Thursday, January 8, 2009

Happy New Year

                                                                Asheville's City Market, Aug 08
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Okay, so I'm late, as usual.  But here's to a grand New Year, in spite of the economy.  I've resolved to make lemonade out of lemons, by doing a couple of things:
- Eating local. Local food is fresher, therefore tastes better, is healthier, and is better for our earth and local economy.  And I love chatting and sharing with farmers at the markets.  
- Buying into a CSA, a "subscription" for whatever produce a farmer has in season, during the growing season.  I'll tell you of several available in our state later.
- Making more soups and stews, which offer cold comfort during the winter anyway.
- Eating less meat. It's healthier as well as economical.  "High on the hog" doesn't have to give way to pigs' feet, however!
- Reduce, re-use and recycle, not only waste, but leftovers for lunches and soups, bones for stocks, and bread for crumbs, etc. 

MY FAVORITE KITCHEN TOOLS
 See that spatula with the green tips?  It's the next best thing to sliced bread.
I love it.  Made to withstand temps of up to 500 degrees, you can stir risottos, clean the pot's sides, stir fry, clean out a measuring cup or bowl, so many things.  I don't know how I cooked without it.  About $8 at Target.
And who can do without a sharp pair of kitchen shears?  Opening plastic, cutting string, snipping ends off green beans, they're indispensable.
My chefs knife fits my hands.  It has a good weight and feel about it.  And the hubby keeps it sharpened for me.  I use that for just about everything that needs to be chopped, sliced or pared, even. 
And my poultry shears.  They were a wedding present, that's how old they are!  But they are still sharp as razors, with serrated edges, and I can cut through the backbone of a raw chicken without even gritting my teeth, much less a cooked Cornish game hen.  
Then there's the angled measuring cup, my grandmother's old tin "cup", the serrated bread knife, the serrated tomato knife. . . . . . .
Gotta favorite?  E-mail carolinafoodie@hotmail.com

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