More Thrifty Tips

I've recently been doing some spring cleaning, which always includes deciding if you really need such and such, or whether you can happily toss it in the Goodwill bin. And, as I've found, the less you need to stock, the less you buy. So here are a few more tips of cheap items with a variety of uses.

1) Woolite fine washables detergent: Great for hand washing delicate items. Also, a great stain remover. Use for removing everything from ketchup (dried on) to fabric dye.

2) Baby Oil: Scummy looking faucet? Remove water stains with baking soda, then rub with baby oil. The oil will make dull faucets sparkle again and will keep the metal from water deposits.

3) Pond's cold cream: Use this as for facial soap and makeup remover (as long as you wear washable mascara). Very gently on skin, and one jar lasts a long time.

4) Olay facial moisturizer: This only has one use, but I had to include it. Moisturizes wonderfully, never greasy, and reduces redness, esp. in winter. Highly recommended!

The Distant Land of My Father, by Bo Caldwell

Set in Shanghai in the 1930's, this novel is narrated by Anna, daughter of a millionaire and grandaughter of missionaries, who gradually learns to understand the mixture of talent and weakness that is her father. Anna spends the first seven years of her life living in the International Settlement of Shanghai, going on weekly excursions with her father, who teaches her Mandarin words, the names of trees and flowers, and gradually introduces her to the larger world of Chinese culture. When her mother flees with Anna to her childhood home of California to escape Japanese occupation, Anne must learn to adapt to a new culture, a new grandmother, and the realization that her father may never join them.

I enjoyed the haunting quality of this book. The characters were so real that I didn't want to book to end. It also offered an interesting look into the day-to-day life of living in Shanghai and how a city was changed by the occupation of the Japanese and the coming of communism. Caldwell is also a master of showing how deeply place can affect a person. Joseph Schoene, Anna's father, is driven much of his life by his love for Shanghai, a love that for a time overrides his love for his wife and daughter. Anna, in learning to say goodbye to her father and the life she had in Shanghai, grows to love her new home in California, a process which changes her and protects her against uprootedness. Because of this, she is able, later in life, to understand what drove her father to make his earlier mistakes..

March Snowstorm

Our kitchen window





















First Street
















Tree gnomes in front of the 1912 Center

Winter Snapshot

The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

My brother used to tease me about the fact that I had not mastered the art of making chocolate chip cookies. Now that he is married, he teases his wife (and still makes the chocolate chip cookies himself). I have now found the perfect recipe for these delectable morsels, one that I hope will save myself and my sister-in-law from any future teasing. They are amazingly chewy and soft, and the finished cookie is perfectly rounded. The end of my brother's cookie superiority is at hand.

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups plus 2 Tbsp.flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter melted and cooled until just warm

1 cup packed brown sugar (light or dark)

1/2 cup white sugar

1 large egg, plus 1 large yolk

2-3 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 320 degrees. Whisk dry ingredients, set aside. Cream butter and sugars, add egg, egg yolk and vanilla until just combined. Add dry ingredients, beat until just combined. Add chocolate chips.

Form a ball of approximately 2 Tbsp. of dough. Break ball into two pieces, then mash two pieces together again with both jagged sides up. This will make the cookies spread correctly when baked. Bake for 12-15 minutes, rotating trays from top of oven to bottom halfway during baking time. Enjoy!