A long, long time ago, I bought a punch bowl. Or maybe someone gave me a punch bowl; I don’t remember. My trusty punch bowl has been with me that long; it’s followed me to six different houses now, patiently waiting on basement shelves and stacked among boxes in the garage for the right opportunity.

     The thing is, you never know when you might need a punch bowl. For instance, you might want to throw someone a bridal shower and offer a nice, fruity punch (matched to one of the bridal colors, of course), or you might want to serve a festive eggnog punch at your next holiday party. At least that’s what I told myself — although admittedly, I didn’t serve punch at my daughter’s graduation party because, well, no one seems to drink punch much any more.

     Last week, I was rearranging the boxes in the garage again and my eyes fell on the punch bowl once again. “You’d better hang on to that; you might want to serve a nice alcoholic punch with a pretty ice ring at your next cocktail party,” a little voice said. “Or you could use it to make a really large batch of trifle.”

     Trifle! I hadn’t thought of that. But I knew it was time, so I steeled myself and replied in my firmest voice, “Look, we haven’t used the punch bowl once in twenty-five years. If we do want to make trifle for the entire state of Rhode Island, we can borrow a punch bowl from someone else. It’s time to say goodbye. Someone else will give this punch bowl a better home.”

     So the tattered box was picked up by the DAV last week – along with some other odds and ends – and now there is more room and a little less stuff in the garage.

     Is there a punch bowl taking up space in your life? Or an old wedding dress, or a bowling ball, or tires or an exercise bike? Perhaps it’s time to relinquish it to a more committed owner and enjoy the added space and energy that fewer possessions offer.

     If you decide to surrender your punch bowl, I’d love to hear from you.

Dear Ms. U.H.,

Now that the holidays are over, my poinsettia is lackluster; lately it’s become downright limp and wilty. My wife suggested I throw it in the compost pile, but I thought I remembered reading that poinsettias are poisonous. To compost or not to compost?

Sincerely yours,

Poindexter Settya

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Dear Mr. Settya,

Ms. U.H. is sorry to hear about your poinsettia’s disappointing performance, but the wonderful thing about the internet is the way it connects us with a community of others who are sympathetic to our situations. Our own experience is that not everyone’s poinsettia remains perky, so thank you for writing with your well-timed question.

You will be happy to hear that poinsettias are not poisonous, so yours can be safely added to the compost heap. Some people are sensitive to the milky sap that comes from the poinsettia’s branches; it can occasionally cause an itchy rash. Wear your gardening gloves when you add the plant to the compost, and be careful not to rub your eyes after touching the plants. Here at the urban homestead, we composted our very own poinsettia plant just yesterday, and it immediately transformed the compost heap into a festive and colorful montage:

Sincerely,

Ms. U.H.  

Do you know that we Americans use around 84 billion plastic bags annually? (I know I’ve probably got a cool million or so stuffed in the kitchen drawers and pantry.) What’s worse is what happens when the bags end up in the landfill:  they don’t biodegrade, they photodegrade—breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits and contaminating soil and waterways.

So when I saw these cool black reusable grocery bags for a mere $1 each, I bought ten. (Disclosure time: the bags are from Wal-Mart. I know, I know, the mega-retailer has a long way to go to become an eco-friendly company. But Wal-Mart’s management is improving its environmental practices, and the company’s prices on organic foods are hard to beat.) The bags are made from 85% recycled materials — including 4 plastic soda bottles — and they can carry the same weight as 2 to 3 plastic shopping bags.

It was time to try out the new bags, but I’m ashamed to say that during the next two trips to the grocery store I forgot to take them inside. I didn’t remember my newfound zeal to use my eco-bags at all, in fact, until the checker was halfway done with my order and the bagger said “Are plastic bags okay?” I solved that by writing “BRING BAGS INSIDE” at the top of my grocery list. (It’s a pity that my brain is so compromised, but that’s what happens when you kill too many brain cells in your youth.)

