I’ve been buying Sam’s Rotisserie Chicken for years. They were one of the first stores to come out with them and keep them rotating on a spit throughout the day, so you felt like they were never old and dried out. Plus, they were about five bucks, the cheapest on the market. This past week I needed a rotisserie chicken for a quick pot pie I was making and didn’t have time to go to Sam’s. I was … [Read more...]

In my eternal battle to lose a few pounds, I have found that if I eat a piece or two of melon after a light breakfast and/or lunch, the sweetness of the fruit helps curb my appetite for more food. Then, I’m good till dinner time. So, I’ve been eating a lot of watermelon, cantaloupe, and honeydew melons and half the time they are not sweet or even ripe. I buy a melon called a Dino Melon from … [Read more...]

  There is a new product beside our kitchen sink. Our friend, Terry Tigner, introduced us to Dawn Powerwash. It makes after dinner clean-ups a thousand times easier. Often, we eat late and sometimes don’t feel like immediately doing the dishes, especially when I have cooked and left pots and pans in a state of greasy disarray. With Dawn Powerwash, simply spray the dishes and pots before … [Read more...]

At least ten times a day, I feel around in my pocket to make sure it’s there. If I don’t detect it, I panic. I simply cannot do without my constant companion, my Leatherman Tool. Since I was 6 years old, I have carried a pocket-knife, but about 40 years ago, I discovered the smallest Leatherman Tool, the Micra size. It takes up practically no room and fits easily into a front pocket. It’s so … [Read more...]

One of my favorite ways to start the day is with a thin slice of country ham on a toasted potato slider roll, but it’s hard to find good country ham at many of the local grocery stores. Kroger’s has none at all. I was in Food Lion recently and happened to stop by their Deli and asked about salt cured country ham. They had some, Hobe’s, a name I was familiar with. Based in North Wilkesboro, NC. … [Read more...]

  When I was a boy and mom cooked fried chicken, my favorite piece was a thigh. Daddy begrudgingly shared one of the thighs with me while my younger sibs went for the legs and breasts. Mom ate whatever was left, usually the back and wings. Today, the best values in the meat department in most any grocery store are chicken thighs. They offer the most meat for the pound and the most flavor … [Read more...]

  All year, I have been feeding my birds C & S Peanut Butter Delight Suet Logs. I have counted over 15 different species that have pecked away, especially catbirds. There is one problem with these bird magnets. They also draw unwanted pests, like mice. I notice a couple behind the back shed, but they just scattered when I approached. Then I noticed as they began showing up … [Read more...]

  Someone asked me recently if I had a Venmo account. They said they no longer used traditional checks and would deposit the money they owed for groceries from their bank into my Venmo account. Venmo? You mean Venom, like snake venom? No, they meant Venmo, a way to accept payment from an individual for anything from splitting a check at a restaurant to buying a used lawnmower. So, … [Read more...]

  Not many husbands give their wives a chainsaw for a birthday present, but I did, and Nancy loves it.  My sweet wife loves to putz around the yard,  sprucing up, weeding,  watering and general maintenance. I would consider that work. She considers it therapy. In her therapy, she is having an on-going war with a certain holly bush in the front yard and a stand of forsythia in the back. … [Read more...]

  I don’t shop often at Harris Teeter. It’s a little out of the way and I find it pricey, but when I do, I look for their Argentine Shrimp. They make the trip worthwhile. Harris Teeter is one of the few stores that regularly stocks Argentine Shrimp. As advertised, these shrimp are wild-caught off the coast of Patagonia, in Argentina. They are also known as Wild Red Shrimp and Patagonian … [Read more...]