6 Ways to Clean with Vinegar (Tuesday Tips: Kitchen Edition)

I have always stocked apple cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, and distilled white vinegar in my pantry for cooking. Over the years, I have added several gourmet varieties for use in salads and other recipes. Recently, in my quest to reduce our cleaning product cost as a way of saving money at the grocery store, I have discovered vinegar as a cleaning agent.

The first thing to know is that the variety used for cleaning is distilled white vinegar. Secondly, vinegar should never used on porous surfaces like granite or marble because its acidity can be damaging. Lastly, I can perceive no difference in the taste or performance of apple cider or distilled white vinegar, regardless of price, so I purchase the most economical brand available (usually a house brand). Shop for other vinegars like wines: taste a few in each price range and find out what suits your palate and budget.

Here are a few cleaning-with-vinegar tricks I have tried:

1. Rid your microwave of that awful "burnt popcorn smell": Put 1-2 tablespoons of vinegar in a cup of water and boil for 2-4 minutes. Then leave the microwave door open to air out overnight.

2. Clean your microwave: Use the same method as above, making sure the water boils long enough to steam up the inside of the microwave. Leave the door closed a few minutes to give the steam a chance to loosen any food debris, then wipe it down with a damp cloth.

3. Remove mineral deposits from your tea kettle: Fill your kettle half full of water and add 1/2 cup of distilled white vinegar. Boil for a few minutes, then dump out the water and dry inside the kettle.

4. Clean your coffee maker: Run 2 tablespoons vinegar and a pot of water through a brewing cycle in your coffee maker. Then run clear water through once or twice, until the vinegar smell is gone.

5. Freshen your garbarge disposal: Freeze distilled white vinegar into cubes and run a few through your disposal. The ice will clean the blades and the vinegar will freshen.

6. Another way to clean your garbage disposal: Pour 1/2 cup baking soda into your disposal, followed by 1 cup of vinegar. When the foaming stops, rinse with hot water.

I have found formulas using vinegar for everything from toilet cleaner to weed killer and am dying to try a few. I'll let you know the results!

Disposable Paperbacks (Tuesday Tips: Travel Edition)

We're in the midst of planning a family trip to Europe this summer, complete with a vow renewal ceremony to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. So I've been thinking a lot about how to squeeze a lot of travel into a little suitcase (or at least one that will be easy to carry on a train, store in a ship's stateroom, stuff in the trunk of a taxi, haul up stairs, cram into elevators...).

I really look forward to lots of light (no pun intended) reading on my vacations. The Queen Mary 2 has a huge, beautiful lilbrary, so I'll have plenty of books to choose from while crossing the Atlantic. But what about hotels and trains (and train stations)? Last year I had a brainstorm. Why not take along a few paperbacks from the thrift shop (50 cents apiece)? Once you're done with one, just leave it for someone else to enjoy! So I left one on the train, two in the hotel in NYC, and another on the train back to Virginia.

Library on Queen Mary 2
The shelves all have locking fronts in case they need to "batten down the
 hatches" to keep the books from falling out in rough seas!

The room curves with the shape of the ship's bow.

This year, I think I can top that. In the free bin at the YMCA Thrift Shop, I found three newer novels by popular authors! They didn't have front covers, but who cares? (I know they're not supposed to sell those, since credit for them has probably been claimed from the publisher by the retailer who couldn't sell them for some reason, but as far as I know they are allowed to give them away). So my suitcase will just keep getting lighter and more spacious, and it costs me absolutely nothing to read the entire time!

If the thrift shop or second-hand store doesn't work for you, try asking a friend to save you some as they finish with them. All it takes is a little planning ahead! Or, if it's your style, you could just buy them and still leave behind, but I never buy new paperbacks myself.

Any travel tips you'd like to share?

How Fresh Are My Eggs? (Tuesday Tips: Kitchen Edition)

Once eggs are out of the carton and in the rack on the fridge door, how do we remember how long they've been there? How long do they last once we've purchased them, anyway? I've been thinking about this since I read in one of my vintage cookbooks that a "good egg" will sink and a "bad egg" will float. I wanted to know more...

