The best new country and classic country music in South Western Ontario.

Do you know about Pinterest, otherwise known as pinterest.com ?!  And if you answered yes, why didn't you let me in on it?  This is a great site that has apparently been around for years but admittedly I'm sometimes late getting to the party on these things so I've only just lately caught on to it.  For anyone who enjoys anything creative it is totally engrossing.  Its a billboard where users can "pin" anything of interest.  There are great home decorating ideas, discussions about food and cooking, some pretty over-the-top recipes (I mean that in the best way possible), hair and makeup ideas, health tips, wonderful photographs, great diy tips, and on and on the list goes.  Once I get on the site I am into the zone within seconds and I am pretty sure I am "unreachable" for a considerable time after that.  You must check it out at least once: www.pinterest.com

I’ve been engrossed in an unusual but interesting book I took out of the library last week. It’s called “Make the Bread, Buy the Butter”. In it, the author takes a look at many of the food items we eat every day, and compares the store-bought version to homemade, taking into account cost, taste, effort and convenience. For those of us who like to cook from scratch as much as possible, it’s interesting to see where the author suggests what’s worth the work, and what’s not.

Here’s a few of her surprising finds:

Vanilla Extract: She says make your own at a huge savings. She says it costs about $7 to make 12 ounces at home, compared to $53 for a popular store bought version. On the downside, it takes 3 months to “brew”, but it is extremely easy to make as it is simply vanilla beans soaked in alcohol, and it lasts indefinitely.

Butter: Would any of us bother to churn our own butter? I doubt it. But would you have guessed it’s three times cheaper to buy than to make.

Hot Dog Buns: The author says emphatically that homemade are far superior (that they make the store version seem like foam rubber), cost 17 cents each compared to 35 to 55 cents from the store, and are well worth the effort.

Pizza: She says making it is much cheaper. That probably comes as no surprise. But did you know it is almost half the price? She says making two medium pizzas at home costs $15.50, including fuel to heat the oven, vs. the same from carryout which costs about $28.

KFC: This was surprising to me, but it costs twice as much to make fried chicken at home as it does to buy a 10 piece bucket including the sides. I’m not a fan of KFC, so this one is definitely a matter of taste ;)

Worcestershire Sauce: She says the homemade version is a bit of work, not much cheaper to make, but the final result is far superior. If you want to try it, she suggests Emeril Lagasse’s recipe.

Ginger Ale: Apparently it is easy to make using only five ingredients – a lemon, grated ginger, sugar, yeast and water. There’s not a huge difference in the cost, but she says making your own is surprisingly simple, the taste is slightly different, and worth trying at home.

If you want to read more, again the book is called “Make the Bread, Buy the Butter” and the author is Jennifer Reese. Jennifer also authors a popular website – tipsybaker.com

There are so many useful and interesting apps for smart phones.  I use my cell "phone" very sparingly.  I'm not in the habit of texting (so far) and I make just a few phone calls, mostly for emergencies or convenience.  Come to think of it, if you took my cell phone away from me I'd hardly miss it - except for the apps.  Aren't they handy?  I don't have a ton of them but I enjoy the games like solitaire and sudoku (my standby when waiting for someone), I use the stopwatch quite a lot at work,  I often check the weather updates, look up theatre listings and even listen to the radio (did you know that Country 107.3 has an app)? 
My husband is the I.T. guy in our household, so I've asked him to add quite a few for me.  So I ask you, if you could have an app custom designed to do anything you wanted, what would it be?   If I were to ask myself that question - I would have to say I would really like to see someone design an app to show me how to download an app.

Hey there -

    The new year is getting close.   As a matter of fact, as I write this it is exactly 35 hours, or 2140 minutes, or 128,419 seconds away.  How do I know that?   I checked the Countdown Clock.  If you want a precise count of the time left in the year you can click on the link below. 

    I want to wish you the very best in 2011 - and we'll be talking to you then!

www.7is7.com/otto/countdown.html