Tell us about the time you started losing your vision. “I first noticed something strange happening with my vision when I was 20 years old. I was in college and noticed my right eye went blurry. I thought it was my contact lens so I changed it, but my…

Wait until you see their backsplash!

By Alan George Imagine stepping into your kitchen each morning, greeted by the soft glow of pendant lighting, the rich texture of wood beams...

Use jam for more than just spreading it on toast, like a Bonne Maman Cocktail! Their delicious fruit preserves are an awesome addition to a boozy beverage.

Hint: It's all about putting women in their place.

The James Seymour Mansion is being sold for $50,000 in Auburn, New York, and Netflix star Christine McConnell may be its new owner.

Style at Home contributing design editor Christine Hanlon partners with IKEA to turn up the heat on her vacation home’s dated kitchen.

Interior designer Marie-Christine McNally comes by her good taste at least partly the old-fashioned way — her mother, Annick McNally, has run Le Louvre French Antiques, in Dallas, for decades and is a longtime presence on 1stdibs. But McNally, now based in Sag Harbor, New York, did not grow up thinking she would become the […]

After being immersed in Roman cuisine for the past two years, I have emerged with an intense desire for Asian food — Indian, Malaysian, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Cambodian, Indonesian, Korean, Vietname

After being immersed in Roman cuisine for the past two years, I have emerged with an intense desire for Asian food — Indian, Malaysian, Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Cambodian, Indonesian, Korean, Vietname

It's Secret Recipe Club time yet again and this month's assignment comes from Karen at Cinnamon Freud. The recipe that I chose is a SERIOUS WINNER. Not only is it really easy but it had my husband's entire family going back for seconds and wanting to lick their bowls and spoons clean. Even I finally chose to play the "eating for two" card in order to help myself to a second serving of this decadent fudgey goodness. It's like eating a rich molten liquid chocolate and mixed with ice cream. Omigod! I didn't have vanilla beans so I used more vanilla extract and took out some of the water from the recipe. I also chose to use all regular cocoa powder instead of a mix of cocoa and dutch process cocoa as Karen suggests. It's pretty amazing nonetheless and makes it such that any novice chef can tackle this recipe easily with items that are commonly stocked in the pantry. This is one for the recipe box. Thank you Karen so much for sharing! One Year Ago: Oven Baked Sriracha Chicken and Brat Burgers with Drunken Onions Two Years Ago: Banana and Sour Cream Pancakes Four Years Ago: Chicken Gyros with Tzatziki Sauce Brownie Pudding Ingredients 1 cup butter, melted 2 cups sugar 4 eggs, room temperature 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 teaspoon water 1/2 cup all purpose flour Pinch of salt 3/4 cup cocoa powder Directions Preheat oven to 325F. Grease a 7"x12" baking pan or casserole dish. In a large bowl, beat together sugar and eggs for 5-10 minutes, until it is thick and light yellow. It's long mix times like these that make me super grateful for my KitchenAid stand mixer! Beat in the vanilla extract and water. Then add the flour, salt, and cocoa powder and beat until just combined. Finally, add the melted butter and beat once more until combined. Pour brownie mixture into prepared pan. Place the brownie pan inside a 9"x13" pan. Fill the larger pan halfway up with the hottest tap water. Bake for 50-60 minutes being careful not to over bake. The cake is done when a cake tester or toothpick comes out 3/4 of the way done when placed 2" from the border. Let cool slightly for 3-5 minutes then serve immediately with ice cream. Source: Modified from Cinnamon Freud as originally from Ina Garten

Where cooking meets lifestyle

Wow! I totally get why they call this "magnifica"! It is magnificent! This just might become my new go-to sauce and I'm excited that this turned out so well given my recent fudge failure. What's even better is the fact that I got a lot of the tomato supplies for cheap during the Kroger Megasale :). Sometimes I think I must have been Italian in a previous life because I LOVE Italian food so much! This recipe makes a lot of sauce so in addition to eating it in it's yummy pure form over noodles, be prepared to either use it in recipes in place of jarred sauce or freezing it. I'm thinking about using this on my Manicotti and maybe also some Chicken Parmesan this upcoming week...mmmm salivating just thinking about it. I used a 2003 Shiraz for the wine (compliments of Justin from when Chris moved into the CONDO!...yeah, it's that old...because we don't exactly drink wine! I literally had to dust it off from the shelf and then had to get Chris to help uncork it because I had NO idea what I was doing haha!) and probably added a splash more than what the recipe called for. I know nothing about wine but from what I understand, any red wine will do as long as it is dry. Sweet will also work but isn't ideal because it will impart a different flavor, I guess. Carmelizing the onions? Heavenly. I also added an extra dash of basil, red pepper, and of course more garlic...but it's a personal preference and I think this recipe actually would have been great without my additions. Here are some ways you can use your Marinara Magnifica: Baked Sausage Ziti Spinach Sausage and Cheese Manicotti Chicken Parmesan Chicken Parmesan Meatball Subs Lasagna Marinara Magnifica Printer-Friendly Version Yield: 9 cups (serving size: 1 cup) Photo Credit: Cooking Light Ingredients 1 tablespoon olive oil 6 cups chopped onion (about 3 medium) 1 tablespoon sugar 1/2 cup dry red wine 1 tablespoon extravirgin olive oil 2 teaspoons dried oregano 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram 1/2 teaspoon dried basil 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper 6 garlic cloves, crushed 2 (28-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes, undrained 2 (14.5-ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undrained 2 (6-ounce) cans tomato paste Directions Heat oil in a Dutch oven or large stock pot over medium heat; add onion and sugar. Cook 30 minutes or until golden, stirring occasionally. Stir in wine; cook 1 minute. Add remaining ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Nutritional Information Calories:169 (20% from fat) Fat:3.8g (sat 0.5g,mono 2.3g,poly 0.6g) Protein:5.3g Carbohydrate:30.9g Fiber:6.5g Cholesterol:0.0mg Iron:2.9mg Sodium:960mg Calcium:131mg Source: Cooking Light, August 2004

