Breaking News

Columns

Perfect your cornbread technique

Dear Heloise: When fixing cornbread for your dressing, cook the batter in a skillet (nonstick works well), like you would do with pancakes. You get more brown, chewy pieces. (I discovered this because our oven doesn’t work.) -- Ed G., Dallas GIFT-GIVING Dear Heloise: We are a family of 14 with me, my husband, three married children, and six grandchildren. That’s a lot of gift-buying each year, so several years ago during the late fall, my daughter and son-in-law came up to our lake home for a weekend visit. I asked her to contact her two brothers and tell them not to buy the two of ...

Cold weather has arrived

Cold weather has arrived in our neck of the woods, the intense type of chill that hurts your face when you step outside. The mere act of going outdoors feels like being slapped. I grew up in the shadow of the Cold War wherein we worried about being turned into human French fries by Russian nukes. A more immediate concern was our War on Cold, which took place from October through April and involved worrying about becoming human Popsicles. Warm clothing is our frontline defense in the War on Cold. This means layering up, starting with undergarments. As cold weather arrived when I was ...

Christmas shopping has changed since ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’

In “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” the best TV show of all time, Charlie is frustrated in his effort to find the true meaning of Christmas. Spoiler alert. In the end he does. But before then, Lucy tells him, “Look Charlie, let’s face it. We all know that Christmas is a big commercial racket.” In a hushed voice she says, “It’s run by a big Eastern syndicate, you know.” Lucy didn’t even know about Amazon. Regardless, the gifts borne by the three kings at the first Christmas started something. Gift giving remains part of how we celebrate Jesus’ humble birth. I ...

Christmastime is here

My wife and I recently took in our local parade of lights followed later that evening by watching a televised broadcast of “Rudolf The Red-Nosed Reindeer.” This means that it is now officially Christmastime. We had fortunate weather for the parade, with light winds and temperatures in the mid-30s. Just a few days earlier the mercury had plummeted to the single digits with a howling wind that drove the windchill to well below zero. Better to be lucky than to be good. Scores of kids turned out to watch the parade from the curb, calling out to Santa as he floated by on a float. ...

Dear Annie: I live with bipolar disorder, which I was first diagnosed with in the early 1990s. My husband and I got together after my diagnosis, and he has been my biggest support through everything -- navigating different providers, raising my children (not his) who also had their challenges and helping me stay stable. There have been tough times when I felt guilty for the toll my illness has taken on him. He didn’t sign up for this life, yet he’s had to watch me struggle through hospitalizations, legal troubles during severe psychotic episodes and multiple diagnoses before we ...

Are these items microwavable?

Dear Heloise: Is good-quality pottery microwavable? How does one determine if plates and cooking items are microwavable? -- D.P., in San Antonio D.P., most microwaveable bowls and dishes will say on the bottom whether they can be microwaved. You might see three or four small wavy lines on the bottom indicating that it is microwave-safe. The wavy lines are often on plastic containers that are safe to use in a microwave oven. If you aren’t sure, there is a test you can perform to see if the item is microwave-safe. Place it and a cup of water in the microwave, then heat for 1 minute. ...