Kitchen Towels on the Cheap

Hello All!!! Let me start off by saying how pleased i am you stopped by to give me a read. I assure you, it really makes me happy and for that: I Thank You.
Now let me just ramble on a minute here and see if i can clear the cobwebs a bit. It occurred to me the other day my kitchen towels looked like hell or "Aych-ee-double hockey sticks if you prefer. In fact they were so bad that had i been so inclined to sew them all together, i'd have made a reasonably functional sieve for tennis balls. Though i will admit, there isn't much of a demand for such an item; So, i threw them out. Well, i did keep the best of the lot for working on the car or grill or what have you and threw the worst of those away as well. Before i get on to these towels, let me set this up a bit. This is something of a philosophical thing and you might glean something of value in a different aspect of your life if you knew the rationale behind this.
I want to talk about purpose and re-purpose for a minute. I'd be willing to bet you have at least one thing in your home that started its life as one thing and has now been given a second career or even a third. Those things that have taken on a second life, doing something other than what they were made to do originally is a re-purposed item. Don't get me wrong here. I'm not talking about reusing butter tubs for leftovers, but that is a re-purposed item. Surely, i'm not the only one who's done that. In fact, i can think of a few things right now that have been re-purposed around this house that i can't imagine what i used before. For Instance: I water my lovely babies (house plants) with a U.S. Marine Corps sports bottle that the guys quit using because it didn't seal when closed, I keep my 25lb bag of flour in an old fashioned sealed lid diaper pail that never was used, My eggs are in a small basket i got with a bath set years ago (dreadful stuff, but a great basket), and my liquid dish soap is in the empty bottle of Hummingbird Farms Lavender Lotion from the first time we got some. You see, re-purposing stuff isn't so horrible you just have to have the right item for the right job. Which brings me to the kitchen towels.
After i threw all the old towels out, i needed new ones. I knew had i not thrown them away, it may have been months before i got new ones. I don't know if you have checked the price of them lately, but to me it seems like a terrible waste of money for something that's inevitably going to get dirty, stained, and tossed. I was going to mention something about paper towels and their cost here too, but you may find you no longer have a need for paper towels at all after this.
Here is what i do. Instead of going to a department store, or Target, or the devilstore and pay a couple bucks or more each for towels to clean up, wipe down, and dry my hands on, I go to the auto parts store. Yes, you heard me correctly on that; the auto parts store. nearly all of them sell white cotton terry cloth towels for working on your car. I'm talking cotton, white, terry cloth, not some synthetic, microfiber, or the red mechanic rags (that would just be too disturbing). They are usually sold in bundles, for instance i got 24 towels for 14 bucks. What is that?? 60 or so cents each?? Now that's a price i can live with and not care how long they last. The terry cloth will seem a bit thin and open woven, or cheap, but that's because they are cheap. Here's the thing though, when you get them home and start using them, after about four washes they really plump up and work very well. I know you are probably reading this and saying "So What". Well, the "So What" is that they are cotton. You can bleach the hell out of them and toss them in the dryer. For instance, today i was baking a Cinderella Pumpkin and the cake pan i had it in overflowed with liquid from the squash. The bottom of my oven was a swamp and i had to soak it up quickly and let's face it, paper towels would have fallen short of the optimum result. I tossed them in the washer with some soap and bleach and they were as good as new. I do keep a few of them nice and white just in case we have company. I'll admit that one, but the cutsie hand towels on the refrigerator and oven are as clean as day one. One last thought, i haven't bought a roll of paper towels since i started doing this 7 or 8 years ago. I bet if you added it up, the savings from that would be worth a look.
Next time, i'll show you why not all pumpkins are created equal.

Until then, May Peace be with You, D

Trouble with Married Single Parents

There's been a great length of time in my life where i've been the defacto complaint department for a diverse group of people. They include family, friends, and even the occasional stranger while i'm standing in line at the store. for years, I've found this to be an honorable position. Naturally, i must have something of value to offer if they habitually come to me for advice. Lately though, the varnish has begun to lose its luster. I mean, really, how can i offer anyone advice on anything while i'm screaming at the clouds, "Why do I feel like the butler in my own damn house"?? I swear there are days that were i the family dog, my family would be reported for cruelty to an animal. Don't mind me, i'm probably pre-menstrual. I don't expect life to be ideal or anything like that, but with seventeen years in I never thought i'd feel like this either. 

You know every now and again, when you need it the most, life drops a sugar cube in your hand and says, "This ought to sweeten it up a bit." This time the "Sugar Cube" took the form of a paper i copied while i was at the University of North Texas. I'll get to it here in a minute, but first i want to preface it a tad. 

I am going to transcribe the paper below here in a few lines. I didn't author it and i am unable to be certain of just who the author was. I wish i could as they definitely deserve the writing credit on this one. Also, I realize i'm throwing a number of my friends under the proverbial bus and naturally i will still be here to do what i've always done. This post is intended to help all of us in our day to day. God knows I sure could stand to remember the first and penultimate ones of the second half; Every damn day.

