i learned a very important lesson in bachelorhood today: baking soda mixed with water produces a suprisingly powerful cleaning agent. wow. i mean, seriously, i am impressed. i was going to just clean my [thoroughly stained] stove top, but after realizing its sheer power, i ended up cleaning just about every surface in my kitchen!

big thanks to my lovely coworker, beth - an experienced mother - who gave me the tip. my kitchen is sparkling like it was on the day i moved in.