Monthly Archives: November 2022

other things

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Fer Caggiano painting

Today is just one of those days that makes you think. I had to be home today, so I used Instacart. I will be honest I like this as a service. And for the most part I also really like the people that work for them. Today my person was a woman new to the area. Why and how she’s new to the area gave me pause.

This woman is here because of Hurricane Ian. Her husband has a job that requires a lot of travel. He spends a lot of time in this part of the Northeast. But they were living in Florida. Until hurricane Ian took everything. So she and her husband have relocated for at least the near term. His job is based out of the suburban Philadelphia area at this point, and well they just lost everything in a hurricane.

So as we’re sitting in our houses, apartments, townhouses, condos, wherever we need to pause a moment. Forget about all the hate and vitriol, think about people that go through things like this. And they go through it with a smile on their face and a positive attitude.

Also today I got to spend a little time with a friend of mine I don’t get to see very often. Life kind of intervenes and there are people that you just don’t see it as often as you would like. But again this is a person who has had quite the year, and is still positive and smiling and happy.

Today I also got to meet a Brazilian artist. She also has relocated to this area. And another person who just radiates niceness and positivity. The artist is Fer Caggiano, and I was introduced to her through a mutual friend. For this post I borrowed a photo of one of her paintings because it’s kind of how I’m feeling today, right or wrong. The link to Fer‘s website is embedded in the caption of her painting above.

The painting you see above made me check out a video of one of her shows, a show called “Like a Girl.”

Fer Caggiano is now calling Chester County home. It is kind of amazing that she is here. Her work is interesting, thought provoking, imaginative. I am not an art critic, I am just someone who likes things which strike me in some way The portraits in her Dare to Dream are cool. They aren’t traditional, they aren’t abstract, they are an interpretation of life and the essence of her subjects. Fer is also part of the NFT artwork movement.

What is an NFT artwork? NFT art is a digitalized piece of artwork that a person has tokenized onto a blockchain. Admittedly, that is not my jam as I like to look at art more traditionally. But Fer is multi talented, so she is an artist you can buy actual physical pieces from.

Fer is based out of Malvern now and Hands In on King St. They are located at 346 E. King St, Malvern. Now this business is owned by my friend Susie De Rafelo. Susie and I became friends because of a common love of gardening. Susie is amazing, (truly) and so multi talented and artistic. We are very lucky that this Chester County born woman returned to her roots and brought her business and imagination with her.

Hands In is a fair trade business. I am a fan of fair trade, as my long time friend Sherry Tillman has always practiced this through her business, Past*Present*Future , which is in Ardmore, PA.

Today started out like more of an average day. I also had hate mail in time for election day from some woman (a Stepford Wife for Totalitarianism) who should be ashamed of herself and her lack of intellectual ability, but she won’t be. She is a bless your heart and move on. You can read what she sent to me in my post this morning.

As humans, we are not designed to be mirror images of one and other. But in today’s hate and vitriol filled world, if you aren’t exactly like someone, you are bad. Ok, so to people like this morning’s fan, I am bad. If I don’t agree with someone on social media, I am bad. But I am tired of these people, and increasingly intolerant. I wasn’t born to live in a beige, beige world. I like color. I accept life can be messy, yet glorious. If you can’t, I am sorry, but that’s on you. These people are far too plentiful these days. And that is sad. But today, ugliness was once more balanced out with good. I appreciate that divine intervention, so to speak.

Thank you to the unintentionally inspirational women with whom I interacted today. You guys make life and the world a better place.

Now, if you haven’t already, please go vote.

Ciao.

today.

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Today is the day, Pennsylvania. No excuses. Get out and vote.

Happy Election Day!

From a friend who works the polls:

Please do not post photos of poll workers OR of your ballot. Please remember that people in line to vote NEVER ASKED TO BE IN YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS- PLEASE DON’T POST THEIR FACES

If you want change in Pennsylvania, be the change. Use your power of your vote. Today is a day where people with a brain know the power of apathy and excuses for not getting to the polls to vote won’t cut it.

If you spot something wrong at your poll, call the police. Report it. Document it. Do not be intimidated by people at the polls and if that happens, call the police. Your vote is between you and your conscience.

