If, like me, you occasionally find yourself standing at the fridge with your newly bought bell pepper and wondering whether it really should go in there, or whether it might be happier living on the counter, dither no more!

This site has a rundown of where to store your fresh produce, and includes a handy chart you can print and stick to the fridge.

I have learned that I've been doing some fruits and veggies wrong. For instance, all fresh herbs except basil go in the fridge--ah ha, no wonder the basil kept turning black in there. Also, I tried her suggested way of keeping herbs fresh: snipping their ends and putting them in a glass of water, like flowers in a vase, then slipping a plastic bag over the top and refrigerating them. The cilantro I bought has stayed fresh for over a week now with this method--much longer than it does when trapped in its original plastic bag in the produce drawer.

Others I've been wrongly refrigerating when they should be on the counter: peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes. (Until you slice them up at least, presumably.) Meanwhile, plums and cherries should go in the fridge, when here I'd been storing them in the fruit bowl. They did seem to rot awfully fast that way, come to think of it.

Furthermore, keep those darn apples and pears and bananas away from other produce: they emit ethylene, which ripens other fruits and vegetables at an accelerated rate. However, you can use that to your advantage if you want to, say, ripen an avocado quickly for your guacamole.

Anyway, only a chef or a Food Sciences major could keep all this straight, so print the chart and enjoy your happy produce.

(And happy Memorial Day!)

Congratulations to 3secondfish for winning the wee sample of Shalimar! I'll offer up another scent for a lucky recipient next week.

---

Today we got a new plant. Here it is:



The one tied to the stake, guess what it is! Go on, guess! You'll never guess.

( It's a... )

...Or at least, badly cooked biscuits.

Writing recipes is not a form of writing I usually think much about, except when it's done badly. Here is your forum for complaining of recipe-writing errors, confusions, or just general weirdness. The two examples that come to mind from my own experience are:

1) A recipe for Greek meatballs, which called for a couple of fresh tomatoes, "shredded." How, I ask you, do you shred a fresh tomato? (The sad thing was, I actually tried. Don't. Just don't, ever.)

2) Recipes that wait until the last line to tell you something that would have been best to know in the early stages. For instance, a buffalo wings recipe I used recently included the recipe for the sauce, of course, and listed those steps after the whole chicken preparation part. That'd be fine, except the last line? "Cover and chill [sauce] for 2 to 4 hours." Would've been good to know two to four hours ago, thanks.

What are your recipe complaints?

Sorry for the delay in the announcement, but nehi won the perfume drawing from last week. Congratulations! I'll announce a new drawing (again a perfume) in a few days.

My question for the world: why is it seemingly impossible to get decaffeinated chocolate? I'm talking dark chocolate, now, not "white chocolate," which isn't exactly chocolate anyway. I assume there's something about the chemical makeup of cacao that creates difficulties in separating the caffeine-containing components from the good stuff.

Chocolate very seldom keeps me awake from caffeine content, but once in a while it does, in the case of a particularly rich, dark dessert. And for those who are seriously caffeine sensitive, a decaf version of chocolate would probably be a godsend.

1) You can decaffeinate it yourself. Just pour the boiling water over it as usual, wait 30 to 45 seconds, and dump out the resulting brew, but keep the leaves/teabag. This will remove some 80% of the caffeine, which ought to be enough to let you fall asleep. Then pour fresh boiling water over the same tea leaves/bag, and brew as usual. Ta-da--decaffeinated tea. Apparently you also get more polyphenol health benefits that way than if you simply buy decaf tea.

2) Here's one Americans don't always learn: really, only brew the tea for a few minutes. 3 to 5 minutes for black tea, 1 to 3 for green, no more than 2 for white. It becomes bitter and harsh after that. I didn't know this for years, and when I went to Scotland in '96, the locals looked at me in incredulity when I left my teabag in the mug for endless minutes. "How can ye drink it like tha'? It's like tar!" They're right, as it turns out.

3) I was going to add, "Don't drink tea with meals, as it can inhibit your iron absorption," but I lately found that the research is not at all conclusive on that one.

I need a tea icon. Hm. That is, assuming LJ is even here a month from now.

By the way, should you want to join in a grass-roots effort to buy LiveJournal out from under the noses of whoever the hell owns it now and is firing everyone, see ljuser_buyout. My brother-in-law kenshi started it up, so I can promise it's not a scam.

