Subject: Martha & Me
Why does she have to do everything the hard way??
- Martha's way #1: Stuff a miniature marshmallow in the bottom of a sugar cone to prevent ice cream drips.
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- Dave's way: Just suck the ice cream out of the bottom of the cone, for Pete's sake, you are probably lying on the couch with your feet up eating it anyway.
- Martha's way #2: Use a meat baster to "squeeze" your pancake batter onto the hot griddle and you'll get perfectly shaped pancakes every time.
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- Dave's way: Buy the precooked kind you nuke in the microwave for 30 seconds. The hard part is getting them out of the plastic bag.
- Martha's way #3: To keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the potatoes.
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- Dave's way: Buy Hungry Jack mashed potato mix and keep it in the pantry for up to a year.
- Martha's way #4: To prevent egg shells from cracking, add a pinch of salt to the water before hard boiling.
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- Dave's way: Who cares if they crack, aren't you going to take the shells off anyway?
- Martha's way #5: To get the most juice out of fresh lemons, bring them to room temperature and roll them under your palm against the kitchen counter before squeezing.
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- Dave's way: Sleep with the lemons in between the mattress and box springs.
- Martha's way #6: To easily remove burnt-on food from your skillet, simply add a drop or two of dish soap and enough water to cover bottom of pan, and bring to a boil on stovetop.
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- Dave's way: Eat at Chili's every night and avoid cooking.
- Martha's way #7: Spray your Tupperware with nonstick cooking spray before pouring in tomato based sauces and there won't be any stains.
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- Dave's way: Feed your garbage disposal and there won't be any leftovers.
- Martha's way #8: When a cake recipe calls for flouring the baking pan, use a bit of the dry cake mix instead and there won't be any white mess on the outside of the cake.
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- Dave's way: Go to the bakery. They'll even decorate it for you.
- Martha's way #9: If you accidentally over salt a dish while it's still cooking, drop in a peeled potato and it will absorb the excess salt for an instant "fix me up".
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- Dave's way: If you over salt a dish while you are cooking, that's too damn bad. Dave's motto: I made it and you will eat it and I don't care how bad it tastes.
- Martha's way #10: Wrap celery in aluminum foil when putting in the refrigerator and it will keep for weeks.
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- Dave's way: Celery? Never heard of the stuff.
- Martha's way #11: Brush some beaten egg white over pie crust before baking to yield a beautiful glossy finish.
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- Dave's way: The Mrs. Smith frozen pie directions do not include brushing egg whites over the crust and so I don't do it.
- Martha's way #12: Place a slice of apple in hardened brown sugar to soften it.
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- Dave's Way: Brown sugar is supposed to be "soft"?
- Martha's way #13: When boiling corn on the cob, add a pinch of sugar to help bring out the corn's natural sweetness.
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- Dave's Way: The only kind of corn I buy comes in a can.
- Martha's way #14: To determine whether an egg is fresh, immerse it in a pan of cool, salted water. If it sinks, it is fresh, but if it rises to the surface, throw it away.
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- Dave's way: Eat, cook, or use the egg anyway. If you feel bad later, you will know it wasn't fresh.
- Martha's way #15: Cure for headaches: Take a lime, cut it in half and rub it on your forehead. The throbbing will go away.
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- Dave's way: Martha, dear, the only reason this works is because you can't rub a lime on your forehead without getting lime juice in your eye, and then the problem isn't the headache anymore, it is because you are now blind.
- Martha's way #16: Don't throw out all that leftover wine. Freeze into ice cubes for future use in casseroles and sauces.
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- Dave's way: Leftover wine?
- Martha's way #17: If you have a problem opening jars: Try using latex dishwashing gloves. They give a non slip grip that makes opening jars easy.
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- Dave's way: Go ask the very cute neighbor to do it.
- Martha's way #18: Potatoes will take food stains off your fingers. Just slice and rub raw potato on the stains and rinse with water.
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- Dave's way: Mashed potatoes will now be replacing the anti-bacterial soap in the handy dispenser next to my sink.
- Martha's way #19: Now look what you can do with Alka Seltzer.
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- Clean a toilet. Drop in two Alka-Seltzer tablets, wait twenty minutes,brush and flush. The citric acid and effervescent action clean vitreous china.
- Clean a vase. To remove a stain from the bottom of a glass vase or cruet, fill with water and drop in two Alka-Seltzer tablets.
- Polish jewelry. Drop two Alka-Seltzer tablets into a glass of water and immerse the jewelry for two minutes.
- Clean a thermos bottle. Fill the bottle with water, drop in four Alka-Seltzer tablets, and let soak for an hour (or longer, if necessary).
- Dave's way: Put your jewelry, vases, and thermos in the toilet. Add some Alka-Seltzer and you have solved a whole bunch of problems at once.
- Martha's way #20: Dinner is ready when the table is set with crystal, linen, and a vase of fresh cut flowers.
- Dave's way: Dinner is ready when the smoke alarm goes off.
