Sunday, April 18, 2010

What Ed Said About Cutting Onions

Welcome to the 87th weekly edition of...


Thank you for joining us! If you're new to this carnival and would like to enter your post, please check HERE for the rules and regs.

YOURS: This week's YOURS goes to Santa's Gift Shoppe! She posted instructions on how to make my all-time favorite Girl Scout cookie, thin mints! These cookies are incredible, and you'll see why I know that tomorrow. How could they be otherwise with ingredients like this...?

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Honestly, there is almost nothing that I love more than homemade versions of store-bought stuff, versions that leave out the hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup and all of the other unpronounceable ingredients. For Santa's Gift Shoppe's recipe, click HERE. Thank you so much Santa's Gift Shoppe, and feel free to grab the "I Was Featured" button from my left sidebar!

MINE: My father was probably the most interesting person I've ever met in my life, so much so that my mother, before he died, had thought about writing a blog called "What Ed Said" to record all of the memorable words of wisdom he pontificated...

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(Ed is shown here carefully pressing plastic wrap onto his coveted guacamole to keep it from browning.)

She never did get around to it, but because I love the ring to that title, I'm going to use it in this and subsequent titles of my various blog posts. Thanks for the fodder, Mom!

And since I brought up Santa in the "YOURS" section of this blog, let me just say that during the latter years of his life, Ed strangely resembled a jolly red-clad man who rides in a sleigh at Christmas time, complete with red polo shirts and suspenders, and when awed children pointed to him in grocery stores, then whispered to their mothers, "Mommy, there's Santa Claus!", he would walk past them saying "Ho, ho, ho!"

And that was probably one of the most "normal" things he did.

Along with painting my mother's dining room picture window white so she couldn't see the discarded thrift store finds he would pile outside her home, asking us if we had let anyone tie us up when we came home from school, and telling us we didn't have to brush our teeth because we had behaved so well that day, one of Ed's trademarks was that when he cooked, he cooked A LOT. Using a large stock pot was not sufficient if he wanted to whip up a batch of soup. He had to use an Army kitchen sized stock pot, one he had purchased at an authentic Army Surplus store. I remember having to ladle soup into bag after Ziploc bag because there was so much, that we had to freeze at least three-fourths of it, and that was after the seven of us had eaten it for every meal for a week.

But really, all kidding aside, I learned many homemaking skills from my father during these marathon cooking sessions. One of the most valuable skills he taught me, and one I even passed on to a short-order cook when I worked in a diner in Louisiana, was how to cut an onion. In honor of Ed, let me share...

(Note: To avoid tears when you're cutting an onion, try THIS tip.)

The first step is to peel off the skin, then slice off the top, like so...

how to cut an onion

(Make sure to leave the bottom in tact)

The second step is to slice the onion in one half inch strips almost all the way to the bottom, but not quite, leaving the pieces still connected together...

how to cut an onion

The third step is to slice these slices in the opposite direction, continuing to keep the onion in tact...

how to cut an onion

And lastly, slice these slices off the onion, like so...

how to cut an onion


...leaving wonderful little chunks perfect for making enough soup for an Army...

how to cut an onion

I really love this technique because there is no trying to pile slices of onions on top of each other to then again slice them down to size. Try it...you'll love it!

Thanks for listening.

OURS: Okay, I can't wait to see what all of you amazing homemaking have for us today. Last week was the biggest Homemaking Monday since it's conception, which was hugely exciting for me, so thank you so much for linking up and visiting. Have a great Homemaker Monday!

17 comments:

April@The 21st Century Housewife said...

What a lovely way to remember Ed, by sharing the things his hints and tips. And I like his way of cutting an onion - it's much easier than the way I've been doing it. I'll definitely be trying that out. By the way, this is my first Homemaker Monday - thanks for hosting!

Pati @ A Crafty Escape said...

What a lovely entry... I love hearing about other families. I have a very similar relationship with my father- love him to pieces!
P.S. Did you see the Copykat snikers recipe I posted last week? http://acraftyescape.blogspot.com/2010/04/copykat-snickers.html SOOOOO good!

Unknown said...

That is exactly the way I was taught to cut up an onion at a restaurant I worked at long ago.
This was such a great post about your Dad....he may be the most interesting person I've ever met too!

Jessica said...

Love the Ed story and look forward to more! :) I have sooo many stories growing up and the kids LOVE to hear about their grandparents!

Check out my blog on Wed - I have a Reece's PB knock-off recipe scheduled! :)

Anonymous said...

Beautiful post! Your dad sounds like such a fun man and you must have loads of memories of him in so many situations. :)

I am not getting to the link for the cookies from the HERE in your post. It links to another lovely post about your dad.

Mom2my10 @ 11th Heaven said...

Thereallifehome, thank you so much for the correction on the link. It's fixed now!

Also, guys, thank you so much for letting me know about when you will be posting "Copycat" recipes. I can't wait, especially for the Reece's cups.... my favorite!

Mom2my10 @ 11th Heaven said...

Oh, and Pati, yes, I did see those. Thank you!

Judy said...

That's one of my favorite way to chop onions by hand, but it still makes me miserable to chop them. I posted a while ago about other onion solutions that I'm looking into trying because I hate to chop onions (even with this super easy way to do so).

Jb said...

Nice post about your dad.
I linked my onion post I did a while back...thought it kind of fit in.

Brassy Apple said...

linking up for the first time! :)

Amanda B. said...

very interesting tip! Love it! And, your dad does seem to be a very interesting man...I look forward to hearing more of his wisdom!

Rhonda said...

Awwww Ed sounds so much like Jed's dad!!! Miss him!

Angie said...

I used to cut onion like that when I worked in a restaurant! I stopped doing it that way and now I am wondering why? It is so much easier! Thanks for the reminder!

Santa's Gift Shoppe and Ideas said...

Thank you sooo much for featuring the Thin Mints I posted last week...What a wonderful surprise...I have your link button on my Monday Link sidebar..
Enjoyed reading about your father..Mine passed away 2 days after we took him to church..He passed in his sleep @age 56..I know he was needed on the other side..my mom join him @ age 58 in her sleep..They are both sealed for time & all eternity...That's the best part!!! Thanks again Barb

Morgan//Nuts and Bows said...

Thank you so much for hosting again! And thanks for the great tips!!!

~Morgan

Meet Virginia!
Meet Virginia!
Meet Virginia!

Thelittlebrownhouse.us said...

Hi! This is my first time visiting your blog! Thanks so much for hosting, and I will be back!

Brian + Cheryl B. said...

Hi Jen :-}

I waited to post a comment on this particular posting, until I could tell you that I referred to it in what I posted today. The reason it took a couple of days, was due to waiting for a son to send a picture from his computer to mine ... and he had 'forgot', and ...

ANYways, I posted about you on my blog today. Go have a look see.

I wrote the above part and then before hitting 'post', decided to read through the comments others had left for you. So-o funny! Almost every single one of them wanted you to stop by their blog to see something. ;-p FUNNY!!!