Should that fail, technically I do have a blog I can fall back upon. I hardly ever use it now, but I will if it comes to that.

From me to yous-all, it's...

Best Recipes of 2008
from Molly & Steve

Table of Contents:

Florentine Scramble
Mexican Enchilada Sauce
Basil Chicken Salad
Baked Macaroni, Tomatoes, and Cheese
Salsa Couscous Chicken
Skillet Baked Ziti
Pork Pozole
Greek Burgers with Cucumber Sauce
Captain Bay-Schmith's Chicken
Healthier Blueberry Muffins
Orange and Chocolate Chip Dots

( Recipes under here )

Now that I'm in my second trimester, I'm loving food again, and smells too. Good thing, or it would've been hard to compile this collection without wanting to gag. Now, though, I'm all, "Jasmine green tea smells so incredibly good! Where can I get a perfume that smells exactly like this? And our Christmas tree! Our Christmas tree smells like heaven! And, mmm, did someone just peel open an orange?"

Some of you already know this, but here's a more general announcement: a small press has offered me a contract for my novel The Ghost Downstairs! External validation rocks, as my husband said by way of congratulations.

It won't be out for months yet, but in the meantime check out my userinfo for details, including the cover art they drew up for me. I love the house in particular. It's perfect; just as I pictured it.

So, hurrah, and I'll tell you more when there's more to tell. Be prepared to see me promote the heck out of it on this journal. I plan to beg you all to write Amazon reviews for me and stuff.

* * *

Now, a few quick food reviews:

Beets: good! I seldom had them when growing up (maybe my parents don't like them), but lately have been getting basic canned sliced beets and eating them on salad. They're so tender and fresh and delicious. How did I ever live without beets on my salad?

Cactus leaves (nopales): not so good. Tried slicing and steaming them as recommended, added a bit of honey since they were still so sour; tried butter, salt, pepper; but no. Still tasted like eating a plant rather than eating a vegetable. I'm sure you understand the difference.

Almond Breeze (Blue Diamond's milk substitute), Vanilla: good! Smooth and not at all chalky or weird. Makes a nice lightweight shake when mixed with regular milk.

Silk (soy milk), Chocolate: also good! Tastes just like regular chocolate milk.

Silk, Vanilla: not so good. In fact, *shudder*. By the way, we're only trying these to vary the large amounts of regular milk we and our toddler drink. None of us are actually lactose intolerant; just interested in new flavors and ingredients.

3 Musketeers Mint With Dark Chocolate: oh my gosh, so good. Satiny dark chocolate with a soft bright white mint nougat filling. Like original 3 Musketeers meeting a York Peppermint Patty, but better than either. And soft enough that I can easily eat them even with my braces-tender teeth, which is a major plus. Several varieties of chocolate are too thick for me to bite through lately, which, as you can imagine, is practically reason enough for me to declare a state of emergency and apply for federal disaster relief.

Email me if you'd like a more printable Word version. Enjoy!

Best Recipes of 2007
from Molly & Steve

Table of contents:

Southwest Corn and Sweet Potato Soup
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Bruschetta with Tomato and Arugula
Denver Omelet
Potato, Sage, and Rosemary Pizza
Oven-Fried Chicken Tenders
Skillet Enchilada
Ravioli Panzanella Salad
Pasta with Spinach and Ricotta
Penne with Sausage and Feta
Chocolate, Orange, and Oatmeal Muffins
15-Minute Chocolate Walnut Fudge

( Recipes below )

Note One: One or two alcoholic drinks a day might lower risk of heart attacks, but definitely raises risk of a bazillion kinds of cancer. Hm, heart attack or cancer? I'll take heart attack, thanks. I'm sticking to my "dark chocolate with every meal but alcohol only a couple times a week" diet.

Note Two: I finally saw An Officer and a Gentleman. I liked it--you get a good eyeful of our Puget Sound scenery. Also, I now finally see what Hot Shots! was parodying, aside from Top Gun. Hee.

Note Three: Still time to sign up for Operation Ichabod. Read a line, be spooky, be awesome.

Tagged by new_iconoclast...

1) Players start with 8 random facts about themselves.
2) Those who are tagged should post these rules and their 8 random facts.
3) Players should tag 8 other people and notify them they have been tagged.

So, my 8 random facts:

1. As proof that I'm behind the times, I have never sent or received a text message on a cell phone.

2. As further proof of the same thing, up until about a year ago I thought "MySpace" was a file storage type of site. Which I guess it is, if you count skanky photos and long emo posts as files.

3. After reading about noctilucent clouds on SpaceWeather.com, and seeing photos of them, I thought, "Oh, sure, I've seen those plenty of times." I verified this the other night by looking out the window at twilight and spotting some. Sure, there they are; we get 'em all the time here, I figured. Then I found out I was just lucky, for these are fairly rare at this latitude. So what was I seeing before? Not-so-lucent clouds, evidently.

4. I think I have a bunion on one foot. I'm not sure what to do about that, but my mother-in-law has them and they've nearly crippled her on bad days. Greeeat.

5. I tend to like fantasy but not sci-fi; love stories but not romance novels; true crime but not mysteries. With exceptions for each, of course.

6. I like purple flowers best of all. Then blue. Then white. Then red or yellow. But fragrance is really more important than color.

7. I eat peanut butter with chocolate chips off a spoon (or a table knife) quite a lot. I maintain that this is a healthy snack.

8. I disapprove of most bumper stickers. They're a bad policy. Sooner or later, everyone, even you, does something annoying in traffic. At that point, those who agree with your bumper sticker will be dismayed because you're making their side look bad; and those who disagree with your bumper sticker will just hate you even more for it.

And now...I disobey the rules by not tagging anyone, but inviting anyone to take part who wants to. I have a cold; I get to bow out early.

My love/hate relationship with Target is swinging toward "hate" today. They have no rain boots for kids right now, or for anyone else for that matter. I guess the central HQ probably figures it's time for summer wear, and there's no use carrying anything else. But this is Seattle. It's raining right now and is supposed to be rainy all week. It could rain at any time of the year, any day at all (though especially the 4th of July). We're famous for it.

Target pretends to be a "find everything you need" type of store, but really they're very seasonally oriented--without, apparently, being very regionally oriented. Bah. I shall have to hit the secondhand kids' clothing shops in search of boots for the now-walking Z. If no luck there, then eBay. (There are some cute ones for sale, I see...)

On the other hand, Target is still the only place around to consistently sell Dove Dark Chocolate Promises for $2.54 a bag. ($3.79 at the grocery stores. Eek!) So they do have me on a short leash there.

Just in case you ever wondered, it costs $45 for a locksmith to come let you back into your house when you've locked yourself out. Or maybe I was robbed blind and it really should cost less. I don't know. I've honestly never done it until today. Go me!

Yes, we do indeed need to start keeping a spare key somewhere outside the house. Like maybe under the mat or under a flowerpot next to the door, because no one would ever think of looking there.

Grumble. So, now, a meme from modmerseygirl.

