okay, Beau and I put an application for a townhouse. I hope we get it because I am not sure what I will do if the app isn't approve or the owners don't want us in the joint. Getting a place to rent is such a racket. We had to do a credit check and pay $35 each for such a credit check. They would not accept our own credit reports.

They also have every bit of information about us except our DNA.

I hear it's actually super easy, flea. Just a lot of beating, basically.

Can you do something else, flea? Like, for example, I make a pasta salad with loads of fresh veg, and Italian dressing. Chicken would be a good addition to it, I mean, it's 100 degrees. I wouldn't be trying a new recipe just to create an ingredient for another recipe,

Mayo is totally not terrifying or hard: imagine girding yourself with the spirit of Julia Child in all her "what could possibly go wrong? and who cares if it does anyway?" glory. More practically, add the oil slowly until it all starts to come together rather than dumping it all in at once; that's really the only potentially tricky part.

flea, I understand homemade mayo involves mostly stirring, so a good mixer is your best weapon.

Dana, so sorry for the bad news atop more for your husband.

Maybe I can get mr. flea to go get mayo. The recipes online make it look hard. A cup of oil mixed in a drop at a time? I am not that patient a cook.

It's for curried chicken salad, and I'm feeling stubborn about it!

As an aside, I am so sick of cooking the very few things my son will eat (plain noodles, white bread, yogurt, plain sausages, steamed broccoli, hard-boiled eggs (whites only), frozen peas (eaten frozen), and fruit (any kind)). Sme of which he will only eat some of the time. He won't eat anything with mixy ingredients, which is basically my entire summer cooking repertoire. Turn 6 and grow up, child!

Making mayo is not crazy, flea. I find it easiest with a blender, but doing it by hand is not as hard as it first seems like it will.

Good luck, le nubian!

Eta: do you have a squeeze bottle? Adding the old by going stir- stir--stir-squeeze is simpler than trying to do the steady drop by drop thing and works pretty well.

Aw crap. My pool is closed again. Time to trek up to Towson and fight the crowds. Wanna swim. Don't wanna drive and gas up my car.

No, it's definitely not a drop at a time, and those people are anal-retentive goofballs who are repeating recipes without actually understanding the process. Just a slow stream to start with rather than dumping it all at once. Or better, check youtube, because the important part is getting a sense of the texture of the sauce as you emulsify it.

This is not so say you shouldn't send mr. flea out to do your bidding, of course, but emulsified sauces are a totally cool trick that will impress the pants off friends and family without being actually hard.

I love how women spontaneously get pregnant all on their own, without the intervention of men, and it's all their fault. And their responsibility. LADY PROBLEMS.

And all these men weren't born or anything. They were dropped from space or something.