Crafts and Cooking

I love the Lion Brand yarns, particularly their Wool-Ease, but their blurb on their website promoting their latest new yarn is hilarious: Chunky USA is an American-made yarn tailored to the fast-paced American lifestyle: no dye lots, so the colors always match; a bulky weight, so it works up fast; and 100% Acrilan Acrylic, so it’s easy care. Who knew a yarn could be so patriotic?

On a shopping spree this weekend I filled out my collection of cast iron frying pans. In case you aren’t aware, here’s a good set of instructions on how to season and care for cast iron cookware. You really can’t beat cast iron – you can get as good a quality pan as you’ll ever want for $10-$20, it will last for decades only getting better over time without requiring delicate treatment during use, and so long as you use minimal care in initially seasoning it and washing it, it’s a better non-stick surface than you get on pans over … Continue reading Care for Cast Iron

I was pleased to discover that even crappy faux-pad thai made out of what you happen to have on hand can be pretty good. I broke fettucini noodles into short pieces, substituted lime juice for tamarind, assumed oyster sauce and fish sauce can’t be that different, and passed on the shallots and scallions entirely, but in very little more time than just boiling the pasta takes I got something that tasted in the right ballpark and satisfied my craving for an interesting lunch without having to leave the house. I wish I’d known years ago how easy it would be … Continue reading Faux Pad Thai

If you’re exceptionally handy, or you’ve got an exceptional amount of time on your hands, this guy shows you how to make a skyscape for your window. His is very impressive, and the instructions are quite details. I just wish he’d shown a picture of what the view out the window looked like during the day. [via #!/usr/bin/girl]