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...]

  My go-to breakfast recently has been a thin slice of country ham on a potato roll slider bun with some melon on the side. Country ham, I’ve found, has a lot less calories than bacon or a slab of sausage, so I can eat that breakfast, get my meat and protein fix and still lose weight. Not every grocery store stocks country ham for slicing, but I had stopped at the Food Lion Deli in … [Read more...]

  I was picking up a few last-minute items from Food Lion in Ruckersville and saw an end-counter display of marinades. I am always looking for good marinades and one caught my eye – it was a Sweet Apple Marinade made by Taste of Inspirations. Sweet apple? That sealed the deal. I was having a pork tenderloin cooked on the grill and apples and pork go together like Robinson and … [Read more...]