This morning when I logged onto my blog’s Facebook page, to follow is what was waiting for me. I am giving you the screenshots I am not covering anything up. I am finished with being harassed by people like this.

And these are people, women like this especially, who don’t realize that the reason you fight for rights and free and fair elections is so even idiots like herself can have those rights. Bless her heart she is so limited in her personal worldview that she doesn’t get that visiting anyone’s Facebook page public or private is a privilege, not a right.

Needless to say she can shove it where the sun don’t shine. If this is who is lecturing anyone on manners, what a sad sorry state of affairs the world is.

If you choose not to vote, please don’t complain after the fact as you will only have yourself to blame.

I already voted. My vote is counted. I voted to protect a woman’s right to choose. as in every woman, no matter what that choice might be.

There’s nothing left to say. Go vote.

Pax

what kind of guy….not our guy

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Guy Ciarrocchi is running for Congress in the 6th District. I know it gets confusing, because earlier in 2022 he also ran for governor. I’m going to include screenshots.

He’s not my kind of Guy, that is for sure. That being said, please think before you vote tomorrow.

He seems like the kind of Guy who drags out his heritage when it’s politically expedient. I also have plenty of relatives in South Philadelphia. I also have Irish and Italian lineage. (Of course my lineage gets more interesting because there’s also a dash of Pennsylvania German.) They are part of what make me who I am. I’m proud of those roots. They were hard-working, nice people. They taught me to stand up for myself among other things.

Again…..If politicians are judged by the company they keep, check out the company he’s been keeping especially recently in Berks County…..He’s very careful not to appear in a photo with Mastriano, which I find interesting, but do note with whom you find him. And where. #whereisGUY ? Hmmmm.

Now in 2008 or thereabouts there was an entire website devoted to him. That’s how strong people felt when he was running for State Representative against Paul Drucker. See:

https://whatkindofguy.wordpress.com/

Things that bug me include:

Click to access 61dcb90ca1453ddef5ba3d28_Guy%20Ciarrocchi%20Bio.pdf

If you can still access that link above that is his old gubernatorial website from early 2022. That is kind of sloppy, truthfully.

it is basically the same bio verbatim as found on this website where they refer to him as a “young gun“: https://nrcc.org/candidates/guy-ciarrocchi/

Then there is this:

December 2021: Ciarrocchi Said Roe v. Wade Was “Bad Law” Based On “Very, Very Outdated Science.” “GOP gubernatorial candidate Guy Ciarrocchi, who is on hiatus from his job as the president of the Chester County Chamber of Commerce said, ‘I am pro-life. But, whether or not one agrees with Roe v Wade, we should all be saddened to know that millions of babies have died—30,000 each year in our state. The decision focused on a baby’s viability in 1973. At a minimum, we should all agree that viability is now much, much earlier due to scientific advances. So, Roe is now not only bad law, it’s based on very, very outdated science. It is time for Roe to be replaced.’” [Delaware Valley Journal, 12/1/21]

November 2003: Ciarrocchi Said A Court Decision Overturning Massachusetts’s State Ban On Same-Sex Marriage Was “Bad Moral Decision” Because It Would Make The Term Marriage “Meaningless.”  “For Haddonfield resident Diane Marini, yesterday’s Massachusetts high-court decision overturning the state ban on same-sex civil marriage could carry her closer to her dream: to legally marry her partner of 12 years, Marilyn Maneely. ‘We’ve raised five kids together, but we as a couple have no rights,’ said Marini, who with Maneely is among seven gay couples suing for similar legal recognition in New Jersey. […] Guy Ciarrocchi, director of the Philadelphia Archdiocese Office for Public Affairs, saw it as ‘a bad legal decision and a bad moral decision.’ ‘It’s bad legally,’ he said, ‘because it continues down a dangerous path of allowing courts to decide important legal issues rather than legislatures. And it’s bad as a moral decision because if every relationship the participants believe is special is deemed marriage, at some point the term marriage becomes meaningless.’” [Philadelphia Inquirer, 11/19/03]

~ The Case Against Guy Ciarrocchi



So let’s circle back to he never seems to appear in a photo with Mastriano. As a matter fact he seems to show up at events were Mastriano is but not in Chester County which is very interesting. To me that says that even this guy thinks Mastriano isn’t good for Pennsylvania. I’m allowed to have that opinion. I’m sure my opinion will upset his cheerleading collective from Moms for Liberty and Pennsylvania Conservative Women (formerly Conservative Women of the Main Line or whatever.) These “ladies“ I collectively refer to as the Stepford Wives for Totalitarianism. But the event in Berks county was interesting because it was hanging with a bunch of people from an extremist group. Again.

