The Crock Pot Queen

Is it acceptable to own four crock pots? I sure hope so.

I’ve never been one to jump on the bandwagon of kitchen appliance fads. Never owned a bread maker, rice cooker, or Instapot. I’ve survived without a hand mixer, electric can opener, and waffle iron. Of the four crock pots on my kitchen’s Lazy Susan corner cupboard, not one has a digital display or timer. None are programmable. But all are used regularly and considered indispensable.

I guess it began with a wedding gift in 1977. I wish I could recall who gave us the Rival brand avocado green appliance (I found this photo of one exactly like ours on the website of the National Museum of American History. Can’t tell you how hip that made me feel.) With only three settings—OFF, LOW, HIGH—our first crock pot came with its own cookbook which still sits on our shelf, its cover long gone and its pages yellowed. That pot lasted for decades. 

When newer ones came out featuring a removable pot for easy cleaning, I began to wish mine would kick the bucket so I could justify replacing it. Eventually, it worked on only the high setting, providing all the reason I needed. I splurged on a new model in the late nineties or early aughts. That one still works great and is light years more advanced than my original. Besides the aforementioned settings, it has one called AUTOSHIFT, which starts on high and turns itself down to low after two hours. Fancy shmancy.

Then my mother downsized and offered me her larger, oval-shaped crock pot. This one also lifts out for cleaning. Since it holds a whole chicken for roasting, I said yes. I love it for soups, too. This one, in addition to HIGH and LOW, has a SERVE setting, great for simply keeping things hot.

After we became empty nesters, both crock pots frequently proved too large. Naturally, when I saw a smaller one at our local MCC thrift store, I grabbed it. Maxing out at around six cups, this one is perfect for holding four pieces of chicken or a small casserole.

Each of these beauties cooks at its own rate, requiring me to learn through trial and error which one I can count on to do the job in the time allotted. Christmas gatherings with our children have seen all three in use at once—one filled with meatballs, one with ham, and one with simmering apple cider.

So why would I need a fourth? Again, browsing in MCC one day, I spied the cutest little baby. Holding all of one cup, it’s designed for hot dips. I couldn’t resist. It’s not been used a lot but I love knowing it’s got my back should I ever feel the need for a hot dip.

One Sunday morning, I threw together my standard pineapple barbecue bean dish for our church’s monthly potluck. As a joke, I turned to Facebook to pose a question. “Preparing my dish for church potluck. Do I put the food in my smaller crock pot and risk spilling some on the drive, or do I put it in my larger crock pot and risk looking like a cheapskate because it’s only two-thirds full?”

My query sparked lots of interesting and funny comments. I took the advice of the majority. The joke was on me when I arrived at church, carrying my larger crock pot, and was greeted by a friend who’d seen my Facebook query.

“I see you decided to go with the small one,” she said.

Oh boy. Maybe I really am a cheapskate. Maybe next time, I’ll walk in carrying my little baby dip-sized one.

May my crock pots last forever so I never need to figure out how to program a newfangled one.

Five Ways to WIN with Thrift Shopping

I’m frequently asked which part of the writing journey I like best. That’s easy. While I do NOT enjoy hammering out that first draft and catch myself embracing almost any excuse to avoid it, I adore the editing part. When my editor returns a marked-up manuscript, I can hardly wait to dive in and see what improvements she suggests. I accept more than ninety percent of the changes my editor makes because I know my work will improve, and I learn so much.

Occasionally, though, an editor gets it wrong because they don’t understand the situation. Such was the case on my most recent manuscript (The Last Piece, releasing in November), where a character loves finding deals at thrift shops. She describes her thrift shop experience as “win-win-win,” explaining why. My editor assumed I’d used one too many “wins” and crossed one out.

I rejected her suggestion and stood my ground. Three wins. And truthfully, I probably could have thrown in a few more. So let me count the

Our local MCC Thrift Store and MCC Furniture Plus are prime examples. In case you’re unfamiliar with the process, the store receives donations of used items which it organizes and sells with the help of a few paid staff and an army of volunteers. Who exactly wins here? Let’s count them:

1. First, the donor wins because MCC provides a way to dispense with unwanted items, hassle-free. No need to wait until you collect enough to organize a yard sale, price it, advertise it, set it all up, reschedule for weather, haggle with customers, watch the cash box, or pack the unsold stuff at the end of a tiring day. Simply drop your items off at the store’s back door during the hours specified—throughout the year—and you’re done.

2. Shoppers win because they find what they need at a fraction of the price of new. When our kids were young, I’d give them each twenty bucks and let them thrift-shop for their own clothes. They learned to do math, make choices, and live with the consequences of those choices without costing me a fortune. Most of my clothes still come from MCC and I’m fairly certain I wouldn’t live more happily in designer clothes. I scored half my small appliances there, too, along with our kitchen table and the collection of candles I like to burn while working at my desk. And don’t get me started on my weakness: dishes!

3. The planet wins. Every year, perfectly usable clothing is thrown out and new clothing is made. This wasteful cycle uses and disposes of more resources than necessary and harms the earth. MCC invites customers to “take the pledge” to check out a thrift shop before looking at any new clothing.

4. Volunteers win. Some of our local volunteers have served for decades. They enjoy what they do, they do it with excellence, and they consider the team family.

5. Recipients of the profits win. MCC supports both local and global relief, development, and peace projects of the Mennonite Central Committee. MCC delivers disaster relief. It helps girls stay in school. It helps prevent the spread of diseases like Covid-19 in vulnerable communities. By donating that shirt you never wear, or by buying one you will, you respond to basic human needs and work for peace and justice in 60 countries as well as in your home town. Can any regular retail store say the same?

