A few stray notes:

You know how they say to use ketchup to clean copper and you think, c'mon, now, really? Um, really. Let that ketchup sit on your copper for a minute or two and then it will SHINE and all the discoloration will vanish. If you have a tough spot, use the CopperGlo, but you'll barely need it.

To hardboil the perfect egg, put it in a saucepan covered with water. Bring that to a boil. Turn the heat off and let it sit for 10 minutes. Remove the egg and put it in a pan of ice water. (This is the Dorky Yankees method, which I share with y'all since I have been boiling Easter-time proportions of eggs lately.)

Jeff was gone this weekend so I made pancakes slightly underdone and scrambled eggs really runny and all the things I love that gross him out. The best was shrimp and grits- which was WAY more fuss than one usually wants for a meal for yourself. Saute onions and bell pepper and garlic in a ton of butter, then add tomato, then shrimp, and then finish off the sauce with cream and worcestershire and tomato paste and I am sure I am forgetting stuff. Shrimp stock- you make shrimp stock and add that in there, too. All I know is that it was heaven over cheese grits. Richer than rich and spicy (oh, hot sauce! Also there is hot sauce!) and sweet.

It was so good I think I will even make my husband try it. He may learn to like grits.

Last night I made an improvised almost cobb salad with what I had on hand- hardboiled egg, heirloom tomato, romaine, a really knockout cheddar, and bacon. While making a sweet red wine vinaigrette I realized that I had no olive oil, though. (HOW do you run out of olive oil and not notice it?) I think that some cooking genes must be inbred, because although I did not start cooking until I moved to California, my instinct was not to dash off to the Mayfair Market or even the Rock and Roll Ralphs. No, my instinct was clearly something that came from some genetic cooking code out of Georgia or Oklahoma, and it was, "No problem! I have bacon grease!"

And you know what? It was the richest vinaigrette I've ever had.