How to test an egg for freshness

Place an egg in a cup with enough water to cover it completely.

• If the egg sinks to the bottom and lies on its side, it's very fresh.
• If it stands upright on the bottom, it's still safe, but should be eaten soon.
• If it floats, it should be discarded.

(Once an egg is washed, its protective coating has been removed and it should be cooked to prevent contamination). 

The science behind the test

I learned that an egg is porous. Its freshness and shelf life are determined by the amount of air that has entered the shell. So an egg that floats has taken on quite a bit of air and is no longer good to eat.

What, exactly, is wrong with a "bad egg"?

A pasteurized egg stored in your refrigerator should not grow bacteria. But it will lose moisture as it takes on air and dry out, rendering it "the incredible, inedible egg". 

What's going on between "very fresh" and "should be eaten soon"?

Apparently, the freshest egg has a well-shaped and properly placed yolk. So only the freshest eggs should be poached or boiled for deviled eggs, while those that have aged a bit would be better scrambled or mixed into a recipe.

The life cycle of a store-bought egg

According to the USDA, farmers must deliver their eggs to stores within 30 days after they're laid. The grocery store must sell them within 30 days, so this is the date usually marked on the carton as the "SELL BY" date. It is recommended that you use them within five weeks of that date.

So the good news is that our eggs have greater longevity than I thought. The bad news, I guess, is that they could be two months old before we even purchase them!

More posts about eggs: 

Devilishly Delicious - my favorite deviled egg recipes

Egg Yolk Cookie Paint - cookie decorating fun

Easter Eggs - decorating eggs with shrink wrappers

What's your favorite way with eggs?

Fridge Drawer Humidity Levels (Tuesday Tips: Kitchen Edition)

Every year we totally take apart our fridge and freezer, clean the walls, shelves, drawers and gaskets thoroughly, clean the refrigeration coils, fix any lights that are out, inspect for mechanical problems, then put it all back together.

Only I can never remember how to put it all back together. Once I do, I can't figure out how to set the humidity levels in my two produce drawers at the bottom. They have little slide levers for humidity (low to high and everywhere in between).

My owner's manual says HIGH for veggies, LOW for fruits. My search for more information (it just couldn't be that simple, could it?) led me to a better understanding of the settings and how they're used:

High humidity keeps moist air in the drawer. This is the best environment for your leafy greens or anything else that wilts.

Low humidity means drier air for anything that rots, gets slimy, or grows mold. This is the best settting for strawberries and most fruits and vegetables with skins (like cucumbers and apples), along with root vegetables (like carrots).

There's even a little saying to help remember the settings so you don't have to look it up every single time:

"Leaves grow high on a tree, roots down low."

If you only have one "crisper" drawer in your fridge, which may not have a humidity setting and is designed to keep moist air in, use it for your green leafies. You can store your other produce on the fridge shelves, which are in a lower humidity zone.

Here's hoping that I finally understand the workings of the two humidity-controlled drawers at the bottom of my fridge!

10 Uses for the Humble Clothespin (Tuesday Tips: Kitchen Edition)

One of the most useful (and least expensive) items in my kitchen gadget drawer is a little bin of colored plastic clothespins! If you're a a green freak, the wooden ones are great too...

Years ago I bought a pack of 25 from Dollar Tree ($1 compared to $6.99 for 10 Chip Clips at your favorite bed and bath store).

IN THE KITCHEN

1. Close bread and chip bags, cereal bags inside boxes, and opened bags of frozen veggies to keep things fresh without wire annoying twist ties.

2. Hold your cookbook open to your page while you follow your recipe (this also works for sheet music).

3 Clip a few tea bags to a pitcher or teapot to keep the tag ends from falling in. If the vessel is too thick for the pin, just clip it on and use it as a weight instead.

OUTDOORS

4. To keep your tablecoth on, clip the sides together under the table.

5. Pin a stack of napkins together to keep them from blowing away.

FOR KIDS

6. Hang artwork or notes on a string.

7. Let them attach sheets to furniture with clothespins to make a fort.

8. Who doesn't know a craft project or two that uses wooden clothespins?

AND, OF COURSE, FOR LAUNDRY...