1. YOUR NAME: Molly
2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?: My middle name is the same as my mom's best friend's name. "Molly" just sounded nice and American, which my folks wanted after six months in France.
3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY?: Hmm...really cry? Hard to recall. Tears in the eyes? The Buffy episode "The Body," watched a few days ago. Yes, I'm a sappy fan sometimes. But that was a *sad* episode--anyone who has seen it can back me up.
4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?: Not my cursive. My non-cursive, which I use far more often, is OK.
5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?: Chicken. Or maybe roast beef.
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?: Sure, if I ever met me, which would be hard because I don't get out much.
7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL?: Far too many.
8. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?: Definitely! (That was modmerseygirl's answer, which amuses me because she's so ridiculously sweet, and I associate sarcasm with harsher people, like me.)
9. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?: Yep.
10. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?: Probably not, though oddly I think I could skydive.
11. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?: Cheerios.
12. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?: Not lately.
13. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?: I think I'm stronger than I think I am. If that makes any sense.
14. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?: Any kind with chocolate cookie or brownie pieces in it.
15. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?: Probably hair; it's easier to assess from a distance.
16. RED OR PINK?: Red! I actually eschew pink.
17. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF?: What a very odd question. Uh...my eyes...?
18. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?: I suppose grandparents, and not just mine.
19. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU?: No; they should post it on their own journals. ;)
20. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES YOU ARE WEARING?: Faded blue jeans; no shoes.
21. THE LAST THING YOU ATE?: Cookie dough, molasses/chocolate.
22. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?: The cold wind outside and my own typing.
23. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?: Pine green.
24. FAVORITE SMELL: Rain in a warm season.
25. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?: The locksmith.
26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?: Very much. :)
27. FAVORITE DRINK?: Water, or English/Scottish/Irish Breakfast Tea with milk and sugar.
28. FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH?: I don't, really. I zone out within seconds.
29. HAIR COLOR?: Blondish reddish brown.
30. EYE COLOR?: Greenish brown (hazel)
31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?: Nope.
32. FAVORITE FOOD?: There's never just one food I could eat forever. But chocolate is an obvious contender. Cheese is up there too.
33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDING?: I prefer a happy ending, but a really great story would have it all.
34. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?: 'Free Enterprise,' via Netflix
35. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?: Brown
36. SUMMER OR WINTER?: I prefer fall and spring...but winter is less hateful to me than summer. If it's too hot to wear jeans, then I find it too hot.
37. HUGS OR KISSES?: Well, who we talking about caressin' here, sweet thang?
38. FAVORITE DESSERT?: Something with dark chocolate integrally involved in it
39. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND?: Whoever wins the "most bored today" award.
40. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING?: 'Three Junes' by Julia Glass. I can't quite decide if I like it or not.
41. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?: Grayness.
42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST ON TV?: Probably a Buffy episode.
43. FAVORITE SOUNDS?: The soothing voices of familiar radio personalities
44. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?: Definitely Beatles, though I like a few Stones songs pretty well.
45. FURTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?: If I calculate correctly...Inverness, Scotland
46. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?: I can actually finish writing novels instead of just saying I would like to write one someday. Sorry. Make that: "Snarkiness at all the wrong moments."
47. LEAST LIKELY TO SEND THIS BACK?: N/a
48. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?: Oregon
49. NEW YEARS RESOLUTION?: To be a more considerate driver, and try to view other drivers as human beings and not demons.

From the wrapper of a Dove Promises chocolate, Valentine's Edition:

"Sleep under the stars tonight."

Thank you, o chocolate, but this is February, as you well know, this being your special pink Valentine's Day set of wrappers-'n-messages. Most of us in the Northern Hemisphere, should we sleep under the stars, would freeze.

Unless, of course, they mean "Bag yourself some celebrity lovers (and be a bottom)," in which case, nice work if you can get it.

My parents just mailed me this. It's like they're trying to tell me something.

This is one of the gifts I'm giving my nearest and dearest, so naturally you guys should get it too. No, not the picture, the recipes!

Best Recipes of 2006
from Molly & Steve

This year's theme, along with the usual "tasty," is "easy." With young Zachary around, we have less time to cook, so I cut corners wherever possible while still ending up with good food. Therefore none of these dishes are too complicated, and many use the slow cooker.

( Long. If this hurts your eyes, email me and I can send it to you as a .doc file. )

The other month we tried some Oreo knockoffs from a brand called Back to Nature. The name spawned many jokes: ah yes, nature, where chocolate sandwich cookies grow on trees. Monkeys flinging them at each other, squirrels carrying them off to their nests. A real bitch when you park your car underneath one, though; the filling smears all over the windshield.

Anyway, that brings up the question of whether "natural" is always better for you. In the case of cookies with some heart-healthy fat instead of Crisco, then yes, I suppose it is.

But when I want to know why we need to clear all the dead leaves away from the garden, justifying my laziness by pointing out that forest floors are covered with dead leaves and are quite fertile and happy, the "nature" argument doesn't quite hold up. Yes, forest floors are covered with dead leaves, and as a consequence they are also crawling with bugs, many of which would love to eat more plants, or hey, move into our house. Since that is not acceptable, I become willing to clear the dead leaves. Thus the difference between a garden and the wilderness.

Similarly, I find myself thinking things like: "It's silly that we shouldn't walk around barefoot for fear of putting too much strain on our feet. We were designed to walk barefoot! Our primitive ancestors must have done it all the time!" To which Anthro brain has to answer: "Yes, and look how long they lived. Why, a good 32, 33 years." Ditto for worrying about how the sun, or tooth decay, or sleeping on uncomfortable surfaces, might hurt us. Since I hope to live a good three times what our hominid ancestors did, I will be trusting in science and technology to help.

