Caring for Cast Iron

One of the greatest pieces in a Southern cook's arsenal is a good cast iron skillet. I have several that were handed down to me from my great-grandmother, and one that Jordan bought me for my birthday this year. 

The trick, though, is cleaning these suckers properly. Left unattended and uncared for, they get rusted and persnickety. A good cast iron pan should release the food once it's done cooking, but a poorly cared for cast iron will burn everything you try to make, leaving a sticky, charred warzone behind. It can be frustrating and eventually make you choose to abandon cast iron altogether. 

But don't! Once you get the hang of it, you and your cast iron will be best friends for the rest of your life. Because they'll last you that long if you treat 'em right.  

I let a couple of my pans get too dirty recently, so I hunted for the best method to rejuvenate them. I found a few videos online and thought I'd share for all my Southern girls out there who need to fry a piece of chicken the best way: in a cast iron skillet. I've been seasoning and caring for my pans in this method (thanks, Crisco!) ever since I saw this and they work like a dream. 

Hope it helps! 

On cleaning and seasoning: 

On restoring cast iron that's too far gone to season or clean:
Note: this video uses oil instead of Crisco, but I'd use Crisco. It's a wonder-product.

The Coolest Dyed Easter Eggs

So my friend Katie and I were talking recently about a fresh way to dye Easter eggs, and she sent me a link to a Southern Living post about using nail polish. 

So I tried it, failed at the original method, and modified it for us. I know. I'm just a martyr that way. 

But seriously, though - this is such a cool, unique, and quick way to dye Easter eggs! If you have little ones, it would probably need to be either heavily supervised or an adults-only project given that you're working with nail polish. 

What you'll need: 
Hard-boiled or blown (hollow) eggs
Nail polish of your choosing
Tupperware/disposable container
Room temperature water
Egg crate (for drying the eggs) 
Optional: Plastic gloves to keep your hands clean

The process is so simple that I did the whole thing in this short video below, but the steps written out right under the video should you need to re-read them. 

Step 1: Fill the container with room-temperature water. The temperature of the water is crucial because if the water is cold, the nail polish will sink to the bottom of the tub. 

Step 2: Drop as many or as few drops of the polish into the water. Wait for the nail polish to dissipate and form a film on top of the water. 

Step 3: Gently roll your egg across the surface of the water until all of the nail polish has been picked up. Repeat the process as many times as you'd like to achieve your desired result on a single egg. 

Step 4: Set the egg back into its crate to dry. The polish will dry without sticking to the crate, so don't worry about ruining your masterpiece. Eggs dry in about 3 hours!

Happy dye-ing! 

Perfect "Boiled" Eggs, Just In Time For Easter!

I mean I should really just write two sentences for this post. 

Find your oven.

Head that oven to 375 degrees. 

Grab a dozen eggs. 

Place an egg into each space of a muffin tin. 

Put that tin in the oven for 30 minutes. 

Most important step! When the eggs come out, plunge them into an ice bath immediately to stop the cooking process. Keep the eggs there until they're completely cooled. 

Eat 'em, decorate 'em, whatever your heart desires. 

(Seriously though, why did no one tell me about this sooner?) 

Picnic at Max Patch

One of these days, I'm gonna make every single one of you come up here on top of this mountain. Max Patch is just ridiculously fabulous every single time. 

On Sunday, I got to meet a sweet friend's parents and hike up this familiar trail with a group of folks who'd mostly not been to this heavenly spot. When you crest the mountaintop, you get a 360 degree view of layers and layers of mountain ranges. I am positive that's not the correct way to describe it, but I have cake on the brain and "layers" seems okay. Always so wonderful to experience it anew all over again through other people's eyes.  

If you would like to see shots of it, complete with a cheesy score, watch this video! 

So anyway, it was totally fabulous. Cindi, my friend whose parents were with us, brought an adorable vintage picnic "basket" (several deep metallic discs that stacked on top of each other) full of deliciousness: cookies, broccoli salad, berries, pimento cheese...we had it all. So yesterday, we sat up there, ate, and talked about how good it was to be alive. 

Here are some pictures (my favorite is Jordan making a dog tent for the two Frenchies that were with us who were overheating a bit. Hehe!): 

Hope you guys had a great, relaxing weekend filled with a little bit of outdoor beauty. On to Monday! 

5 Things: Easy Ways to Protect Your Online Privacy

In case you missed it, Congress voted to dismantle a law that protected lots of elements of our online privacy. We've all had that moment when an ad for something we were just looking at on another website pops up on Facebook, but this is about more than cookies and ads.

The dissolution of this legislation will allow internet service providers (ISP's) to sell private information like your browsing history, app usage, location, who visits your house and logs onto your WiFi, location services, e-mail content, and more, to the highest bidder without your permission. Go ahead and imagine the most embarrassing thing you've ever Googled. Mmhmm. That's up for grabs, people. Yikes. 

While many think that the government has probably had access to this sort of information already (I mean, think CIA here - what can't they do??), the big difference is that this (often very personal) data would be sold to financial companies, insurers, financial companies, etc. 

SO. How can you give yourself a little protection? 

1. Use HTTPS. 

Most URL's begin with "http://." By enabling "HTTPS Everywhere," available here, your ISP will be able to see what website you're on, but not what specific page you're viewing. Installing the extension will automatically take you to the HTTPS version of the website (exactly the same as the HTTP version) and add a layer of protection to your Internet browsing. 

2. Encryption. 

Using encrypted texting is really easy through apps like Signal or WhatsApp. They allow ISP's to see that you're using the app, but not who you're texting or what you're saying. 

3. Two-step e-mail verification. 

E-mail is one of the scariest things that I can imagine getting compromised, because once someone has access to your e-mail, they can reset all your passwords for any other websites (like banking). If you have GMail, it's super simple to turn on a two-step verification (meaning, if you log in to your e-mail from an unknown network or computer, you'll have to complete a second step in order to get to your inbox, like entering a code you receive via text). It's a tiny bit inconvenient, but it's worth it when considering the alternative! 

4. Don't click on links directly from texts or e-mails unless you're expecting them. 

This one is definitely a pain in the ass, but, again, may be worth it. Experts have discovered that many links passed through e-mail or texts have picked up malware (software that will cause your computer to run poorly and/or shut down) along the way. Instead of clicking links directly from your e-mail, copy/paste them into a search bar and go to the website from there. Rule of thumb: don't click on any links, especially to services that require login information like your bank, Amazon account, etc., without being 100% that the e-mail is legit. 

Okay, so that's only four things. But hopefully they're helpful! It's easy to get spooked during moments like this one, but fear not. We're all okay. Deep breaths. Just take the extra steps, protect yourself, and, as always, if you don't like that this took place, call your legislator. 

Happy weekend, folks!