I think my age, and my nearing the end of my life on Earth, has started to give me a strong desire to “pass along” whatever wisdom I have gleaned from years of experience.
I realize I am no fount of blessing when it comes to wisdom, and the wisdom I am talking about does not begin with “Fear God.” That’s Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
No, the wisdom I am talking about are all the “little things” that make life easier, and help things flow better. Things like, “spread the shower curtain out after your shower, so it doesn’t mildew.” Or, “the gas gauge on your car’s dashboard has a little symbol letting you know on which side of your car the gas cap is located.”
Now that I think about that, where does it put that symbol if your gas cap is in the middle, above your license plate.” Why would you even need to know? Well, if you are driving up to a convenience store to buy gas, it would be handy to know which way to pull into the pump so that the pump is on the same side as your gas cap. Yes, you can always get out of your car, find your gas cap, and then get back in your car and drive on the appropriate side. But knowing this little trick will save you these simple “time wasting” steps.
So why did I mention Cheyenne Bodie and Roger Moore, “The Saint?” And, you might even ask, “Who is Cheyenne Bodie.” “Cheyenne” was a long running TV Western show that appeared in the 1950s. The actor who played Cheyenne Bodie was the handsome, tall, muscularly built man, Clint Walker. Now Roger Moore, was also a tall, handsome actor. I think one hook for “the Saint,” was that the character, at points, would turn to the camera to explain “just to me” about something he was about to do, or how he personally felt. This personal comment by the actor, drew me into the story. I was his good buddy, “along for the ride.”
But, here was something that I noticed about both of these characters (not necessarily the actors). The characters seemed to know how to do almost everything, and they knew a bunch of people, no matter where they were, or even if this was the first time in town. And, they were welcomed by these people as if they were old, best friends. But the characters weren’t actually old enough to have learned all the stuff they knew, or met and earned the trust and friendship, over time, of all the people that welcomed them warmly. No, their knowledge of how to do a bunch of stuff, and all the “long time” friends they had accrued required a “suspension of belief” on our parts. These characters were “MacGyvers,” long before there was actually a MacGyver on TV. And MacGyver was a stretch because he was creative/inventive in how he accomplished things, not so much as knowing the standard way of doing things.
So Cheyenne could take an unruly horse, a Stallion, a Bronc and calm the animal, put a blanket and saddle on him, cinch it up, and then gently get on the horse and ride around the corral. And this taming of the animal was something that all the others had failed at. Neither of these characters were old enough to have been able to learn “the tricks” they somehow knew, or become close friends with all the people they seemed to know, by the age they currently were.
Recently I started to read a biography of Colin Powell, the late General and Public servant. The bio is entitled, “It Worked for Me,” and as far as I’ve read Gen. Powell offers examples of “things” and “ways of doing things” that worked for him.
Now, I’m not going to try to teach you how to become close friends with everyone you meet, or even suggest that I know the best ways to do a lot of things, but I do want to “throw out” some suggested items and things that have worked well for me. Take what you want, and ignore or leave the rest, and enjoy!
I have a “John Wayne” that I have carried with me, on my key chain, for over 50 years, and I’ve probably used it two or three times each of those years.
A “John Wayne” is a small metal can opener that was a military issue for troops in the field, called a P-38 Field Can Opener to be used on the metal C-Rations cans. Supposedly named for “John Wayne” because the actor made the training video for the troops on how to use this can opener successfully. *That’s my first bit of wisdom: Get one of these can openers, and put it on your key chain. It will serve you well, when a regular can opener fails.
I’ve bought these colorful box cutters from Amazon a few times. Once for myself and then for intended Christmas presents. I have come to give small Christmas presents with items that have made my life easier or more enjoyable in the past year. Why a “handy” box cutter?
How many times do you have an Amazon package to get into, and having one of these would make the process simple, quick? Or you’ve bought batteries that are encased in a clear plastic bubble? Or, you have a piece of thread, or a string that is tying something together, and you can’t break it with your firm grip?
These box cutters have an excellent design, that only requires one hand to unlock the blade, slide it into position, and then easily relock the blade… use it, unlock it, slide it back down into it’s completely sheaved protected position and relock it.
