Lifestyle

The wedding on that soft April evening in 1911 was the “brilliant event” of the post-lenten season in Lima society, according to the Lima Morning Star and Republican-Gazette.

FICTION

Like last year, I wanted to reach out to friends and family and see what the year has taught us all. After many amazing responses, which I will share here in a few, I started to ask myself what 2022 taught me personally.

Q: My grandmother maintains that her children – my mother and her two siblings, all born in the 1950s – were completely toilet-trained at 18 months. Her terse explanation: “I just gave them proper instruction.” My pediatrician says 18 months is rushing things. What do you think?

A simple pesto sauce adds body and flavor to this soup. Prepared reduced-fat pesto sauce shortens the preparation time.

Instead of licking Cheetos dust off your fingers, you could be sprinkling it on your food.

Here’s a festive dish for this time of year or anytime you want something special. The steak is flambeed with brandy. The alcohol is burned off, leaving the flavor behind. Brandy is a generic name for wine or fermented fruit juice that has been distilled and aged in oak barrels. Cognac and Armagnac, named for the region where the grapes are produced, are considered fine brandies. Use any type of brandy in this recipe. You don’t need to buy a large bottle. You can buy small bottles or splits (1.5 ounces) of different types of brandy in most liquor stores.

Q. My daughter’s father and I broke up about six months ago. I’ve always wanted to be able to both be at all our daughter’s activities, but there is still a lot of tension. I asked him if he couldn’t put all the bad feelings aside and both spend Christmas with our daughter, but he said he wasn’t ready. It made me angry that he was being so selfish, and I told him so, which caused a huge fight on Christmas Day. Everyone was upset. What’s good ex-etiquette?

Enjoying the national parks may be the highlight of summer vacations, but visiting in the winter has its own perks. The crowds are long gone and depending on when you go, you might just feel you have the whole park to yourself.

Dear Answer Angel Ellen: I just lost a gold bracelet that I loved because the clasp somehow came undone. I wear a lot of “good” gold bracelets and I definitely want to avoid these kinds of losses in the future so could you offer some suggestions on how to secure them better to keep this from happening again?