I remembered the bags today, and tucked them in my grocery cart. I wondered if the bagger would say anything, but the checker just handed the bags to her and she happily packed my groceries in the bags. $40 worth of groceries fit into just two bags. When she was done, she said “Don’t forget to credit her for her bags!” to the checker, and he opened the cash register and handed me a dime! That’s right, King Soopers gives you 5 cents each if you reuse a bag. The checker explained that you could even bring your plastic bags in to reuse them, and you’ll get the rebate. So check with your local store and see if a similar program is offered, and “Sack it To ‘Em!”

Our good friends Jerry and Beth McDonald announced in early November that they were going to simplify Christmas this year, and spend the money they saved to take the family on a ski trip to Colorado. Just like Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis in the movie ”Christmas with the Kranks,” Jerry and Beth explained that they were skipping the Christmas tree, skipping Christmas cards — and even skipping presents.  “It will be an experiment worth noting,” Jerry wrote, and we wondered if they would be able to resist the pull of the mall. On December 26, I couldn’t stand the suspense any more. “How was the minimalist Christmas?” I asked in an e-mail.  “Did you resist the temptation to buy gifts? How did your kids respond? Do tell!” Here’s an excerpt from Jerry’s response:

“The minimalist Christmas was successful.  We did stay within the rules.  The boys did not shop at all.  Beth and I, by pre-agreement, searched for and distributed tokens of love and appreciation, as long as the tokens would fit in their stockings.  Socks, gloves, mechanical pencils, blank CDs (so they will no longer steal them for their stolen music, from my stash)….  minimalist headphones, gum, and some money – since money fits quite well in a stocking.  The amount stayed within minimalist guidelines.  I received a paperback book of Sudoku - all puzzles in the book at the “fiendish” level to help me fight Alzheimer’s.  I did go out on a limb and get Beth an electronic indoor/outdoor thermometer where a weather detection transmitter sits outdoors but the reader/display station is indoors - as hers broke just days before Christmas (solving my normal blank list dilemma).  It fit the minimalist guidelines as I had a 20% off coupon from Ace hardware.  Beth, like her mother before her, likes to check on the temperature throughout the day. 

“But those are just things.  The real success was in time.  Gone, and gained. 

“Gone.  Gone was the strain of shopping. Time leading up to the day of Christmas was blessed. It was delightful to whiz on by crowded malls to some other, more important destination.  Gone was the wrapping table in the basement, with shards of paper and ribbons no longer long enough, lying on the floor.  Gone was the afternoon of stringing the lights on the tree - and the two days to put it all away.  Yes, we decorated the house with one or two small tins of ornaments.  Beth also found a nice sized branch of evergreen, a soft needled pine, which we hung on the wall where a picture normally goes, and hung a few ornaments there too.  Gone was the giant black plastic bag full of torn wrapping paper whose whole purpose in life was to cover a box for 2 weeks - now into the trash forever.  Gone was the piles of gifts stacked on the floor and around our seats that tend to stay there for a day or two until they individually get taken to wherever they are to exist at the after holiday.  And gone was that deadened time about an hour after gifts are opened, that time where you reflect a sad thought…. it’s over, after all of these weeks. 

“Gained.  Time around the fire with minimalist gifts - slow time with not as much to accomplish.  A mechanical pencil brought out of the sock can still be surprising upon its reveal.  Gained - Peace on Earth - no one had to get up every 4 minutes and go to the tree to make a selection of the next round of packages to haul out.  Everyone remained planted.  Gained, a nice large mid-morning biscuits and sausage breakfast.  Ham in the oven for later in the afternoon.  Gained, a nice drawn-out dinner in the afternoon, made mostly of things out of a cookbook as we had time to cook that day.  Gained - lots of weight, comfortably and at a slow pace.  Gained - still a trip to come in a couple of days, out your way, to go skiing, something that would not be in the offering had each of them received a flat screen monitor, latest game box and other electronic devices.  Finally, gained, an appreciation for us all getting older now and knowing that time spent together, although cheaper, is much nicer now at this age.” 