So, get more than one, and put one beside your easy chair, in a kitchen drawer, and in your car, and be careful, don’t cut yourself.
Buy a set of good quality kitchen knives, and keep them sharp. Make sure you like the way they feel in your hand. “The right tool for the job makes things so much easier.” This statement is never truer than when you need the right knife for a kitchen task. You don’t have to buy all the knives at once, but here are a few that I think you will need over time:
(1) A Chef’s Knife, either a classic pointed tip design, or one of the flat, wide bladed Japanese designs. The Japanese design is useful when you are chopping, and scooping what you have just chopped to put into a pot or bowl. What happens when you need to slice a good sized watermelon in half? You want a knife that has a long enough blade to at least go through half of the melon, and then slice all the way around until the halves split apart.
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(2) A Tomato Knife. This usually has a serrated blade for slicing through tomatoes, and a simple forked end for skewering a slice of tomato. But I have found that I can use this knife for many other purposes, not just slicing tomatoes.
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(3) A Paring Knife. This has a short blade usually with a pointy tip. It is useful for getting in close to veggies and cleaning them up. Remove the pithy part of a Jalapeno or Bell Pepper. Cut out the stem end of a tomato.
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(4) A good set of Steak Knives. A style of knife that fits well in the hand and makes it easy to cut through a steak or pork chop easily.
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(5) A sharp Boning Knife is useful if you are cutting up meat be it beef, chicken or pork.
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Well, this is something I didn’t see coming but it has been such a pleasant experience recently that I’ve got to add it to this list. I bought an Instant Pot Mini (modern pressure cooker) about a month and a half ago, and it almost jumped out of the box. My first trial & success was a pot of black eyed peas with some seasoning meat. Turned out great. I’ve found I can cook hard boiled eggs, and a black & wild rice combo in it to perfection consistently. I have a Teriyaki Chicken dish that I’ve already made about four times and each time a little different, but just as tasty. Chicken tenders, bell pepper, onion, carrot. zucchini and frozen garden peas with Spicy Chili Crisp, and Teriyaki sauce. Oh, and I cooked a rutabaga and that too cooked quickly and was a delicious side dish for both some steamed mussels and a pork tenderloin. The mussels I did on the stovetop. Oh, and I’ve started thinning out the frozen foods in my freezer because I don’t have to thaw them first.
If you like stir-fry, get an electric wok.
My first electric wok was a gift from a cousin. I used it to make stir-fry meals, and then I would stop for a while. Not sure why I would stop because there are few meals that are so easy to prepare, quick & easy to cook, delicious to eat, and quick & easy to clean up.
Maybe I would stop making stir-fry meals because the basic ingredients didn’t vary enough. I have three meats that I like: chicken, pork and shrimp. I have three veggies I like in most meals: onions, carrots, and sweet bell peppers. I like to vary other veggies choosing some, but not all such as: broccoli, green beans, sugar snap or snow peas . And I add some “Stir Fry Vegetables,” that come in a can including: bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, baby corn and water chestnuts. I actually like pineapple chunks in almost all of my stir-fry meals. And for seasoning/spices: Spicy Chili Crisp, Toasted Sesame Oil, Soy Sauce, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, sesame seeds & some ginger powder. Oh, you do need a heat resistant spatula to stir things about, without hurting your wok’s surface.
Multi-Purpose Kitchen Tool
This is a Braun MultiQuick multi-purpose kitchen tool. The power wand has three main attachments: chopper bowl, a whisk attachment, and a stick blender attachment.
I originally bought a Braun MultiQuick tool because I wanted the immersion blender, and then it made sense to me to get the other attachments. The unit I bought had a smaller chopper bowl, and it was less powerful. So several years later I finally bought a bigger bowled, more powerful power wand and things became so much simpler. I could grind a whole can of Garbanzo beans, and the motor didn’t bog down.
The immersion blender attachment allowed me to blend various soups while they were still in the pot, and the soup still hot. No need to pour the soup from the pot into a blender. There were two soups that I loved making using this attachment: Curried Apple Soup and Tarragon/Leek/Split Pea Soup. Both of these were good either hot or cold.
