Things I need recommendations on:

1. Reusable shopping bags of decent quality - no stretching at the seams after a reasonable load of groceries. Quality tends to decline in bag companies after the first few years, so brands that were excellent five years ago are probably crap now. They need to be able to go over the shoulder and fold up into a pouch so I can go into stores with overzealous security guards.

2. Card holders for playing cards. My mother's dexterity is not as bad as right after chemo or the stroke, but she's getting older. It would be useful to get something now so we can all continue to play Rummy 500 together.

3. Dice trays. Eva is sure to get less enthusiastically clumsy with her dice, but as I recall it took me a while so.... She's game to using the lid, but not if the lid is pretty small.

PSA

chocolateboxcomm is open and accepting nominations now. Also, marthawells has written a Murderbot prequel and it's here at Wired.

Beef stew for dinner tonight!

I'd better post this quick-quick-quick. Tomatoes or no tomatoes? That is the question.

Poll #20928 Beef stew

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 80

View Respondents

With tomatoes or not?

View Answers

Yes, of course!
32 (40.0%)

No, of course not!
19 (23.8%)

Whichever you prefer
27 (33.8%)

Ew, stew
2 (2.5%)

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Before the cut, I have a link to an ongoing Three Sentence Ficathon. Enjoy!

( Not too many links because of the aforementioned need to get into the kitchen )

*thought*

When speaking of Jews, we say in English that any particular person keeps or doesn't keep kosher. Do we use the same verb when speaking of Muslims, having to do with whether or not they only eat halal foods? (And why do we use "keep" in this context at all? We don't say people keep vegetarian or keep organic, we say they are vegetarian or they eat vegetarian, organic, etc.)