Helpful Hints – or – Peculiar Pointers (depending upon your viewpoint)

Almost every day lately I discover tiny, simple tricks to cut down the time and energy spent on mundane tasks. Or preserve items, as it were, such as cilantro. I just love those flavorful leaves on foods like this home cooked Thai style chicken and mushroom soup.

Chicken broth infused with lemongrass,
while a splash of very stinky fish sauce
brings surprisingly great umame!

But I find the delicate herb turns brown fast despite refrigeration. Then it occurred to me that removing the stems, bagging and sealing the brightest greenery, preserves its fresh flavor.

Sorry about the glare...

Overall, my husband and I make a great cooking and gardening team. With chores like laundry I tend to be on my own. And it’s a minor annoying when he becomes impatient to show me something on television while I rush putting away our clothes.

Yesterday, I thought about his occasional aid in hanging shirts. He’ll stand by the bed and toss me individual items. Instead of dragging him off the couch, I brought my T-shirt laden vanity table bench close to the closet. And voila! It went so much faster.

A Temporary Laundry 'Table'

Another pet peeve is biting insects. I know many can relate. Some of us seem to be tastier than others. Years ago I discovered a handy Sportsman’s stick repellent that makes it easy to target my most vulnerable bits of skin (elbows, wrists, calves, knees, and ankles in particular) without inhaling poisonous aerosol sprays.

The only bother with it is the top screws off but the product itself needs to be held in place, which isn’t easy with my small hands. Instead of struggling this past weekend, I tucked a cotton ball in that bottom well. The electrical tape holding the ‘stuffing’ in place is easy to remove if more cotton is needed.

30% Deet!

Are you a popular menu item in the insect world? If you suffer, have you tried a Deet infused product such as I swear by?

-