The heavenly scent of rich tomato sauce greeted me as I unlocked the door to my apartment building on a recent evening. Must be the downstairs neighbors cooking something awesome again, I thought as I climbed the stairs. But then I realized the tantalizing smell was coming from my kitchen. Oh, yeah — the Crock Pot! Dinner was ready, and I hadn’t even taken my coat off yet.... Read more

Let’s face it: It’s possible to spend beaucoup bucks on beauty products. Still, regular self-care is key to keeping stress levels low under duress — and belt-tightening times don’t have to signal an end to periodic pampering. Long before the advent of mass-produced soaps, creams and gels — even before sooty oil lamps produced kohl to ink Cleopatra’s peepers — people were making their own materials to smell and feel pretty.... Read more

Time can be tracked and overscheduled, but even the most sophisticated PDA calendar, iPhone or watch can’t slow its steady passage — here today, gone tomorrow. Regardless of whether 2008 brought your lucky day in the form of a personal or political victory, the year is officially history come December 31. New Year’s Eve revelers sift through the good stuff from the past 365 sun-ups — and clear the slate for the future — at one of three family-friendly First Night celebrations across the state.... Read more

Some would call raisins the ghosts of grapes. High in antioxidants, they’re a healthful snack. Haunting the shelf long after other staples are gone, they’re also useful for making desserts when you’ve got nothing else around.... Read more

I’m an adult who never outgrew the dress-up box. But where does cutting-edge fashion come from, if not playful experiments? Hoping an actual costume closet would yield wackier finds than my thrift-store runs, I headed up the hill.... Read more

Large-print books have an obvious function. But if you’ve ever purchased a little pamphlet containing handmade art or poetry from the “Glad-i-ator” in Montpelier’s Langdon Street Café, you’ve felt the pull of pocket-sized aesthetic joys. Formal presses and fine artists can attest to the charms of small type. In the history of print, miniature books are a mighty force with a devoted following of creators, collectors and cataloguers.... Read more

Ever since the days when I cooked by plastic-housewife proxy in the kitchen of my well-loved ranch-style dollhouse, I’ve been fascinated with tiny food. Seriously, what’s cuter than a lattice-topped cherry pie “baked” into a bottle-cap tin?... Read more

Heads up, recreational skaters — roller derby has come full circle. The all-women contact sport originated as a tough-girl activity decades ago, but since 2000, roller derby has undergone a grassroots revival. Something about in-your-face females unafraid of blood and bruises strikes a popular chord among fans and players alike, and independent, self-managed teams now number more than 50 nationwide. The Green Mountain Derby Dames have brought Burlington into the boisterous fold.... Read more

If OK Go were a hip-hop group, they might have chosen this morning’s scene as the backdrop for another indie-viral music video à la “Here It Goes Again.” Instead of fancy treadmills, the vibrantly carpeted ballroom held nearly a hundred young women spread over a temporary dance floor. But everyone was super-enthusiastic and the energy was infectious. When I walked in, the intermediate-level session was just finishing. A gaggle of dancers crowded around the teacher for autographs, and the rest scattered to grab sips of water before the next lesson.... Read more

The turkey was titanic: a 28-pounder, the largest I’d ever cooked. After brining it, lifting it out, drying it off, stuffing it, trussing it, and sticking it in the oven, I thought I was done wrestling with mammoth poultry. But I’d miscalculated the number of meat-eaters at our Thanksgiving meal: A projected 25 guests had dwindled to nine, and six were vegetarians. After dinner, I hauled the leftover meat into cold storage. Over the next few days, I moved heavy pots of mashed potatoes, tried to empty the brining container solo, and made about 16 quarts of turkey soup.... Read more