A blond walks into a kitchen store...

If I were not blond, I might not have this little tip to pass along this afternoon.

But I am.
So I do.

I say this because today's discovery was a result of my scatter brain putting a pot to boil on the stove before heading upstairs to wash, dry, style, and apparently admire the aforementioned blond head...

When I finally returned to the kitchen, I heard that clicka clicka sound that an empty pot makes when it is about to burst into flames.

Brunette readers will just have to take my word for this.

So I ran to the stove. Sure enough, the entire contents had boiled out of the pot, and the copper clad bottom was now solid black. 

Well, great.

Now, if you are new around here, you may not know that I married Mr. Clean.

Therefore, I had not one but two reasons to drop everything and try to conceal the evidence before the man of the house got home. First, I really wasn't in the mood for the blond arsonist lecture, and second, I knew that he would attack this pot with his Scotch Brite sponge and Mr. Clean arms, and I would probably end up with yet another Revereware amputee for my collection.

So I went to the computer, and I googled Copper Cleaners. 

This is what I found:

Make a paste of equal amounts of salt, flour, and vinegar.

 Cover the copper and allow to set.

 Wipe off and buff.

It couldn’t possibly be that easy, but I had nothing to lose by trying. So I covered the pot and stood there staring at it. After about five minutes, I took a peek.

Woohooo! It really was that easy! The black literally vanished into thin air, and the copper looked at least ten years younger. I seriously considered slathering some on my face as well. Instead, I ran for the shiny red Kodak so I could yak all about it.

Then, I went back to the computer and googled something like cleaning stainless cookware. 

I found this:

Rub stainless cookware with lemon juice and a little salt.

I didn’t have lemon juice, but I had lemons. So I sliced one, salted it, and very gently and easily rubbed the stainless clean. This may be an old and well known method, but it was new to me. I was delighted, and the fact that I meandered on a great cookware cleaning adventure rather than attend to my previous plans for the day should in no way negate this little tip.

I polished all of my stainless cookware. I even washed an old tea kettle that had somehow become burned as well.

It went from this:

To this:

With no elbow grease involved.

Notice how the handle is still firmly attached to the kettle....

True, the original shine is gone, but that is actually the fault of Mr. Clean and his Scotch Brite sponge and not Mrs. Clean and her salted lemon.

Since I was on such a roll, I decided to go for the triple crown.

I googled silver polish and found this:

Line a pan with aluminum foil and fill with water.

Add one teaspoon each of baking soda and salt. 

Bring to a boil. Immerse silver. 

Wipe clean.

Polish.

I felt a little iffy on this one. I have polished a lot of silver in my time, and a solution couldn't possibly be that easy. So I grabbed a cheaper, likely silver plate, creamer that I got at an estate sale rather than the good stuff.

I boiled and immersed.

Then I boiled immersed some more.

And I rubbed.

 And I rubbed some more.

Not pleased.

Perhaps it works better with the good stuff?

 I didn’t feel like trying.

At any rate, I couldn’t leave it looking like a leopard so I dragged out a stool and climbed up to the high shelf in my laundry to see if I could find some actual silver polish.

Yes, I realize that for most people, that would have been done before all that googling.

I'm not most people.

   I found some.

 

That's better...

I did a little more polishing.

Then, I got back on the stool to return the polish to that high cabinet.

And guess what I found hidden up there when I did?

Well, of course…

However, I still believe the little paste and lemon discoveries are keepers. Therefore, I'm yakking them along to you.