Monday, August 18, 2014

Just Call Me Heloise

I hate the word "hacks."  20 hacks every cook needs to know, etc.

In the old days, they used to be "helpful hints" and Heloise was the queen.


This hint has been working well for me recently:  Rinse strawberries and cherries in water mixed with a little cider vinegar. It really keeps them from getting moldy.

What's your favorite helpful hint?  

11 comments:

Cheri @ Blog This Mom!® said...

I think "helpful hints" must have a positive vibrational hum, whereas "hacks" probably does not. Ha!

I remember those Heloise books.

Great tip on the cherries and berries. I did not know that one!

Anonymous said...

I have TWO Heloise books from my grandma. Very useful references, though the index isn't as intuitive as you'd expect.
Nice call on the vinegar!

Cassi said...

I agree --something about the word "hacks" makes me think of short-cuts, or taking the easy way out. Helpful hints is a much better phrase.

Jen on the Edge said...

Oh my gosh, I was just musing not three hours ago that, as with "curate", "hacks" has been overused.

Karen (formerly kcinnova) said...

I feel the way you do about the hacks. Helpful Hints is so much nicer.
Vinegar is amazing at getting rid of hard water stains.

Suzanne Casamento said...

Ooo. That's a good one. I'm going to try it! Thanks. :)

Gary's third pottery blog said...

Of course, you could always scarf the berries down in very quickly too :)

Jenny Hart Boren said...

I just learned this one: To easily peel a peach, rub the back of your paring knife, or the edge of a spoon, firmly all over the peach. (You'll see the skin start to look a little loose.) Then you can pull the skin right off! I am still dumbfounded about this cool hint. Try it! I, too, have an old Heloise book--some of the hints are endearingly out of date, but some are spot on. I remember reading her column in the paper when I was little.

Claudia from Idiot's Kitchen said...

I have both strawberries and cherries in the fridge so I will definitely try this helpful hint. I'm with you and Jen...hacks and curate both make me slightly crazed (and also not prone to clicking on whatever they are hacking or curating.)

Glennis said...

Yeah, "hacks" is, well, hackish.

Love the vinegar thing with berries. Makes sense.

Jenn @ Juggling Life said...

Speaking of vinegar--cottage cheese and strawberries with some apple pear vinegar is all sorts of yum.