Heather says: We learn these tricks the hard way so you don’t have to. When given a gift card* immediately put it in a safe place. Don’t assume you’ll get to use it in the near future. This way when the magical I-get-to-leave-the-house-and-enjoy-my-gift-card-in-peace day actually arrives, you don’t have to spend half the day looking …
Ivy says: As I’ve said here about 50 million times, Mr. Ivy is a restaurant manager. One of the common themes in our conversations is how other people manage the restaurant and how it meshes (or doesn’t mesh) with his own management style. Within your own household, you and your significant other will have different …
Heather says: Nothing says weekend indulgence like a pancake and nothing tastes better than a pancake served up by someone else. But what happens when you’ve moved out and a weekly trip to IHOP just isn’t in the budget? You learn how to do it yourself. This recipe is simple and a great starting point …
Dear Home Ec 101, Do either of you ladies have any tips for easing into the school routine? We’ve been sleeping until noon and howling at the moon. I have a feeling 6am is going to come as a rude awakening in two weeks. Signed, Sleepy Slacker McSlackersons Heather says: Since you have two weeks, …
Ivy says: I don’t know about your house, but mine needs some serious cleaning. As the summer draws to a close and my kids get ready to go back to school next week, I look around and see how much cleaning needs to be done. When all three kids are home, trying to get the …
Heather says: Ranch dressing from scratch with no MSG. Who knew? I spent maybe five minutes on this, ten if you count the phone call from the grocery store asking to double check the recipe. Why then have I not bothered to make homemade ranch seasoning, if it’s so easy? We could come up with …
Dear Home Ec 101, I have a question about deodorant stains on nice clothing! I have a fuchsia pink bridesmaids dress and there is a thin line of white along the armpit seam. I need to get rid of that stain. I’m sure I could take it to a dry cleaners but do you have any …
Dear Home Ec 101, How do you tell your kids there’s just not enough money for all the things they want? Especially now with school clothing shopping, my kids want $100 pairs of shoes and it’s just not in the budget. Help! Signed, Broke in Birmingham Ivy says: It’s not just the recession kids, back-to-school …
Heather says: School starts soon. The sales and signs are popping up all over town. Every school year I had a desire that this would be the year I was organized. Isn’t there something inspirational about a blank notebook and fresh paper? Well, I hate to break it to you and myself, but it has …
Heather says: Riddle me this: How is it that we are so eager to watch other people browning beef cubes on screen but so much less eager to brown them ourselves? For the rise of Julia Child as a figure of cultural consequence — along with Alice Waters and Mario Batali andMartha Stewart and Emeril Lagasse and whoever …