I like the sounds of this ’Minimalist Christmas,’ especially the idea of time and togetherness gained – and stress, spending and overconsumption gone. Thanks, Jerry, for sharing the McDonald family’s experiment – and for inspiring us to explore and rethink our priorities at Christmastime.  

2008 begins with a terrific improvement here at the Urban Homestead - a new bamboo floor in the office!

Our journey started when I read Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan’s compelling book, “Apartment Therapy: The Eight Step Home Cure.” Along with some great ideas for simplifying one’s home environment and paring down one’s possessions, the author suggests indentifying the room in our house that bugs us the most; he then gently guides readers on how to “cure” the space. In my case, the room with the most problems happened to be the space where I spend at least 50% of my time — my home office. For starters, the floor was covered with the grungiest, worn, dog-hair and lint-laden, impossible-to-clean shag carpeting. Think I’m exaggerating? Take a gander at THIS:

When our professional carpet cleaner said he simply couldn’t get the scuzzy carpet any cleaner, I decided to have it removed and install a strong, clean, sustainable floor of bamboo. Bamboo is harder and stronger than most hardwoods and is a highly-renewable resource; bamboo is one of the fasted growing plants in the world, and it can be harvested in 3 to 5 years, versus 10 to 50 years for trees. Bamboo also generates 33% more oxygen than trees, and I loved the look of the 4-inch planks.  I ordered the flooring and installation services from my home-away-from-home, Lowe’s.

However, like so many home improvement projects, we soon discovered that this one wasn’t going to be simple. When the carpeting and floorboards were removed, the installer showed me that due to the ground under the house settling the floor had “dropped” several inches on two sides of the room. (No wonder the filing cabinet always opened itself!) What’s more, there was a sizeable gap between the subfloor and the adjacent garage floor, which was leaking cold air into the room. (No wonder my feet were always cold!) To deal with the gap, I lay on my stomach on the floor and carefully sprayed expandable insulating foam in the gap:

Next, Dino from Focus on Floors (who has to be just about the Cutest Floor Guy on the Planet) mixed and poured a leveling compound on the floors. He had to do this process twice, allowing some time between applications for the mixture to dry:

Finally, the subfloor was ready. The new bamboo flooring was installed, we let it dry for 24 hours and moved the furniture back in. This change has absolutely transformed the room, and now I don’t have any excuses — it’s time to get busy and productive in the office!

Were you bombarded with mail order catalogs this holiday season? One of my biggest ongoing challenges is managing the stack of paper that accumulates in the mail basket — which, truth be told, is overflowing to two additional stacks on the kitchen counter. The average consumer receives 41 pounds of junk mail annually, according to the group 41pounds.org, which will remove your name from dozens of organizations for a fee. Here are a couple of free measures you can take:

Go to www.optoutprescreen.com to have your name removed from the mailing lists used by the three major credit bureaus. It takes just a couple of minutes, and should reduce the number of credit card and insurance offers you receive. 

Visit www.catalogchoice.org to cancel catalogs you no longer wish to receive.

Don’t forget to recycle the unwanted catalogs!

I once read that you could make a batch of caramelized onions in the Crock Pot and freeze them, but I couldn’t find a recipe. So I decided to experiment and see if I could figure out the process. I knew I wanted pieces of onion, not stringy slices, so I peeled and cut 5 yellow onions like this:

Here’s how they looked prior to cooking:

 I tossed them with 1/4 cup of melted butter (I’m sure you could also use olive oil instead), a generous sprinkling of salt, several generous grindings of black pepper, and a teaspoon of sugar to jump-start the caramelizing process. Then I set the temperature on Low. After 4 hours of cooking, they looked like this:

After 8 hours of cooking, they were nicely browned, wonderfully sweet and caramelized. They had reduced down to about two cups:

I divided them into four 1/2 cup portions and froze them in freezer bags. The portions thaw quickly and the onions are absolutely terrific on pizzas and bruschetta. I’ve also added them to homemade spaghetti sauce and soup. Using the slow cooker is much easier than standing at the stove and cooking and stirring the onions, and I love having caramelized onions ready to go in the freezer. All in all, I would say this experiment was a big success!