9. Pin pleats at the bottom of the hem for easier ironing. Also use mini wooden clothespins from the craft store instead of pins for hemming.

10. Mark a stain (or an area you've pre-treated) on an item of clothing so you won't forget to attend to it when you do laundry.

BONUS

Oh, and you can also use them to hang laundry on a clothesline.






In closing, this is

EITHER THE BEST OR WORST PARENTING/CLOTHESPIN TIP EVER:

"Use a clip to your keys when your child is in a carseat as a fail-safe way to make sure you never forget." - reader comment on another blog

If you read this post, you already know where I stand on this one. All I can say is: If that's what you have to do to keep your kid safe, then please do it!

What's your vote- BEST or WORST?

Cooking Veggies (Tuesday Tips: Kitchen Edition)

Tuesday Tips are back, and we're covering the kitchen - until I run out of material or tire of the topic, whichever comes first.

Covered or Uncovered?

Should you use a lid on the pan when cooking veggies? 

According to one of my vintage community cookbooks, old-fashioned wisdom dictates that any vegetable grown underground (carrots, beets, potatoes...) should be cooked covered.

Veggies that grow above ground (peas, beans, greens...) should remain uncovered. Further research leads me to believe that this helps retain the bright color of your green vegetables (all of which, of course, grow above ground).

Of course, if you're one of those city slickers who's not sure which veggies grow where, this isn't going to be very helpful advice, is it? I once witnessed a "sandwich artist" at Subway stumble over a vegetarian customer's request for a sub with "everything that grows in the ground" -so you might surprised what some people don't know about their food! 

Cold or Boiling Water?

Apparently, those who came (and cooked) before us also knew that the root veggies should start off in cold water, while those grown above ground should be placed in water that is already boiling.

How could I have cooked for thirty years (and read cookbooks and homemaking magazines for longer than that) and not learned that? 

Do you have a veggie-cooking tip to share?

Tuesday Tips: Too Salty?

I'm a salt addict! When I was younger, I would shake salt on my food until you could actually see the crystals. Nothing was (or is)ever too salty for me! I've improved a bit, but still need to reduce the amount of sodium in my diet due to water retention issues. 

Salt Alternatives (it's a real stretch, if you ask me...) 

(Based on an article from the January 2011 issue of Prevention magazine. I've paraphrased their suggestions and added my own comments in italics.)

Vinegar and lemon juice have the same ability as salt to bring out the flavors of ingredients, while adding an extra twist. The acidity of tomatoes also enhances flavors. Maybe, but not quite like salt...  

Onions and garlic are the quintessential flavor boosters. True, but it's still better with salt.

Herbs and spices jazz up bland food, while adding few (if any) calories. This can be as simple as grinding a bit of fresh black pepper or as fancy as chopping fresh cilantro or basil. Salt would kick it up another notch, though.

Peppers and pepper sauces add heat and give the tongue something to do besides search for salt. But when my tongue searches for salt, it expects to find some.

I'm sorry, but in my mind, "salt alternative" is a paradox. Those two words are mutually exclusive: there is no alternative to salt- not a good one anyway! But I'll keep trying...

Types of Salt

(also according to Prevention magazine)

When you do use salt, you should know that the three main types- table salt, sea salt and kosher salt- all contain nearly the same amount of sodium per ounce, according to Prevention magazine. A few characteristics follow:

Table salt: 

• refined
• treated to prevent clumping
• often iodized
• least expensive

Sea salt:

• flavor depends on body of water it's from
• often milder than table salt
• usually sold in flakes rather than grains
• can be very expensive compared to table salt

Kosher salt:

• larger crystals
• less processed than table salt
• costs just a bit more than table salt, so is an inexpensive alternative to sea salt

If you have a favorite salt alternative, or if you're a salt addict like me, tell me about it. If, like my husband, you don't give a hoot about salt, I don't really want to hear from you this time!

Tuesday Tips: Rules for Children in the Home, circa 1951

I'm still browsing this booklet from 1951, only this time, I found something I really like!

I think that, unlike last week's antiquated laundry tips, this list is exactly what we should be teaching our children about respect for others: 

Children in the Home

"Always greet the members of your family when you enter and always bid them goodbye when you leave.

