Yes and no, Alisande. Today, to be trained or educated above the norm, you must have at least a bachelor's degree. When I graduated from high school in 1959, a surprisingly small percentage of the adult population of the United States had a high school diploma. Back then, less than 10% of the US population had a bachelor's degree. (Was it 2%? Can't remember.) Today, the percentage of adults with a college degree is much higher. So much higher, in fact, that it is the norm in many areas, and so to be exceptionally prepared, a graduate degree is required to move into that upper percentage. However, I have taught high school and seen my kids through school and I can tell you that the information age has had its impact. Kids today are learning things in upper elementary school that I had not learned till high school. High schoolers today are studying coursework that I did not study until I was in college. What we do have going on in this nation is an influx of students enrolling in college who were at the fiftieth percentile or lower in their high schools. That is new at the university level as more and more students determine to earn a degree. Universities welcome English Language Learners and special education students like never before. As a nation, we believe in self determination for our students and their career goals. In many other countries, students are placed in educational programs for careers that the system selected for them. That selection process involves the student's achievement scores, and once put on a career track, that is it. A desire to have their own career choice is another reason we have so many high school and college students come to the United States to go to school. They want to select their own careers and not have them imposed upon them. Sorry to be so wordy.

Mine longtime kitchen obsession has been vintage cookware from the 50s or older. I have a lot of Guardian Service cookware. I love that the stuff is practically bombproof. At the thrift store the other day I found an ancient but still perfectly workable Presto 4 qt pressure cooker. The hammered texture on the lid caught my eye. It has beautiful wood handles too. I love that I can still get gaskets and overpressure plugs for it which I did because while the ones it had were serviceable they looked a little old. I also found a manual for it. Using some common sense and some internet research, it's incredibly easy to use. Since then I have experimented with making a few dishes in it. French onion soup is awesome in it and beans come out creamy textured. Presoaking gets better results though if in a hurry I can start from dry. Seasonings get right into the beans instead of staying in the broth. I am looking for a big oldie so i can use it at the next chili cook-off!

Our last house was built in 1955 and had 2 bathrooms originally. The main bath was partially remodeled in 1985 - and badly done. I'm not sure about the basement bath since the basement had been gutted before we bought the house. We gutted the main floor bath before we moved in in 2009 and later added the basement bathroom back in 2011. Our current house was built in 1979 by the previous owners, who are good friends of ours. The house had 2 full baths, two 3/4 baths and a ridiculously small and unused powder room. We ended up eliminating the powder room in the kitchen remodel and I DON'T regret it. The other bathrooms were untouched over the years except for replacing the wall to wall carpet with tile. We had a leaky shower in one of the basement 3/4 baths so we are taking care of that right now. It involved replacing the whole shower. Four bathrooms are going to take a lot of time and money to upgrade so it will be a process!

Since I have a food blog, I end up with a bunch of food challenges. I'm planning on making a Greek-influenced scallop pastry dish tomorrow. It will be tricky as I want the puff pastry to be a bit brown without overcooking the scallops. We Shall See. The next dish is a bean-based dish - and for that challenge I plan to make a vegetarian grain-free stuffed pepper dish, using black beans and a Mexican profile of seasonings. Now that Misfits has sent me baby bell peppers, I may even try to add in this idea as an appetizer. To be made by Friday, although I won't blog it this month. But for the blog - I'm doing Greek recipe-wise for it all this month. While last week I didn't post anything remotely challenging, the real challenges will be some of my favorites, none of which I've made before: spanakopita (spinach pie in phyllo) and that Greek lemon, egg, chicken, orzo soup, aka avgolemono. Moussaka, eventually. I really LOVE Greek cuisine, even if I can't stand their "wine" or the honey/nut based desserts. By April, I do want to challenge myself to make cheese at home.