More in the Paper

Things I read in the paper yesterday when I wasn't blogging:

• On common steps you can take to alleviate/ameliorate allergies in children (like sticking the stuffed critters in the dryer for 20 minutes to kill dust mites; I've heard the freezer works too!)
• But whatever you do, don't Google those allergy symptoms or attempt to diagnose your own kids, as described in this touchingly neurotic (and familiar) guest post on Motherlode.
• I like the "Cooking with Dexter" series and the recent installment includes a recipe for Cuban beans! It also calls to question the myth of perfection in baking. I agree--people baked for hundreds of years without exact level measurements. Certainly I can turn out decent, even good, muffins (like I did this morning, adding 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon to the batter, as well as making a 1/4 cup sugar-1/4 teaspoon cinnamon topping), cakes, cookies, without having exactly a cup of sugar or flour. In fact, I read recently that standard measuring spoons and cups sold in stores differ up to 25%. So "exact" and "perfect" are only illusions. Besides, most of our European counterparts would say that we should measure weight not volume if we really want to be precise!