For those who may not know, I tend to drink a lot of tea... coffee too (and although neither is allowed now on my IC diet, I do still cheat now and then)... but both stain my china cups. Recently I got to the point where the tea and coffee stains were embarrassing when serving.
So I *googled* how to get tea and coffee stains off your china. Many of you may already know this, but it's pretty simple. Just make a paste of baking soda and water and rub vigorously... a voila! no stains! They do say that if you have a stubborn stain, to add a few drops of hydrogen peroxide to the paste. Mine worked without doing that.
Now that Easter is over, I'm guessing the next actual holiday is the 4th of July (not counting my daughter's birthday in May). And since we don't really do much on the 4th (our neighborhood has a 4th of July parade and occasionally our son has a bar-b-cue), but we (DH and I) don't plan anything (we do set out our flag!). So unless I've forgotten something, we should have a few months of relative quiet. We like quiet.
Actually Easter itself was quiet. Kids went off to the Hill country to celebrate with my daughter and her family there. I made some stuffed artichokes here at home and served them with our dinner of NY strip steaks, a cauliflower and broccoli casserole, and home-made cheese biscuits. Their Easter Brunch menu (of which we got pictures) was much more elaborate, but our meal here was good. We may all try to go down to the Hill country next year... but it's hard when there's no one left around to care for the cats.
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| stuffed artichoke ready to steam... |
On the pottery front: our hand-built kilns are drying... and will need a lot more time to dry before firing. But we've started on the next project - which is hand-built decorative urns. I have already finished the main body of the hand-built one and am working on the lid and decorative part now. Hoping (if there's time) to also throw one on the wheel... but we'll see. Going in this afternoon to the studio. May take some pics to post later.
The weather has gotten quite warm quickly. We haven't turned on the air-conditioner yet - like to get through May without it. Open windows (when we're home) have worked so far.
Oh my - air-conditioning already? We still have nights with temps below freezing and our last snow storm was yesterday. I'm not sure I could take the heat but I'd be so glad to see the end of winter.
ReplyDeleteGreat tip! I don't use china but I'll tuck that away in the memory bank.
Have a great rest of the week!
Yes, it's hit the 80's a few days already and DH says that he doesn't think we'll make it through May without the AC... but we'll see. We had quite a few days of over 100 last summer, so we're not looking forward to that. But still... I'm so glad winter is over.
Deleteand you don't use china? What do you use?
I do most of my cleaning now with half-peroxide and half-water in a spray bottle, plus I use baking soda with a tiny bit of dish soap on the sponge for cleaning sinks, etc. You can clean anything with those few things. It's cheaper than buying all the chemical products and because of Nicki's asthma, I'm trying to be as "green" as possible. I still scrub the toilet with Comet, though. LOL.
ReplyDeleteOpen windows? Almost into AC season? Oh boy! It's still freezing here and we still have leftover dirty snow and ice. Actually, this is the latest I've had snow/ice in my back space. Even last year (I was looking through my pics the other day) the snow was gone by now--winter was late leaving last year, but it warmed up faster than it is this year.
I know, Kim. It happens so fast here. One days it's freezing and the next it's back up in the 80's. But for the most part, it's great that spring has finally arrived. I hope yours will be there soon!
DeleteGlad to know that little tip about cleaning tea stains off the cups. I do have some that are a little stained, but since it's only me and hubby, I haven't worried about it. I'll try this, though. If I lived nearby I'd feed your cats, but... :-)
ReplyDeleteI guess I never worry about the tea stains when it's just DH and I either... but when the kids or friends come over, I notice. Thanks for the offer to feed the cats. That was so sweet. Our 5 cats are so spoiled that it's hard to leave them without someone to feed twice a day, watch out for the 2 old ones, and the one with the kidney prob. One of our boys usually do it when we go out of town and luckily (for the cats, not us) we don't do that often.
DeleteOh, that artichoke looks so good. I will be thinking about that until I make one for myself. Actually, I cheat and use frozen artichoke hearts and bake them with bread crumbs.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds good too... bread crumbs, garlic, and parmesan cheese!
DeleteThat artichoke looks yummy. What is it stuffed with and how do you go about eating it?
ReplyDeleteWe stuff ours with bread crumbs, garlic, parmesan cheese, and parsley... then dribble a little olive oil over them and steam until the leaves come off easily (about an hour). As for eating them, you pull the leaves off and eat the inside ends and the stuffing attached. Then open to get to the heart of the choke, and eat that too. Some people dip the leaves in melted butter and garlic.
Deletewhat did you stuff your artichokes with ? good to know how to remove the stains with a common household item no less.
ReplyDelete