Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

"it puts the oatmeal on its skin or else it gets the hose again"
lol!!! Sloppy, you are bad!

i just realized you could use a sterilized coat hanger with the same effect.

home made trail mix is the best!

peanut butter and kalamata olives. but not together, that would be nasty.

DaveFaris - thanks for that article!

i'm with smallblondmom too, and sounds like i had a similar experience. when i was in college, all parties/bbq/ cookouts were pot lucks, all the time. the host provided the house, the grill, some booze, some meats, some snacks, and everyone brought something, because we were all poor college kids. not enough chairs? we sat on the floor. we were in college, it was cool. it was all about hanging with friends, not about who provided what for the grill.

now that i'm a grown up, i know how much work going into planning and hosting a party, so i always offer to bring something, or if no additional food is wanted, i'll offer to come by the day before to help clean, prepare, whatever.

in defense of people who do make specific requests of their guests, i am guilty of asking people to bring chairs. we have a very small apartment and only 3 chairs. when we hae dinner parties, we move all the furniture, and can seat 8. so i have asked that friends bring a chair.

the first meal of the day for me is nearly always leftovers that are in the fridge from last night's dinner. if i'm on my own for dinner (no point in cooking up a ton of food for the house), i'll make bacon, fried eggs, and toast.

the recipe i've used is pretty similar to Yankeesgals, but i add a few tablespoons of dried currents or dried cranberries to the rice mixture. it gives the stuffed leaves a nice shot of sweetness. a little spritz of lemon juice right before eating them makes them ever tastier!

i made stuffed grape leaves once for a party, and everyeone else thought they were too weird to eat, so over the course of a few days i ate about 60 stuffed grape leaves. OMG were they good!! but my tummy thought it was too much.

turkish coffee is the best. i mail order it and make it at home.

Now i gotta find me a southern michigan/chicago turkish coffee place. ann arbor? chicago? dearborn?

omg gimme some french fries!! hot and greasy and crispy and heavenly french fry-ee!

i need that happy medium between scary Stepford perfect Walmart produce and organic crunchy granola produce.

I recently visited a locavore organic farmers market, there were about 8 vendors. most of the vegetables/greens i didn't recognize, and when i vendor convinced me to buy some weedy looking greens they were absolutely filthy.

don't get me wrong, i don't mind washing my stuff at home. i'm going to do that anyways, regardless of how clean the veggies/greens are. but it doesn't hurt your marketing to leave some of the dirt at the farm.

I love the one armed man's booth in the corner at the Bank Street Market in Kalamazoo. Him and his wife look to be in their mid 70's, and they have more energy than vendors a third their age. The one armed man isn't going to let a prosthetic arm get his way of doing anything, including running out of eggs before i get there.

yes, what's with the weird photoshoppy hand and oddly lumpy elbow?

other than that, super cute!