I’m happily busy lately, and I appear to have developed a serious peanut butter addiction. I’m used to substituing peanut butter on toast or a peanut butter powerbar for a meal, but I broke down and bought peanut butter chips to make cookies last night. Next thing you know I’ll be looking for peanut butter cocktails.

I adore the intricate easter treats in the catalogs this time of year like the chocolate praline filled eggs, in real, actual, honest eggshells, and oh cute marshmallows. I find this filled egg very charming. Also I love the daisy pancake pan and the citrus-slice ice cube tray.

Apologies are in order, I have not answered email in a long time, I’m sorry! I’m sorry!

Also, I tried the JOE’s Lo-Fat Key Lime Pie recipe last night and it didn’t work at all. Well, it didn’t set. Disappointing. But at least I still have a can of whipped cream like substance.

I need some knitting wisdom. I’m looking for a way to cast on that creates a bulky flat edge. Like this: if you knit some ribbing and then bind off all stitches knitwise, the bound off edge causes the ribbing to be splayed out, and the edge is inflexible. I’m looking to create that with a cast on edge. I cannot figure out how to do it. Is there a bulky inflexible cast on? Would I go back later and crochet an edge around the bottom? Note: in this case knitting from the top down is not an option. Anyone have any suggestions? Tia!

The boy has been gone all week for his annual SXSW Extravaganza and my extra time has resulted, surprisingly, in eating really well. First there were the gingerbread waffles and after that I picked up the new Everyday Food magazine and made the roasted garlic potatoes, cobb salad and spinach penne (in my case linguine) with ricotta and pine nuts (not all on the same night!). The spinach penne would make a good date meal, it’s both yummy and doesn’t have garlic in it. The local grocery store usually carries bags of adorable little Key limes, and I had been thinking about Key Lime Pie when I ran across a link to Abraham’s Key Lime Pie (third one down) little cabbage. I was totally going to buy the bag of key limes, but I found a bottle of Nellie & Joe’s Key West Lime Juice in the store and figured eh. It was just after St. Patrick’s Day and I wanted to make the pie very green, but all I had in the house were black and orange food colorings, so I have a pumpkin orange key lime pie in the fridge. I have also indulged in bagels with cream cheese and Annie’s mac and cheese. When Scott comes home I’ll have to cut out eating cheese altogether.

[note to self: talk about all the pink stuff I’ve been running across lately]

list

• boing boing has an entry about the whole Sandra Tsing Loh thing, including a link to an update on the story at the L.A.Times, which you need to register for and I just didn’t get around to
• the cult of diet coke, yup. via the rage diaries
• coffee related how to use a press pot, the milk frothing guide, via the morning news
• new to me sites I’m really liking – dioramamama and fig and plum
• reminder: Free Shipping when you enter “not martha” during checkout at Fred Flare is going to end this weekend!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Go check out the Non-Irish Guide to St. Patrick’s Day (via Pop Culture Junk Mail).

Super good tutorial tote bags 101 at Super Eggplant.

Spring is hitting Fred Flare! There is some fabulous stuff including letter buttons by Fresh Baked Goods (the Toronto girl who owns Fresh Baked Goods also has a sweater pattern in Debbie Stoller’s Stitch ‘n Bitch, a book which just also happens to be available at Fred Flare), the silkscreen workshop dvd by Peach Berserk (another Toronto shop, and the dvd was in Bust magazine!), these cupcake critters are super cute and remind me of lollipops, and they have oh so many bags! I have the Princess Tina bits ‘n bobs tote and I use it all the time, it’s the absolute perfect size, and the pictures printed on it speak to me in mysterious ways. Also check out the build your own radio kit, and the yummy chocolate lovers lip balms.

AND (you just knew this was coming, right?) this week if you enter “not martha” in the coupon codes at checkout you’ll get Free Shipping*! Yippee!

* details: An order of any amount will be automatically credited $6.95 when entering the code at checkout. Expires on Monday, March 22nd.

Oh no, the Perils of Leisure says the Ginger Altoid she had was flavored of ginger and mint. And mint?! The Ginger Altoids I had were just spicy ginger. No mint. Did they change the flavor? Did they ruin it?

More yum, later today I may attempt this recipe for dark chocolate peanut butter cups over at i was just really very hungry.

Mmmm, gingerbread waffles, they are a nice dark color and look extra pretty with a little powdered sugar on top. I kept these in the iron a little bit longer than a regular waffle, and be aware that they come out a quite floppy but crisp up nicely, especially if kept in a warm oven for a few minutes. In my search for recipes I came across suggestions to top them with apple cider syrup, hot chocolate sauce, lemon curd, peach sauce, or blackberries.

I want to try this recipe for a yogurt asprin facial mask over at Fig and Plum.

Lance’s Guide to Man Grooming, Part One: Facing Facts

The Summer Knitty is gonna be fun, I hear among the items coming is a knitted corset. A few weeks ago I was looking for one, wondering if anyone had done a knitted corset pattern. So far they have not (at least according to Google), and if you decide to search on your own be forewarned that the name represents something entirely different, something very very not work safe.