I realize I rarely, if ever, actually mention here what it is I do that occupies my time. You know: hobbies, parties, events, major catastrophes. Perhaps I will remedy that, but as warning: it could be boring.

One thing my Sweet Mr. Pencil and I do a lot is cook. I learned a couple of things in the past week that are most likely completely useless to my readers, but here they are:

* We attended a cooking class/meal at Mama Mia Trattoria downtown to benefit Morrison Child & Family Services last week. I learned something new: if you have a gas stove, you can roast red peppers by simply putting them on the burner and turning them every so often. Yikes, slash awesome. I wouldn’t recommend trying this anywhere near a smoke detector, but it’s entertaining and feels rather primitive and generally rad. Our new house has a gas stove, yay.

* If you’re looking for dry active yeast–and who isn’t, I recommend heading over to the Sheridan Market over here on the eastside. There, next to the typical bottle of yeast you see in every grocery store, you will find a vacuum-packed chunk of yeast that is easily five or six times more yeast–for the same amount of money. If you bake a lot, this is win. Plus it feels all restaurant-sized and cool.