It was that time of year again. We have a small friend whose birthday comes around right before New Year's, and we have a standing commitment to create his birthday cake. This occasion is always an opportunity to toss out modest tastes in favor of more child-appealing straight-up sweet sugar and ambitious ideas. Last year it was a medieval castle cake, complete with knight, torches and a sprayed-on moat.

This year, however, called for something slightly more grown-up... More

Many of you are here for medicine; you are partaking in The Cure on one (or more!) of our sister sites. And for those of you in Deep Treatment, part of your assignment this week is to cook at home three times. You've come to the right place.

If this idea scares you, we can help. Start slowly. Read these tips and watch for a Fall Cure Menu later today.

• Start small. Try eggs - fried, scrambled, or poached. An egg with a side of pasta (also easy!) can be a surprisingly comforting and sophisticated meal. More

Here's a question for all of you, especially those of you who are avidly following the Smallest Coolest Kitchen contest. Reader Tanya needs some help with her tiny studio kitchen:

Hi! I'm hoping some of the creative types at apartmenttherapy can help me out. What you can see in this kitchen is the kitchen in my studio apartment, and my attempts thus far to make it work. I love to cook, so this 20 sq ft kitchen is pretty tragic for me. I took the pic standing in the doorway of the kitchen, and touching the fridge on the left is the door to the bathroom. More

Spring cleaning season is here and AT:Chicago shared a new way way to get going: we're casing our apartments for the Simple-but-Never-Gets-Done Fix. Of course, we're starting in the kitchen.

We lived with a paper towel dispenser left over from the previous tenant for years. A bent metal contraption, it was hard to change the roll and it didn't always spin. It was a little inconvenience, but it sure was irritating.

We installed this Simple Human paper towel holder ($24.99, SimpleHuman.com or Bed Bath and Beyond) and oh what a difference. It works better, looks better, and should last longer, even if it did cost more than other paper towel holders. It is a little detail in a little kitchen that's makes us happy. The snazzy new holder's firm grip also reminds us to use less.

Do you have some little, inexpensive kitchen problem you can fix this weekend? More

What if you just erased Fruit Cake from your collective memory of Christmases past?

Enter: pickling.

With several well-known pickle outlets around the city, and hipsters at Murray's Cheese and the Greenmarket snapping up jars of unusual flavors like Rick's Picks' Windy City Wasabean and Phat Beets, pickling is the new black. But despite their trendier-than-thou packing and friendly, easy-going service, it's just not as fun to buy some other guy's pickle, especially at $9 - $11 per jar.

It's easier than you may think to pickle. For holiday gifts, you should start now. So let's begin together. Post your questions on The Pickle Project threads you will see in the next few days, and send us an email.

Here are a few recipes to get you started: