Kenyan Cirque Du Soleil

The other day a few of my friends and I went to see a show that was being advertised as a drama/acrobatic show, called Tunaruka Tukilala.  It was a bit shady because we kept calling the venue to get tickets and they never seemed to know what we were talking about. Maybe it was cause I kept calling it “waka waka  hey” show or because the auditorium was just being rented for the show and no one knew anything about it. Considering Tunaruka Tukilala doesn’t just roll off your tongue. Actually as I was pulling up to the gate on show night, I told the guard, “We are here to see Shakalaka Zulu”. He laughed and then pointed me where to park.

The show was held at a giant Hindu temple auditorium, Oshwal Center.  The place was nice! Giant community center joint.  All the old Indian folks hang out there – so cute. The old women all had their saris on with giant white tennies all over that place. I guess that’s the sporty look. One of our friends that was with us is Kenyan Indian and he thinks it’s funny too so I’m not being culturally insensitive!

The show was supposed to be a story about street children.  All speaking parts were in Swahili so the show could have been about the difficulties of selling shower curtain rings to people allergic to water and I honestly wouldn’t have known.  Okay that’s not entirely true – though the dancing and performances were somewhat difficult to interpret yes, there were many parts that I did catch on to what they were getting at.

Wow, I remember it being quite fragrant when the girl next to me opened her wings. I found these girls before the show running around by the ticket counter so I asked for a photo. It was funny how excited they were to take a picture with ME. I was like..you guys are the ones that are famous actors. They thought that was funny. They all wanted to see their picture in my camera..they looked and giggled.

Overall the show was Okay. I think I expected too much out of it. The live music performances were really good – the main singer was awesome. There were some flow problems  and there were some parts where all the sudden they would start blaring 90’s house music out of no where and then these girls would come out and dance to the house music. Then it would go back to sort of surreal acrobatic stuff. Some dancers looked really really good and some you could tell had never had a bit of formal training in their lives.

And actually what I thought was the most incredible thing about the show was knowing that these dancers/actors have not had all the training and schooling, etc that most people hitting a stage at home would have had. These guys and girls just probably worked hard at learning their parts and dances and went out and did their best.  The acrobats were likely self taught ..you see them all the time performing at hotels on the coast..and even on the beach, they practice their routines and then just go sell their act.  So, that is amazing to me. Making something out of nothing. I love it.  Here is the photo recap:

My bird girls.

Jumping through hoops

The singer lady was INCREDIBLE. Really really amazing.

Loved her dress. It was awesome.

I just wanted you to see this girls bun. Cause I had to look at it for 2 hours straight.

These people could dominate a Texas high school cheer-leading competition

        

And that was it. We left and walked across the street to eat our weight in Chicken Tikka at Hashmi's.  Wow, I love chicken tikka. But that's a whole other story.

Update on Mwikali going to SCHOOL!

Okay for you guys that wanted an update, I wanted to give it to you -  it's a bit long. But there is a lot to say.

I left work early yesterday and Rebecca and I did about 4 LONG HOURS of shopping to get all the stuff that the school told us Mwikali needs to start school this week. And they are SPECIFIC. Remember, it's a boarding school - which many schools in Kenya are, especially those outside of Nairobi. You can imagine how remote some villages are and so kids have to live at boarding schools since schools are not located everywhere.

After reading this post you may start to understand why Sergio and I had to fund raise on this one and how ridiculously impossible it could be for a parent that has no income to send their child to secondary school.  Just for basic necessary supplies to get her started, we spent over $350 - that's like 12 months of  income for some people living waaaay out there where this girl is from.  Then there were the costs to transport Rebecca out there today with all the things we bought via bus(es). (Mwikali had already headed back to her village on Monday.) And then there's tuition on top of that - which is what so many of you contributed to.   I'm telling you all this because I want to be as transparent as possible since many of you reading are co-contributors  and I want to be accountable to you.

I learned an awesome lesson shopping with Rebecca.  I kept picking up mid priced products or like cutesy pencil holders and she kept telling me, "Lenna, she needs to have the same low end, cheap products all those other village kids will have. And she should not have excess or anything special just because she is getting sponsored - it's not fair to the other kids, they're all from poor villages." So true. Good lesson. So much of the donor stigma/culture comes from the way we usually think and give. We give like we are buying for ourselves in our world. Like nice toys and clothes and bikes and crap..when that's just going to draw them apart from their peers and create jealousy and problems at school or wherever they live.  We have to think more like a local person when you are buying for a local person and not to give things that they wouldn't in a million years ever have or need anyways. It's like if some guy just got out of limo and gave me a plate of caviar if I was hungry or an IPAD if i needed to send an email.  It'd be weird and unnecessary. Those aren't things that I buy or use or need. Other lessons learned:

• You have to know that they use bar soap for their laundry not liquid -
• You should know that they dont like white towels because the water they wash with is dirty and will turn the towel brown and they dont like it to look dirty. So get them a dark towel so you cannot see the dirt. 
• You learn that they don't need special shampoo, they just use bar soap.  
• And don't buy them deodorant spray (i tried to get her jasmin spray..haha). If they smell too good of perfume or something, their teacher will tell them to go wash it off since one kid smelling good will make the others jealous.-  Okay, but I have a side comment here - people in many countries be smellin' RAUNCHY and it may not be a bad idea to train kids at a young age to start smelling sweet - that too is a key to success. You're not gonna land a job interview wreaking like human juices.

But the main point is no body has stuff..so no body else should have stuff.  It keeps things simple for the kids.  It's kind of nice considering the opposite situation that we face so often in the US where kids are all competing with each other for brands, phones, electronics, etc.  I know I went through it with wanting GUESS jeans in elementary school (I got Sassoon instead ;-))  They cannot even have street clothes at the school - it's not allowed. They have 2 identical school uniforms and they wear it EVERY DAY. EVERY SINGLE DAY..even on the weekends.

So first, we started at the text book store for school supplies.  Everything here is a "center" pronounced "centa" with Kenyan accent. So this was the Text Book Centa

Rebecca looking all FINE

We bought compasses and protractors and erasers and pencils and pens, an atlas, a dictionary..and don't choke on your casserole..A BIBLE...GASP! A Bible in school....oh lawdy lawdy!  Most of the Kenyan kids I know, eat, sleep, and breath God. They LOVE their faith..they know songs out of the wazoooo about Jesus. They dont sing about the itsy bitsy spider or a twinkly little star..they sing about Jesus. And they DANCE..huge..about Jesus. Pretty amazing.  So many of these kids could teach us so much about faith and love that we haven't learned. Faith in the face of complete adversity, death, poverty, etc.

I guess this is what having kids is like?!

Then we moved to the Uniform Centa to buy......YOU GUESSED IT! UNIFORMS!

sweaters and white collared shirts

all schools have a little sports uniform too..for field trips or sporting time.

I saw this t-shirt there - reminded me of the Alpha Joy kids in Limuru that we used to visit all the time. The shirt was $5, so I bought it for me!

This is not the back warehouse. This is the store. The Container Store it is not.

We got a $10 discount..woot woot!

Next we went to Bata - you know the shoe place you often see in Europe - They have it here also but they have SUPER cheap shoes ($3 for slip on canvas shoes, etc). And it's the main place that sells the school shoes that the kids have to have.
  We didn't know her size - we only had the outline of her foot drawn on a newspaper to work from..which pretty much seemed to be MY SIZE..around 9.5. We took it and measured it at Bata and she was a 9.  Worked out great because I was able to give her my tennis shoes since there was "sports shoes" on the list.  I gave her some cool Red saucony's I've had for a while but were still in good condition - she'll love them.   I was also able to give her a few other things so we didn't have to buy them - towels, a backpack, etc.

Yep, Size 9!

Wanna make sure your high school daughter does not get pregnant? Put her in Kenyan school shoes! It's like built in birth control - so ugly!

Last stop - UCHUMI. Poor man's Nakumatt. (I actually prefer Uchumi, it's like going to Giant or Safeway instead of Whole Foods or Harris Teeter - or like buying target workout clothes vs. Luluman or whatever that ridiculously expensive yoga crap is. Sorry for offending if you shop there - i just don't get those prices for something you are going to sweat in. It's like buying $80 pants to go paint in?? But I'm a cheapy ;-) Maybe if my parents would have buckled and bought me GUESS jeans when I was 12, I'd be buying Luluman now...maybe my imposter Sassoon's taught me a nice lesson. (It's all starting to make sense).  You can leave fighting words in the comment box!

At Uchumi we bought things like laundry soap (they do their own washing), deodorant, toothpaste feminine products, undies, padlocks, etc...and a mattress. These boarding schools usually have like metal bunks..like imagine military or prison style beds and you bring your own mattress.

