coincidentally, is also pleasantly sour thanks to containing oxalic acid.)

Amen and amen. I’ll admit — growing up with real maple syrup completely spoiled me for the fake stuff. Any time I went to a sleepover and there were pancakes in the morning, I’d eat ‘em plain rather than pouring abominable sickly sticky “pancake syrup” on top. Bleh!

I made one of these for Mr. Vulcanbookworm’s birthday a couple of years ago and it was absolutely lovely. It also felt like an accomplishment — it was my first time making a layered cake (much less a yeasted one) and my first time making custard. Good memories! Now that my baking skills are significantly better, it…

I grew up in Springfield, MO and was mildly flabbergasted when I first learned that our “cashew chicken,” to me the most simple and familiar of American-Chinese fast food dishes, looked different elsewhere in the US. It’s salty savory comfort food. I favor more flavorful dishes nowadays but as a kid/teen I definitely…

God, yeah, I made the same mistake. The popcorn tasted bizarre — I’m not sure what I expected MSG to do to the flavor, but boy it sure did SOMETHING bad. Even tipsy I couldn’t bring myself to eat the whole batch. :( 

I came **this close** to joining the local roller derby team last August, despite having never once actually skated on anything but in-line skates. But they had a booth at the local Pride festival, and I’m so weak for muscular queer gals, and also I want to BE a muscular queer gal...

That’s beautifully articulated, thank you.

I still compulsively think “Double rainbow! All the way across the sky!” every time I see a double rainbow. 

If y’all haven’t seen “Demolition Man” yet, you need to get on that. I almost hesitate to call it so-bad-it’s-good, because... it’s goofy, but it also succeeds in being exactly what it set out to be? So maybe it’s just good?

I bought a copy of this recipe zine, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Quarantine, created by a bunch of comic artists. Sales are being split amongst them. They’re simple, quarantine-friendly recipes, pleasingly illustrated.

These make sense to me... maybe with a tiny dash of fish sauce? If we’re going Thai, might as well try for the full salty-spicy-sour-sweet-savory-funky balance. :)

“I discovered in my 40-year career as a personal energy specialist that every person I ever worked with has blocked energies.”

I simultaneously desire and fear the mandoline... I covet those practically see-through slices, but I’ve literally watched my mother cut the tip of her finger off while using one and I KNOW I inherited her hand-eye coordination (or lack thereof).

I recently was made aware that a tortilla (crisped in a cast-iron skillet, then thrust beneath the broiler) makes a more-than-decent base for a crispy personal-size Flammekueche... my life will never be the same

Sounds like a feature rather than a bug to me! :)

There was this Indian buffet in my hometown where we liked to go eat on Sundays after church. It was dimly lit and had kinda tacky decor, but none of that matters when the chai is hot and the naan is always fresh and the saag paneer is just spicy enough.

I whipped up some shallot-bacon Tarte Flambée recently (using a tortilla as the base) and oh MAN were they good. Lacking fromage blanc, I substituted 1 cup cream cheese thinned with 1/2 cup Greek yogurt (with a lil grated parm mixed in, because I’m livin’ deliciously). It’s super-fast comfort food with a deceptively…

Something in the fudge pack gives me hives. :( 

IMO, Qdoba’s the superior of the two — it’s definitely more flavorful, and you can add guac for free at Qdoba. A Qdoba burrito was my post-Tae Kwon Do tournament dinner of choice as a kid; it’s just a giant comforting brick of food.