Easter Brunch Tablescape

Enjoy a few snapshots from our annual Easter brunch. This year, we served 7 with fruit salad, scrambled eggs, bacon, seasoned potatoes with peppers and onions, sausage gravy, biscuits, jams, banana bread and juices.

Here a teacups doubles as a sugar bowl atop a beautiful antique embroidered table runner featuring lilacs in baskets. Each person had an egg cup with a personalized egg.

Some antique Easter post cards on display in a tag shop photo display. These sweet fabric bunnies I made myself several years ago, cut with pinking shears, stuffed and sewn. It's hard to make out but they each have a grosgrain ribbon around their necks.

Loving the purple tulips this year!

Back to the tablescape -- see the cute rabbits looking around for a tuft of grass? You can also see a couple of crystal goblets I just picked up at a yard sale for $12 - set of 6, never used!

Happy Easter!

Kaizen for the Home: Inventory!

I work with manufacturers, helping them become more efficient. Specifically we utilize the Toyota Production System tools of Lean Manufacturing to help companies reduce the 8 wastes, which the Japanese call "muda": defects, overproduction, waiting, transportation, inventory, motion, extra processing and non-utilized talents. Recognize any muda at your workplace? At home? Thought so!

Exercises planned to reduce muda are called "kaizen," meaning good change.

We teach manufacturers how to use lean tools to conduct kaizen and reduce muda. Some of the tools predict cost or resource savings, improved delivery time, expressed in dollars and hours -- or even days, helping the CEO prioritize kaizen. The Japanese model, and many of its Japanese terms are used throughout the world for continuous improvement in many aspects of business... so why not try it at home?

OPPORTUNITY: I thought I'd tackle my "inventory." Inventory at our pagoda is kept in various storage warehouses, and for my kaizen, I focused on short-term warehousing (the kitchen freezer) and long-term warehousing (the big basement freezer.) The goal is to reduce inventory and save money on upcoming supply orders (grocery shopping.)

PROBLEM STATEMENT: Inventory is a waste because money is tied up and not being used to make income. ) I decided to use a quick 5S and the POUS for my kaizen, which took 2 evenings. I am going to conservatively estimate the value of the contents in these 2 warehouses at $400. Money tied up, not working for me. (Obviously! This stuff is frozen!) Not scheduled for production any time soon, because we don't know what's there.

METHODOLOGY: The 5S tool: sort, shine, set in order, standardize and sustain. Estimated kaizen implementation: 2 hours.

ACTION: SORT - First I inventoried my warehouses. I can't even begin to list what I found in these 2 freezers. Suffice it to say, there are 2 Pennsylvania gringos who really like their Mexican food, and enough frozen meat and seafood for a month or a large meat party with 20 of our closest friends. Plus single serving remainders and half bags of veggies, side dishes, breads, french fries, and breakfast foods. Then fruit, leftovers, appetizers, frozen treats, frozen dinners, ice... a whole chicken? Some pitas missing their gyro meat, some freezer burned unidentifyable link-type meat (mini stalagmites observed), a whole big bag of unopened shrimp (jackpot!), and a big box of Texas toast with 2 toasts left. There was crap that was no good, which I threw out. In a true 5S, I should have tied red tags to the mystery kielbassa and the 2 lone wheat rolls.

SHINE - I cleaned everything.

SET - I reorganized everything, using the POUS tool, which is Point Of Use Storage. Stuff used for making dinner or breakfast was placed in the kitchen freezer. Large quantities of appetizers, desserts, and occasional convenience meals were placed in long-term storage. Meats were grouped together in the large easy-to-see door rack - ready for advanced planning (a.k.a. thawing.) And folks, looks like we got enough for a Cinco de Mayo party!

STANDARDIZE - This will be challenging, because all of the workers (family members) need to be trained (told) to the standardized work methods. At home this means, "Hey, honey, the meats are downstairs." or "When you put the groceries away, do you mind keeping the veggies all together so we can see what we have?" What will help this is if I write up a list and post it on the employee bulletin board (outside of the refrigerator with magnet), so that dang Procurement Manager (me) quits buying aluminum bushings (pork tenderloins.)

SUSTAIN - Obviously the goal is to keep this up and reduce inventory to recoup our investment. So far, we've had previously frozen pork chops and steaks that we forgot about, and have some great chili on the thaw for tomorrow. For the 2 of us, we should be able to go 4 weeks without needing a meat or vegetable, figuring we cook about 5 nights a week, and will only need to supplement with fresh produce, breads, cereal, dairy and deli. This could amount to another $200-$300 in savings over a period of a month.

Check out my before and after pictures. Don't you just love getting organized? And yet I feel so international taking on my freezer muda!