And then we loaded up a taxi for Rebecca and all this stuff, we (you and me) paid for it and sent her home.  She left at like 5am this morning to Mwikali's village to go greet her mother and then take Mwikali to school.  Even though her mother is not involved in her life and doesn't have a dime to support - it is still customary and respectful to involve her and let her know all this is happening. Its a bit dangerous though - I've seen mothers actually ask for the money instead to try to profit instead of have their kids go to school or get health care, etc. It's unbelievable but it's a different world in the village. It reminds me a bit of Lord of the Rings and "my precious"..just the word money or muzungu sponsor makes people do crazy things. Rebecca is taking care of things though. I got this text from her today:

 "Hi Lenna, I'm with Mwikali, on our way to school. I told her your message she promised to work hard. Thanks for being with us".

That message is for all of you that contributed ..and I know many wanted to but didn't get there in time. It's for you too - I am just as grateful to you for the desire to help.

More to come!

Back to our normal programming....

Okay, I'm done asking for money now ;-) You can come back...it's safe! I swear. haha.

So, I went running on Saturday - a quick 4 miles, which hurt like hell.  It's been hot and muggy here lately - As the guards tell me, "Yes madam, we are upon the season of the short rain". 
When I go running here I take some additional things with me..I seriously almost need a purse to go running. But Sergio got me a trendy runners belt..it's basically a glorified stretchable fanny pack.

Emergency phone, pepper spray, keys, IPOD.

All of that has to fit in HERE:

Anyways, somehow, and I knew it would happen because the road is soooo torn up where I ran, I ended up rolling my ankle on a huge rock and it was bad. I mean full force weight right on my sideways bent ankle. It was early in my run so I sort of made the stupid decision to just keep running since I was in a state of numbness and my dad taught me from a young age that Neat's eat nails..so yeah..just kept going.  I had to jump in the shower and run off to my Indian cooking class after I got back in ...which was 3.5 hours on my feet. Needless to say, my ankle slowly blew up this this big painful mess by the time I got home Saturday night after being on my feet the entire day. The pain was bad - I mean, pain like I thought it was gangrene and broken and with frost bite all together..okay maybe that's exaggerating but I still couldn't move it or the pain was just nuts. Somehow it miraculously 90%  healed overnight..to go from that much pain to not much pain made me feel like a new woman when i woke up. Although I went to work today and my ankle and foot is ginormous today..not much pain but it's HUGE and my shoe began to get increasingly tight. I showed my co-worker - she asked me if I was born with a cankle (just one). I told her it's a temporary cankle and that my ankles are the one area of my body that is thin and I don't appreciate her saying things about my one perfect part(s).  
So I came home a bit early today and did this:

Frozen strawberry ice-pack. Really bad photo. I just realized it looks like I have one of those Guinness book of world record long curly toe  nails..but that is not my toe nail haha, that is long horn Horn sitting on a table.

Now, back to Indian cooking class. I had been looking for an Indian cooking class for a while - Finally found a woman that gives classes in her house so I set it up. I had a really good turnout - 8 people signed up and the instructor was this cute older Indian woman that is like Iron Chef India.  Her style of cooking reminded me a lot of my mom and my aunt amal - very estimated and by taste. Her only measurement units were a "small bowl", "small spoon", or "big spoon".  For larger measurements she uses "large old tennis shoe" and "garden shovel"..kidding.   Anyways somehow we made 7 Indian dishes in like 3 hours. Pretty amazing. The food was um, okay. For some reason I thought it was great when I was there, but we packaged it all up and brought it home and I really didn't like any of it back at my house. It didn't quite taste like the restaurants around here but we certainly didn't do any slow cooking so I think that would have make a difference. There just wasn't a lot of time to make a lot of dishes that usually cook for a longer time. It was still fun and interesting to learn the methods and ingredients that go into some of these dishes..and the naan was really good!
Two  interesting tid-bits from cooking class:

• she actually cooks ANTI-FLATULENCE powder INTO the lentils. Awesome right? haha. Love that.  Two different ingredients will do the deed -Thyme seeds or something called Hing.

• And, instead of baking soda, as a rising agent for the naan, she uses like alcaseltzer powder. It's called something different here but same stuff. Good to know in general.

