Thursday, November 20, 2008

salt tip

taste your food before adding salt.  and then don't add too much at one time otherwise you might end up oversalting. 

Monday, November 17, 2008

eating out tip

do you ever feel like you've been eating out too much?  i try not to eat out too much because then i really don't appreciate it as much.  eating out should be a treat, not the norm.  i really want to eat at home the day after eating out. 

salad tip

thin slices of persimmon are lovely in a nice salad.  ditto fuji apple chunks.

Monday, November 10, 2008

work life balance tip

in the book i just finished reading, ahead of the curve, the author talks about how most of the guest speakers from top notch companies and fellow harvard mba's had shitty relationships with their children because they'd put in a massive number of hours at work.  he spoke about how making millions was quantifiable, whereas having a healthy relationship with your kids wasn't.  is that crazy?  and a bunch of them were divorced too.  he made it seem very one-or-the-other.  either you have this really successful professional life and your kids are strangers, or you bond with your kids and don't climb up the professional ladder.  i find that horrific.  of course he was really talking about ceo type people, not people like me.  the tip is this:  try not to sell your soul for cash.  i think it's less fun to be loaded and have your kids hate you than to be moderately wealthy and actually be involved with your kids' lives.

marble (?) tip

a few months ago i used the green side of a scrub brush to wipe down my bathroom sink.  huge mistake--now there are scratches.  i've been halfassedly looking for a way to fix it.  polish?  buffing?  i don't know.  any hints?  but the tip is this:  don't use a green scrub to clean marble.

tv tip

when you make a tv show like heroes, don't keep having tons and tons of new characters.  it doesn't leave you any time to focus on any of them.  and that whole going back and forward in time thing is confusing as all heck.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Nora Ephron's tips

I listened to a book on tape called I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron. Here is one of my favorite sections, called "What I Wish I'd Known." My comments are in red--i mean PINK!

People have only one way to be.
Buy, don't rent.
Never marry a man you wouldn't want to be divorced from. I never would have even thought of that!
Don't cover a couch with anything that isn't more or less beige.
Don't buy anything that is 100 per cent wool even if it seems to be very soft and not particularly itchy when you try it on in the store.
You can't be friends with people who call after 11 p.m.
Block everyone on your instant mail.
The world's greatest babysitter burns out after two and a half years.
You never know.
The last four years of psychoanalysis are a waste of money.
The plane is not going to crash.
Anything you think is wrong with your body at the age of 35 you will be nostalgic for at the age of 45.
At the age of 55 you will get a saggy roll just above your waist even if you are painfully thin.
This saggy roll just above your waist will be especially visible from the back and will force you to re-evaluate half the clothes in your closet, especially the white shirts.
Write everything down.
Keep a journal.
Take more pictures. I especially like this one.
The empty nest is underrated.
You can order more than one dessert. This is my kind of girl!
You can't own too many black turtleneck sweaters. She goes into great detail in the first part of the book about the old lady wattle.
If the shoe doesn't fit in the shoe store, it's never going to fit.
When your children are teenagers, it's important to have a dog so that someone in the house is happy to see you.
Back up your files.
Overinsure everything.
Whenever someone says the words, "Our friendship is more important than this," watch out, because it almost never is.
There's no point in making piecrust from scratch. I'll disagree with this one.
The reason you're waking up in the middle of the night is the second glass of wine.
The minute you decide to get divorced, go see a lawyer and file the papers.
Overtip.
Never let them know.
If only one-third of your clothes are mistakes, you're ahead of the game.
If friends ask you to be their child's guardian in case they die in a plane crash, you can say no.
There are no secrets.

Nora Ephron is fabulous and she reminds me of a mentor of mine.

too casual tip

i don't really understand it when people wear pajamas when they're officially out in the world.  if you're just stepping out to pick up the newspaper from your front stoop then whatever.  but when high schoolers wear them to go to school when it's not spirit week, well that's just really weird to me. 

haggle tip

i'm on a high from the flea market.  bought myself a gently used jansport backpack for $6, haggled down from $8!  flea markets are great because you can totally negotiate price.

oaktown street food tip

went to the flea market today.  outside the official flea market, before you have to pay the dollar entrance fee, there's a pupusa stand where you can get pupusas stuffed with cheese and topped with salsa and cabbage for $2.50.  they are hella good!  there's a big ol' long line of customers and the kid who collects the money is holding a big wad of cash.  that's just how popular they are.  there's a big tub of raw meal and two ladies pat pat pat away to make lovely, delicious pupusas. 

Saturday, November 8, 2008

mervyn's tip

mervyn's is closing.  go buy stuff for cheap.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

yummy candy

ever have a charleston chew?  they're terrific, and especially so frozen.

krispy kreme tip

apparently if you have your voting sticker you can get a free red white and blue donut from krispy kreme today.

Monday, November 3, 2008

ahead of the curve tip

this is from the book i'm currently reading.  the author describes one of his orientations and how one piece of advice a prof gave the class was this:  don't become a cynic.
 
isn't that beautiful advice?

caramel apple tip

the best apple to use when making/buying caramel apples is fuji apples!  they taste better than the traditional granny smith variety.  and it's super simple to make too!  you get a bag of milk maid caramels and open up half the caramels and cook it over low heat with a tablespoon of water.  once the caramel is all melted, slather the fuji apple with a THICK layer of caramel.  i was kind of holding the apple in front of the freezer, trying to get the caramel to solidify so i could gobble it down.  HELLA GOOD!

better weather tip

weather.com gives 10 day forecasts for weather.  some of the other sites just give a 3-5 day forecast.

rainy crime

super interesting.  i just learned today that "criminals don't like to be criminals in the rain."  in the jails, staff like to work overtime when it's raining because then there isn't a lot of new incoming riff raff to deal with.