Form + Field Principal and Founder Christine Lin shares her path to interior design, some favorite music + more in this Friday Five.

Christine McConnell is a baker and artist who brings expertly realized visions of occult oddities to life. I found out about her on Reddit a few months ago in reference to one of her beautiful pin up recreations.

Happy National Ice Cream Day! Fellow foodies and ice cream enthusiasts, believe me when I say you haven't lived until you've tried Graeter's ice cream. Seriously, if I could only eat ONE type of ice cream for the rest of my life, it'd hands down be Graeter's Black Cherry. There's a reason Oprah named Graeter's her favorite ice cream and has it shipped to her to eat. It is just sinful. Velvety, creamy texture with flavors that just dance on your tongue. Fresh, wholesome, REAL ingredients that you can pronounce. The quality shines through and through. The awesome people at Graeter's said they'd send me some of their homemade, hand-packed, small batch French pot process ice cream to review. I felt a little silly having them ship me their ice cream (on dry ice which isn't cheap, mind you!) when there's a scoop shop just down the road from my house but they insisted. And who am I to turn down FREE ICE CREAM? No, not me. Thank you! Believe me when I say I tried to secure some to giveaway to you, too. Unfortunately, they're not doing giveaways at this time :(. So live vicariously through me for now and enjoy the "food porn". Once you've realized you can't take it anymore (oh...say in a couple photos from now...) and simply must have your own Graeter's ice cream to eat, consider stopping by your local scoop shop, grocer (they're not available nationally!), or order online to enjoy this irresistible treat! Visit their website for more details on where to find it. The ice cream arrived by UPS Next Afternoon Air packed in a nice Graeter's brand styrofoam cooler with dried ice. No worries about the ice cream melting even in the record hot summer heat. Opening the cooler was literal Christmas in July. I didn't know what amazing flavors would be sent to me or how many. This is what greeted me: Hellooo four pints of amazingness! A chip assortment: Mocha chocolate chip, Mint chocolate chip, Vanilla chocolate chip, and Black rapsberry chocolate chip. For those unfamiliar with Graeter's ice cream, their signature flavor is their Black Raspberry Chip, which was included in my shipment. And when they say "chip", they mean "CHUNK"! Don't be surprised when you find literal whole pieces of rich, dark chocolate candy bar in your scoop. Sometimes, it seems almost as if someone added some ice cream to your chocolate ;). Oh and the best part? Somehow they manage to keep the chunks the perfect texture/hardness. It's easy to scoop and melts oh-so-silkily in your mouth but the ice cream is still nice and hard. How do they do that?? Graeter's does not skimp on quantity or quality here and I was excited to try all these different "chip" flavors that they're so famous for! Oh yeah! THAT's the stuff. Check out those chunks! To be honest, my husband and I actually had not tried most of the flavors they sent us so it was a nice change from the norm. Here's what we thought about each flavor: Vanilla Chocolate Chip: We decided to start with the most basic flavor that was sent to us. You can always judge the quality of a good ice cream by their vanilla because there's nothing else to hide or mask it. As is the case with all Graeter's ice cream bases, this was really rich and creamy. Divine, really. All their ice cream use real cream free of artificial growth hormones. The strong vanilla flavor, made from Madagascar vanilla beans, was authentic and the bittersweet chocolate chunks were very plentiful and the "right size" according to my husband. This flavor didn't disappoint! Black Raspberry Chip: THIS is the stuff that dreams are made of. Who can resist the beautiful (and natural!) vibrant color of this gorgeous ice cream? But just wait until you have a bite...sensory overload! Smooth fruity black raspberry flavor made from hand-picked Oregon black raspberries is complemented by the bittersweet of the chocolate. With just one taste, you'll understand why this is their signature flavor. And with each additional bite, you'll fall in love over and over again. Mocha Chocolate Chip: Neither Chris nor I are much of coffee people but we found this to be pretty enjoyable and coffee lovers I'm sure would go ga-ga. Keeping with using only the highest quality ingredients, they use 100% real Arabica coffee beans. It's like a creamy, chocolate flavored iced coffee and of course, filled with Graeter's famous chocolate chips...no, chunks. Mint Chocolate Chip: We chose to save this flavor for last because mint always seems to have a way of transferring itself to other flavors and we didn't want to taint the rest of our tasting experience. Unlike most mint chocolate chip ice cream, Graeter's mint chocolate chip is white, not artificially colored green. It used to be green but in an effort to make the ice cream 100% natural, the food coloring was removed. I have friends that swear it's not as minty anymore (let's face it, visual cues are huge and we do eat first with our eyes!) but I found the amount of mint to be just right. Plus, I appreciate Graeter's taking out unnecessary ingredients so the good stuff can really shine! So there you have it folks, our review of four different popular Graeter's ice cream flavors. Did you make it through reading this far or have you already run off to get your own scoops or pints? My other favorite flavors when I visit the scoop shop? Besides Black Cherry, which we already discussed, I can also highly recommend Elena's Blueberry Pie and Cookies and Cream. I didn't realize it until now but I guess I'm an ice cream purist and actually prefer the non-chip flavors! My husband, the peanut butter-aholic, almost always gets the Buckeye Blitz. That's not to say that he won't ask for the occasional free sample taste spoon of the Peanut Butter Chip (surprise, surprise) or Cookie Dough justtt in case he changes his mind ;). I'm curious, Which flavor of Graeter's ice cream is your favorite or would you most like to try? PS: If you are fortunate enough to have a Graeter's nearby, you can stop in and get a single dip of your favorite premium ice cream in a sugar cone for just $1.42 today in celebration of 142 years of Graeter's and National Ice Cream Day. What a deal! And yes....my husband and I are totally stopping by to take advantage of this offering despite the fact that Graeter's already stocked our home freezer with 4 pints. Gotta get my Black Cherry and he his Buckeye Blitz! There's a reason why their slogan is "Irresistible since 1870". They really are just that irresistible! Disclosure - This blog is a personal blog written and edited by Christine @ Christine's Kitchen Chronicles. The owner(s) of this blog was compensated with free products to provide an opinion on the products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.

