Removing Baby Oil Stains

by Liz Heather in

Look, I'm half Trinidadian. I have always had baby oil around every house I've lived in and I intend to keep having it around until I perish. Why? I don't know, you find uses for it. It softens up your hair and is less damaging than hot oil treatments, it's great for back rubs, it's amazing for at-home pedicure baths and it's beautiful when integrated in intimate moments, IT DOES IT ALL. Okay? 

And sometimes, it fucks up your fabrics. And apparently no dry cleaner can be bothered with getting an oil stain out. How is that possible when IT'S THEIR JOB? You got me. It's a mystery.

Anyhow, I just bought something new and after one day of wearing it, I got baby oil on it. I looked to the ends of the internet-earth, tried out a few different methods of removing the stain and now I'm here to tell you EXACTLY how to get that stain out if you ever need to.

  1. To remove oil stains from cotton fabric, rub cornstarch over the stain.
  2. Let it sit for 20 minutes and then get an old toothbrush to brush around on the stain until the cornstarch is really ensconced in the fabric.
  3. Go to a sink and wet the area a bit with hot water, then add some dishwashing liquid and rub it onto it with your fingers.
  4. Let that sit for 10-15 minutes and then use hot water and wash off the dishwashing liquid and cornstarch in the sink. I swear to God, when you're washing it off you can FEEL the baby oil coming out of the fabric. It's weird.
  5. Let it dry or you can blow dry it if you're impatient. 
  6. If a stain still appears, repeat the whole process. 

I know that seems like a lot to do, but it works so well. I did this whole thing three times and the stain was completely gone.

 

Machine Feeds Stray Dogs In Exchange For Recycled Bottles

by Liz Heather in

There are 150,000 stray cats and dogs in Istanbul. Does that seem nuts? I don't think it should 'cause I have always felt like every place that isn't North America has a crazy problem with stray dogs especially. I'm mostly talking about practically every island in the Caribbean - since each time I would go on vacation with my family around that area when I was a kid, I made at least ten dog friends per trip. It was the best. Anyway, it's a huge problem and most places don't really give too much of a fuck about it 'cause typically speaking, there are much larger issues. 

There's a really neat device (created by the Turkish company Pugedon) that aims to increase recycling while providing food and water to stray dogs. Check it out.

“The device encourages passersby to recycle and look at our animal co-inhabitants with different eyes. The principle of the machine is very simple – it has containers for water (you can pour the remaining water from your bottle before recycling it) and for dog food. A fixed ratio of kibbles is dispensed when a bottle is recycled. The project is independent from the government and covers the cost of the food with the recycled bottles.”

That's wicked! Love this idea.

by Liz Heather in

“If you compliment someone (who isn’t present) to another person, please remember it and either text it to or call that person you just complimented. So many unheard compliments are just flying all around us. Catch them! Give them to their owners!”
— #lizadvice

Mini Rum-Raisin Bread Puddings

by Liz Heather in ,

Almost all of the words in this recipe title sound bad... no wait, they actually all sound terrible (who the hell wants a mini-anything - give me the full size, please). The reason that I wanted to make this recipe, however, was because of two factors.

  1. I don't own an oven in my home, so when I'm visiting my parents I like to bake as much as I can so I can get it out of my system for awhile.
  2. My dad loves rum-raisin anything.

As it turns out, I ate three of these BECAUSE THEY WERE DELICIOUS. I don't know if it's because I've become a less picky eater or if it's just because I'm constantly hungry, but lately there's nothing I wouldn't try, food-wise.

What it's supposed to look like

What it actually looked like (minus the pecans, I forgot to put them on)

Does my version look gross? Maybe in comparison to the sexy one beside her, but I swear to God it tasted amazing. If you have anyone in your life who likes rum-raisin, they'll love this to pieces. I swear. I'm not even a fan of bread pudding and I'm still standing by this dish because it was delicious. (I really wish bread pudding had a better name. It's really the worst name for a dessert in the history of food.)

You can find the recipe here. I implore you to try it out.