Oh lastly, she claims that food allergies are bullshit and she can cure your food allergy in 15 days through healing foods. Let me know if you want her contacts ;-)))

Love the colors in this. From the top dark spice: mustard seed, salt, tumeric,coriander, spanish paprika or chili powder, cumin seeds, and in the middle is coriander and cumin mixed.

Making the naan was surprisingly easy

Palak Paneer - my favorite. Just didn't turn out as thick and delish as Anghiti's here.

I think I'll still just go to restaurants for all my indian fixes since it's inexpensive here. But once I move home, I may have to learn to perfect the palak paneer and chicken tikka masala. Two of my faves.\

A couple of the ladies mentioned that maybe I should do a Lebanese cooking class...I'm thinking about putting one together as a fund raiser for something but first I have to learn how to cook without making a complete disaster out of the kitchen and how to do it all in 3 hours. It's harder than it looks.

The end.

HELP ME SEND THIS GIRL TO SCHOOL!

I work in public health - we focus on masses. We focus on thousands and millions at a time, not on the individual..that is for the clinicians to take care of.  We work at the policy level, at the ministry level, the system level to try to set up a better way, a more efficient way, in order to make large impacts and help countries take care of themselves.I believe that is the only true path to development - governments helping themselves though sound policies, integrity, honesty, and putting education and health first.  But in the mean time there are individuals out there, millions of them, that could use a break. Just a little lift, a foothold, something to help them climb out with. I would like to ask your help in providing a foothold for someone that has crossed my path.  Her name is Mwikali.

If you don't count girl scout cookies, I've never raised money for anything before...no half marathons for charity, no read-a-thons, no car washes, no mission trips to mexico - nothing. I've often contributed to the efforts of others but I have never raised money for something I've done - If I want to do something, I just pay my way and do it and I don't really talk about it. Over the past 2 years, there have been many things and people that I have found compelled to support and I only sign up for whatever I can do myself with my own household's means. But with this one, Sergio and I cannot do it alone.
  

This story is about Mwikali.  A real girl that I know. She is the cleaning girl that works for and lives with my cleaning lady (and friend), Rebecca. Her story is just like hundreds of thousands of other girls - she's really not that special. She is 16 and comes from an area way outside of Nairobi called Kitwi. Mwikali was born into a severely poor family - one of 13 brothers and sisters. She had never even seen a car before Rebecca picked her up. Mwikali's father died when she was young -  She tells Rebecca of how they had no money for even Ugali (porridge) as she grew up. They would drink hot water and salt to tide them over until the evening. Her brothers would steal food and bring it back to the family. Somehow, she managed to actually make it through primary school. After primary, she actually passed the exam for secondary school (high school), already beating the odds.  But secondary school costs much more than primary, which is more or less free as long as you have a uniform. And there was no way she would ever be able to afford secondary school.  To make matters worse, her mother has a boyfriend that is inappropriate with Mwikali's sisters and has made advances towards her as well. So, I suppose it was a blessing in disguise that she was able to get the job with Rebecca in Nairobi and has begun her life as a cleaning girl - she cleans in exchange for a place to stay and food. But, it doesn't have to end like this.  Mwikali passed her entrance exam - she is bright and motivated and wants more than anything to go finish high school.  Can't we help her? She is only 16. It may not be scratching the surface of the issues in Kenya but for Mwikali, it will change her life. It will. And it will likely change the life of her future children and you could be a part of that. And that is amazing.

Education is the key to unlock the door that is trapping so many females in an endless cycle of poverty.

We can work together, you and me and Rebecca and we can send Mwikali to 4 years of secondary school.    I told Rebecca that Sergio and I will donate the money to buy all the stuff she needs to get started (bed, uniform, books, shoes, etc) and part of year 1 tuition.  And that I would see who else that I know would be willing to contribute for the rest.  We are talking about $225 per year for boarding school - THAT'S IT! (Most secondary schools are boarding schools since there is a paucity of secondary schools and most people do not live in commuting distance). I told her we will focus on just 2 years at a time. Let's see how it goes in raising the $450 we need right now and then we can re-evaluate it once she has completed her first year. Rebecca volunteered to visit her and take her the personal things she needs throughout the year and I would handle payments.