So here it is:

THINGS YOU CAN'T CONTROL

• The age or stage of development your children are in
• The way you were raised
• Whether the stoplight turns red or green
• How fast other cars are driving
• The number of hours in a day
• Other people
• Your age
• When work or a project takes much longer than expected
• The Calendar
• Being laid off from a job
• Messes made right after you have cleaned the house

THINGS YOU CAN CONTROL

• Your reaction to others
• Your to-do list and the number of items on it
• How your day is spent
• Your goals
• Your self esteem and self worth
• How you treat others
• Your exercise and eating habits
• The communication of your needs to others
• Telling people when you're stressed, need time alone, or help with projects
• Whether or how much you smoke or drink alcohol
• How old you act
• The way you raise your children

There you have it. I don't remember what was happening the day i discovered this, but it spoke to me and i hope it speaks to you as well. Whether you are a married single parent or just your average everyday exceptional (anyone who reads me has to be of an exceptional nature) human being, i feel strongly there is something you can take away from this.

I promise, my next post in a day or so will be about kitchen towels on the cheap.

Till then, Peace be with you, D

Cool Smokers Don't Have To Be Expensive

So here it is about 2:30 in the morning and i'm listening to my subversive Dixie Chicks Greatest Hits, "Long Time Gone". It's funny, once long ago i had drinks with them after hours at the Suttler's in Fort Davis. I miss them, but that's a whole nother [sic] blog and given the overly charged political season, i think it can stay for some far off day. Perhaps so long a Cowboy could Take Me Away. Sorry i couldn't help it.

It's a bit of a meander to get to this smoker, so with your indulgence, i'll attempt to make it as painless as possible. Back in 2001 when the shit hit the fan on September 11th, I had a nice little house with a pond and a grotto for my Virgin Mary statue, and something of an outdoor kitchen. I hadn't put the sink in yet, but that was about all that was missing. It wasn't very long before i realized my job prospects had all but dried up and the housing market was doing something funny. So, in a panic, sold the house, got an apartment, and went back to school to hedge against a poor economy i figured would rebound in a year or two. As it turns out, selling the house was the best idea, though it sits less than five minutes from The Ballpark in Arlington and Cowboys Stadium. Despite those things, it has lost nearly 40% of its value from when i lived there. I classify that as dodging a bullet. As for the economy rebounding, well i was overly optimistic to say the least. Okay, off to the University of North Texas and apartment living. I had to drag my smoker with me. I just couldn't leave it or the stove behind. To shorten this up a bit, with them sitting out in the elements like they did, rust destroyed them. So, for a number of years i have gone without a smoker because they were either cost prohibitive or just took up too much room.

Here a couple of months ago i got this idea for a smoker i could take apart when not in use and store under one side of my gas grill. When i told everyone about it, the general response was, " you want to make a smoker out of a trash can?" Well, the long and the short of it was, "Yes, yes i do."  

Despite the lack of enthusiasm, we visionaries just have to deal with that some times. I built it. I'm happy to report the smoker cost just less than 60 dollars and i got all the parts from Home Depot in one trip. I had that cheapo charcoal grill laying around, so it didn't add to the cost. We use it when we go to the park or the lake every now and again. I was hoping the smoker would be dual purpose, first be controllable in the 200-250 degree range for smoking and second be controllable in the 325-400 range to bake bread in. Here is what i discovered. It takes a good fire to get the smoke chamber up to 150-175 degrees. I'm fairly certain this is due to the aluminum dryer hose connecting the fire box to the can. I plan on changing it to a steel duct and that should raise my heat 50-100 degrees. Aluminum spills heat very well. That is one of the reasons it is used in cookware. Ideally, i'd like to get 225 out of it and then i wouldn't have to finish cooking the food in the oven, like i did this turkey.

I smoked the bird for +/- 5 hours and then baked it until the internal temp reached 200. I have to say that a fair amount of the broth they inject these things with did shrink away, but it wasn't dry in the least and i'm not a white meat eater. I got good smoke penetration. In fact, the smoke penetration was better than expected. I made this so that i could either suspend food with the can sitting upright or on a rack with the can laying on its side. This time i chose on its side. Inside, i placed the bird smeared with Kosher salt, Brown Sugar, and a bit of Chili Powder on my big Wilton rack with a pan underneath to catch the drippings. This is important! The last thing you need is to add to the fly population here. Here is a pic of the sliced breast. I took all of these pics with my cell phone, so they could be better, but it is what it is.

If you look, perhaps you can see a nice rosey ring around the perimeter of the breast. When i ate this last week, one of my friends asked if it was any good. What i say now is what i said then, " It's either really good or i was just in the mood for Turkey."  I'm really happy with my smoker and i'll be thrilled when i get the bugs worked out of it so i can make some of the breads i used to make that require a dry wood fueled oven. One more thing, as an added bonus to all this smoked meat madness, Which only took five or six sticks of mesquite by the way, I made a foil pan and filled it with Kosher salt. Periodically, i would stir the salt. Now, i have Mesquite smoked salt whenever i have a taste to add a little something smokey to whatever it is that i'm eating.

Next time i'll tell you about my cheap-ass kitchen towels. I mean cheap too. So cheap, you may just give up on paper towels like i did so many years ago. 

Until the next time i write, Peace be with you, Dave