Hello Everyone,
It looks like the recent cold snap on the West Coast is going to have a major impact on this year’s citrus crop. That’s bad news around the Baker house, because I use citrus fruit for all sorts of things…besides breakfast!
For instance, when I get a sore throat, nothing soothes it like my tasty lemon-honey tea: 1 tablespoon of honey and 1 teaspoon of lemon juice mixed in a cup of hot water. A mug of this every few hours, and my throat’s sore no more!
And nothing freshens up a kitchen like citrus. For a quick-and-clean scent, preheat your oven to 300ºF and set a whole, unpeeled orange inside of it. Bake it for about 15 minutes with the oven door slightly ajar, then turn off the oven. (But remember to let the fruit cool before you take it out of the oven.)
For my houseplants, citrus juice (any kind) makes just about the best leaf polisher around! Just wipe the juice onto the leaves with a soft, cotton cloth, and they’ll sparkle.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg! These fruits are a handy helper no home should be without.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Hello, everyone!
Nothing makes my joints ache quite like a cold winter’s day, so last weekend, I whipped up one of my favorite arthritis remedies: gin-soaked raisins. To make ‘em, put a box of golden raisins in a bowl, and add just enough gin to cover them completely. Let them sit, uncovered, at room temperature until there is no standing liquid left in the bowl. Transfer the raisins to a container that you can close tightly, and eat nine of them every day.
I try to use my indoor winter days to tend to those often-neglected chores that I somehow overlook when the sun’s shining outside. This weekend, I cleared up a few scratches on my favorite wooden desk. To do it, I mixed equal parts lemon juice and vegetable oil, and rubbed the mix into the scratches with a soft cloth. After a few treatments, that table was as good as new.
This time of year, don’t forget about the birds! Keep ‘em fat and happy with this terrific treat: mix 4 parts peanut butter, 4 parts oatmeal, 1 part peanuts (raw or roasted), and 1 part slivered almonds in a deep bowl, and mold into balls. Stuff one in a pantyhose sack and hang it from a tree, or set a couple out on a tray feeder. This’ll attract chickadees, woodpeckers, nutchatches, and just about any other hungry feathered friend who flies by!
Nothing makes my joints ache quite like a cold winter’s day, so last weekend, I whipped up one of my favorite arthritis remedies: gin-soaked raisins. To make ‘em, put a box of golden raisins in a bowl, and add just enough gin to cover them completely. Let them sit, uncovered, at room temperature until there is no standing liquid left in the bowl. Transfer the raisins to a container that you can close tightly, and eat nine of them every day.
I try to use my indoor winter days to tend to those often-neglected chores that I somehow overlook when the sun’s shining outside. This weekend, I cleared up a few scratches on my favorite wooden desk. To do it, I mixed equal parts lemon juice and vegetable oil, and rubbed the mix into the scratches with a soft cloth. After a few treatments, that table was as good as new.
This time of year, don’t forget about the birds! Keep ‘em fat and happy with this terrific treat: mix 4 parts peanut butter, 4 parts oatmeal, 1 part peanuts (raw or roasted), and 1 part slivered almonds in a deep bowl, and mold into balls. Stuff one in a pantyhose sack and hang it from a tree, or set a couple out on a tray feeder. This’ll attract chickadees, woodpeckers, nutchatches, and just about any other hungry feathered friend who flies by!
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!
I hope everyone had a wonderful time ringing in the new year. If you’ve been hustlin’ and bustlin’, wind down with my Bath Salts Over Easy: 1 cup of Epsom salts, 1 cup of table salt, and 1 cup of baking soda. Store the mixture in an airtight container. At bath time, pour 2 tablespoons into running water, and settle into a relaxing soak in the tub. It’s just the tender loving care you need to start the new year off right!
Speaking of TLC, don’t neglect your houseplants this winter. Make sure they bloom to beat the band by giving them a dose of this elixir every two weeks: 1/2 tbsp. of vodka, 1/2 tbsp. of ammonia, 1/2 tbsp. of hydrogen peroxide, 1/4 tsp. of instant tea granules, 1 multivitamin tablet with iron, and 1 gallon of warm water. Mix all of the ingredients together in a jug, and add 1 cup of the solution per gallon of water at plant-feeding time.
Make Christmas tree cleanup a cinch with this trick. After hauling the tree outside, put a pantyhose leg over the vacuum cleaner nozzle, and then vacuum up all the fallen pine needles. They stick to the nylon instead of being swooshed inside to clog up the vacuum. Then just peel the stocking off over a wastebasket, and drop it inside. It’s the easiest Christmas tree cleanup around!
I hope everyone had a wonderful time ringing in the new year. If you’ve been hustlin’ and bustlin’, wind down with my Bath Salts Over Easy: 1 cup of Epsom salts, 1 cup of table salt, and 1 cup of baking soda. Store the mixture in an airtight container. At bath time, pour 2 tablespoons into running water, and settle into a relaxing soak in the tub. It’s just the tender loving care you need to start the new year off right!
Speaking of TLC, don’t neglect your houseplants this winter. Make sure they bloom to beat the band by giving them a dose of this elixir every two weeks: 1/2 tbsp. of vodka, 1/2 tbsp. of ammonia, 1/2 tbsp. of hydrogen peroxide, 1/4 tsp. of instant tea granules, 1 multivitamin tablet with iron, and 1 gallon of warm water. Mix all of the ingredients together in a jug, and add 1 cup of the solution per gallon of water at plant-feeding time.
Make Christmas tree cleanup a cinch with this trick. After hauling the tree outside, put a pantyhose leg over the vacuum cleaner nozzle, and then vacuum up all the fallen pine needles. They stick to the nylon instead of being swooshed inside to clog up the vacuum. Then just peel the stocking off over a wastebasket, and drop it inside. It’s the easiest Christmas tree cleanup around!
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