GOODS THINGS FOR 2013......Good Products and a few Good Ideas!!

I used to call these posts "a little of this.....and a little
of that"  They tend to be on the long side so grab a cup of coffee...or tea......Sally my dear...this one is for you...
a few of these things you might already know about but
they are so good I thought I would get the word out
since Marguerite up in Jersey had no idea that
the very best thing to clean your stainless steel
appliances with is...
WD-40!!
so I'm figuring if she didn't know someone else might not
know...I use the can with the little red thingie...you just
flip up the lid and spritz and give your appliance a good wipe
down and the shine is unreal....
it only smells funny for a few minutes but the
shine it gives is worth it...

I'm married to Georgia's version of Tony Soprano
so you know I have to produce a good sauce for the Boss...
or as Italians call it...."Sunday Gravy"
Rao's is expensive in terms of jarred gravy....
But.....nothing and I mean nothing has to be done to it....
I confess I do drizzle a bit of olive oil on top when heating
and maybe a teaspoon or so of sugar....
Other then that if you decide to.... you can just pop this open...heat it up...
and enjoy....it's excellent...
on sale you can expect to pay about $6.99 for a good size jar.

Best appliance of the Century!
the Cuisinart crock pot...
Ever since 1994 when the Cobb County fire department
had to be called out to the house by my neighbor when
smoke was pouring out one of our windows....I was advised to
try cooking using a crock pot...
I have used one a few times a week every since...
it seems Sue is not suited to multi-task......
as in wanting to eat an egg salad sandwich and going
to the mall....
Anyhoo....
Crock pots are cheap right?
You probably have one in your kitchen and never use it...
You can get one as cheap as $12.99 at Walmart....
and they work just fine....But when you get to be an
"Ar'teest" at crock pot cooking you yearn for something fancy...
So last year daughter bought me a gorgeous All-Clad
stainless model with a porcelain insert....beautiful to look at..
your basic temperatures and very heavy to clean.
It died in less then a year....But!! when you buy things at
Williams Sonoma you can pretty much not worry about these things...They are always happy to replace things that go bad....
so they suggested I try the above model....
Fantastic is all I can say....it does everything.....from sauteing...a wonderful feature so you can brown your ingredients first and save cleaning another pan....
to high/low/simmer/warm....a light weight non stick finish makes
it a breeze to clean even the heaviest soil....soak it a few minutes
and wipe it clean....About $200.....if your in to crock pots.
This is the one for you....You will love it!

Great "Idea" for 2013 to pre-heat your oven.....
I find myself sometimes at midnight being asked to make the
Boss his favorite dessert....Pepperidge Farm Turnovers...
you know the frozen kind that need to be baked at a 400 degree oven after you have pre-heated it to 450 then they need to bake for 20 minutes and then cool....
This was getting to be old...so I called Wolf/SubZero and
asked how long should my oven take to pre-heat to 400.
20 minutes at least I'm told......well come on....it's midnight
I want to go to bed.....
here's a trick....
turn on your broiler.....it heats up in less then 5 minutes...
then shut it off and turn on your oven to your needed temperature.
and you will find it's either at the needed temperature or seconds away from 
getting to it....this works like a charm when you need a hot temperature...for lesser degrees...less time on broil

sorry......I love my appliances...someone suggested I had
some sort of issue by owning two of every thing... Not true...
I had the Kitchen Aid on the left....got the new house and
the Boss bought me the one on the right....
If your thinking of buying one or if you have the left model and
thinking of upgrading to the one on the right....
DON'T DO IT.....
if your a cake baker or actually anything that will have
a lot of batter or anything that will fill the bowl at least
half way up.... this mixer is awful.
With the head that lifts up instead of tilting back like the one
on the left....it's a real pain to remove the attachment without
making a mess..a bad design in my eyes...

Cheese????.....No.....
glass plates.....love love love them..
they cost about $1.00 a piece...a little larger then a sandwich plate...not as large as a dinner plate...If you are in the kitchen all
day long like I am...which is probably not likely unless the Boss
has a twin somewhere...here is what I do....
I keep a big stack of these out on the counter all the time...
you don't even notice them because....well....they're glass.
this prevents me from breakfast lunch and snacks having to
reach up into the cabinets for a real plate...they are a perfect size
for a small breakfast....a lunch time sandwich or a late night snack.....Our kitchen does not shut down until well after
midnight....I go through a stack a day.
These are also good if you ever find pretty paper plates for a party or have old plates from the 40's or 50's where you're not
sure if they are safe to eat on.....like my 1950's souvenir state
plates....Just pop one of these on top..you get to see what's beneath and your eating on a real plate that is safe!