I'm still here. And I have a great reason for not posting lately. But I think some pictures will explain that the best...so here goes and we can make a game of it: There are mountains and ice in this place. Sunsets always beautiful but this one was absolutely breathtaking... An iceberg...know where in the world I went, yet? How about somewhere with penguins? Are you my twin? Yes, I was in ANTARCTICA. And it was simply AMAZING. Every single thing that I saw was so beautiful and awe inspiring that I literally had sensory overload. One of my favorite memories was having a baby penguin come right up to me and stand in between my legs on a windy day as if it was seeking shelter and I was its mommy. I also saw the most gorgeous sunset of my life. The last photo is me designating that it is the 6th continent that I have visited (the only one left for me is Africa which was originally planned for last year before the Egyptian riots spoiled my plans). But, now I've been home for a few weeks and I realized that between my new job and vacation, I've severely neglected my blog. So today I'm sharing with you a recipe that has been circulating the blogosphere awhile ago and I made it in roughly the same time period. When I dusted it off for posting my mouth started watering. It was quite possibly one of the most flavorful pieces of meat I have ever eaten and it was so easy to make. I served mine over rice but I've seen some people making tacos out of them, too. The flavor gets even better in the event that you have leftovers...but like that would happen! Ha! Korean Style Short Ribs Ingredients 1 c. soy sauce 1 c. packed light brown sugar 4 T. sesame oil 3 T. red wine vinegar 2 T. fresh ginger, minced 6 cloves garlic, minced 1/2 c. water 1 t. red pepper 1 t. ground ginger 1 t. black pepper 2 1/2 pounds beef short ribs (I went with boneless) 2 green onions, sliced Directions Mix the soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, vinegar, fresh ginger, garlic, and water in the crockpot, stirring until well incorporated. Sprinkle in the red pepper, ground ginger, and black pepper. Mix well. Place the ribs in the crockpot and spoon sauce over top of ribs. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Remove ribs from crockpot and serve over rice. Top with green onions. Source: As seen on and adapted by Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks from What's Cooking Chicago

Chef Christine Doherty Kondra will offer her expert advice at the new shop.

With my husband, two boys, and one dog, I had been Living Small in London, comfortably and happily in our 1,500-square-foot modern townhouse for over a dec

With my husband, two boys, and one dog, I had been Living Small in London, comfortably and happily in our 1,500-square-foot modern townhouse for over a dec