One of my favorite traveling companions is my friend Liz, who is one of those people with the amazing ability to instantly make friends wherever she goes and is always full of fascinating stories about her adventures. After taking a couple trips with her, I suddenly realized how she does it, and since then have made her habit my personal travel philosophy. It's simple: she always says yes.

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Q: I'm getting to the age where standing at the counter making dinner for very long starts to give me lower back pain. My doctor recommended getting a restaurant floor mat or gel mat. Do these really work? Can anyone recommend a good one?

Sent by Joyce

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Although I mentioned that I always have three essentials in my road trip snack stash, I do appreciate a real meal now and again. Sure, peanut butter and jelly is easy enough, but when you want something more satisfying, think of packing some  heartier food in canning jars. With mason jar meals, you can eat all the things! ALL THE THINGS! (Insert evil laughter here!)

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I recently moved into a new apartment, and my head is spinning with everything I want to do to make the space my own. I'm especially focused on the kitchen, and plan on painting the room in the next couple of weeks. But while picking a color might seem like the main focus, choosing the right paint finish is equally important, especially when you're dealing with a high-traffic, high-grime place like the kitchen. If you're looking to paint your kitchen, the best paint finish choice is...

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Grilled asparagus is a beautiful thing. Watching those slender spears roll through the grates when you try to pick them up is not. Aki and Alex over on Ideas in Food have apparently experienced the same frustration, and I love their simple and elegant solution.

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I know, bringing a knife on vacation sounds a bit precarious, especially when facing an airport security line. However, if you're traveling by car or can check a bag at the airport, bringing one or two of your favorite, sharpened knives could save you from major cooking frustration later on.

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I ate my first kouign amann from the palm of my hand at a farmers market in Oakland almost two years ago, and I will never in all my life forget the taste of those first buttery, caramelized, incredibly flakey morsels. I dream of traveling to Brittany to try a kouign amann straight from the source. Then again, now that I know that making them at home is not only doable, but just as buttery and flakey as anything coming from a bakery, I may not need to. Kouign amann? At home? I'm not kidding. Here's how you, too, can have a fresh batch of kouign amann cooling on your counter right now.

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By now, we’ve all been guilty of doing it. It’s one of the fastest epidemics that not even scientists can explain. Anthropologists and historians hundreds of years from now will find landfills of objects once known as a DSLR camera, lenses, hard drives and memory cards. To their surprise, they will discover that their ancestors and predecessors have been taking pictures, tons of pictures... of food?!  

Shooting food has become one of the fastest growing hobbies for hundreds of thousands of people internationally and many have made the successful leap into the professional side of it. Naturally, everyone wants to get better at it too. 

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Ok, I'm going to be frank: there is really nothing quite so uncomfortable and embarrassing — for you and the people around you — as having digestion issues when you're on a plane. You can pop a Gas-X, but I hate those chalky, chewable tablets. This is why I was really intrigued to hear of another remedy: bitters!

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Q: My boyfriend’s cottage has the sweetest vintage stove I’ve ever seen. The only problem is that the oven is limited to two settings: high and off. The only way to regulate the temperature is by opening the door until the oven cools down, and then closing it until it gets too hot again. 

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