I found that I couldn’t blend a whole can of Garbanzo Beans in order to make hummus at home. And if I put too many beans in the bowl, the motor slowed down. I found that I could make homemade salsa starting with one 15 oz. can of Diced Roasted Tomatoes all year long, and add various spices, peppers & roasted veggies (onion, jalapeno/bell/Poblano peppers) as desired.
Lately I’ve been eating a lot of Plain Greek Yogurt, but I don’t leave it plain. I use my chopper to puree fresh blackberries, blueberries , raspberries, or even ripe persimmons. I store them in small canning jars is the fridge. They go great with the yogurt. And I don’t use the whisk attachment very often, but you can buy some Heavy Whipping Cream and make your own whipped cream, really fast, and you might even want to add some flavorings to the whipped cream as you make it.
I recently bought a Jar Sealer. It attaches to either a regular or wide mouth Ball/Mason jar and sucks the air out in order to preserve the contents, such as beans, nuts, dried fruit or various veggies. The one thing I haven’t tried yet is putting in half of an avocado and seeing if it really doesn’t turn brown by the next day in the fridge. *I found that I can’t suck the air out of my plastic storage containers. They look like the glass Ball jars with black metal lids, but they collapse if the air is sucked out.
If you cook at home, a lot, as I do, and like various steamed veggies: asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, or need to tenderize green beans before adding them to your stir-fry, then you should buy a steamer insert that fits your 3 Quart pan/pot, and it needs a tight fitting lid, and I like a glass pot lid so I can look at the steaming veggies.
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I’ll throw the following out to you, while on the subject of food.
Let’s dice up some chunks of chicken tenderloin, onion, carrot & sweet bell pepper. Now, from these four ingredients I can take my meal in three completely different directions as a Chinese Stir-Fry, a Mexican Meal, or an Indian “India” Meal, just based upon the following seasonings I choose.
Chinese Stir-Fry
The basic flavorings for turning this toward Asian/Chinese include: Toasted Sesame Oil, Spicy Chili Crisp, Soy Sauce, ginger & garlic powder, and white sesame seeds. Maybe even some Jalapenos. Serve the finished entre on white rice.
Mexican Meal
To direct this South of the Border, add some diced tomatoes along with “Salsa Ranchera” from Herdez. Maybe add some red pepper flakes, various hot peppers in season, and add a baked sweet potato, with butter, sour cream, cinnamon and a little sweetener. If you don’t want the sweet potato, this would also go well with white rice.
India “Indian” Meal
I like diced tomatoes in this also. But the Indian flavor comes from Patak’s Hot Curry Paste, with a little sweetener added. I love the hot curry flavor, but I will also add various hot peppers in season, and the more colorful the better (reds, oranges & yellows). This meal goes well with white rice or a baked sweet potato as prepared above for my Mexican meal.
*When I mention “sweetener” that is because I don’t cook anything with sugar any longer. I was diagnosed as a Type 2 Diabetic in January of 2012, and I stopped using sugar in my house “cold turkey.” In fact, I had about a third of a 5 pound bag of Dixie Crystals white sugar, and I didn’t throw it out, but I didn’t use it either. The result was after several years the white crystal sugar had hardened into a hard ball of sugar, which I eventually threw out. I think I’ve added one small packet of white sugar to my coffee, one morning at a restaurant and that was because I absentmindedly opened the packet and poured it into my hot coffee (maybe it was hot tea) before I thought about not using sugar. That’s one packet in 13 years. Now, I may have had sugar when I ate meals at restaurants or at friends’ or relatives’ homes, but when I have control of using white sugar or not, I don’t.
When you first stop using white sugar after years of eating copious amounts of it, your body responds like coming down off of hard drugs. You have a headache, and you feel horrible for several days, but eventually that bad feeling goes away.
Preparing ingredients in advance, and choosing last minute which direction you want to go. The chicken or pork are diced up into bite-sized chunks and I can freeze 3 or 4 oz. packages of these for future use. Freeze the chunks in a flattened bag. Freezing these flat makes them thaw out quicker. I also freeze my pineapple chunks flat and in the portion size for my stir-fry meals. Or, the previous day, I can cut up my basic veggies and store them in the fridge for later that day, or the next day, all in one container: onion, carrot, sweet bell pepper. A last minute dump, and the stir-fry goes even quicker.
