Now Here’s a Tip – November 10, 2020

#Middlebury

• This is a wonderful tip received via email: If you have a panic button for your car alarm, keep your keys by the bedside. If you experience a problem during the night, trip the panic alarm. Let your trusted neighbors know about your intention, and they will be able to assist you.
• “Great gravy is only a plastic bag away! This is my tip for separating the fat from pan drippings to make gravy. I take a quart-size plastic bag and set it in a glass measuring cup. Pour the pan drippings through a strainer, right into the bag. Let it sit for 15-20 minutes, and the fat will separate to the top. Seal the bag, and snip a small hole in a bottom corner, drain the liquid into a saucepan to make gravy. It’s that easy.” – T.C. in Idaho
• Whenever I am baking and the recipe calls for, say, 1 cup of honey (or some other sticky substance), I used to pour the honey into the measuring cup but then have a hard time getting all the honey back out of the cup and into the mixing bowl. Now I rinse the measuring cup with water right before measuring, or spray with nonstick cooking spray. The honey slides right out!
• To create a self-watering area for potted plants while you are on vacation, set plants in the bathtub or in a kiddie pool and use a length of cotton rope to wick water from the bathtub to the plant’s roots. You can either stick it up the holes in the bottom of the pot or dig it down a few inches into the soil. This should get you by for a week or so.
• If you have a table that’s wobbly because of an uneven leg, and you are a wine drinker, you’re in luck. Take a wine cork, cut it in small slices and glue the slices to the uneven leg until the table no longer wobbles. Easy!

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