I woke up in a baking mood today (perhaps it’s the pending snowstorm that’s supposed to hit tonight) and decided to make some gingersnaps. These are an adaptation of the “Elevator Lady Spice Cookies” from “The I Hate to Cook Book,” by Peg Bracken, published in 1960. I’ve always loved Peg’s sassy writing style and unfussy recipes, and my mom, sister and I have been making these cookies for decades.

Once I made a batch with blackstrap molasses because I didn’t have any ‘baking’ molasses in the cupboard. The flavor was so drastically improved, I’ve never gone back. And then I found a bag of Australian crystallized ginger at the little gourmet food shop and tried chopping it and mixing it in the recipe. The result is a nice little crunch in the chewy cookie and a very bright ginger taste that dances in the mouth…definitely a worthy addition.

Last year I read a recipe for “Triple Ginger Cookies,” that also called for minced fresh ginger to be added to a ginger cookie batter. I tried that in this recipe, too, and concluded that the fresh ginger was sort of lost in translation. Plus, peeling and mincing fresh ginger is no walk in the park. But if you want to try it sometime, add a tablespoon and a half of minced fresh ginger to the recipe. One other caveat:  these gingersnaps don’t exactly “snap,” because they’re tender and chewy. Just let me know if you think they’re the best you’ve ever eaten.

3/4 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup blackstrap molasses (you can substitute regular molasses)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon powdered ginger
3/4 teaspoon powdered cloves
1/2 cup chopped crystallized ginger
extra granulated sugar for rolling

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Mix the shortening, sugar, egg and molasses together in a medium bowl until well-blended. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Mix the dry ingredients into the egg mixture and stir until well blended. Add the chopped crystallized ginger and mix well. The mixture will be somewhat sticky and can be refrigerated for a little while, but it’s not necessary. Roll into balls using a dining teaspoon*. Roll in granulated sugar. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Makes about 3 dozen.

*You can also make these into larger cookies, using a dining tablespoon as your measure. After you arrange the balls on the baking sheet, flatten them a little with your fingers so they’ll spread more easily when they bake. After you flatten them, sprinkle the tops with a little more sugar to replace the sugar that came off on your fingers, and then bake as usual. This recipe will yield about 18 oversized cookies.

We’ve always had tons of yellowjackets here. They are aggressive and pesky, and often get inside the house. Last year I tried some ugly yellow plastic traps that use chemical attractant and caught, perhaps, two dozen yellowjackets. This year, I’ve purchased some vintage-style, reusable glass traps that can be baited with sweetened fruit juice. I read that springtime is the best time to set out traps, because the early season yellowjackets are often queens.

As you can see from the photo on the right, about an hour after I hung the traps we had a visitor. But it was a fly, not a yellowjacket, and it managed to get itself out of the trap and fly off a little while after I took the photo.

Strangely, I was happy.

Update: The glass traps may be prettier than the plastic ones, but they caught nary a single yellowjacket during the 2007 summer season. Meanwhile, the tacky yellow plastic trap with commercial attractant caught about a hundred yellowjackets in three months. We clearly need to find a better bait for the glass traps; watch for an update in spring of 2008.

In my last post I wrote about trying to unclog a drain with a natural, enzyme-based drain cleaner. Unfortunately, although the formula was all-natural and one could feel wonderfully guilt-free using it, it didn’t have any effect on the slow sink.

The following day I tried a new tactic on the stubborn drain, one that you often see in old housekeeping books and “Hints from Heloise.” I poured 1/4 cup of baking soda down the drain, followed by 1/2 cup of plain white vinegar. The mixture foamed up spectacularly for a couple of seconds and then settled down, at which point I covered the drain with a small saucepan lid. After a few minutes I removed the lid and poured a gallon of boiling water down the drain. Within the next 90 seconds there were some wonderful gurgling noises followed by a “whoosh” and the drain was clear.

This method was natural and inexpensive, and it had the added thrill of feeling like a high school science experiment!