How to Care for a Leather Couch

Dear Home Ec 101, What is the best way to care for a leather couch?  I have seen several leather conditioners advertised, but do these leave a waxy finish?  I have had my leather couch and love seat for four years, and they have held up well, but a few scratches are starting to show up.  …

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Ask the Audience: A Sticky Crafty Conundrum

Dear Home Ec 101, When I was younger (much, much, younger) we would cover bottles with tissue paper – the kind you use for wrapping packages – torn into various sizes and dipped in liquid fabric softener.  When it dried, it was tough as nails, and you had an unusual-looking vase.  I’d like to cover …

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Pecan Crusted Salmon or Steelhead Trout

Heather says: I mentioned a couple of months ago that I was working on getting more fish into our diet. Salmon is our go to, it’s a reliable fish, but like chicken it can go with a number of flavors. With the weather cooling off I find my tastes turn toward warmer flavors.  The toasted …

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Etiquette for Gentlemen: A Primer

Brian says: Men, the time has come where you must put away all those hangups that you may have had about the correct ways to treat a lady. But let’s go beyond that. This primer is designed to serve as a manual on how to treat yourself as well, because if you don’t have self-respect, …

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What Does Thread Count Mean?

Dear Home Ec 101, What exactly does thread count mean? If I’m buying sheets is it true that I should buy the highest thread count I can? Signed, Threadhead Heather says: This is the non-technical explanation. I could start throwing around words like warp and weft, but there’s no need just to get the general …

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Pear Sauce, A Simple How to

Heather says: I know where there’s an abandoned house. Technically I suppose it belongs to a bank, but the bank isn’t keeping up the property. It just so happens that this lot has a couple of pear trees. Oh, these aren’t grocery store pretty pears, these are mottled and ugly cooking pears. I suppose there …

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