I don’t have a rice cooker because rice is high in starch and converts quickly to sugar once consumed. It “throws my Blood Sugar level off” so as much as I love the flavor and texture of rice (white, brown, black, etc.) I’ve had to leave rice off my regular diet. But, if I could eat rice regularly I would probably have it with my stir-fries, my Mexican and my Indian meals, and I might buy a rice cooker to make the process more refined. Fix enough rice for several meals, and then store it in the fridge and heat up just enough for each meal in my microwave.
Years ago I bought my first Microwave Onion Cooker at an AGRI Supply Store. After years of use, the plastic began to disintegrate so I bought another one. And at least one Christmas, I gave these out as simple Christmas presents. *Make sure you buy the onion “cooker” and not the onion “saver.” The saver will melt in your microwave, the cooker won’t.
What’s so special about this tool? Well, you can put a whole onion in it and put it in the microwave for about five minutes. At the end, the onion will be sweet, soft and delicious. But an onion isn’t the only thing that you can cook with this. You can put a whole potato in it and in about five minutes you have a baked potato. Smush the soft potato, add butter, S&P and some sour cream and you’ve got a good side to go with a steak, or a pork chop. You could also bake a whole apple in this. Once baked add some butter, sour cream and cinnamon. Or bake a sweet potato and add a little sweetener to the other ingredients listed for the apple. *And just recently because ChatGPT told me it would be better to cook my broccoli in the microwave, I took out my onion cooker, added a little water (to form steam) and put a bunch of broccoli florets in it and in about 1 minute had steamed broccoli. Just the right amount for one serving.
Now, for something that surprised me at first, but I have cooked many scrambled eggs in my onion cooker. Beat an egg, add some S&P, a little olive oil to keep the egg from sticking to the cooker, garlic powder, and maybe even some finely diced onion. Put the lid on the cooker and go for a minute. if the egg is still runny in the middle, cook for another 30 seconds. At the end, you have a beautifully round flat scrambled egg, and this shape fits perfectly on a toasted English Muffin with melted cheese. You melt the cheese on the muffin, in your toaster oven or stove. And add a slice of fresh pre-sliced ham. Viola, a “Me McMuffin.” *I’ve never thought of the following before, but I wonder if you could bake something like a holeless doughnut, or some type of biscuit? It wouldn’t brown, but I still might try that.
There are two other things I prefer to cook in my microwave and many other people would disagree with me on one, or the other, or both.
First, I prefer to cook bacon in my microwave. It turns out perfect the majority of times and only takes about 5 or 6 minutes total time. I put several slices of raw bacon on a dinner plate. Then I put the plate in the microwave, and use a plastic cover over the plate & bacon to prevent splatters. I don’t like limp bacon, nor do I like super crispy bacon. The microwave gives me almost perfect control. *I do drain off the bacon fat as I cook the bacon, stopping to check about every couple of minutes. I think it was Emeril Lagasse who said, “Pork fat rules,” and he was so right. Bacon grease can flavor many veggies and beans.
*If you like blackeyed peas, then if you can cook them one day, and then refrigerate them overnight… the next day the flavors will have had time to meld, and the beans will be so much more flavorful. If you don’t want to use bacon fat in your steamed cabbage, you might need to determine exactly how much sweetener to put on them. Too much sweet on a cabbage is sickening, but just the right amount and people will think you have seasoned them perfectly.
The other item I prefer to cook in the microwave is corn on the cob. I prefer to leave the husk on the corn, and cut the stalk end off, just so I can see the ends of the first rows of kernels. Leave the silks end just as it is. I learned the following trick about two years ago. Cook the corn for about 4 or 5 minutes, and then take it out. Have something to protect your hand while holding the steamy hot ear of corn. Then begin to squeeze the silks end and this will begin to force the corn out of the stalk end. And the trick that usually works. The corn on the cob will come out of the husk, AND the silks will remain in the husk without you having to pull each of them off the ear. *If you like to put your corn on the cob on the grill, that’s an entirely different animal and I suggest, “Go for it!” *And now I have to offer the possibility that I may start cooking corn on the cob in my Instant Pot Mini, or at least I’m going to try it and see. I don’t think I can beat the 5 minutes cooking time in the microwave, but it might be like hard boiled eggs. They come out perfect every time.
