Categotry Archives: How to
Table Setting: Various Styles
As I mentioned last week, what is placed at each seat will depend on which style of service is chosen. Here is a quick run-down of dinner styles.
Don't Close the Oven Door
Don’t close the oven door when you check the temperature of your meat with one of those new fangled meat thermometers. Seriously, even if it takes five minutes for the stupid thing to reach full temperature, stand there with the door to the oven open. Cause, it doesn’t take long to ruin the thermometer.
Chopped Onions, a Comparison of Techniques
I use chopped onions often enough that I frequently freeze it in batches for later use. When I do the chopping, I’ll do several onions at a time. Needless to say, I’d like to make it as quick and easy, and tear-free as I can. On the left side of the picture above is a pile of onions chopped the way I like them when I do it by hand. This is the size I grew up using and would […]
Kleenex Ghost
These are quick and easy Halloween ornaments. All you do is wad up one tissue. Place a second tissue over the first. Twist the second tissue just under the wad. Tie off with dental floss or string. Leave enough string on the end to be able to tie to a tree, bush, or house. Notice, all you needed was the tissue and the string. These work best indoors. 🙂
Leaves
How to make a leaf monster: Step one, rake leaves into a pile. Step two, make a trench in the middle of the leaves. Step three, place body in the leaves. Step four, cover body. Step five, grab camera. Step six, swear creatively when the camera cuts out too soon.
What to do About a Gluten Allergy
I asked my mother what a friend should do about her gluten allergy. This is her answer: 1) Learn to love cornbread (without any flour in it). More egg and less milk will help control crumbling. 2) Enjoy corn tortilla and masa harina products. Masa harina is made from corn that has been lye or lime treated. It is the base ingredient in corn tortillas, tamales and gorditas. Be creative and see what cookies are like when made from […]
How to Lay Floor Tile Part 4: Grout
Grout turned out to be the most problematic for me. I made the mistake of mixing it up with water – which was one of the options offered on the bag. This was all fine and well for most of the floor, but the lip I constructed between the tiled area and the wood floor didn’t fair so well. That will be a blog post all to itself, though. Suffice it to say that in the future I will always […]
How to Lay Floor Tile Part 3: Tilus Interuptus
That bit of green and the doors above it are the closet, which still had the original carpet. Somehow I naively thought I could tile right up to that point and call it good. No go. So I had my mortar down and the tile laid up to about a foot away from the closet, then I had to stop and take the closet apart. Yeah, it would have been better if I’d taken the closet apart first, but […]
How to Lay Floor Tile Part 2: Mortar
I knew I was going to have trouble making the edges look good. When I laid out the tile ahead of time I could see the edge go from thick on one end to thin on the other though I had started off perfectly even with the end. I was going to have to make little adjustments along the way. I drew a line on the concrete where I wanted the edge to be. Then I realized the mortar was […]
How to Lay Floor Tile Part 1
This is the first time I’ve ever laid floor tile. I was quite nervous about it, and put the job off for about five months. I like the end results, but maybe this blog should be called how NOT to lay floor tile.Also, because I was the one doing the work and taking the pictures, I didn’t get any nice shots of the actual process. Something about not wanting to wreck my camera held me back. Anyway, here’s what I […]