And then he goes door-knocking in HIS neck of the woods . So he doesn’t tell people he’s a Republican, he tells them he’s an Independent? Dude, can’t be a little bit preggers here since you’re against abortion which must include political abortion too, right? Haven’t you said you were an independent when running for things before? So if you actually are not a Republican why run as one?


The extremism stance is a familiar M.O. if you refer back to the what kind of Guy website. I offered to you some screenshots from that website. And I’m really glad that website stayed up because it is very informative. And that is the biggest problem with today is people do not do their own research. Too many do something or say something or repeat something just because someone told you to. That’s why these groups like the Stepford Wives for Totalitarianism have so many members. Here are the screenshots:


We do not need any more divisiveness in Washington, D.C. and this isn’t because he’s a Republican, it’s because the Republican Party only shows the American voter crappy candidates. It’s kind of a problem across the country but it’s like pervasive dangerous mold in Pennsylvania it’s so bad. This country is a democracy based on a two party system, but when you have one party that is no longer the party of Lincoln and that is the most polite way I can think of putting it, fielding sub par candidates and pandering to extremism, welll dayyuummmm….we live in crazy times. Usually I am a ticket splitter. There is not one Republican I could actually vote for with a clear conscience in 2022. Not one. Well except for Chris Quinn. I could vote for him for State Rep if he was a choice. He’s a good dude.

So it’s up to you tomorrow who you vote for. But this “Guy” is a man who has run for lots of offices and just is quite simply put, out for himself. It’s not about us, it’s about him. And if you are a woman in Pennsylvania especially, he’s not your Guy and it is EXACTLY that simple.

Get out and vote tomorrow. Don’t make excuses, find the time. It’s too important.

Thanks for stopping by.

it’s pa election sing 🎤 🎵🎶 along time!!!

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I am injecting a little humor. These are some of my favorite candidates this election season and I just think they should sing about themselves.

Enjoy the giggles before election day.

this is WHY you need to VOTE tuesday.

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Today is ugly season in Downingtown at Kerr Park. Their objective? To be louder, uglier, and nastier than everyone else.

This makes them (in their minds) better Americans than you and I.

They aren’t. It’s not actually a contest.

But all of this ugliness is exactly WHY people have to get out and vote Tuesday. They are exactly the reason we have to vote to preserve our rights. And those rights are whichever ones apply to us as human beings and Americans. If you think about it, to an extent, this election season is about protecting the basic human rights Americans enjoy, isn’t it? Our rights aren’t subjective.

Oh and where would we be without a Ron Paul t-shirt sighting as well?

The ugliness and abusive behavior and implied violence is supposed to make you afraid to stand up. It’s still the basic premise of bullies only win if you allow them. Trust me, I know. Threats and implied threats and harassment have become every day behavior for bloggers and other independent voices that aren’t interested in political cultism.

Those photos above demonstrate clearly that the Chester County GOP panders to extremism and extremists. If you are a Republican and you care about the party of Lincoln, I hope Tuesday you vote to keep their current slate of insanity and inadequacy out of office. I hope you vote to save what’s left of your party by voting against them.

Republicans and Democrats need to try to set a path forward to return to moderation, balance, and a viable working two party system. Because we need a viable two-party working system to maintain a democracy. That means saying NO to the ENTIRE GOP slate this time.

We are already “free people.” Our founding fathers fought, died, and bled for it. that means that these people also get to demonstrate their ugliness, sadly. But it doesn’t mean they have to win. But it means that Kumbaya time is over and you need to get out and vote on Tuesday.

I am just one voice. This is not my sole responsibility, and more of you need to find your individual voices. How we move forward as a county, state, region, and a country is a “We the People” kind of thing. I am not interested in people telling me how I should think and how I should write and what I should write about. I am writing about this because it matters to me personally. When I was born, women had limited rights. Women weren’t even really supposed to have their own bank accounts and credit card accounts and store charge accounts. And along with everything else, we vote Tuesday as women to preserve our rights. Don’t tell me you care, show me you care by actually voting.

