Dear Home-Ec 101, I have a lovely stainless steel, 4 slice toaster, with crumb tray. I clean out the crumb tray, wipe everything down, and shake it like a martini over the trash can, but when I set it back down, it still has crumbs falling out. Repeat process many times, plus when I look …
Dear Home-Ec 101, I just read your post about scrubbing tile floors. I need to do this! I’ve swept and mopped for three years on my tile floors, and I’ve been knowing I need to do something to make the grout white again. I did the test to see if my grout had been sealed. …
Dear Home-Ec 101, I was looking on your site for information on the best (and hopefully most efficient) way to scrub floors. I found posts on your site about linoleum and mopping, but the only thing I found on scrubbing was a sentence saying that scrubbing floors required significantly more water. I have tile floors …
Dear Home-Ec 101, I have a dispute to settle. My husband and I recently bought the most beautiful, rustic acacia wood dining table. However, a couple of days ago we noticed that it is starting to crack here and there. Yes, we are young and with a house full of Ikea furniture it did not …
Dear Home-Ec 101, Four months ago, we had a birthday party for a friend. One person made a really awesome chocolate fondue into which we dipped marshmallows and assorted fruit. It was heavenly. Rather than disposing of the leftover fondue at the end of the night, one of us just put it in the fridge …
Dear Home-Ec 101, My husband bought two outside titanium lights that are brass finished from Patriot Lighting. The instructions say to clean the fixture once or twice a month using diluted bleach cleaner, then wait for one minute, then wipe off with cellulose sponges, then clean with wet cloth. Can you simplify this for me? Does …
Dear Home-Ec 101, My plastic dishes are starting to taste (and smell) like soap. Help! Because I hand wash, I switched to “moisturizing” dish soap. Since the switch, the soapy taste has been overwhelming. I can still taste the soap, even after I switched back to plain blue Dawn, which several friends recommended as a …
Dear Home-Ec 101, My mother has wax build up on an antique secretary. It is a dark wood with a shiny surface. Over many years of waxing the wax has built up and in places the shine has dulled. Can you help? Signed, Smudged in Smyrna Heather says: Are you sure that it’s wax build …
Dear Home-Ec 101, This past weekend I attempted to fix a wood (plank, not end-grain) cutting board with some pretty deep cuts in it, and wound up totally botching the project. Do you have any tips or tricks for cutting board maintenance? Any recommendations for a new cutting board, since I ruined the old one? …
Dear Home-Ec 101, The other night I splurged and made rack of lamb for my husband and sons. It was the first time, because I really don’t like it, and probably the last, because the clean up was such a hassle. Even though I sprayed my roasting rack and pan with Pam, it still took …