With the New Year of course comes the ever popular
Diet.....
I have lost 20 pounds in the past three months....with a little
help from my beloved Dr. H after he realized I needed a jump start.....But I have changed the way I was eating....I discovered it's
not necessary what you eat....it's how much you eat...
here's a very satisfying breakfast....
I scramble that egg and I make an egg sandwich on one of these
wonderful little potato rolls....
egg=99 calories.....roll= 80 calories....great way to start the day.
And it is true that you have to have something to eat in the morning to get you jump started...

lunch.....I do salt up the cottage cheese for that whole
salty/sweet combo and at 100 calories...I often have these
as a late night snack too....
Publix our grocer here in the South just ran these this week on sale
10 for $5.00.....yup 50 cents a piece....

after dinner treat.....60 calories for the little puddings and
jello....I add an extra amount of Land O Lakes sugar free
Whipped Cream....a normal amount = 20 calories...
I no longer drink Coke Zero all day long.....it just turned out not
to be a "good thing".....I switched to water....much better...
I never leave home without a bottle of Dasani....
I eat a steak usually twice a week......grilled cheese sandwiches...
pasta....But I have given up mashed potatoes...It seems to be working...still enjoying a good pizza too...just not the whole
thing....

it seems to be bad weather all over blog land....
treat yourself to some fresh flowers....
I buy old fashioned carnations and whatever these other things
are called...You all know what they are....
they never die is what they are!!
Good for a good two weeks...they make the house Happy
I buy three bunches....I alternate colors every other week...
$12.99 for 3 bunches...

here is pure Heaven in a Bottle....
I treated myself at the airport in Paris to this stuff....
if your looking to change perfumes.....beautiful smell that
lasts and lasts....I go to bed at night and I can still smell it....
Cartier describes it as having a
"limpid freshness....an ode to simplicity"
I couldn't have said it better myself if I were French......
about $90. for a good size bottle...
one spritz a day this should last a very long time..

okay prepare yourself for this next one....
You know I have been known to talk about "boobs"....
no no.....not my ex-son-in-law.....

what women hasn't had a problem finding a really good
strapless bra.....discussing this the other day with my good
blog friends Linda and Sandie over lunch....This one found at
Target is a winner....at $16.99 it's a steal compared to all the
custom bra shops that are popping up all over....
the discussion started over Sandie's visit to a shop here in
town called "Livi Rose"....it seems they even scored themselves
their own reality show.....I have not seen it but seems like an
interesting concept?

the quest for a good strapless bra came from the fact that
almost all my tops I wear seem to be boat neck...
and there was the day in Publix when I was making a complaint to one of the managers about a deli employee when during the
entire conversation she kept looking down in the area around my waist.....You do know where this story is headed....luckily it was
a women manager.....I get home and ask the Boss if something looked funny on me....he told me to look down....
at which time I realized my "bandeau" style bra had slipped down
and was around my waist....It looked like I had a huge goiter..or
worse four boobs....
Horrifying.....
So no matter how big or how small those boobs are this bra.......
I guarantee..... will stay where it's suppose to....

Here is my second good idea for your New Year.....
no matter how old you get you are never too old to take something you have disliked or in my case hated all my life
and re-think your opinion.....Give it a try....
I'm still not comfortable enough to make too much contact with
Miss Coco Chanel.....but we are slowly getting attached to
one another....she's a wild cat and my friend Necie tells me
wild cats have rabies....but look at that face....
she now basically lives on our back porch....we even bought her
 a house for the winter.....
Always a dog person....this one is even surprising me....

and lastly.....see how good this looks....and Oh it smelled
just as good.....similar to the hot breads served at
the Macaroni Grill and other Italian chain joints....
BUT....

it's a "bad thing".....
horrible....horrible....tastes like...wallpaper paste with
Italian seasoning....stay away from being tempted to buy this at all costs....

and as I hear a sigh of relief coming out of my computer..
I have come to the end of my picks for
"Good things for 2013"
the best thing for the New Year is to just have fun at least
for a few minutes every day.....and in the words of my father
"Siggy".....

"Reeeeeeeeeeeeelax"


*****my neighbor read this post and asked if WD-40 can be used on appliances because she thought it was flammable. YES.....
it is according to the can. I use this on the front of the fridge, dishwasher, warming tray and the front (not near the burners) of my stove when NOT  in use or if it's hot after use.
The use of this product was told to me by the delivery
and installation folks at
Guy T. Gunther Associates in Atlanta
sellers of commercial appliances years ago and I
have used it ever since never with a problem. Just make sure 
you don't use it when the burners are on!!
and wipe off thoroughly....