Cleaning Leisure

Veteran’s Day and Cleaning Copper

Our small town of Anthem, Arizona hosts an annual Veteran’s Day parade which is quite impressive.  Additionally, on November 11th at 11:00 a.m., there is ceremony at our Veteran’s Memorial

We attend the ceremony each year and in my opinion, one of the biggest draws is our November weather.  It’s easy to be patriotic with 80 degree days and beautiful blue skies.

This year’s parade took place on Saturday.  It warmed my heart to see families with children.  And they were well rewarded with lots of candy being thrown from the various floats.

Musical Theatre of Anthem’s float featured their great singers performing patriotic songs along the route.

Texas Roadhouse

I couldn’t verify from the website if all Texas Roadhouse locations are participating, but our local restaurant is advertising free meal vouchers for Veterans. 

Texas Roadhouse is one of our go-to restaurants and it’s nice to see they support and reward our military folks.

Cleaning Copper

Displaying my copper during the autumn months makes me feel good. But frankly, when I’m decorating I don’t want to take the time to polish away the tarnish, so they don’t always get used.

This weekend I used the simplest, cheapest and most natural method available and did no polishing whatsoever.

Note:  My copper is not sealed so I wasn’t worried about damaging it.  My pots are for display only, so I didn’t worry about the insides getting de-tarnished.  Is that a word?

The Quick Clean Method

  • Four cups water
  • One cup vinegar
  • ¼ cup salt

Boil ingredients and dip the copper item.  Use tongs if necessary to avoid burns and dry with a paper towel.

Yep, that’s it.  My copper is now shiny and pretty on my kitchen counter.

What I’m Eating

If you’re a long-time reader of this blog, you are probably familiar with my love of charcuterie boards as an entertaining staple.  Part of the attraction is the board I love so much.  The fact that it’s really gotten quite beat up – scratched and dented and split is not a problem.  I don’t care.  It makes it even more pretty.

On this particular board I used delish Manchego cheese, cut it into triangles and then placed them every other way for more interest on the board.

Salami and turkey breast were folded into fourths shaped like tulips which came out really pretty.

Adding a bit of chocolate in the form of Trader Joe’s M&Ms and chocolate covered pretzels added an unexpected twist and a little more sweet besides sliced apple and grape clusters.

There was room on the board for crackers, but I added a side basket of sliced French bread to make little sandwiches with the meat and cheese.

Success!

I have some book news for you, but I’ll wait and post that this weekend.

Enjoy your week and thanks, as always, for walking my journey with me.  Blessings.

4 Comment

  1. Beautiful! Thanks for the copper info. I have 1 piece I need to clean and did not want to buy cleaner just for that

  2. Your board looks delish and beautiful, Thanks for the tip to clean Cooper, We have some old pieces from Bob’s grandparents.

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