Do you remember what it was like to buy something?  No, I'm not talking about filling up the tank at your local gas station or going out and buying some other commodity, rather I'm talking about the important buying decisions (such as buying a new car, a new stove, a few cases of wine, etc.).  I threw the cases of wine into the example just to make sure you were paying attention (note I do take wine shopping seriously)!  What was common about buying stuff before the web came around was that, in most cases, you asked the opinion of a family member or neighbor before handing over your hard earned money.  Purchase factors like reliability, value, customer service, subjective experience with the product, etc. all play important roles in buying products and who better to tell you about how a product performs than a trusted friend or family member (can Amazon or Wal-Mart do this?).

(photo: via the Italian Farmer's Table, rye bread)

(photo: Jackie the Lawyer from Seinfeld)

I spent my undergraduate days studying philosophy, linguistics, and psychology and, as I've told many close friends (and anyone else who wants to listen), Philosophy provides an excellent academic and pragmatic (yes I mean practical) foundation for countless careers and professions.  One profession that is closely associated with studying philosophy as an undergrad is Law.  Philosophy provides excellent training for prospective attorneys given rigorous course work in logic, notoriously difficult text, and training in constructing and presenting cohesive arguments.  However, the necessary training in order to practice law (viz., law school) is not for everyone. 

Law school (at the top tier academic intuitions) is intense and not for every student (certainly not for the student who can't think of anything else to do with his or her life and figures becoming a lawyer sounds like a good idea).

What follows below is the best advice I've read on whether one should go to law school.  Specifically, the advice comes from Professor Nick Smith at the University of New Hampshire.  Nick holds a J.D. and before becoming a full time Philosophy Professor he worked as an attorney at a prestigious Manhattan law firm.  Nick's advice is brutally honest and a must read for any Junior or Senior undergrad considering law school.

Here's a goodie from the Scordo.com archive and a recently highlighted post in the What's New Newsletter (sign up if you haven't done so already):

While flipping through TV channels on a lazy Sunday afternoon I came across an old episode of the classic TV series, "Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home"  The series was tapped in Julia's kitchen in Cambridge and while Julia was clearly passed her prime the interplay between the two food stars is sincere and straightforward (Jacques wants to do things the classic way and Julia calls for butter instead of oil or onion instead of scallion, for example).






A recent episode focused on salads and, specifically, Julia Childs and Jacque Pepin made a terrific Tuna Nicoise Salad; featuring fresh grilled tuna or tuna packed in olive oil, boiled potatoes, string beans, boiled eggs, tomatoes, Boston lettuce, capers, and anchovy.  The salad looked so good I decided to have a go at making the dish for a late lunch this weekend.  And while I didn't have fresh Tuna laying around the house I always keep 3-4 cans of tuna packed in olive oil in our pantry (here's my list of Italian products to keep in your pantry at all times) so one ingredient was present!  Our fridge also included some green beans, fresh farm eggs, olives, a red onion, and, yes, some chick pea soup!  The chick pea soup was used to make a rustic hummus with lots of lemon juice, some tahini paste, and plenty of salt and pepper (I used a morter and pestle as opposed to the Cuisinart, which I didn't want to clean). Here's my classic hummus recipe.   The green beans were quickly steamed and then moved to a bowl of ice water to preserve the color and stop the cooking process.  Thereafter, I tossed the beans with a simple lemon juice/Dijon vinaigrette (see my recipe here).  The hard boiled eggs were made via the Bittman way, including placing the eggs in a pot with water and letting them come to a boil (and thereafter turning off the gas and letting the eggs sit for 9 minutes).  Finally, I included some green olives flavored with fennel.

We enjoyed the salad with a fresh baguette and a bottle of $9.99 Torre Dei Gesuiti from Puglia (basically Italian Zinfandel) purchased at Total Wine (a chain wine shop with some decent inventory). There's no proper way to assemble the salad, just make sure all items are seasoned well (kosher salt, black pepper, and dried oregano) .

(photo: Creminelli owner Cristiano with his artisan salami)

(photo: closeup of a close friend: Sardine Scordo - notice his great eyes and skin))

(photo: I sliced up four different types of Columbus Artisan product for a Thanksgiving appetizer) 

(photo: I think the packaging on the Creminelli product is top notch!)

