Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Chats on the Farmhouse Porch: Water

Well heck, if you came to my porch to chat, you could sit on the swing and the wind would push you around! It's been that windy! I actually hook our swing to the railing of the porch when we aren't using it because the wind makes it crash into the railings!

So this week Patrice has another five questions for us to consider.
  1. What was your favorite book as a child?
  2. Dark chocolate, Milk Chocolate, or White Chocolate?
  3. What's your biggest "pet peeve" when it comes to your kitchen?
  4. Do you use any type of water filter in your home? (Whole house, faucet mount, or pitcher)
  5. What's the herb you use the most in cooking?
1. What was your favorite book as a child? 
I remember loving the poems in a very worn copy of "When We Were Very Young" by A. A. Milne.


It was one of only a few books that I owned. I'm not sure if it was because times were different, or if my parents just felt that buying books was a waste of money, but we never had many books to call our own. This, an anthology of poetry compiled by Louis Untermeyer and "The Little House on the Prairie" were a few titles I remember owning. 

2. Oh, pass the white chocolate, please. Oh, it's all gone? OK, then, I'll take a piece of the milk chocolate. Oh? That too? Well, OK. In a pinch I'll eat (and enjoy) dark chocolate. Thank you!

3. The biggest pet peeve when it comes to my kitchen? Well, gee, I don't have one. I love my kitchen. I love the size and layout. I love my cabinets and appliances. I guess the fact that I have to actually do some work in the kitchen might be a peeve... but only when I'm feeling tired and grumpy. 

4. Do you use a water filter in your home? 
I can't wait to read other responses to this. We are currently researching water softeners and treatment systems. Our water is TERRIBLE! I can't stand the taste of it and it is very hard. It has tested anywhere from 13 - 20 grains per gallon on the hardness scale. 7 or 8 is considered to be hard water! It's amazing we aren't bludgeoned to death when we take a shower with water that is that hard! We have talked to 4 different water companies and hopefully within a week or so will have lovely tasting, soft water! We do have a filter in our fridge and we use a PUR water filter for drinking water, as well as a filter in our coffee pot. We won't need those once we get our system installed! If anyone has recommendations, suggestions or cautions, I'd love to hear from you.

5. What's the herb you use most in cooking?
My best friend introduced me to Penzeys spices. They make a number of blends and I fell in love with Fox Point. Fox Point is a blend of salt, shallots, chives, garlic, onion and green peppercorns. I use it on everything!

To join the chat or to see other responses visit Everyday Rurality by clicking here.

4 comments:

  1. Fascinating questions ! I have never heard of that spice mix - will have to look for it! I am a Dark Chocolate girl - water softeners - only have a filter - our water isn't the greatest, but that's something waaaayyyy down the road.
    Hope you have a great day,
    Kathy

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  2. As a teen, I loved the James Harriot "All Creatures Great and Small" series of books. Oh gosh, I can't choose between the chocolates. I think I need to do a taste test...I'll let you know. tee hee. Although, I did ask a friend studying to be a chocolatier, that she make a white chocolate candy with black licorice flavor swirled in it. It would be pretty and I'm very curious what it would taste like. Kitchen pet peeve: been in the house 4.5 years and we still don't knobs/pulls on cabinet doors/drawers. Our well water goes through one filter in the basement. I don't think we have any water softening system. Hope you find one that will improve the taste of your water. Technically, salt is not a spice, but I salt almost everything.

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  3. I think A.A.Milne is wonderful. I guess you like chocolate a lot. I'm familiar with the spice company since an employer several years ago stocked mostly Penzey. As far as water- if ours was any harder, it would come out in chunks! The Brita pitcher really improves the taste. I'd love a whole house system, but that's not in my budget at the moment. Hug the horses for me!

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  4. That spice blend sounds perfect. I'll have to look around and see if they have something similar around here.

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