Crack your own

I like nuts.  There, I’ve said it and now that it’s out in the open, we can move along.  I enjoy most nuts and love snacking on them.  There are a few that I do not like, but honestly there aren’t too many of those.

I try to keep nuts on hand for us to snack on and for cooking.  They provide protein and have healthy fats so you don’t have to feel bad about eating them.  They add great crunch and texture to dishes and I find they work amazingly well with a nice bowl of oats.

Growing up we didn’t really have nuts around all that much other than your standard peanuts which were for my dad to munch on.  My mom didn’t eat nuts and even though I love PB with all my heart and soul, snacking on peanuts wasn’t something I enjoyed unless presented to me in the form of brittle.  Which is a different story all together.

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My set

Whenever I would go and visit Grandma R, at some point I would need a drink. There were two choices of glasses for me: I could either use a plastic, awesomely avocado green 1970s cup (complete with silver stars!) or I could drink out of the greyhound glasses. I usually went greyhound.

To my kid self these were just regular glasses which happened to have greyhounds on them. We had nothing like this at my house and when you’re a kid, if it’s different it’s cool. I knew where the glasses were and could get my own drink. In fact I can still see them sitting in the cabinet over the coffee pot waiting to be used.

For all I know, my grandma could have had other glasses but I never used them. Even as I got older, I always went for the greyhound glasses. Unless I was feeling spunky and then it was avocado green and silver stars all the way.

Read more on FF: Racing Greyhounds Glasses…

When it comes to kitchen accessories, I am all over the older stuff. When I say accessories, I mean things like mixing/serving bowls, casserole dishes, pots, plates/sets and things of that nature. To me it seems more homey and genuine when something is made or served in a dish that has been used before and was a part of someone else’s cooking life. The things from the past also seem to have more character and flair than the stuff made today.

Because of my love for “retro” kitchenwares, I go to yard-sales and hunt through secondhand shops to get my hands on some nice pieces. One of my favorite things to collect are milk glass items. I have several pieces in my collection and am always on the lookout for more. Whenever I go and visit my mom, one thing we always try and do is hit up the local secondhand shop to see what kind of kitchen stuffs they have in stock. Next on my list of favorites to collect are mixing/serving bowls and casserole dishes. I love the retro look of those and love using them for cooking. It somehow makes me feel more connected with what I’m doing when I use an older piece.

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