Elizabeth dug up this for me – the definition of boiling see this post from a few days ago for context. Thank you!

Meg went to eat at The French Laundry and returned with a signed menu. Go read her delightful story!

Neato – from the rabbit rabbit alert email Heather sent out: Rabbit Language – The definitive guide to communicate with your bunny. An example:

BEHAVIOR: Rubbing chin on things, such as houseplants, priceless armoirs, Italian leather shoes. A great misconception: It does NOT mean �marking territory��it�s a rabbit custom, like saying grace in front of a meal.

WHAT IT MEANS: �One day I will eat you.�

WHAT YOU SHOULD DO: Give your bunny more sticks and branches, keep your stuff off the floor, and kiss the antiques goodbye.

Have any recommendations on websites or books which clearly demonstrate how to use wire and tools and jump rings and such to make a necklace? I have some beads which I’d like to turn into a choker but I’m having trouble finding places with illustrations on exactly how it’s done. And I’m sure that if I just went out and bought stuff I’d end up with all the wrong stuff. Much appreciated!

Mmmm. Bonnie posted the recipe for 7-Up Cake (May 28) from Yum!. Yum! is fabulous, and offer three, count ’em, three 7-Up Cake recipes!

A friend kept talking up a card game named Fluxx (hi Shannon!) made by Looney Labs. I happened across it last weekend in the game shop in Berkeley and we played a few rounds last night – it’s fun! The rules are constantly changing, and where I would expect this would be endlessly frustrating it really wasn’t. The rounds are short so you don’t get overly invested in your hand, and things change so quickly it’s more than often left up to luck. Definetly recommended.

Ikea let me down for the first time! I’ve heard lots of stories about people bringing home thier boxed Ikea purchases to find all the hardware was left out, or something was missing. But I’ve always been lucky and happy with the (very basic) things I’ve gotten. I bought a set of table legs and the box contained three of one thing and one of another, where it was supposed to have two of one thing and two of the other. I took it back and they were all out, so I was forced to buy something else. They, of course, didn’t have my second choice. So now I have somthing which I marginally like, and really hope I don’t have to return.

But I did get a set of cubby shelves (the smaller Expedit) which I love. Little sectioned shelves make much more sense for holding books than longer book shelves. Though, perhaps this is just my past employment as a library page speaking.

Help me settle something (ie prove a point to someone who goes way over the top with his idea of “boiling”). Does boiling mean “having the heat up so high that one is nanoseconds away from boiling over with a thick froth trembling perilously just above the edges of the pan” (and then leaving the kitchen) or “having the heat up just enough to form rapid bubbles in the water, enough so to toss the macaroni around in the water so they don’t stick to each other”? Thank you.

Last weekend I managed to make those margaritas and cupcakes from the previous two entries as well as some jasmines. Our grocery receipt looked like this: five bottles of alcohol, chocolate cake mix, and one head of garlic.

More fake recipes! Taken out of an email from Real Simple magazine.

Fake a Margarita

Fill a blender with ice. Add 2/3 cup tequila, 1/3 cup triple sec, and a 6-ounce can of frozen limeade concentrate. Blend on high until slushy. Pour into 6 glasses rimmed with kosher salt. Garnish with lime slices.

Maria’s Chocolate Cake Cheat Recipe

• 1 package chocolate cake mix (ignore the box directions)
• 1 package 3 ounce chocolate pudding mix
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cut warm water
• 1 cup sour cream

  Mix together. Bake according to directions on cake mix box. Don’t tell anyone the secret. Smile and say why yes, I did make it myself. Makes great cupcakes too.

* Maria credits this to someone else, exactly whom she has forgotten, but thank you anyhow!

Gosh I’m tired. This extra two hours per day of commute I gained when we moved takes quite a chunk out of my photographing my new scarf and actually unpacking time. Some things have been going on, mostly involving buying stuff. I’m looking for the perfect pair of summer commuter shoes – the Simple shoes just didn’t work out. I must have weird shaped feet.

After a fruitless search in a rather large Nordstrom, I ordered these Kenneth Cole slides (I’m not usually a label girl but these look potentially comfortable), and these Keds (on sale too!) to try out. A few weeks ago I decided I needed a break from paying for shipping, but what can I do if the stores just don’t have them? And, I wish I could wear flip flops. It would make the summer shoe thing sooo much easier.

I have been slow to grab the freshly published book by Douglas Adams The Salmon of Doubt. I have adored Hitchhikers since I was wee and found the first book in the kids section of the library, where it had been shelved accidentally. I even own Last Chance to See, and have the entire radio program on cd (having lost the audio tapes which kept me company on many a road trip in the past, I hope they went to someone who appreciates them as much as I did). I was very sad when Douglas Adams passed away last year.

Sometime earlier this year I surprised myself when we joined an actual wine club! Our second shipment arrived a few days ago, and it looks yummy. I heart Bonny Doon Vineyard. The tasting rooms are the friendliest, and the wine is well explained. They even make a wine which is banned in Ohio – though I suspect just the label is banned, and just in some rather rural part of Ohio.

I have been scouring combinations of Ikea, Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, Home Depot and even a Hold Everything for the storage furniture we need so we can put away some stuff. I seem to envision exactly what I want and then try to find it rather than simply measuring the space and finding something which will fit into it. It isn’t easy. And I want these pillows in orange, red and olive for our couchfuton. I suppose one is never too old to shop at Urban Outfitters.

oh hey! not martha is one year old today!

and I find the meathead link has gone 404 on me! I saved a mirror, I love it that much.

At The Morning News – The Case for Cocktails, why we should cultivate our vice for sophisticated drinking. For loving information on nearly forgotten drinks, visit Lupec – Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails .

I almost forgot! Erica Mulherin (check out the shiny new permalink!) mentioned she received a West Elm catalog in the mail. I heard an NPR report about this, West Elm is a part of Williams-Sonoma and is a shot at the younger hipper cheaper crowd, see this article in The Gourmet Retailer. I have been eyeing a shop near my new apartment called Hold Everything, which I find is also a Williams-Sonoma dealy. According to the NPR report thingy West Elm isn’t the first time a home goods retailer went for the younger market, Crate&Barrell had a line of shops under a different name, though I forget what the name was now, darn. Abercrombie and Fitch has Hollister a beach based clothing brand, named after a town in California which in reality is nowhere near the shore.

Banana Republic, Gap and Old Navy are all the same company. Check this out – L’oreal, Biotherm, Giorgio Armani, Garnier, Lancome, Maybelline, Ralph Lauren, Redken, Vichy and Laroch-Posay (?) all the same company (go to “our brands” then “our brands portfolio”). Estee Lauder? and Aramis, Clinique, Prescriptives, Origins, MAC, La Mer, Bobbi Brown, Tommy Hilfiger, Jane, Donna Karen, Aveda, Stila, Jo Malone, Bumble and bumble and Kate Spade all under the same company.

Ok, so it’s not news, I know, but it helps to remind myself that it’s all about the packaging. Which I knew already.