Monthly Archives: March 2012

Cuttin’ Metal

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Recently, we’ve moved some things around in our kitchen in a way that resulted in a little less counter space than before. One item that got moved around to places that just weren’t working out was a wire fruit basket that we keep produce and garlic in. First, we moved it on top of the refrigerator, but it was in the way of some cabinets that I have to get into pretty often. Then, we moved it to the counter, but it’s so tall that it got in the way of cabinets there too. Kristen had an idea to cut the basket basically in half, which would give us two different sized baskets that would more easily fit in our spaces.

Last Saturday, while Kristen was working in the garden, I got out my new Dremel and set to cutting the basket into two baskets. I’ve only had the Dremel for a couple of months, and I’ve been trying to think of things to use it on (productive things). Turning this basket into two is easily the most productive thing I’ve done with it so far.

First, I fitted the Dremel with the cutter disc that is made to work on relatively non-heavy duty metals. Then, I just started cutting the two rods at either side as close to the bottom basket as possible. While cutting, I tried to cut around the rod in a circle (like I did with the bathroom vanity plumbing)  as opposed to straight through from one end. I don’t know if there’s a good technical reason to do it this way, but it seemed to make sense to me.

Above, you can see the bottom basket already cut away from the top one. The top basket was held up by a sort of three-prong rod (which above you can kind of see in the middle of the table, in the shadow of the bottom basket), so I cut these off the top basket right where they were soldered on. That was pretty much it for turning the one basket into two.

But. I wasn’t done using the Dremel yet. After I separated to two baskets, I still needed to grind down and smooth out the edges where I made the cuts. Sharp, jagged metal edges are not all that appealing to us.

So I swapped the cutter disc for a grinding attachment and went to smoothing the edges. This part is fun if for no other reason than the sparks. (It’s also a good idea to hold the Dremel in a way that the rotation of the grinded shoots the sparks away from you instead of at you.)

After a few minutes of smoothing out the just-cut edges, we had two baskets that would fit where we needed them and that wouldn’t draw blood from hands looking for produce. (Insert unfunny Rambo joke here.)

And here’s one last shot of the baskets in action.

Have you made any creative modifications to baskets or household items? Have any good Dremel tips or jobs?

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Takin’ it off the Board: Rosemary-Pepper Salt

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Remember a million years ago when I posted some Pinterest inspiration as though I might actually do something? Well, I finally got around to one of them. It’s amazing what you can make yourself do when you’re avoiding things like homework, cleaning out closets, and such. I’m taking some classes just for fun/professional development, and it’s amazing how quickly that good ol’ college procrastination creeps back in.

So in place of homework this past Saturday, I decided to do the following: go for a walk with the dogs, go to the local co-op to check out the seed and seedlings out for the spring, buy a number of said seeds and seedlings, plant a large bed full of spring goodies, watch MSU basketball, and make rosemary salt. On any regular Saturday, I might read a little, do some piddling around the house, and watch trashy TV, but not when I have homework to do. No sir, I can get productive real quick and in a hurry.

Turns out, I didn’t need much time to make the rosemary salt. It took all of 3 1/2 minutes. Well, 5 minutes if you count walking to the herb garden and clipping the rosemary.

Side note: If you aren’t currently growing your own rosemary, what in the world are you waiting for? Seriously, folks, this stuff is the easiest thing to grow ever. Ever. I recommend going to your local nursery, buying a small plant, and sticking that sucker (out of the pot, of course) in the ground. Better yet, find a friend who grows it and just cut some off and root it. You could grow it from seed, but there’s really no need for all that waiting.  You can also grow it in a pot, but I find mine does much better in the ground–overwinters better and grows more rapidly.  We’ve got good dirt, so we don’t do a single thing to ours apart from clipping it when we want to eat it, but if you grow it in a pot, you might want to add organic fertilizer and compost a couple of times a year. End side note.

And now on to the main event: Rosemary-Pepper Salt

You’ll need:

  • 4-6 long stems of rosemary, depending on your taste
  • 1.5 cu of kosher salt
  • 3-4 tbsp crushed black pepper
Here’s what you do:
  • Wash and pat dry the rosemary, then pick off the leaves by running your fingers down the stems backwards
  • Grind peppercorns in a spice grinder if whole (or just use pre-ground pepper)
  • Add rosemary leaves, salt, and pepper to food processor
  • Pulse in food processor until well mixed, about 30 sec

And there you have it — homemade, all-natural, flavored salt. You can add it to anything you would normally add salt to, but I think it’s especially good on homemade chips and roasted potatoes. Yum.

I’ve only had it a couple of days, so I’m going to watch it to make sure nothing moldy or weird happens in there since the rosemary is fresh and carries some moisture with it. I suspect it may get a little more rosemary-y over time too as the herb infuses the salt, but it’s good already. The picture below is the truest to what it actually looks like — pretty and white, not yellow-y like above.

I’m so glad I finally pulled out one of my hundreds of pins and used it at home. I did have to eventually do that pesky homework though. Hmph.

What are you pinning lately? Any simple foods like this one? Or perhaps you’re finding inspiration in other ways. Tell me about it and feed my pinning addiction!

 

BTW: I used this recipe as inspiration but altered the amounts to fit my tastes. 

 

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Vinegar and Grapefruit Peel Cleaner

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As a follow up to my last post about using vinegar as a cleaner, I thought I’d post some pictures of the grapefruit/vinegar experiment that I mentioned in DIY Vinegar and Baking Soda Cleaner. We’ve been making grapefruit and orange juice lately, and since the juicer doesn’t handle the peels well, we’ve been able to save a good bit of citrus peels this week. I’ve looked up things to do with grapefruit peels in the past but never actually tried anything out—the peels just ended up in the compost. But this time, I saved them and crammed them into a jar with vinegar.

Here’re the peels. I’d guess there are 2-3 grapefruit peels and 3-5 orange peels here.

Then, like I said, I crammed them all into the jar. Turned out to be just the right amount.

Next came the vinegar. We figured that not very much vinegar would fit in the jar with the peels, but there’s more in there than I thought would fit.

So far, it’s only been steeping for a day. I checked the smell, and it’s getting better, but it’s still pretty vinegar-y. I’ll let it sit for a couple more days before checking it again. If it comes out like we hope, it’ll be good to mop in the kitchen and clean bathrooms with.

Anybody have an idea of what’s actually happening with the peels in the vinegar? Is the vinegar pulling oil from the peels maybe?

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