Cartoons and Strip District Shopping

I stayed at my girlfriend's house in Butler, Pa., over the weekend so I could catch her 14-year-old daughter's outstanding performance in a cheerleading competition in Pittsburgh. Heather and her hubs also have a pre-teen son; I've known those kids since they were little. What a great feeling to know two great kiddos are looking forward to your visit!

Here's what I was thinking. I don't know when you grow out of watching cartoons, or if, for many years, turning cartoons on in the morning is a habit moreso than a tantrum-soothing necessity. (At some point during a break in the cheer competition, the DJ broke out "Spongebob" and all those beautiful, leggy, made-up teens sang along. So it's got to be after age 14. )

I digress. Anyway, at one point at the homestead, I think it was just Heather and me with our coffees watching cartoons. (Ah, so it's got to be after age 38.)

"They sure don't make cartoons like they used to, do they?" Heather said. She was right. It was some awful computer-generated animation. Rude characters. Dumb plot. Obnoxious noise. Goofy voices.

Our cartoons were iconic. Hilarious. Adventurous. Mysterious. Educational. We learned vocabulary and science from The Professor in Underdog, and fashion tips from Daphne, and when our moms gave us whole carrots with the greens on, we chewed them like cigars and did our best "What's up Doc?" impersonations. After school syndicates hit the TV airwaves in the 80s, I watched a lot (too much) of Heckle & Jeckle and Tom & Jerry and Woody Woodpecker.

Which brings me to my story! Saturday we had some time to kill before the competition, and it was a gorgeous sunny early spring day in Pittsburgh. We shopped on the Strip District, which is like a wholesale market for imports, grocery, ethnic foods, supplies, sundries.... And one of my favorite places on the Strip is the cheese counter at the Pennsylvania Macaroni Co. on Penn Ave. (Outside photo courtesy of their website.) Everytime I go there, I think to myself in an elegant southern belle accent, "Cheese.... I love cheese. Really, I do."

Those of you age 40+ might recognize that as a sweet little mouse quote from a Tom & Jerry episode. If you ever wondered how Hanna-Barbera created years' worth of cartoons about a cat chasing a mouse, which somehow always featured a cheese-baited trap, I can tell you, I totally relate how Jerry might be tempted by one cheese after another. Tom went the extra mile in this particular episode and threw in the chick mouse. He still didn't catch that clever Jerry!

Heather and I both bought a few samples (in half-pound minimums) of cheeses from the vast international menu at Pennsylvania Macaroni Co. A saga bleu, some 60% brie, an aged mild Gouda, some apricot fruited Stilton and a scrumptiously dry and crunchy Dutch Beemster. When we got home, we split our half pounds again and shared. Winning!

To Japan with Love

When I was shopping online for Bento supplies last month, I found some great pricing on an eBay store that was actually located in Japan. I had never purchased internationally before, but her prices were reasonable, and she was able to combine shipping for me. My package arrived to my home straight from Japan about 3 weeks ago, with a sweet little note written in English. I can't help but wonder whether she was affected by the horrific events in Japan; in my eBay feedback note I asked her how she was doing.... waiting.

Here I have made my Bento today with some of the supplies sent to my by citron1040.

On the left is vegetable cutter for the orange rind flowers on the broccoli slaw and a rabbit mayo container that is holding some rice wine vinegar and sesame oil. On the right is the Nori cutter I used to make the face on top of the rice. I cut the hair from nori by hand (you can't see the little cow licks on top!) There is also a little soy sauce container shaped like a pig next the the chicken and broccoli. Look how cute ketchup turns out for blushing her cheeks!

I hope that the good Lord shines His grace and healing down onto the people of Japan during this terrible time. Their culture has brought many moments of joy to my family, especially to my brother, who lives in Asia, has associates and friends in Japan, and travels to Tokyo regularly for business. It's from my brother that I learned about the trend in culture of Japan to love things so little and cute, like Bento. This craft is an art and an expression of love in that culture. So, this is for you, Japan, back at you, With Love from Pennsylvania, USA.

Linking today to What's for Lunch Wednesdays.

Road Trip: North Country Brewing, Slippery Rock, Pa.

Just wanted to share some pics of this great microbrewery in Slippery Rock, Pa., -- North Country Brewing. NCB brews here on site of the former Lawrence County Morgue. My girlfriend and I stopped here Friday for some appetizers and a few brews. Heather sampled the Firehouse Red, still on special from St. Patrick's Day, and the Scotsman in me (and amber lover) downed a couple pints of the McLeod's Ewe.

We got there early enough to beat the crowd, because by 5:30 there was a wait to be seated. More of a 40+ crowd and some college students. The woodwork here features some Druid-like carvings by a local artist. The photo of the outside of the brewery is from NCB's website. Enjoy!