Plastic Grocery Bag Origami...

...AKA Things My Mother Learns While Watching Kooky Korean Television.

So even though my mother is Vietnamese, I think her eight years in Korea really did a number on her Southeast Asian psyche because when she wants to relax, she sits down to hours and hours of

- Korean soap operas where the men have the gayest hairdos EVER,

- superdepressing human interest documentary type shows that feature the most down on your luck Korean people you can imagine,

- superwacky variety shows featuring really bizarre acts from all over the world and hosted by a man who can only be described as a cross between that guy who hosts Sabado Gigante and Bobcat Goldthwait if that man were Korean, and

- Korean cooking shows that show you how, among other things like crisping up cabbage with ice water, to fold up your plastic grocery bags like a good little Japanese housewife might.

Seriously. Who comes up with this crap???

And then when I visit her, she shows me all these neat little tricks with a Kris Kringle twinkle in her eye like she just discovered the best thing since sliced bread.

I'll admit it. When my mom first showed me this grocery bag folding trick, I thought to myself: How bored and lonely of a housewife do you have to be to look at your plastic bag stash and come up with ways to bust a Martha on that mess of polyethylene??? 

But as it turns out, this really is a pretty neato, space saving trick for a gal who never throws them away, opting instead to repurpose them as trashbags, temporary fridge storage bags for produce, and Honeydew doo-wrappers (not with the same bag, mind you). Plus it's kinda soothingly zen to fold up your grocery bags, sort of in that weird way that washing dishes can be oddly relaxing.

PLASTIC GROCERY BAG ORIGAMI

1) Take your plastic grocery bag and roll/fold/scrunch it lengthwise so it's about 2 to 2.5 inches wide.

2) Roll the bag from the bottom up, leaving just the handles. I find it easy to wrap the bag around two fingers as I roll.

3) Take the bunny ears (bag handles) and twist them once so they don't come undone when you bring them around the front to tie them in a single knot.

4) Bring the handles around to the front widthwise and tie a single knot and !VOILA!

These are so much more compact and easy to store than if you just bunch them up and shove 'em in a drawer.

Now to wash the lunch dishes like the exciting and fascinating housebiatch I am...

shinae

Kitchen Housekeeping - Plastic Containers As New Best Friends...

These things:

Top to bottom: Toasted Thai rice powder, popcorn salt,
my pulled pork rub, and mung beans.

are my new best friends in the kitchen.

8 oz. squat polypropylene deli containers bought at Smart & Final (or other restaurant supply store type place), microwaveable so they say, 50 to a pack, about $7 for containers plus lids, roughly 15 cents a piece.

About 4 inches in diameter and 1.5 in height, they are the perfect spice and dry condiment containers. They're easily stacked and space efficient; it's easy to tell what's in them; and, if you're like me, they are, like most disposable things, washable and reusable. Not to mention perfect for a single serving of creamy soup or rice for lunch, or for gifting your neighbors with just enough jam or salsa with a cute Post-It stuck on top as a label.

Less expensive than Ziploc or Gladware containers, and, to my somewhat minimalist eye, more aesthetically pleasing too. (Not to mention devoid of those pesky logos I so detest.)

If I have a hard time making best friends with people in life, at least these containers can be my best friends in the kitchen.  :)

shinae

06.15.11 - In the interest of valuable information, please see Jim Leff's comment below regarding the safety of polypropylene containers, particularly when exposed to light and heat. It would appear the jury is still out on the level of danger posed, but it's always good to make informed decisions.

I'll probably keep these out of the microwave for the time being.

Happy Accident - Cleaning Without Cleaning...

I wrote a while back (well, tangentially, that is) about how you can't clean without cleaning. But actually, as I was making some strawberry jam yesterday, I remembered that I do have a way of cleaning, while cooking, without really cleaning. But by cleaning, I mean literally cleaning, not tidying. Sadly, you still have to put crap away in order to have your crap put away.

I don't remember when I discovered that cooking acidic foods polishes the insides of my stainless steel pots and pans, but I'm pretty sure it was a long time ago (long before these incorrigible and recently very aggressive grays started creeping up on my head) and had something to do with a doctored bottle of Prego (or was it Ragu...???). 

I've long since graduated from syrupy sweet pasta sauce from a jar, but the lesson has remained, and whenever I want to renew that pristine finish to the insides of my stainless, I cook some fruit jam or tomato based sauce, and the surface comes beautifully clean with no effort (but the cooking of course).

what to do with a basket of
so-so strawberries...

Just strawberries, sugar, a squeeze of
lemon juice and a pinch of salt.
So much better than Smuckers
and wayyyy less sugar, too!

so very clean and shiny
(I try to ignore the scratches I made
while stirring my jam with a
stainless steel spoon.
They make me hate myself a little.)

Tomorrow's the 4th, and I have no idea what we're eating, but I can assure you it won't be burgers. I am burgered out.

shinae