You can thank the New York Times for this. They published this—and it’s still out there—in 1996 (oh my, I’m oooold). It is their  PLAIN AND SIMPLE recipe;This Is Chili: Beans, Corn, Tomatoes and Beer – New York Times. It doesn’t get more simple than that. Good food. Good for you. Easily adaptable, but I’d recommend making it “the right way” first, then feel free to play around. The interplay of spices...

SQUEEEEEE! Right before I left on vacation I had a FABULOUS phone call/CraftLit interview* with Sally Holt (she of the genius KnitCompanion ® app) and Lucy Neatby (she of knitting genius)—and then I had to shut up about it. It almost killed me. But now the secret is out and I can share this joyous news with you! I’m giddy with excitement and I’m here to tell you that after you take a look at the Lucy Neatby—Collection One app, you...

…Chaucer! I mean—ah—let me start over. ahem ::Orson Welles-like voice::  Who isn’t afraid of Chaucer? Okay, Chaucer scholars probably aren’t and… ummmm… no one else. Right? Because it seems so old. And hard. And dry. And boring. And yet…NOT! I’ve been doing a little experiment over at CraftLit and I’m pretty excited about how it’s panning out. Other people seem to be pretty happy about it...

As you may know, many things are afoot in Mama O Knits too Much-land—the book of knitting patterns coming out from Cooperative Press in February 2011, the online tutoring site, more and better patterns for sale, blog hops for the release of the new book, and a couple of things I can’t talk about yet. So while I’m sitting here in a cold, dark room (wearing my Cratchettes), wishing I were knitting but looking at the computer screen...

It is certainly possible you haven’t heard of Dr. Who. Is it also possible you heard of, watched, but didn’t understand the finer points of the show. I think Craig Ferguson will clear this all up for you. YouTube – Craig Ferguson – The lost “Dr. Who” cold open.. And more–this has now made me like Matt Smith. I am...

I’m not partial to hot buttered rum. Not because I’m a tea-totaler or anything like that, but because of a very specific and unfortunate accident that included the holiday season of 1978, my best friend Kerry, an unsupervised afternoon, and her mother’s fresh, double-batch of rub ball dough. I don’t want to get into details, but lets just leave it by saying that the smell of rum continues to make me turn a lovely shade...