STAYING IN TOUCH

When I started my blog a few years ago, I found myself focusing mostly on creativity.  I think this is because art and writing were my means of escaping my regimented life.  Now that I am retired, I find myself more interested in the nuts and bolts of life in a much more practical way.  For example, I feel compelled to share with people how they can keep their trashcans from stinking.  Perhaps a little background is appropriate here.

It is only in the past year that my family has become dedicated to recycling everything that can be recycled.  This means we only produce one small bag of trash each week and that we can put out the trash once a week instead of twice.  Keeping the trash longer, however, can result in it starting to ripen a bit, and can stink up the kitchen.  The solution is to do a couple of simple things.  Recycled items must be washed thoroughly, and food scraps should be put into a separate, re-sealable container.  I use a stainless steel cookie jar with a tight fitting lid.  I keep a small plastic bag in it to keep it from getting too messy, and it sits  quite inconspicuously on the end of my kitchen counter. 

This is not a new idea, of course.  When I was a city kid spending summers in my Nanny’s country kitchen, I found it strange that she always kept an empty ice cream carton on her counter beside the sink.  This was for food scraps—a necessity since her sink did not have a garbage disposal.  At the end of each day, the chore of scraping out the food scraps was assigned to one of us kids.

Since I don’t currently have a compost heap into which I can scrape scraps, I simply keep the container sealed until trash day, then place the bag into the trash for pickup. 

We do have a garbage disposal, but a lot of people do not, and really, most food should not be put down the drain.  Things like apple cores, potato skins, pecan shells, etc, can put too much of a strain on the grinding mechanism, and the ground up food can clog the drain.  So, overall, the scrap container seems to be a viable answer for our household.

And I can’t say enough about the difference recycling has made in our household.  We now put only about ¼ as much trash on the curb each week.  It has also made me more aware of the things I buy and the things I throw away.  Just before school was out for the summer, I was discussing with some of my students how important it was to recycle, reuse, redesign, or even donate things instead of sending them to the landfill.  I had a counter-height table from my classroom that I was thinking of getting rid of, but decided instead to cut six inches off the legs and paint a zebra pattern on the top.   It is now a great sofa table that also makes a perfect place to eat dinner or have a snack while watching a movie in the living room.  (I know I am not the only one who admittedly eats in front of the TV from time to time!)

In general, I am trying not to just coast through life, but to be more aware.  Who knows what I will discover!?!?!  I will close today with a simple recipe shared with me by my daughters. 

Granny Smith Salad

Start by pan toasting some pecans, which have been broken up into small pieces.  I usually add about a half teaspoon of olive oil, because I like to season the nuts with a little Montreal Steak Seasoning, and the oil helps it adhere.  I then toss the cooled pecans into a mixed green salad, add Granny Smith apple slices, and crumble some goat cheese into it.  My dressing of choice is Girard’s Light Champagne Dressing, which I get from Braums.  (I walk to Braums, by the way, because another thing I have become aware of is how much more I appreciate the groceries I buy during my walking trips!)  I have become such a fan of this salad, that sometimes I don’t even include the greens, but just eat sliced apples with the cheese and nuts.  And strangely enough, the vinegar in the dressing keeps the apples from turning brown and allows you to store leftovers effectively.

It is funny that my blog today began with a search for knowledge and awareness, and ended up focusing on the apple which is often a symbol for knowledge.  As George Bernard Shaw said,  “If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples, then you and I will still each have one apple.  But if you have an idea and I have an idea, and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.”