Home Sweet Homemaker

I’ve made chicken salad all of once. To me, it’s not worth the effort when I can go down the street and buy it fresh from the Ingles deli. I know there are many variations of chicken salad, but this one has served me well. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve transferred this stuff from the deli container to a pretty bowl and served it to guests.

It often saves dinner for my family when we don’t feel like cooking, or more accurately, when we have nothing to eat and are forced to go grocery shopping. I definitely don’t want to cook after I just went to the grocery store, so we buy some chicken salad for dinner. The extent of our cooking on days like these is to roll and bake the crescents to go with.

By the way, if you don’t already graze at the supermarket, you should. Those samples are there to be eaten. And you just might find something you really like. That’s how we got hooked. Find an Ingles near you or give your local deli a chance to impress you.

I’m not going into details about why I had to purchase Benadryl recently, but it has to do with an unidentified insect and a bad reaction. Regular Benadryl absolutely knocks me out but usually does the trick when it comes to my seemingly random allergic reactions. I asked the pharmacist if there was anything that wouldn’t put me to sleep. She recommended Claritin which I had already tried with no success.

I had a swollen foot and knew I had to get the good stuff. I decided on the Benadryl Quick Dissolve Strips. They were on sale at CVS, two vials (20 strips) for $7. I love that the packaging is small enough to fit unobtrusively in my purse. And I can take it immediately without needing water. It tastes good and it doesn’t seem to make me as sleepy as the traditional pink pill. My brother is allergic to certain insect bites as well. With this product, he can just keep a strip in his wallet for emergencies, which is what I’ll be doing from now on.

We had a family wedding this weekend. The wedding was beautiful, the bride was exquisite and the flatware was plastic. Forget the clear stuff. This was shiny. I had no idea until I physically held the fork in my hand that it wasn’t stainless steel. And of course, I pulled out my camera and snapped a photo, verifying everyone’s suspicion at the table that I am in fact a freakazoid.

If I had not been at such a formal function, I might have tracked down the caterer and demanded to know the source of their cutlery. But I settled for a picture and later googled “plastic flatware that looks real”. The brand is called Reflections and is available at Amazon.com through a third-party seller, in large quantities. This product is geared towards caterers, unless of course you have room in your pantry for 600 forks. With that said, I won’t be purchasing any. However, if I am ever having an event catered, I would definitely ask about this new item. Below is a excerpt from the product description from Amazon.

Through the art of technological innovation, elegance and convenience unite. Reflections cutlery combines the radiant styling of fine flatware and the ease of single use. Upgrade your service with a product that offers the same shine and silver sparkle as real stainless steel. Reflections single use silverware is the only solution addressing both the need for a formal presentation and the high costs associated with renting or owning (cleaning, transporting and replacing) permanent flatware.