Thursday, March 27, 2008

The Wonders of Salt

I am feeling completely unoriginal today, so I am passing an excerpt from an interesting article by Rachel Keller that I was reading earlier. For the complete article, click here.

31 Interesting Uses for Salt:
--A pinch of salt on top of citrus fruits brings out the fruit's crisp taste immediately.
--Place freshly peeled fruit in a salt water bath to prevent the fruit from browning.
--Try a dash of salt in warm milk for a relaxing beverage.
--A pinch of salt also improves the flavor of cocoa.
--Add a pinch of salt to coffee grounds before brewing. The salt enhances the true coffee flavor by removing some of the acid taste.
--Sea salt tends to make lettuce and other vegetables crisper.
--Wash spinach and other greens more easily by rinsing in salted water. Not only does the salt draw out the dirt, but it also kills any little critters that might be in your fresh organic lettuce or greens.
--To preserve milk or cream, add a pinch of salt to it. You can also add a pinch of salt to milk before freezing it.
--Do you have problems peeling the shells off hard boiled eggs? Try boiling the eggs in salted water. The salt water also helps a cracked egg stay in the shell while boiling.
--To test freshness in eggs, place an egg in a cup of water and add a couple teaspoons of table salt. A fresh egg will sink; a spoiled egg will float.
--Add a pinch of salt to cheese before placing in plastic wrap to prevent mold on cheese.
--A dash of salt in gelatin will help it set faster.
--Does something smell fishy? Dip a lemon wedge in salt and rub the item (hands, cutting board, counter, etc.) and rinse with water.
--If you drop a raw egg on the floor, pour salt on it and leave it for 20 minutes to make the cleanup easier.
--Did you burn something in the stove or oven? Salt can eliminate that burned food odor.
--Throw salt on fresh spills in your still-hot oven to aid the cleaning process when the oven is cool.
--Burned milk stains are very difficult to remove. Salt can make the job much easier. Wet the burned pan and sprinkle with salt. Wait about 10 minutes, then scrub the pan.
--Remove coffee or tea stains from cups by rubbing them with kosher salt.
--Salt is great for removing lipstick from glassware.
--You can even use table salt to remove stains in vases. Either rub the stain with salt or soak it in a strong salt solution.
--Add boiling water and three tablespoons salt to a casserole dish with stubborn, baked-on food in a casserole dish,. Let the dish stand until the water cools; then wash it as usual.
--Salt makes copper shiny. First, sprinkle the tarnished bottoms with salt. Then scour the stains away with a cloth dampened with vinegar. Rinse the pan, and wash as usual.
--Regularly pour hot, strongly salted water down the kitchen sink to remove odors.
--Hot salt water also prevents grease build up in sinks.
--Clean greasy iron pans by sprinkling about a teaspoon of salt in the pan. Wipe the pan out, and then wash as usual.
--Prevent grease splatters that can burn you or make a mess of your kitchen by adding a few dashes of salt to the pan before frying foods.
--If you have a grease fire, toss salt on it. (Never put water on a grease fire which can make the grease splatter and the fire spread.)
--Kneading or rolling dough can make a mess on counters. Sprinkle your countertop with salt, and neatly wipe away everything with a sponge.
--Mix half a cup of salt and baking soda to a gallon of water to wash away stains and odors inside your refrigerator.
--Cook food faster by adding a little salt to boiling water.
--Adding a pinch of salt to your cream or egg whites makes them whip more easily and faster and higher

Wow...I learned a lot with that, did you?
Photo credit: Swiped from American Feast Blog

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Perspective

I am sick of gas prices. Here the prices are around $3.10 per gallon. I don't know anyone who is not complaining about gas prices. It is not practical for me to ride a bike, as is the case with most people I know. Although we have discussed getting a hybrid, I really hate to have a car payment now that we have been without one for almost 2 years!

However, yesterday I was slapped in the face with a bit of perspective on the situation. At work, we have some technicians in house to set up some equipment from Germany. They, like the equipment, are also German. They informed us yesterday at lunch that gas in Germany is approximately 10 euros/liter which is about $7.00/liter. Since there are almost 4 liters in a gallon, that is about $26.53/gallon. Wow.

Monday, February 18, 2008

A Tip for You College Kids

I learned in college that I was brilliant.

Being brought up in a family that never had all of the newest stuff (but never lacked anything important), I have always had a bit of a frugal mindset. Even when I went to college and was on my own for the first time, I didn’t really have a problem blowing money, because my parents had taught me how to be responsible with it. I was SHOCKED though the first trip I made to the bookstore. What was this? My calculus book* costs $120.00 USED?!?! Why?!

Of course I always purchased used books (unless forced to do otherwise), but I had a plan when reselling (this is where the brilliant part comes in). I would keep my books at the end of the semester instead of immediately reselling them. Then at the beginning of the next, I would scout the bookstores during “peak” book season (you know…the first day of class after everyone has gotten a syllabus and needs to get the books). I would go to the aisle of the book that I wanted to sell and find someone eye-balling that book. Having the book in my bookbag outside the store (we were required to check them at the door), I would sell it to them and we’d both make off like bandits! For example: A chemistry book costs $80 used. However, after I used it and tried to sell it back to the store, they would only give me $25 for it and then resell it for $80 again. That’s how they make money. However, if I sell it to the person in the aisle for $50 or $60…we both win! Don’t be obvious of course, as I doubt the store would appreciate you doing this. =) It worked like a charm, as I typically then had a lot of money to put toward the books that I then needed to buy for my classes.

So there is my “brilliant” advice for starving college students.

*By the way…that calculus book took me through 5 calculus classes, so it was really a bargain in the end.

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Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Being a Mom

I received this in an email and would give proper credit to it if I knew who wrote it. If anyone knows who the original author is, please let me know. Otherwise, just enjoy:

Motherhood

Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this?

Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, "What time is it?"

I'm a satellite guide to answer, "What number is the Disney Channel?"

I'm a car to order, "Right around 5:30, please."

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going, she's gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England. Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotels where she stayed. Quietly, Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, "I brought you this." It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe. I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription:
"To Charlotte, with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees."

In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover, what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work:

* No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names.
* These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished.
* They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.
* The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, "Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it." And the workman replied, "Because God sees."

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, "I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does. No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've ever baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but, right now, you can't see what it will become."

The humility of motherhood is the cure for my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride. I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on.

The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, "My mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table."

That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add, "You're gonna love it there."

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of these humble women.


If you are visiting via the May 5th, 2008 edition of Carnival of Family Life over at All Rileyed Up, I want to welcome you to look around and make yourself at home.