Always rise to a standing position when visitors enter, and greet them after your elders.

Never interrupt a conversation. Wait until the party talking has finished.

Always rise when your visitor or your elders stand.

Never let your mother or your father bring you a chair or get one themselves. Wait on them instead of being waited on.

If  you leave or cross the room you should say "Excuse me."

If a visitor should say, "I am glad to have seen you," you should say, "Thank you."

Never run up and down the stairs or across the room.

Talk in a low, even voice. It denotes refinement.

Never retire without bidding the members of your family good night.

Follow these suggestions and you will assist in making the members of your family happy as well as in benefiting them in many other ways."

I think this list, even though it's over 60 years old, it still relevant. To update it to the 21st century, I would only add:

Never bring your phone, ipod or ipad to a family meal or gathering. Use this time to engage in meaningful conversation with those around you.

Can I get a "hell, yeah" or an "amen" (whichever is more your style) to that? 

Tuesday Tips: You'll Never Hear Me Complain About the Laundry Again

I collect vintage cookbooks and such, so I brought this one home from my father-in-law's house some time ago. Although I often feel I'd have fit in better with the wives and mothers of the "good old days", most of the 1,001 tips on the crumbly, yellowed pages of this little spiral-bound book from 1951 make me grateful for today's conveniences.

Choice tips from the Laundry chapter include:

Clothes do not freeze on a wire clothesline if first wiped with kerosene cloth. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

To keep handkerchiefs, socks or other small pieces from wrapping around the washing machine wringers, fold them inside towel and run through. Wringers? Handkerchiefs? I wish I could say I was too young to remember those... 

To keep your fingers warm when hanging clothes on winter wash days, put a hot water bottle in the clothespin bag. I guess we would've had to wear dirty clothes all winter! (I'm glad my Mom didn't feel that way!)

When making starch, while it is still hot, drop into it a piece of alum about the size of a pea, and stir until it is dissolved. This will prevent the starch sticking to the irons. Ironing is bad enough, but making your own starch???

Writing about ironing reminds me of a sewing student story:
In one of my classes, there was a mother/daughter pair. When it was time to press our pattern tissue flat prior to pinning it to the fabric, I asked the little girl (around 10 years old) if she had learned how to iron yet. She said, "We don't have an iron".  Now, sometimes I wish I didn't own an iron, but how could you not own an iron?


Another ironing story:
My friend Rob, recently separated, had moved in temporarily with our mutual friend, Richard, a confirmed bachelor. Rob calls Richard at work to ask where the iron is. Richard says, "I've never used it, but Nana gave me one last Christmas. It's on the top shelf of the guestroom closet." Rob pulls down the box with the picture of the iron on the front, opens it up, and pulls out a bunch of dish towels. 

Tuesday Tips: Estimating Measurements & Portion Sizes

Measuring with things you might have in your bag

Since I sew, and always seem to be measuring something, I tend to carry a  small retractable tape measure around with me in my purse, but in case you don't:

Checkbook length = 6 inches

$1 bill = approximately 2.5 inches x 6 inches (2.61 x 6.14)

Sheet of paper = 8.5 inches  x 11 inches (if you don't have this, you can probably visualize it)Business envelope = 4-1/8 inches x 9 3/8 inches

Business card = 3.5 inches x 2 inches

A quarter = almost an inch in diameter (.955)

Measuring with things you always have with you

Approximately 1 inch =  from the top knuckle on your thumb to your thumb tip
Approximately 4 inches = the width of your hand across the bottom knuckles (not including your thumb)
Approximately 1 yard = from the tip of your nose to the bent fingers of your outstretched arm
Approximately 1 meter = from the tip of your nose to the fingertips of your outstretched arm and hand

Estimating portion sizes for cooking or healthy eating using recognizable items

1 teaspoon = 1 die (I looked it up, the singular for dice is indeed die...)
2 tablespoons = ping pong or golf ball
1/4 cup = 1 large egg
1/2 cup = full cupcake wrapper
1 cup = fist or tennis ball
1 ounce cheese = pair of dice
3 ounces meat, fish or poultry = deck of cards or cassette tape
3 ounce fish filet = checkbook
And my personal favorite and most used estimate:
4 ounces (1 serving) dry spaghetti = the diameter of a quarter (look at it from the end of the bundle of strands) But who only eats that much spaghetti???????????????
I hope these references help you as much as they help me!

