Kitchen Tips 101

My Mom was a whiz in the kitchen. My sister was her best pupil. I was always outside... getting filthy... playing with the boys in the dirt... I laugh thinking of it now, but i was terrified the first time I had to prepare a meal on my own. My mom was the one laughing then. She says, "I tried to teach you, but you never wanted to stay in the kitchen and learn". And she was correct of course. The only time I ever spent in the kitchen was when it was my turn to wash the dishes. Which it seemed to be often because I was forever trading turns with my sister in exchange for something or another.

Now in my thirties with two kids of my own and both too young to care about kitchen tips, I think it's time to log my tips and tricks for you to pick up and share. And maybe one day they'll look back on these posts and sigh with relief. I know my stand-by is calling Mom with even the simplest of questions. My favorite to date was probably, "Mom I'm making soup and it's too thin, how do I thicken it a bit?".

So here is my first post of Kitchen tips I have picked up either from searching or from trial and error.

My all time favorite TIP:

When boiling pasta of any kind (Mac N Cheese to Ziti) add a teaspoon or splash of olive oil, or your favorite oil, to the water. Add it after filling with water and place on the stove.

If you like to add salt to your boiling water like me, add the salt when the water starts to boil, before adding the pasta.

Once you drop in your pasta, swish with a spoon.

Cook as usual. You should notice that it sticks less, esp when draining!

If you have trouble with pasta sticking to the bottom of your pan, spray with pam (or other brand) before adding water and/or stir more often.

Hope this helps! And YES, it really does work! (That's why my olive oil is next to the stove always!!)

Valentine's Day #116

I remember feeling so sad on this Holiday in my youth above all others. Valentine's day seemed to be about what you GET and not what you share. So, in a better judgement moment, I decided to define love instead of focusing on what I lacked, and this is what I found:

My search took me to two great 'chapter'. One of my all time favorite sonnets is Shakespeare's #116. In my eyes it is the definition of love similar to the "Love chapter" in the Bible. They both parallel the meaning of TRUE love to me. So, here is my paraphrasing of the two:

Shakespeare's Sonnet #116	In My WORDS
Let me not to the marriage of true minds	I am not trying to implying that what you have is
Admit impediments. Love is not love	not real, but to me Love is not true
Which alters when it alteration finds,	When it changes to meet different circumstances,
Or bends with the remover to remove:	or tries to erase faults like an artist with an eraser.
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark	It is like the north star in the unchanging night sky;
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;	that can look on hurricanes never flinching;
It is the star to every wandering bark,	or like the beacon that leads lost ships home,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.	which can be seen, and is worth the most to those saved
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks	Love is not fooled by youth and lust
Within his bending sickle's compass come:	which fades with time and can never outlast death.
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,	Even if shared for a short time, it remains
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.	unchanged even at the very end.
If this be error and upon me proved,	If I am proved to be wrong about all this then nothing
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.	I have ever written is true, and no one has ever truly loved

And why do I think it correlates to the Bible?

1 Corinthians 13

...⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

 ⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away...

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 

In MY Words:

The Definition of love is that it show these qualities: Patience, Kindness, Honesty, Humbled, and not be Jealous, Selfish, Violent, or Begrudging. If someone Truly Loves you they would never find it funny or laugh at your misfortune. They would show sincere applause when you did well, even if it was better them them. True love nurtures, protects and has faith in you. True love will outlast and obstacle even the end of all civilization.

It is important to have faith and keep your hope, but it is Love that is the greatest and most powerful of these. 

A side note: relationships that are about hoping that it changes and having faith that it will, are not based in honesty. And since love can be described as honest, those relationships are not in a mutual true love.

Love is amazing and doesn't always have to be romantic. I hope that those that are without a "Valentine" today will look instead for the True love they already have in their lives and instead return THAT love and feel truly special this year.