Favorite Thrift Store Finds

When you start shopping thrift stores, there's the thrill of finding a great deal that just never happened at the mall. For example, yesterday I was introduced to Family Thrift Store on Blanco Road, a great thrift store, by Mr. X. (There are several Family Thrifts in San Antonio: Goliad is smaller and Bandera is bigger.)

The best buy was his, not mine: for $39, he took home to his wife a gently worn Dooney & Burke purse which would cost over $300, if bought brand-new. All-weather leather, large, nice. The black with tan trim - still had the dangling duck medal on it. An identical bag is up for resale today at WildPacificProducts for $275.00.

What's your best buy story?

Five Toddler Tips

1. Put a shower curtain under their chair, especially if they're still in a high chair. After Kid Cyclone is finished, dump the food into the trash, and if KC has been really entertaining, take the curtain outside, wash it off with the garden hose.

2. Wind all your electrical cords around furniture legs: lamp cords around table legs, clock-radio around the nightstand, etc. Kid Cyclone has less chance of thinking the cords are something to pull, jerk, jump rope, ....

3. Start teaching the tot about cooking early by letting him help fill ice trays with juice, and then helping him put the cubes in his cup later; having him put the paper muffin cups into the pan, watch you pour in the batter, let him look thru the oven window as they bake, and let him pull the paper cup off the fresh, hot muffin when it's done; help him to put individual grapes in the freezer and then let him take them out later as a snack on a hot day.

4. Have an "Eat-Out" bag in the car, containing crayons, paper, and small toys which the tot is allowed to use only at the restaurant. Make these things exciting for the child, so he's happy-happy that he has the opportunity to play with these treasures. Clue: he gives lots of push to keep them with him afterwards, he bugs to get to play with these items at other times. Eating out at a restaurant is BORING for kids. It's your job to make it enjoyable for your tot -- you, your spouse, your tot, and your fellow diners will thank you.

5. Always have a spare set of clothes in the back of the car, neutrals that match lots of things. Shoes, too. Things happen. Remember to replace them when you use that spare, too.

How to Cut Up a Whole Chicken

Check your chicken prices, and you'll find that buying a whole chicken is amazingly cheaper than purchasing parts someone else has prepared for you. Yes, you are buying bones - but with a nice-sized bird, you'll have about six cups of meat for your efforts (if you're making a cassarole or soup or salad, etc.)

There are different ways to cut the chicken. If you are frying or baking, then you'll want wings and thighs - the standard assortment of pieces. For that, the technical term is "quartering the chicken."

If you want boneless, skinless chicken breasts, that's called "boning the chicken." You're seperating all the breast meat from the remainder of the bird, and you can "butterfly" that breast as well. That's separating it into two, thinner sections.

Food Network has online videos and print-out instructions for each of these techniques. Cooking for Engineers has a great list of instructions for cutting up a whole chicken, accompanied by clear photos. Hormel Foods also has nice sets of instructions, with step by step photos that are excellent. Hormel has lots of info: cleaning, brining, lots of stuff here if you're really into this subject....