Sorry about the formatting of this post- it's driving me crazy! I'll try to fix it again later...

Tuesday Tips: Hidden Sources of MSG

MSG

We know MSG (monosodium glutamate) as a chemical additive used to add flavor to processed and packaged foods. It helps make cheap, less nutritious food taste good- really good! In fact, studies have shown that it also stimulates the appetite, causing us to eat even more unhealthy food. Many of us try to avoid it because it gives us headaches. Others experience bloating and other adverse or allergic reactions and symptoms.

MSG Should Be Easy to Avoid- Just Read the Label, Right?

I thought I was doing the right thing for my family by trying not to buy foods with MSG, since my husband gets headaches and I think it sometimes makes me feel a bit lethargic. And, of course, we should all be looking at reducing the amount of chemicals we ingest. I'm not fanatical about things like this, but I've done my best to choose foods without MSG on the ingredients list. Well, guess what? I learned that even foods with "No MSG" printed on the label can contain MSG derivatives or related chemicals.

MSG by Any Other Name...

Two of the most natural- and innocent-sounding relatives of MSG are yeast extract and plant protein extract. We're all taught to look for ingredients we can pronounce and identify. While I don't know exactly what these compounds are, I do know what the individual words mean: yeast, extract, plant and protein, so I thought those ingredients were OK.  I was always, however, a bit suspicious of some bouillon cubes and powders which proudly denounced MSG, but contained autolyzed yeast or hydrolyzed vegetable protein. Neither autolyzed nor hydrolyzed is in my vocabulary, so I was curious. I looked them up, and found long lists of MSG aliases:

• Healthy-Eating-Support.org: Other Names for MSG
• Hidden Sources of MSG on Food Ingredient Labels
• TruthInLabeling.org offers a comprehensive list and points out that the food industry defines MSG as "naturally occurring", which means only that it starts out in nature (so does arsenic...). So "natural" does not necessarily mean an ingredient is safe or good for you.

If this post about hidden MSG surprises you, or makes you wonder what's in your packaged and processed foods, try googling mechanically separated chicken!

Tuesday Tips: How to Cut Brownies

Tonight Mabzie and I - OK, mostly Mabzie- baked brownies (I posted my favorite brownie recipe here) and gingerbread bars for our quilt guild picnic tomorrow evening.

I used to cut my brownies with a metal knife, rushing things, as I tend to do, by cutting them as soon as possible after removing them from the oven. Then someone told me to try cutting them with a plastic knife while still warm, but not hot. So I tried letting them cool a bit (a test of my patience) and using one of the little serrated plastic knives like you use at a picnic, or at McDonald's. Guess what? Not only did the brownies look better, but this method eliminated the problem of scratches on my brownie pan. Since then, I have discovered that the hard plastic spatula that came with my mini food chopper works even better! Another common suggestion for easier and neater brownie cutting is using a pizza cutter. I tried that and found it difficult to get the round blade into the edges of the pan.

You'll also notice that I like to cut the edges off because I think they look better on a platter that way. Plus, Mabz loves the edges and eats them right out of the pan!

Other great tips are available around the web:

• Amy of The Finer Things in Life shows a comparison between the metal knife and plastic knife methods. 
• Taste of Home offers troubleshooting tips for brownie baking and more, so much more that there's...
• page 2 of Baking Better Brownies, which includes readers' tips and links to recipes.
• About.com's All About Brownies offers some unique serving suggestions.
• Land O' Lakes Dessert Bar Tips include how to cut brownies into cute diamond shapes.

Here are our treats all wrapped up and ready to go:

The pink you see showing through is polka dot tissue paper. Instead of having seasonal platters, I use this cookie plate, which has a Christmas design etched on the back, all year long! I just change it up with tissue paper, doilies, fabric, or whatever makes it work for the occasion, and nobody knows the difference. Well, I guess they will now... Come to think of it, fabric would've been more appropriate for this picnic, wouldn't it? 