Now please let me enjoy the rest of my Sunday.

hey lower merion residents, is this your billboard future?

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Hey Lower Merion Township/Penn Valley/Gladwyne is this your future?

The secret is out. Once again the billboard baron is on the march. A reminder of what they did in East Whiteland Township, Chester County:

Oh and these are the trees they weren’t allowed to take in East Whiteland because residents went to PennDOT:

What has recently been heard regarding East Whiteland is that Catalyst withdrew their application from Penndot not so long ago and something like the billboard site is being sold to yet another billboard company?

And here are more views of current uses of the West Conshohocken sign not really so far away from where they want them in Lower Merion:

Yeah so read what came out from one Lower Merion Township Commissioner, Josh Grimes. And people say the commissioner in Bryn Mawr, Scott Zelov is all for moving the billboards so it now becomes the problem of another area of the township? Pretty obnoxious if true, right? Especially given all of the support other commissioners have gladly provided to him all these years over billboards in Bryn Mawr? Really hope this isn’t true don’t you? I also wonder who he’s using for a lawyer this time? Because unless I am mistaken I believe the lawyer he used and East Whiteland is actually Radnor Commissioner Jack Larkin and I wonder how he would feel if the shoe was on the other foot and they wanted to put billboards in Radnor?

And what’s with the carrot and rabbit psychology by billboard company? Kind of like what they did in East Whiteland, right? Perhaps it’s being done this way in Lower Merion because the objective all along was to get the giant TV billboards on the Schuylkill Expressway? Maybe the billboards should go up at “Maple Hill”? That’s in Gladwyne, right?

Please visit Daily Mail to read article

So my opinion which I’m entitled to have as I hope lower Merion fights these billboards because just because the man can buy a house in Lower Merion it doesn’t mean Lower Merion should have to be the location for his billboards unless they’re going on his own front lawn, Anyway, here is what Lower Merion residents are now facing:

a loss to mourn: taken too soon, julie powell

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Writer and blogger Julie Powell has died. At 49, from a heart attack. I am actually truly sad about this. She was unique and I loved her writing style.

You also have to understand, Julie Powell and I never met in person. We were Facebook/Twitter peeps, and we did (do) actually have real people we share in common. So we were connected in that way.

I was a huge fan of her book, Julie & Julia which became a movie of the same name that I have also watched so many times.

I also was a reader of her blog. I could identify with the dead end jobs in NYC, as I had a couple of those there. I could also identify with trying to discover who I was and wish people wouldn’t look at me strangely or whatever when I say I am a blogger. Ironically, we started blogging at the same time. It was new, and people weren’t doing it. Our subject matter was different, I am not saying I am as good a blogger, writer, or anything like that, I just remember the early days of blogging…and Twitter.

Her blog was real, and sometimes raw, much like her social media musings. The blogging AFTER her original blog became a book ran from 2005 – 2010. (/http://juliepowell.blogspot.com/). I read that too. As an early person on the blogoshpere, I followed and read a lot of people. This was something not everyone was doing back then, and it certainly wasn’t the purview of mommy bloggers and more, like the people with the seemingly perfect lives and headshots and photoshoot photos taken solely for social media.

Because of Julie, I figured I would try Julia Child recipes. I figured why not? You see, although a lot of Julia Child’s recipes aren’t that complicated, her recipes can be intimidating. But through Julie Powell, I learned Julia Child. Shall we say, this is the woman who humanized Julia Child?

Julie Powell was found more on Twitter than Facebook. She didn’t really seem to be especially enamored of the Metaverse, and often said so. All these years later, I still enjoyed her musings even in first 140 characters or less, and then 280 characters or less. She could be insightful, outrageous, funny, sad, self-deprecating, and always her own fearless voice.

And Julie liked to cook. I think that is cool. So many people have these giant, glorious kitchens and most are just for show. They don’t even get their ovens dirty. When she was blogging from her apartment with it’s teeny tiny shrinky dink 4 burner stove a lot of that time, so was I. I had the same stove, only mine was white. I even had similar steel wire shelves for storage. And the same apartment sized refrigerator. Honestly, I produced some amazing meals in my shrinky dink kitchen, and she was luckier than I, because she had a gas stove.

