All - Home-Ec 101

Beef Spare Ribs with BBQ Sauce

Dear Home Ec 101, Do you have any recipes for beef spare ribs? My grocery store had a special, but I have no idea what to do with them. Ribsy Heather says: I will not get into a semantical argument about what constitutes BBQ as there are die-hard loyalists in every corner of the country …

Killing stuff: Not just for hitmen and exterminators anymore

Ivy says: Who would have imagined that I would be so knowledgeable about killing things? We had a couple of commenters wondering how to get rid of various pests, and your Auntie Ivy is at your service. First, commenter Denise wanted to know how to get rid of fire ants. I had a terrible problem …

Difficulty: Harder than getting rid of your mother-in-law

Dear Home-Ec 101, What is the most effective, economical and safe way to get rid of roaches?? Signed, Mrs. Wasp* Ivy says: In the many houses I have lived in, I have only had trouble with roaches twice, luckily. In one house, the roaches moved in my apartment when my neighbor moved out, and when …

Spare sheet storage

Ivy says: My husband usually does the laundry in my household. However, that wasn’t working out for us, and since he had surgery last month, I’ve been taking over the laundry responsibilities. I’ve learned many amusing things while doing the laundry, but the overwhelming thing I have learned is just the fact that we have …

Throw An After-Thanksgiving Leftover Party

Ivy says: You know the Thanksgiving drill. After Thanksgiving there’s all these leftovers, especially turkey. Turkey pot pie, turkey ala mode, turkey sandwiches, turkey ceviche. Okay, maybe not the turkey ala mode or turkey ceviche. But we all have been there, sick to death of turkey and all the myriad leftovers that come after Thanksgiving. …

New Review and a Giveaway!

Heather says: Everyone loves a giveaway, right? Reynolds has introduced their new Handi-Vac and I was lucky enough to receive two starter kits, one to review and one to give away. Click here to read the review. Once you’ve decided you need one for yourself leave a comment below. We will select a comment at …

Countdown to Turkey Day: Nov 5

Heather says:

If you have never roasted a turkey or chicken before, Thanksgiving is not the day for your trial run. Your homework for this week is to roast a chicken as practice for the big day. Do not fear the turkey, it is just a giant chicken. For your convenience I am including directions previously posted for both after the jump. As a side note, I finally broke down and purchased a new thermometer from Target. It was reasonably priced at $15. The probe is inserted and a thin wire connects to a unit outside the oven. It has an alarm to signal when the desired temperature is reached (5° lower than the recommended temperature, as it continues to rise once removed from the oven.) I am very pleased with it and wish I had purchased one years ago.

Countdown to Turkey Day: Nov 4

Heather says: By now you should have a decent headcount of how many invasive parasites guests will be in attendance for your holiday meal. When you have a moment of peace, duct tape if you must, sit down with pencil and paper and plan your menu and shopping list. The amounts listed below assume a …

End of DST

Heather says: Don’t forget to set your clocks back by one hour tonight, if you live in an area affected by Daylight Savings Time. You don’t want to be the one that shows up an hour early to work or church.

Do it now, while you’re thinking of it.

Ivy says: Are you having enough people to your house this Thanksgiving, that you need to put leaves (or, extensions, whatever you call them) in your table? Where *are* those leaves, anyway? Did you put them in the attic or the garage? Or are they in the hall closet? Don’t leave finding them until Thanksgiving. …