Saved By the Scissors

No nonsense is my approach. If something doesn't work, just cut it off. Well, admittedly that doesn't work for everything, but for food storage lids it was slick.

These glass dishes with the side snap lids were the hottest item several years ago. I bought a set for my elderly mother. When they were new, the lids popped on and off easily. After a few years, even I could not make them fasten. The side flaps were a total nuisance, filling the cupboard and crowding the fridge.

Scissors were the tool for this one of the Things I get to do today: quick, easy, no nonsense.

Old Smokey

You know I have this fire thing.  Sometimes I wish I didn't.  Like when I put the pot of plums and onions on to simmer into lovely chutney while I chat with my daughter who lives in another town three hours away.  Well into the conversation I can smell it.  Fortunately, the only real fire is the gas flame of the kitchen stove.

Steel wool on the working end of the stick

The char was only 1/4" thick.  Another pot in the cupboard can be used to finish simmering the chutney while I set to scrubbing, chipping, clawing out the char. Amazing what Things I get to do today that were never on the list.

Black specks that I'm after don't show up in this shot.
 This portrait is for the "big stick."
Leverage is the kitchen tip here.  Makes all the difference.

Only "cinders" gripped the bottom of the pot and refused to come off.  Steel wool pads (the soapy, sticky kind) seemed to be the solution.  Hands and fingers that had been canning all day just didn't seem to be able to put enough grit behind the effort.  So I grabbed a big stick and muscled the black remnants of the careless smoking off the bottom of the pot, Teddy Roosevelt style.

Pack Your Parachute

Skydiving is well beyond the scope of this blog and blog writer.  A good figure of speech, however, must not be left unturned, so pack your parachute--since you'll be coming down soon, plan in advance for a soft and safe landing.

Not magazine-photo perfect,
but certainly ready for service.

All this mumbo-jumbo about being prepared came to me this morning after breakfast.  I didn't really want to clean up the kitchen, so I had a little chat with myself to take my mind off my "troubles" while I watched my hands tidy up and began wondering whether or not it made any difference for me in my day--this having the kitchen straightened up and wiped clean. Was I just OCD? That's when the parachute came floating down.

Here's what I saw:  busy day, lots of projects, needing a rest, wanting to eat something to restore my body. And it hit me.  Having a clean kitchen when my body was really tired and hungry meant that it would be so much easier to prepare some food for myself.  While I watched my hands wipe off the stove, another picture came forward:  tired body at the end of the day wanting an eagerly inviting place to rest for the night.  Having my bed made so that it beckoned me with love and comfort seemed so much better than tossing the mess of laundry off the foot of the bed and falling into the jumble of sheets and covers.

So there you have it.  Handy Andy's take on preparedness for the body.  I'll do it first thing before I launch into all the Things I get to do today and my body gets too weary to focus.  I'll pack my parachute when I'm clear and rested, because I know I'll be grateful as I'm coming down for a soft and safe landing.

A Plank of Salmon

I'm a sucker for salmon.  There was a sale on at New Seasons last week, so, of course, I went in to buy some.  Told the man at the counter "three generous servings, please."  He took me at my word--half pound for each person!

We could eat it; that wasn't the problem.  What loomed up was how would I cook it on the stove top? If we keep it all in one piece, it's way over the rim of my largest frying pan.  But the cupboard contains a two-burner griddle--long and narrow--the same shape as the fish fillet.  Butter, salt, pepper, dill and lemon--saliva flows in eagerness for the first bite.

Dinner knives holding the foil down and steam in

Steam is my ally is creating tender fish--done but not over-cooked.  No lid in the kitchen would fit the griddle.  Aluminum foil is certainly the answer to that question.  In order to eat dinner, the very next of the Things I get to do today is discover how to secure the edges so the steam can stay "home" and do its job. Several attempts at crimping it all around the griddle were futile.  But weights to hold the foil close to the pan were perfect--a fist-full of dinner knives from the flatware drawer, and we were in business.


Note to self:  next time leave out the word "generous" when asking for a cut of something.

Nested or Perched

We all like storage space in the kitchen.  Haven't met anyone who has too much, though the workmen when we remodeled a number of years ago were certain I would be the one.  When I cleaned out the kitchen cupboards awhile back, it seemed smart to sort everything, donate stuff I didn't use, and make sense of what was put back which would give me more space.

Unruly serving bowls.  Nesting is not their thing

What I found was that some newly-acquired, already much-loved serving bowls were little trouble makers in the cupboard because they were not compliant nesters.  Who knew nesting was a necessary quality in the kitchen.  Turning the unwilling-to-nest into cooperatively organized dishes now stacks up on the Things I get to do today.

They are all very happy to perch

I'm a great believer in turning parts of my world upside down.  Here's a safe but terrific place to start.  Kitchen tip: to stack identical bowls, place one top-down on the shelf and perch the second one on its flat bottom.  Too simple to qualify for a "tip?"  Well, my sweet, cluck-cluck hens enjoyed hearing about it. And it prevents chipped edges on the lower bowl when taking the top one in or out of the cupboard.

Cold Plates, Warm Plates

A heap of scrambled eggs on a cold plate--probably stays warm about half the time it takes to walk from the kitchen counter to the dining table.  Not very long.

Presenting the solution to the problem of having cold eggs for breakfast is one of the Things I get to do today.  We eat eggs for breakfast two or three days a week.  The house is just beginning to get warm as we sit down to the table.  Dishes in the cupboard stay cold for even longer.

Here's an easy process that can mean your warm breakfast will stay that way until you are handed the second page of the comics.  This works for scrambled or fried eggs.  You have to heat the pan a bit before you put the eggs in, right?  Well then, set both of the plates like a lid on the pan as soon as it goes on the stove so the plates can be gathering the extra warmth that swoops up around the edge of the pan from the burner.  By the time the pan is hot, the plates will have most of the ice melted.

Cooked eggs in the pan will be served on these warm plates

Here's the finishing guarantee for warm plates: as soon as the eggs are done, set the pan on one of the plates and use the other as a lid while you collect the last items for the breakfast table: coffee, toast, fruit, etc.




When you pile those yummy yellows from your fluffy feathered chickens onto the plate, its warmth will cuddle them until nearly your last bite, unless, of course, you are one of those who neglect the gifts of the hens to do the daily crossword puzzle first.  In that case, you won't notice you had eggs for breakfast, and you won't know why you even read this blog.