Through her online musings we learned of her own human frailties, and I so admired her courage to be honest. I especially respected her ability to say she was feeling anxiety and depression. As a woman, that’s hard. Society may say they wish every woman everywhere to be utterly themselves, an original, but really they don’t want to see it. The reality of a woman being herself often makes others too uncomfortable.

I can speak from personal experience there.

My readers and even my friends might think they know all about me, but they don’t. I have learned the hard way that women still can’t be too honest about how they are feeling, especially on social media. We are supposed to have these picture postcard lives and perfect families, and more. You post a no makeup photo or express you are sick of certain things and it’s voila! Instant social media and more irritation. I often wondered if Julie would get the “I can’t believe you posted/wrote that.” messages and phone calls. Sometimes people post just to vent, ya know? It’s not all about you out there, it’s about them in that moment, not necessarily requiring attention or a comment.

Her second book after Julie and Julia was Cleaving. I think that was a book harder for people to read because it was a deeper journey into her world and marriage.

She recently had COVID. She wrote about it on Twitter. And today I noticed how god damned cruel and awful people are being. There should be a special place in hell for their literal inhumanity.

I am really sick of how people think they can be on social media. Cheering that someone is dead? And then of course, they call themselves “Christians.” She was a human being.

When you write whether as a blogger, a regular writer, reporter, or just a person, people are only O.K. with what you write if it matches THEIR comfort level. That is another reason WHY I admired Julie Powell. She spoke her truth, even if it did not make you 100% comfortable. She had a particular grace and honesty. Even if I was only part of her virtual world for a few years, I am glad I was there.

Fly with the angels, Julie Powel. Requiescat in pace. Read her obituary in the New York Times HERE.

Here are some other things to read. By her and about her.

How Julie Powell and her ‘Julie/Julia’ blog changed food writing
Washington Post
By Emily Heil November 2, 2022

Thank You, Julie Powell. I Owe You.
New York Times by Frank Bruni Nov. 2, 2022

A Race To Master The Art Of French Cooking by Amanda Hesser/New York Times

Julie Powell, best-selling author of ‘Julie & Julia,’ dead at 49 NY POST

Omelets are hard to master and more lessons learned from “The Julia Child Challenge”
This week on the Julia Child-inspired competition, we tackle the “bean trick” for learning how to make omelets
By JULIE POWELL Salon 4/12/22

“The Julia Child Challenge” and the mystique of one of America’s most iconic chefs
Does this cooking competition engage in some exploiting and some pussy-footing around? Absolutely
By JULIE POWELL Salon 3/22/22

I can hear Julia Child’s voice in my head again after six weeks of “The Julia Child Challenge”
It’s worth remembering that beneath the dumb corporate exploits, there’s a genuine bond. I still feel it
By JULIE POWELL Salon 4/19/22

Julia Child’s secret sauce and the little black dresses of French cuisine
On this week’s episode of “The Julia Child Challenge,” we tackle our namesake chef’s spy years. Well, kind of . . .
By JULIE POWELL Salon 4/5/22

NPR: OBITUARIES
Food writer Julie Powell, author of ‘Julie & Julia,’ dies at 49
November 2, 202211:17 AM ET

the west whiteland developers don’t want you to notice

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it’s november, so of course we need soup…french onion mushroom soup….

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I have a slight obsession with French Onion Soup. I’ve written about it before and my quest to find and develop a recipe I really liked and I think that was in 2015. I have been fiddling and fiddling with the way I make it, and I think this is the best batch so far.

My friend Karen‘s mother made the best French Onion Soup I’ve ever had anywhere. It was even better than the H.A. Winston soup that we all loved growing up. But I’ve kind of developed my own now which isn’t bad if I do say so myself. But I definitely have a memory of being in Karen‘s mother’s kitchen when she had that soup cooking. The aroma and the fragrance of it just filled the room.

I start my soup the day before with roasting my beef bones in the oven for beef stock. Then I throw everything into a stockpot with wine, water, and a 32 oz. container of low salt beef broth. To that I had a couple of carrots, celery or Celeriac (celery root), onion, fresh herbs, and that’s how I make my beef broth. This time I made my beef bone broth with Celeriac, because that is what I had. I cook this for a few hours. I let it simmer and cook down and condense. If I do it in the instant pot it takes a lot less time for the broth component.