If you can’t get corn on the cob in the husk, here is another trick I use. I take a paper towel and wet it and then wrap the wet paper towel around the “huskless” corn on the cob. I then heat the corn in the microwave for 4 or 5 minutes. What I am doing is providing enough moisture to cook the corn with steam. The wet paper towel holds the steam inside just like the husk would.
What I am suggesting is that I prefer to steam most of my veggies, rather than put them in a pot of boiling water to cook. I think the nutrients stay in the veggies better, than leaching out into a pot of water.
An Emergency Multipurpose Tool
There are so many things that this item can perform. It is a high powered flashlight, and has a separate reading lamp. It has a weather radio, and AM & FM radio bands. It has multiple power sources: batteries, solar powered, hand crank charger and/or a USB connector to charge from the wall. It has a USB cable so that you can charge your smartphone from this device, via the hand crank. It doesn’t charge quickly with the hand crank, but it does charge enough so that you could make an emergency call, if you have the reception.
It has an emergency horn to draw attention.
Before Hurricane Helene passed through Western North Carolina, I would have never thought about this type of purchase, but afterwards, when I heard repeated stories of families being cut off from their neighbors, this type of device would be welcomed in the hours immediately after a devastating event. Even if the power is out, this little device would keep you informed regarding the outside world, would make life easier in the dark, or allow you to read to either inform yourself, or keep yourself entertained until morning. The emergency horn could draw others to your location, and being able to recharge by the sun or the hand crank, oh boy, yes!
Not too long ago my electricity went out at night and I then realized that it didn’t have a lighted digital display and none of the buttons were illuminated so you needed an external light source (maybe your phone or a candle) to turn it on and adjust the knobs. It does have a a bright lamp and a bright led display on top of the unit, but neither of these illuminate the radio display or control buttons. So, I bought a Mudder USB gooseneck light for Laptop and it works perfectly, drawing it’s power from the emergency tool and illuminating the radio display and all the control buttons.
Index Card Pockets with Top Open Self-adhesive Index Card Holders
I just realized that I would like to be able to put a recipe card somewhere in my kitchen to be able to easily reference it when I am cooking. I forget the ingredients or the order in which they need to be added so a simple note card would be helpful. It could be on the side of my refrigerator, or on the front of my microwave. These were perfect, although I’ve only added one to the side of my fridge, and I may rotate them sideways for certain cards. Slip one card out, slip another in with one of the items you’re preparing for the meal and have multiple cards next to each other, one for the entree, and any for the side dishes. *I don’t fix pizza sauce often, and there aren’t many ingredients, but still having a card to reference would be helpful.
Ball Quilted Crystal 8 oz Mason Jars
I’m adding this size of canning jar to this list because I am planning on buying a dozen at Walmart. They are currently listed at a little less than a dollar a piece. I’ve found there are several items, like fruit puree and other homemade sauces that I make or have and this size jar seems to be the right size. *I can buy a package of raspberries or blueberries and blend them in my food chopper and store them in one of these jars. I’ve been eating more Greek Yogurt lately and this fruit puree seems to be the perfect pairing.
THE LIST
- Get a “John Wayne” can opener and keep it on your key chain.
- Get several box cutters and put them in easily accessible places: by your easy chair, in a kitchen drawer, in your car.
- Buy a few good quality kitchen knives, and keep them sharp.
- If you like stir-fry, get an electric wok.
- Purchase a “multi-purpose kitchen tool” that chops, whisks & has an immersion blender attachment.
- Buy a steamer insert for your 3 Quart pan/pot.
- Microwave Onion Cooker
- Cook bacon & corn on the cob in your microwave.
- Emergency Multi-Purpose Tool for radio, flashlight, and device recharging.
- Index Card Pockets w/ Self-Adhesive
I saw this hack online and I wish I hadn’t thrown away all those file clips. Before retiring, I had come to the point at work to not need this type of clip or paperclips. We just didn’t save many paper copies of items any longer. Most things were either saved to disk or pushed to the Cloud.