Well, there. My editor was wrong, but so was I. It’s not that I used too many “wins.” It’s that I didn’t use enough. Every thrift shop purchase truly is a gift to the world.

Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done. (Proverbs 19:17)

 

Too Dense to be Condensed?

Do you remember Reader’s Digest Condensed Books? Early in our marriage, with bookshelves in our home but little with which to fill them, I subscribed. Four times a year, I’d receive by mail a hardcover containing four recent bestsellers, condensed to fit into one volume. Reader’s Digest provided this popular service for 47 years (1950-1997) before renaming it Reader’s Digest Select Editions. As far as I can tell, the current version operates the same way. The books provide an opportunity for readers to stay abreast of latest bestsellers with less investment of time, money, and shopping.

At some point, I cancelled my subscription but began buying these books at thrift shops and libraries for 25 or 50 cents apiece. Their matching, faux-leather covers looked fantastic on our shelves and I read most of them. They also served as a lovely way to fill bookshelves on stage for more than one theatrical production over the years.

After I became a novelist, I wondered how authors felt about their work being condensed. Surely some refused to participate. What if favorite scenes were eliminated? What if glaring plot holes left readers with unanswered questions? On Wikipedia, you can find a list of every book published this way, with dates—nearly two thousand in all, sometimes with different selections for the Canadian market. Clearly, Reader’s Digest must pay authors well enough to make the pain of deleted words worth the sacrifice.

Taking shortcuts is not uncommon for human beings. For decades, students have relied on Coles Notes and Cliff Notes study guides to help them bypass heavy reading assignments, though the company would never endorse the practice. Since the first “for Dummies” book came out in 1990, that company has released more than 2,500 titles to teach you about almost anything as quickly and easily as possible. In 2016, an app called Joosr released, which reduces nonfiction books to a 15-minute read. Horrifying? To some. But if the choice is between that or not reading at all, maybe the idea holds merit.

Is it “cheating” to read a shortened version of a book? Is it okay to claim you’ve read it? How about condensed versions of long classics you’d never otherwise read in full?

As more books poured into our home and with both of us reluctant to part with any, our shelves eventually became overladen. The simplest solution? Pulling down all the pretty RD condensed books and donating them to our local MCC Thrift store, bypassing the need to consider every single book. Hubby agreed, and I performed the task during one of my spring-cleaning frenzies. I cleared three shelves (which quickly filled again once I reorganized and rearranged our remaining books.) I’m happy with the outcome.

Imagine my surprise when I unloaded them at MCC only to learn they cannot take those RD books, at least not in large quantities. Not enough space, not enough demand. A pleasant young man helped me reload the six boxes into my trunk. I trundled them off to our recycling depot with a twist in my gut. (If you would have loved to receive them, please don’t tell me. My heart’s already wracked with guilt for not trying harder.)

In a warning to his son in Ecclesiastes, Solomon said, “Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body … here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.”

And yes, I condensed that a bit.

 

What a Dish!

I love dishes. I love looking at dishes online, on store shelves, and on other people’s tables. I love the beauty of their designs, the colors, the various ways to mix and match them. We own three sets, four if you count the four-place Christmas set I found at our local MCC a couple of years ago.

So it came as a shock when I realized that I have never, in all my 59 years, purchased a new set of dishes. My parents gave us a four-place melamine set when we married, the remains of which went with our youngest son when he moved out. I acquired our “blue onion” set with S & H green stamps when we lived in the States. My brown and white “Royal Mail” set was a hand-me-down from Mom. And our “fancy set” was a freebie from a boss forty years ago. He rented storage units and when customers left items behind in unpaid-for units, I sometimes got first dibs on said left-behinds. (Is that even legal? I hope so. We still have a rocking chair acquired in the same fashion.)

Anyway, I look at this varied collection of chipped and cracked dishes in our cupboards and then I gaze at the gorgeous ones on the store shelf (I’m particularly smitten with the mix and match “Pioneer Woman” line) and I ask myself, “Are you nuts? Why on earth don’t you just break down and buy some new dishes, for cryin’ out loud?”

It’s a good question. I could, without too much difficulty, drum up the money for a nice new set. I could. So what’s my problem? Well, first of all, for many years drumming up the money would have been unrealistic. New dishes are a difficult purchase to justify. I mean even if they’re chipped, they still do their job. Right? That kind of thinking dies hard. It’s why people who survived the Great Depression still save used bits of string in jars labelled “Pieces of String Too Small to Use.”

Secondly, once I choose a set and commit to it—that’s it. I’ll have to be satisfied with my choice and stop drooling over any other set. This is the same reasoning that keeps some people single all their lives.

My new favorite mug dwarfs the one from my 1970's Blue Onion set.

Thirdly, have you noticed how big they make dishes these days? Plates, mugs and cereal bowls hold twice what the old ones hold. Why is that? I am afraid if I get bigger dishes, I will eat more food. It’s a psychological reality. No wonder obesity plagues this continent with all the giant plates and coffee mugs we use!

So I keep resisting. And we keep eating off our reasonably-sized, chipped plates. Food tastes the same either way. Hubby couldn’t care less, as long as he’s not expected to wash them. Speaking of which, I’ll leave you with an old poem you may remember seeing over a kitchen sink or two. It’s attributed to Mary Stuber.

Thank God for dirty dishes;
They have a tale to tell.
While others may go hungry,
We’re eating very well.
With home, health, and happiness,
I shouldn’t want to fuss;
By the stack of evidence,
God’s been very good to us.