My aunts like to tell me that my mother used to be cool. Huge emphasis on the past tense. She smelled of leather and Doublemint gum and each time she came to visit her younger siblings she carried a new bag. When I was around eight years old, she introduced me to the source of her leather bags at a Coach outlet store in Vermont. The one thing I remember is the moment my olfactory senses burst when smacked in the face with the scent of handbags. My mother liked the pure leather finish and found her bags most exceptional when they hit that perfectly worn sweet spot.

Kitty from the Brooklyn food blog My Husband Hates Veggies is obsessed with getting her husband to eat more vegetables. She's found a winner. Kitty writes: "I am seriously salivating as I sit here writing this post (note to self: post the photographs after you finish writing). ... “Hey Sweetie, what are you in the mood to have for dinner tonight?”, answered by “Oooh, can we have chicken thighs with sesame noodles?” ... one very important detail ... this recipe is a serious veggie fake-out." ~ My Husband Hates Veggies