Luckily science and technology help bring us cookies. Which, in the case of Back to Nature, are really good. Better than actual Oreos, if you can believe it. You win THIS round, nature...

My younger sister Peggy reports the following from Portland, Oregon:

They have a chestnut tree along the street outside their house. Every year about this time, Asian families (and only Asians) come by with plastic bags to collect the chestnuts. She sees them out there as early as 7:30 a.m., when she's leaving for work. The other day, from the house, she could see over their high fence that their yellow recycle bins, which were out on the parking strip, were being flung in the air repeatedly against the tree, causing chestnuts to rain down. Many giggles accompanied this activity. And this morning, at rush hour, a tiny Asian man (she estimates 5'1" and 110 lbs) with a bucket and gloves was darting into the busy street to pick up nuts, waiting on the center line while cars zoomed by, and darting back across the lanes to get the chestnuts, over and over.

Now that is some commitment to stir-fry.

P.S. Check my userinfo and sign the brick wall, dudes.

P.P.S. Edited to add: Peggy also informs me, just now, that when you do a Google image search on "pretty goth" (not in quotes, just the separate words), the fifth picture that comes up is...me. In slightly Goth makeup for Halloween once. Uh...whoa. Hehe.

Thank you to those who helped expand my reading list last entry. I will be following up on your suggestions enjoyably, and maybe even commenting if time allows.

If you want to continue to be helpful, let's play Name That Plant. What is this, which hath sprouted in my garden? ( Flower thing )

Keep in mind I'm in Seattle, therefore it's probably not tropical. For ID help: the flower has no scent that I can detect, nor do the leaves. I wish it weren't pink, but since it's so low-maintenance, it's welcome to stay. Why are so many flowers pink? Oh well.

Want your kitchen to smell good? Buy a small amount of garam masala spice mix from the bulk spice bins at your grocery store. Leave it in a plastic bag on your counter. Voila--whole kitchen permeated with aroma of coriander, cumin, cinnamon, clove, pepper, and whatever else goes into garam masala. At least, that's how it has happened for me.

P.S. I had to delete a Shakespearean greeting using the name "Coriander" just now.

Poll #797111 Pointless poll du jour
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 54

What is it that's so unsettling about spiders?

Am I the only person on the planet who doesn't think Angelina Jolie is the epitome of female hotness?

Philosophy and food:

OMG, Lance Bass is gay! Who's coming out of the closet next?

Knowing that www.ChuckNorrisfacts.com exists makes my life just a little brighter.

Item the First: Sayeth my teabag wrapper, "Surprisingly enough, with a name like Tazo Honeybush, this tea contains none of the buzz of caffeine." Funny; I would have said, "Surprisingly enough, with a name like Tazo Honeybush, this is a tea and not a porn star."

Item the Second: This PBS page claims that we in the Pacific Northwest are shifting our vowels so that words like "beg" and "bag" come out almost the same, with the vowel sounding like the one in "bake." Also, "good" sounds like "gid" and "look" sounds like "lick." Having tested my own speech, I have to admit they're pretty much right. I already knew that, in true Wild West form, I said "frr" (almost like "fur") instead of "for", and "git" instead of "get," and I drop most of my g's, so to speak, for words endin' in -ing. And "cool" comes out as two syllables for me, just about. But I hadn't noticed the "What kind of beg, paper or plastic?" thing yet. Coo-wul.

Item the Third: You know you've been reading The Silmarillion too long when you giggle at the brand name "Melnor" on your lawn sprinkler, and start making up a heritage for it. Melnor, also called Cunithielanien, son of Maginor. When I turned the water up a little too high, and got sprinkled, I even went so far as to tell Steve, "Beware, the arm of Melnor is long. And cold, and wet."

Item the Fourth: I forgot to fangirl about a book I recently read, so now is the time. I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith. So utterly charming and funny and poignant. Somehow the very charismatic narrator reminded me of kalquessa, even though kalquessa is neither British nor a denizen of the early 1900s. (But it's still a compliment, Marie, really!) And thank you to modmerseygirl for recommending that one in the first place.

Item the Fifth: We have taught Zachary the Jedi mind trick. Useful, don't you think?