Thanksgiving is around the corner.  It is time to think about what tasty recipes will be served to family and friends.  Thanks to a client I discovered that social networking is now in the kitchen and making this process so easy.

If you have mastered Facebook and love to cook you have to check out www.KeyIngredient.com.  Registration is free and you can organize your recipes for private use, share with only family and friends, or open up to the world-wide web.  It only takes a minute to register and then start entering your favorite meals.

The program even creates shopping lists from the recipes you plan to cook.  When you search for recipes others have shared, there is even a place for comments to be posted that could save the trouble of cooking a mediocre recipe.

While this program is free, a Digital Recipe Reader is available from Neiman Marcus.  This hand-held device will keep your kitchen green and truly make your recipes paperless.   Of course if you have a computer in the kitchen; even better.

Check this out and when your guests leave and ask for the recipe, just share your Key Ingredient screen name.

Easter Sewing Basket

I barely remember waking up on Easter morning and rushing to see the great basket of treats left by that annual unseen rabbit.  It would be filled with yummy chocolate bunnies, Malamar Bars, marshmallow treats, and jelly beans.  Not a thing was wasted.

This week a friend said he had a craving for a Easter basket.  So yesterday while walking home from The Grove I stopped in K-Mart to up pick one.  I know it has been…well lots of years since I have been on the receiving end from the Easter Bunny but of all the hundreds of baskets the store had were definitely different from what I remembered.  Instead of sweet treats and yummy candy every basket had plastic toys that would certainly become clutter and unwanted by later in the day.  

For about the same amount of money of the pre-packaged baskets I purchased quality candies, colored grass stuffing, baskets and stuffed rabbits were available to create a custom basket.   For a hostess gift I even filled grass stuffing and chocolates in a sewing basket to take to a dinner party this evening.

The commentary to all this is any event, holiday, or gift is what you make it.  As an organizing expert helping my clients keep clutter at bay it is evident that habits start at an early age.  So even those gifts your children receive can start traits that are not seen for years to come.  Don’t just spend to buy something.  Have a clear goal when you go shopping.  If something doesn’t look like what you are looking for, don’t settle.  Keep looking or make the gift yourself.  And by the way, my friend loved what the Easter Bunny brought him!

All the silver is now unpacked and polished, but how can the shine stay and not get tarnished?  Protect these pieces and keep them handy in a silver closet.

Keep the sparkle on your sterling by using proper storage techniques and materials for your sliver. Silver will resist tarnish when special treated silver cloth is used in custom organizers.