Alright. It’s hopeless. I’m in a domestic mood and can’t bear to write about politics or policy right now. I surfed around for hours yesterday looking for something juicy, but I kept getting hung up on the pretty girlie stuff.

I’m about to lose all my male readers. Oh well. Here are some girlie things that I found yesterday.

I got started at the New York Times article about how celebrities are expanding their world domination by starting lifestyle brands. There’s Gwyenth Paltrow’s Goop, of course — a silly, silly, tone deaf website and newsletter that I love to hate. (It’s losing money. shhhhhh.) The article mentioned other celebrity brands, including Blake Lively’s Preserve. I’m not exactly sure who Blake Lively is, but I loved the photographs on her website.

And I’ve been cooking a ton lately. I’ve had to move some of my CSA vegetables onto a shelf in the garage, because the damn squash take up too much real estate in my kitchen.

Squash is good. But it’s a pain to cut up. I love Martha’s short cut to cooking spaghetti squash. You don’t even cut it in half. Just piece it with a fork and throw it in the oven for an hour. When it’s done and cooled a bit, then you cut in half and take a fork to the flesh. It’s pretty much fool proof.

I’m not really a fan of treating spaghetti squash as a pasta. It’s a vegetable, dammit, so dumping tomato sauce and a meatball on top  is time consuming and kills the taste.

Last week, I took the shredded squash and sautéed it with butter, parmesan cheese and a bunch of fresh herbs that were still growing in my garden. Here’s another Martha recipe.

This week, I’ve made brussels sprouts, too. (Roast ’em with lots of salt.) Braised chicken and turnips. (Cook with white wine, chicken broth, and honey.) Pork and mashed potatoes. Tonight is a leftover night.

So, this past week has been a lot of cooking and cleaning. I’m rubbing lotion into my cracked hands. I’ve also been going to a lot of local school functions, too. I think that giving back should start locally. And that’s an important part of modern lifestyle.