Tuesday Tips: How to Get a Human Customer Service Agent on the Phone

I believe it's a fundamental responsibility of every company to answer their phone! But since they never do, the consumer is faced with trying to figure out how to reach a real, live, human person with whom to discuss the customer service issue of the moment. Some companies make it difficult for us to even find their phone numbers. Ironically, among the most difficult are the communications companies!

I've Got Your Number

Several websites are dedicated to helping us find the phone numbers we need and circumvent these frustrating systems that keep us pressing buttons with no results until we just give up:

• GetHuman.com
• DialaHuman.com
• Get2Human.com
• WhatIs.com's "Talk to a Real Person Cheatsheet"
• ContactHelp.com

While I haven't used any of these myself, they are consistently mentioned in books and articles on the subject, and they sound worth a try.

Is Anybody Home?

If all else fails, you might be able to confuse the system into thinking you are unable to jump through its hoops for one reason or another. I have successfully used all of the following tactics:

• Press "0" repeatedly. This might possibly get you an operator, but don't hold your breath.
• Press every button on the phone, in no particular order. This also could confuse the system and get you an operator. Again, don't hold your breath. 
• Don't say anything or press any buttons. The evil system might think you are using a rotary phone (if anyone but my father-in-law still has one), or don't understand what to do. 
• Speak gibberish. If it can't understand what you want, it might transfer you. I have also read that if you talk to it in Spanish, you stand a chance of being transferred to a bi-lingual operator. 
• Select the "set up new service" or "speak to a sales representative" option. They tend to pay more attention to a potential new customer than an existing, disgruntled one.
• Select the "cancel service" option or say "retention department". If the company has a retention department, it's where you'll find agents trained specifically to keep you from withdrawing your business. If you are lucky enough to get one of them on the line, they are usually among the most experienced, pleasant and professional agents, and are authorized to do whatever it takes (within reason) to resolve your problem. 
• And my personal favorite: If all else fails, curse! I once lost my temper while pressing buttons and accidentally let loose a long stream of obscenities. I was immediately transferred to a very helpful agent who solved my problem promptly and politely. Honest! Since then, this trick has worked for me on several other occasions. I think the automated systems are actually programmed to recognize certain words. Please understand that I am not advocating the use of abusive language when talking to a real person, but if it helps you get one to talk to, I don't see the harm. One source also thought that mentioning the name of a competitor might be helpful, since it's possible that the computer is trained to pick up on your background conversations.

Later on, maybe we can discuss how to get results once you have finally reached a real, live customer service agent. But for now, I hope this helps!

ClipArt from Designed to a T

Tuesday Tips: Sweet & Sticky

Sweet Ideas: 

• 10 Ways to Soften Brown Sugar
• Or, if you don't have any, you can make your own light brown sugar by mixing one tablespoon of molasses into one cup of granulated sugar. For dark brown sugar, use two tablespoons of molasses. Joy the Baker shows that this actually works! 
• How does a Brown Sugar Body Scrub sound? Here's how to make your own. 
• Add three tablespoons of sugar to each quart of water in your vase to make your cut flowers last longer! 

 Sticky Situations:

• To remove sticky stuff from your iron's soleplate, try ironing over a used dryer sheet using your lowest setting. This works great for residue from accidentally ironing plastic bags, fusible web or interfacing used in sewing, or plastic buttons (not that I would ever do any of those things). I imagine it would work on almost any melty thing you might get into! 
• 25 Ways to Remove Sticky Adhesive. Our family favorite is #22, Goo Gone. We prefer the gel formula. I have even used it to remove adhesive stickers from vintage paper cook-booklets with minimal damage. Just be patient and let the chemical do it's job before trying to peel the sticker off!

Sweet & Sticky:

If your honey has turned into a solid, unspoonable chunk in its container, you can safely decrystallize it using this method. Now, I know people (I'm not saying who...) who heat it in the microwave on medium power for maybe 15-30 seconds at a time, watching very carefully that's it's not getting too hot, but the experts seem to think the hot water method is best.

Photo credit: WPClipArt.com