Late at Night while you’re sleeping, poison ivy comes a creeping all around-ound-ound-ound. Poison ivy, Lawd, will make you itch.   Thanks, Coasters, for that classic song reminding us of the evils of poison ivy, a plant so vile as to send shivers up the spines of those who are extremely allergic – like half of my family. Fortunately, when I accidently bump into the noxious plant, … [Read more...]

Anytime I’m at a fair or a carnival, the first thing I do is check out the stands with Corn Dogs. I ate my first one at the West Virginia State Fair in August 1955 and I’ve been hooked ever since. The sweet cornbread crust, the juicy hot dog inside and slathered in mustard? I could eat a half dozen. Recently, at Aldi’s - where I practically camp out these days - I saw a package of Bremer Corn … [Read more...]

I usually start a few plants for my garden indoors and from seeds, even though I have better luck with mature plants from a quality greenhouse. But I am going to try spaghetti squash this year which you usually don’t see in pots, and I bought some seeds. I also generally use plain old potting mix for my base, but I saw an interesting product at Lowe’s – Jiffy Seed Starting Mix. What caught my … [Read more...]

Mostly, we’ve avoided a brutal winter, but there have been a few frosty mornings with ice clinging to the windshield at 8:30 am. That means turning the car on early and get out the ice scraper - unless you have a can of Johnsen’s De-Icer handy. This stuff is amazing. Nancy bought a can early this winter and uses it every frosty morning. You just spray the windshield, and the frost disappears. … [Read more...]

A friend - knowing I spend much of my time tinkering around in the kitchen - gave me a bag of Hefty Half-Gallon Storage Slider bags as a Christmas stocking stuffer. The bags are terrific, first because they are a unique size. Often, I get out a gallon Zip-Lock that’s way too big but the closest size to what I need. These half-gallon sizes are perfect for things like a leftover meat loaf, half of a … [Read more...]

I saw some really nice looking cole slaw, pre-cut, at Whole Foods. It had a variety of cabbages and I bought it. At $3.99, it was about twice as much as I would pay for regular cole slaw, and it was also about twice as much as I needed. When I got home, I made a batch of slaw with half the mixture, then got out my trusty Food Saver and air-sealed the rest of the mix. A week later, I opened the … [Read more...]

I was in Sam’s recently and remembered that we needed eggs. Back in the Egg and Dairy section, I saw a shelf with Pasture Raised Eggs, a description I had not noticed before. Commonly, I see Cage Free Eggs, but never Pasture Raised. The eggs were large brownish eggs and were $4.98 for a dozen and a half – a little more than I pay for regular eggs but a little less than Cage Free eggs at … [Read more...]

  For 11 months, our little house plant sits in the corner, biding its time. Then, at Christmas, it goes into full bloom. It is, after all, a Christmas Cactus. Except, our little plant gets excited when the Christmas lights go up, and Christmas music echoes throughout the house. Then he blooms prematurely, sometimes as early as Thanksgiving. Christmas cactus is a favorite house plant … [Read more...]

We were having an open house for neighbors and ham was on our menu. While shuffling through the food aisles at Sam’s Club, Nancy saw a “carver ham.” No bones, no spiral cuts, just a boneless, pre-cooked ham and it looked easy to carve. We bought it. I sliced it thinly and we stacked it on Hawaiian rolls. It was a delicious and a huge hit. I can’t remember ever buying a “carver ham” … [Read more...]

We had some shrimp cocktail as an appetizer recently, and the shrimp were out of sight. Succulent, juicy, delicious. They tasted like they just came from the nets of a shrimp trawler out of Wanchese, North Carolina. Turns out, they were from Food Lion – extra-large, fully-cooked shrimp, about 26-30 per pound. I have had good luck before with Food Lion shrimp. On several occasions, I have … [Read more...]