(photo: Creminelli exterior)


(photo: starting from upper right clockwise: Creminelli Piccante, Sopressata, and Cacciatore)

(Photo: Creminelli product)

(photo: Columbus Artisan Cacciatore)

(photo: my young uncle washing his hands in an outdoor fountain in Bagnara, Calabra - Village of Pellegrina)

One of the most important life skills you can teach your child is how to save or, more specifically, why it's important to save.   My parents would often bring me to the bank as a small child and I observed my mother writing and cashing checks, depositing money, etc.  By the time I was 7 or 8 my parents told me about a little blue passbook they had opened for me when I was born.  The passbook (or savings account) contained some regular deposits and a healthy amount of money.  I had no sense of the value of the account or what the cash really represented, but I do remember my parents telling me:

1. This is where you will (not can) save any money you come across (birthday, holiday, etc.).

2. Once you put money into the little blue book you really do not want to take it out.

3. The bank will give you some money in return for keeping a little blue book full of money.

The lesson above was very simplistic; namely, that saving is good and should be taken seriously.  Beyond setting up a savings account for me, my parents also exposed me to their financial goings-on from a very early age (I knew for example how much my father made via his paycheck, what our tenants would pay in rent each month, and how much my dad would collect for small handy-man type projects).  My parents hid nothing about our financial life or status, so I was "in the know" from a very early age.  Some experts have argued, especially in light of the recent recession, that parents should aim to shelter financial goings on from their kids given stress, anxiety, etc.  And while every parents should customize parental advice for his or her child (read: understand what type of child you have and adjust parents style), I believe in empowering children and raising smart, pragmatic, kids who will be ready to face the world!

So, when beginning your child's fiscal eduction you want to make sure you do the following:

1. Set up a savings account and describe what it is meant for and how you make regular deposits.

2. Expose your child to every inch of your family's financial life (in a sense treat the child as an adult and describe how much money the family makes <and the different sources of money>, what the family does with money, and what money can and cannot provide).

Start the personal finance discussion slowly and make it as easy to digest as possible.  That is to say, talk about saving money and not interest rates or how money is needed for a home, food, and security and not to buy video games, go out to eat, or impress people.  

I know of some families that never discuss money matters and this can be potentially dangerous to a child's personal finance eduction (which isn't taught in schools, unfortunately, and is the responsibility of the parent).  Money is not a dirty word nor should parents treat it as formal topic only open to adults.  The sooner a child feels comfortable dealing with money the quicker he/she can begin to see the value of money what it can and cannot provide an individual (security versus happiness, for example).  

(Photo: that's my mother, grandmother, and aunts leaning on an Oxen in rural Calabria)

As I stated in my guide to renovating your kitchen, splurging on good quality kitchen cabinets is usually a good idea when it comes to redesigning your home kitchen (especially if you're looking to stay in your home for long term).  High quality kitchen cabinets are usually composed of solid wood cabinet faces (e.g., maple), full plywood box construction, dovetail drawers, etc.  Moreover, hiring a quality craftsmen to install your cabinets is always a good idea.  For example, during our kitchen renovation our cabinet installer Brian was meticulous when it came to hanging lower and upper cabinets, preparing for the install of our farmers sink, installing crown molding, and attaching our cabinet latches and pulls.



One of the small details of our kitchen renovation that I had not given much thought to was cabinet hardware.  In fact, the only thought I had when it came to selecting cabinet hardware was to head down to the local hardware store and select a moderately priced set of pulls.  Well, as soon as I got a hold of some the "genuine brass" pulls and latches offered at the neighborhood Ace hardware store I knew they wouldn't work in our new kitchen.  The hardware store components were cheap looking, didn't function well, and were of a low quality design and construction.  That's when I stumbled upon Horton Brasses via a recommendation from the GardenWeb Kitchen Forum.  

Horton Brasses, a Cromwell, Connecticut based hardware company, produces more than 1,000+ pieces of cabinet and furniture pieces, from kitchen cabinet pulls to clock finials!  For our kitchen cabinets, we choose to go with a traditional pantry latch and drawer pull.  



We ordered latches in both polished chrome and antique brass as well as pulls in polished chrome (The pulls and latches are available in seven finished).  The first thing I noticed when I received the hardware was the overall build quality of the pieces.  Each item had a high quality brass finish and the latches, specifically, had a high quality mechanism.  In fact, I had some concern about using pantry latches for our upper cabinets because I heard horror stories about the mechanism failing after prolonged use, but the customer service department at Horton assured me their latches were built to last.  And last they have for well over 3 years now!  Horton's hardware also comes with historically accurate fasteners (screws) that complete the look of the kitchen hardware.  



Where Horton also shines is in the customer service department.  I spoke to Amy at Horton several times via the phone/email about both replacement parts and technical issues and she was a pleasure to work with.  Moreover, when one of the screw heads broke during a latch install because of tough hardwood and applying too much torque, a technician at Horton got on the phone with me and explained what drill bit to use when pre drilling, how to remove a broken screw head, and, generally, how to install the latch mechanism.  The people at Horton went well beyond the typical customer service support call.  What also gets me excited about Horton is how well priced their items are and, moreover, that the items are manufactured by the company in the United States.  Horton isn't a big company, but it's the type of customer experience I had that makes small companies grow and earn an outstanding reputation for both product and customer service.  Building a company is easy when you stick to the basics: great product, fair pricing, and outstanding customer service.
 
If you're looking for high quality kitchen hardware for your next kitchen renovation project check out Horton's bin pulls, pantry latches, and other fine hardware.