I prepare the beef bone broth the day before because I like to fish the bones out of the broth and dispose of them, and then put the broth in the refrigerator overnight because then as you can see from the photo I shared above, I can skim the fat off the top very easily. This bone broth I made this time was truly gorgeous. This morning it was totally gelatinous like a consommé. That’s what you want.

Also, people always ask me how many beef bones I use. Honestly? It varies and this time I had 10 beef bones.

I line a big sheet pan with aluminum foil. Then I sprinkle them with just a smidge of olive oil and add salt pepper, Herbes de Provence, and garlic. When I roast them I do it at a 375° oven. I just keep an eye on the oven I think they were roasted through in about 35 to 40 minutes. Then I just turned the oven off and let everything cool down a bit before I bring them out of the oven and throw them into the stockpot as indicated above.

These bones were actually a surprise I did not know I still had in the bottom of our chest freezer they had come with a meat order from our local butcher, Worrell’s. Truthfully, you really do have to go to a local farmers market meat purveyor, or a local butcher shop to get good bones. And ask before you want to make the soup, because it’s not like the good old days and they don’t always have the bones.

The next day I start with caramelizing my onions, and today’s onions are the last I will ever get at Pete’s Produce Farm in Westtown which makes me sad. I use a combination of red and white onions. I add a little salt, a couple of tablespoons of butter, and a couple of dashes of balsamic vinegar to the bottom of the pot. You do want to caramelize your onions, but pay attention or they will burn. I almost killed them today because I was on the phone when I was doing this.

I also add mushrooms now to my recipe and that is pretty much because my husband loves mushrooms. The mushrooms, Cremini, came from Pete’s as well. I am so going to miss the produce and that store because these mushrooms were the prettiest I’ve had all year to cook with. But I have to admit that adding mushrooms especially this kind to soup add another layer of flavor that is just wonderful.

When I’m putting it all together after the onions have cooked down and caramelized, if I feel there is not enough liquid, then I will use a little additional bone broth or Better Than Bouillon to help it along. And you also cannot forget your healthy dash of Flavor Master’s Gravy Master. Why? Because that is something they put in the H.A. Winston soup when they were making it.

Today I did add an 8 ounce container additionally of bone broth. I also added a good half a bottle of wine

I wish I had a more exact and proportionate recipe written down, but I don’t a lot of times I cook things by the way I think they feel.

I will serve my French onion soup in a few minutes with a little shredded Gruyère on top but I don’t do the whole thing with the big hunk of bread and put it in the broiler. That’s too much work for me. The soup is work enough on its own. Besides it’s something I always eat around French onion soup when I get it at a restaurant, anyway.

We are also having an arugula and spinach salad with elite seasoning tomato and a honey mustard vinaigrette.

Bon appétit 👩‍🍳

an old pot cleaning hack that is still the best

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I am making soup. And I had to start at one step of the soup which involved caramelizing onions, and the phone rang. It was someone I hadn’t spoken with in a while and I moved to the next room to take the call and forgot about what I was cooking on the stove.

I am sorry I forgot to take a picture of what it looked like when I returned to the kitchen and almost had a stroke. I removed the onions that were caramelized and not utterly destroyed and put them in a mixing bowl.

But then I was looking at the bottom of the pan and I’m thinking to myself I am never going get this clean. And it’s one of my favorite pots (by Great Jones– I am a fan of their cookware.)

So I’m standing there wondering what I’m going to do and I remembered what my mother’s mother, my maternal grandmother taught us to do. She used to make a paste out of baking soda let it sit for a minute, then add water and basically boil it on the stove. The burnt on bits literally float to the top of the water surface which is what you see in the first photo.

Next you allow the pan to cool down and it’s an easy cleanup with not a lot of scrubbing. Basically I used one of those safe scrub sponges with Dawn dish soap on it and cleaned the rest up.

I don’t know if anyone else does this or knows about it. But I’m glad I remembered it this morning because the second photo you will see as what the pan looks like now.

I will now go back and start this step of my recipe over.

Sometimes old hacks are the best, and I was reminded not to leave my pans unattended when I’m cooking!

Have a great day!