Barb

Barb’s Corner

Send questions, comments, tips, etc.,

to Pegasus557@aol.com or via mail to:

2809 NE 32 Street, Lighthouse Point, FL 33064, and they'll be featured in the following month's newsletter.

by Barbara Seidman

If you don't enter, you've no chance of winning.

If you don't write those "letters,"

you won't make all those new “friends” as I have over the years...

READERS’ TIPS OF THE MONTH

Fran, of NYC (my sister) - Green cleaning tip: peroxide, not bleach!

www.francostigan.com (Chef, Vegan baking instructor, Cookbook Author, Diva of Dairy Free Desserts).

Barbara, of Boca RatonWhen shopping for eggplant, look at the bottom of it, opposite the stem top. If it has a tan circle or almost a circle, it’ll have less seeds and it won’t be bitter. It’s a female eggplant. The male eggplant usually has tan mark that looks like a line or /, rather than 0.

Marcia, our Commodore, suggested starting a

“Healthy Eats Corner”

Baked Coconut Shrimp

Prepare 3 bowls:

1/3 c. cornstarch with 3/4 tsp. salt

3 large egg whites - beaten frothy.

1 ½ c. flaked sweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

1 ½ lb. peeled shrimp - tails on.

Dip them into cornstarch, egg whites, and then coconut.

Place on baking sheet coated with cooking spray.

Lightly coat shrimp with cooking spray.

Bake for 20 mins. - Then turn after 10 mins.

Serve with a fruit salsa - as good as “Coconuts”.

MORE GREEN TIPS

Use a more energy-efficient 2008 model refrigerator instead of a 2001 model or older.

· Drive a car that gets 35 mpg instead of the national average of 25 mpg.

· Lower your thermostat by a degree in winter and raise it by a degree in summer (tried & true!)

· Switch from 75-watt incandescent bulbs to 19-watt compact fluorescent bulbs.

Turn down your gas hot water heater from 140 degrees to 120 degrees.Dry half your laundry on a clothes rack instead of using a dryer (I’ve always done that!)

WHAT TO DO WITH THAT OLD TV? RECYCLE.

What’ll happen to some 15M analog TV sets rendered obsolete after the transition to digital transmission on 2/17/09? 25% of them will be recycled. Check out www.mygreenelectronics.org

or go to www.earth911.org. Type in your zip code and a list of area recycling centers pops up with addresses and phone numbers. Or call the U.S. Environmental Recycling Hotline

@ 1/800/253-2687. Call your recycling center first - not all accept TV’s. Another option: go to manufacturers and retailers, who’ll have their own plans.

Or go to www.epa.gov/rcc/plugin.

GARBAGE DISPOSAL IN SINK

Don’t put these items down the drain: shells from shell fish and the shells when peeling hard-boiled eggs; corn husks, artichokes or celery (this is interesting!).

PROTECT YOUR HOME WHILE YOU TRAVEL

Have the post office hold your mail. This can be initiated by calling the U.S. Postal Service @ 1/800/275-8777 and listening to the option for putting a vacation hold on your mail. You can make arrangements up to 30 days in advance of your vacation; at minimum 2 days will be needed to process your request. Or you can go to the postal service website at https://dunsapp.usps.gov/HoldMail.jsp and follow the instructions.

· Ones best success comes after their greatest disappointments. Henry Ward Beecher

· It’s simply a matter of doing what you do best and not worrying about what the other fellow is going to do. John R. Amos

Until next time, Barb

APRIL - (MARCH IS BELOW)
I have been using a lot of my own tips lately, and have discovered some new ones that I’d like to share with you:
Some solid deodorants can be “hard” and difficult to apply. One day while using my hair dryer, I put some heat on the deodorant stick for just a few seconds, and it softened, just enough to make the application quite smooth.
Every time I clean my stove, I use a tip I read about long ago. When cleaning the racks, I spray them with “Easy Off, No Fume Cleaner,” and then put them in a large plastic garbage bag. Within hours, whatever’s baked onto the racks usually scrubs off quite easily. This works better when the racks are warm to hot. The last time I did this, the racks had cooled, so I put the bag in the sun, which heated them up just enough. I read about, and wrote my readers about, using automotive windshield wiper fluid to clean mirrors and glass vs. pricey Windex. I bought both the pink fluid, and the blue fluid, and it really does cut through the grime and dirt without leaving the white foggy residue that Windex sometimes does, plus it costs almost nothing.
I’m back to writing my letters to companies, after a short hiatus, and making lots of new company contacts. “You don’t ask, you don’t get.” “If you don’t let a company know there’s a problem, they cannot correct your situation.” Soon my mail will be full of surprises. THIS & THAT FIRECRACKER LOTTO: The tickets will go on sale from May 18 to July 3, 2008. They’re $20 each, and there’ll be lots of winners for many different monetary amounts. BANANAS: Peel a banana from the bottom and you won’t have to pick the little “stringy things” off of it. That’s how the primates do it. Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store. If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster. CHEESE: Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. They will stay fresh much longer and not mold. PEPPERS: Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking. BROKEN GLASS: Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can’t see easily. CLOSET CLUTTER: Remember the “one in, one out” rule. If you buy something new, something old has to go. That’s the way to avoid clutter, crammed closets and drawers. It keeps things in balance, and it really works. The “out” pile can be donated to a worthy cause. SNORING: Drink a small amount (just a quick sip) of olive oil and it will lubricate your throat and stop the snoring. The yo-yo was originally a weapon used in the Philippine jungles.

MARCH COLUMN

Here's a Nifty Trick

You don't need to cry over chopped onions anymore. Before slicing or chopping the onion, just light a candle nearby. The heat from the flame burns off some of the noxious vapors that can cause your eyes to water.

When chopping onions, put your cutting board on top of one of the burners of a gas cook top. Turn the burner that is next to it, on a lowish flame. This small flame absorbs the vapors that emanate from the onion. You can chop for days, and no tears.

Carpet Stains

Baby wipes are miracle workers on carpet stains, from motor oil to blood, they remove almost anything.

Shower Doors

Spray Resolve on the shower door and run a dish sponge over it and rinse. Every bit of the soap scum will come up.

Wallpaper Spots

To remove grease spots from wallpaper, place a small piece of brown paper bag against the stain on the wall and iron with iron setting on warm. Iron in a circular motion. Keep replacing pieces of paper bag until spot is gone.

Aromatic Barbecuing

Don't throw away peelings from onions. When using a grill, toss peels on hot coals while cooking for a wonderful smell.

ICE Your Cell Phone Paramedics will turn to a victim's cell phone for clues to that person's identity. You can make their job much easier with a simple idea that they are trying to get everyone to adopt: ICE. ICE stands for In Case of Emergency. If you add an entry in the contacts list in your cell phone under ICE, with the name and phone number of the person that the emergency services should call on your behalf, you can save them a lot of time and have your loved ones contacted quickly. It only takes a few moments. Paramedics and hospital staff know what ICE means and they look for it immediately. So please ICE your cell phone now.

Why Oh Why?

Ø Why is the third hand on the watch called the second hand?

Ø Why does fat chance and slim chance mean the same thing?

Ø Why do tug boats push their barges?

Ø If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?

Ø The average chocolate bar has 8 insect legs in it.

Ø As you age, your eye color gets lighter.

Until next time, Barb