Bena Mae’s Kitchen: Clutter Begone

I’m getting rid of stuff I thought I couldn’t live without. I used to be a collector of everything they made more than two of. I was an addict. Incurably so.
My husband thought I was crazy. And looking back, I agree with him. But as with all unexplainable obsessions, I didn’t see it at the time. And in time, when it was too late and the horse had left the barn, I was left to live with what later became clutter. Stuff.
But during my excessive buying sprees I didn’t see it as clutter. The magazine Country Living was the country decorator’s Bible, my Ten Commandments of how to make my home look stylish.
Antique’s shops were my second home. All the proprietors had a red line to my telephone number. They knew my tastes, my passions for floe blue, carnival glass, depression glass, old ironstone, wooden bread bowls, stone crocks and things of that ilk. And they drew me in like a fisherman with a large mouth bass on his line. They hooked me every time.
My husband was a very patient man. Restrained but patient. I would drive home with the car loaded with a primitive piece of furniture and ask him to help me unload it. He would look in the car, an expression of unbelief on his face and say, “where are you going to put it?” Or, “it won’t come out of the car.”
“It went into the car so it has to come out,” I would answer.
In my later years, and with a bit more wisdom and accountability, I realized that I didn’t own all this stuff. It Owned Me! So as I became more lucid, I decided to become a minimalist, which Wikipedia describes as someone who can live with less and still be happy.
So now I am a minimalist, and free and happy without the shackles that bound me those many years.
In the ensuing months, I got rid of many items that had held me hostage for lo, these many years. And with each piece that went out the door, the nostalgia went with them. They had served their purpose. That phase of my life was over and I felt a sense of enormous relief with the removal of each one of them.
The moral of this story is: Don’t become a prisoner of things. You can live with less and still be happy. And your house will look oh, so much neater.

Luby’s Skillet Cabbage

You can make skillet cabbage just like Luby’s Cafeteria.
I love, love, love cabbage fixed any way.  Try this with crunchy cornbread and a bowl of pinto beans and you’ve got a soul-satisfying meal.

Ingredients

1 large head of green cabbage
6 ounces bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 cups water
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter

Instructions

Remove the cabbage core and discard. Slice the cabbage into 1 to 2-inch pieces; you should have approximately 12 cups. Place in a large pot along with the bacon and water. Bring the water to a boil over medium-low heat and then reduce the heat to a medium-low. Add the pepper and salt to the pot, cover with a lid, and simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Before serving, stir in the butter.