I do “pretty” for my well-being

April 1, 2020 – I do “pretty” for my well-being

         I have more time on my hands these days, as I am not running the roads to pick up groceries every few days.

         I fell into that habit when I retired and wanted the freshest of the freshest veggies and fruit and would go out to buy only what I needed for a couple days at a time.  I have stopped that during this pandemic.

         Because of stopping my every other day shopping, I am finding myself pausing in the kitchen trying to figure out what am I going to cook for dinner with what I have in the pantry.

         During that pondering, I find myself holding an empty saucepan and twirling it as I decide.  Who knew that twirling a saucepan might become a new Olympic sport.

         I noticed I didn’t like the looks of the tarnished bottoms of my old fashioned Revere Ware copper bottomed pans as it has been a while since they were polished.

         Trust me, I am one of those old fashioned homemakers, who has a special shelf under the sink to the side that has silver polish, brass polish, copper polish, and even a  half-box of old-timey laundry starch for shirts or curtains if needed.

         A few times a year I get the itch to polish the bottoms of pans, and when the copper bottoms gleam, it gives me a spiritual lift – you know the kind that can’t be bought with cash.  You know that satisfaction of washed windows or flawlessly cleaned bathroom mirrors – that smug feeling of a job “well-done."

Yes, the pans polished out nice, as usual, and those pans have been workhorses in my kitchen over many years. They are the ones I keep closest to the stove, the rest are hung up in the mudroom on the walls so that I can pick and choose.

         [An aside, just like Julia Child who had her pans hung up in her kitchen when I watched The French Chef cooking show on WGBH-TV out of Boston.  I used to sit and watch the show with my Mom as a kid.]

         These pans were a surprise Christmas gift.  I had plenty of pans, but one  Christmas I unwrapped a box and behold, three Revere Ware saucepans with covers were inside with a note from my parents.  Quality pans, really nice copper bottoms.

         The gist of their note was they found it cheaper to buy a whole set of pans instead of paying the price for open stock for one new large fry pan and one new large pot to boil spaghetti in.  It didn’t cost them anything except the postage to ship them.  It was an easy, frugal decision.

        If you’ve got a worry or you’ve got a problem – take a few quite minutes and polish the bottoms of your copper pans . . . for your well-being and just for “some pretty” that money can’t buy.