The decanter is cute but it is a very bad way to store oil if you don't use it quickly, especially in warm weather and doubly so right next to the stove like that. A little bit of oil in a large clear bottle is going to oxidize very quickly, and oxidization means rancidity. Air, light, and warmth are enemies of all food oils. Rancid oils not only taste downright wretched, but are unhealthy to consume. IMO only the amount of oil that you're going to use within a couple of weeks should be stored at room temperature in such a way that it will be exposed to air and light. Food oils should be stored in the dark (or in a dark bottle), at cool temperatures (the refrigerator is ideal), and with a minimum of air space in the bottle. I use mainly grapeseed oil when a recipe calls for "vegetable oil" or "salad oil". I prefer grapeseed for general use because I think it just tastes better and has a nicer texture than other neutral oils like canola and safflower, and it's cheaper than apricot kernel or avocado. Although the unit price is higher I purchase smaller containers so I have a fresher supply - it's not a good value if half the jug goes rancid - since we do not use a great deal of oil in cooking, an average meal for the two of us might use two tablespoons of oil assuming we're not splurging on something like pesto! I absolutely loathe olives too, but we do use quite a bit of olive oil - many olive oils on the market taste nothing at all like olives, thank goodness. Look for the ones labeled "extra light"; that term has nothing to do with calories, it's a description of its color and flavor. Even some of the extra virgin olive oils we've tried don't taste like olives, they have very different flavors ranging from buttery to peppery. A couple of the fancy-pants food stores around me have olive oil tastings from time to time and that's a good way to try different ones out. (Never buy "pomace" olive oil. It's not fit for human food IMO and doesn't even really make particularly good soap.) Cold-pressed or expeller-pressed oils are the way to go whenever possible; the solvents and high-heat processing used to produce cheap oils break down the oil and are not good for you to consume as well as just plain trashing the flavor. We also like to use some of the many unrefined vegetable oils out there because they taste so good, but they must be stored carefully (refrigerator) and the shelf life is still comparatively short. Unrefined corn oil is one of our favorites, sweet and buttery, and especially good for baking. I think I have five or six different oils in the fridge now, because they all taste distinctly different. Spectrum is one of my favorite brands for a wide range of good quality oils and is comparatively easy to find. I find clouding and thickening under refrigeration to be a minor problem and primarily an issue with heavier-bodied and unfiltered unrefined oils like higher-end olive oils. The oil still pours, albeit more slowly, and it cooks just the same. If I'm making a salad dressing or something like that and need the oil completely liquid right this moment, I pour it into a small bowl and set that into a larger bowl of very hot tap water. I never leave the entire bottle out to warm up, but rather pour out what I need and return the rest to the fridge. When I want a butter flavor for sauteeing fish or veggies, I use half butter and half a neutral oil to improve the smoke point of the butter (since I'm too lazy to make clarified butter), and toss in some broth or wine to assist further cooking and boost flavor without using a ton of fat. I almost never cook savory foods with plain water, except for boiling pasta - why throw away that opportunity to augment flavors? We don't use up butter very quickly (DH has gotten me spoiled on Kerrygold butter from Ireland which comes in a half-pound block instead of the usual 1/4-pound sticks, but it can take us weeks to go through a block!) so it does turn in warm weather if left at room temperature. I won't have margarine in my house though, foul stuff... there are two things DH and I will not give up no matter what, we'll rearrange other dietary components to accomodate them but real butter and real mayonnaise are sacrosanct. Oh, here's a trick if your butter is rock-hard and you need it to soften to a malleable texture quickly without risking melting (as often happens if you try to soften it in the microwave or the oven)... grate it on the coarse holes of a hand grater and spread it out on a plate. Set the plate in a warm, but not hot, place. oakleyok, what the heck is "Crisco lard"? Crisco does not manufacture lard (meaning rendered pork fat, and lemmetellya it is dang hard to find unhydrogenated lard!). Do you mean solid vegetable shortening?

Well here's the board on the wall. The actual picture is about 1/2" shorter on top and 1/2" wider on the sides. It's close enough as I'm pretty darn sleepy right now. :) I'll admit I really like this picture but don't like it enough for it to be the centerpiece for that main wall. Do you think whatever goes on that wall should be larger? Or two pics stacked? I'm not sure what I should be looking for size wise on that wall. Here's the foyer and the above the LR table. All of these are hung at 60" in the middle. Please note I do plan on painting all the outlets. Just didn't get to it yet.

Appliances Forum - I went a 36" Gagg induction - I cook a lot and I love the hob layout and the knob control. The knob is easy to keep clean and I feel easier to manipulate when I have several pots on the stove. Look to see if there is timer/ shut off feature for which ever induction you choose - that is an awesome feature - you can set it and walk away and not worry about spillovers.

If you have problems with an iphone, you can go on line and learn a lot from their tutorials. For me to use it just for web browsing it is not a big deal. If you buy a $ 900.00 unit, it is overkill for the purpose of doing basic stuff, there are cheaper ways . I use an old desktop with window 7 pro and a couple of programs for uses like Gardenweb and other progams, got a nice 24" screen to go along with. When friends show nice pictures of their efforts it show up nice with my set-up. For me it does your pictures no justice to watch it on a dinky screen, Forgive me for being such a lousy pita.