School started in January - So Mwikali is now in a holding pattern. I cannot promise her anything until I know I have some additional supporters out there. If you believe in this and you trust me that this is an authentic sincere request, please go to this site and donate. Any small amount is welcome.  I set up a paypal thing for the first time ever. And if we have a good response by Friday, Rebecca and I will buy her supplies Friday and Rebecca will take Mwikali to start school on Monday. I have no pictures of her because I really didn't want to meet her unless I can promise her that we can help. So, if we get her started in school, I will visit her when Sergio comes in 3 weeks. It's looong ride out to the school that Rebecca found.

Here is the link again - Please let me know if you have any issues accessing it.
http://www.youcaring.com/fundraiser_details?fundraiser_id=1028&url=mwikali

Thanks for your support. I will keep you updated.
Lenna

Get to know Sumac

If you don’t know sumac, you should.  It’s this amazing spice used a lot in the middle eastern foods that has a lemony vinegary flavor. Yes, it is related to poison Sumac, which you are probably familiar with if you had a brother like I did that was continuously coated in a layer of pink calamine lotion growing up because he liked to play in bushes for some reason. But, the edible spice is of another genus and completely safe.  If you are a hummus fan, maybe you’ve had it in your hummus, or maybe you’ve had zaatar with sumac in it..or possibly in your shawarma if you frequent the middle eastern food trucks in DC.


Well, it’s time you start eating sumac because it’s actually good for you and adds incredible flavor.  Apparently it used to be used in the medieval times to treat a ton of illnesses.   There is some data that shows it has antimicrobial properties and can be used to treat hypoglycemia.  You can buy sumac at any middle eastern food store or online or maybe even your grocery store….but definitely not mine here in Kenya. I brought my sumac from home ;-)
So, let me introduce you to the simplest most delicious easy to make chicken dish EVER :
Sumac Chicken with Onions and Arabic bread recipe.  Its real name is - Mussakhan.  I got the recipe from here.  It’s a website called Taste of Beirut where this lady that grew up in Lebanon shows you how to cook some awesome stuff.  I tweaked her recipe a bit to fit with what I had and to be extra healthy and a lot easier than the one she made.
Ingredients
1 yellow onion cut into thin rings
2-3 chicken breasts cut into small chunks. The real recipe asked for boneless wings..eh.
1 cup Chicken stock
Pita bread  - if you have Arabic paper bread (markook or lavash) use that. I could not get pita even, I had to use Naan (Indian flat bread)
1 tbsp sumac
olive oil
salt pepper cinnamon, all spice
Red Wine – to drink!
Pre-heat oven.
First, sprinkle the sumac all over your sliced onions and set aside

Once you chop up your chicken breasts, sprinkle them with salt, pepper, cinnamon and all spice

Then brown your chicken in a pan with some olive oil.  You don’t need to cook it all the way through – Just get it a bit golden on the outside.

Oh, this is where I began drinking my wine ;-)

Okay, then remove the chicken from the pan, add a bit of olive oil and start cooking up them onions! You want them to get sort of clear..not brown.

Okay, now, while your onions are cooking, pour some chicken stock into a bowl ( I just mixed a bouillon cube with some hot water. I’m sure you have fancier options than that). 
Get out a glass baking dish and spray it down with some cooking spray.  Open up your pita and lay it down in the dish.  You can use 2 pieces..just do what you want. You won’t mess it up. Then brush or coat the bread with a layer of chicken stock.
 
Once the onions are done, lay half of them down on top of your bread. Then add your chicken on top. Next put the rest of the onions on top of the chicken. Take another piece of opened up pita and try to sort of lay it on top and tuck it under the bottom piece to make a little cage for the chicken and onions. Paint the top piece of bread with plenty of chicken stock as you do this.
If you are using naan like I had to..it sort of looks like this:
   

If you are using lavash do it like this – put a couple of layers down first and then wrap it around your stuffing. This is the real deal if you have the right bread.

Then I wrapped mine all up in foil since I couldn’t really create a little bread pocket with my thick stiff naan.  I put it in the oven for about 30-35 minutes at like um, I don’t know..Hot. Maybe normal baking hot. Like 350. My oven has a dial with single digit numbers – I used 7 hot. ;-))

Well the finished product looks a lot like the pre-finished product – the photo doesn't’ really show how steamy and juicy this thing ended up.

It was soooooooo good. It was like lemony, tangy, oniony, juicy, the bread and chicken was delish. And it was so easy and needs like 4 ingredients.
Enjoy the sumac!

HOME REMEDIES

Why do I love articles about home remedies? I remember being like 12 years old and being obsessed with an advertisement in readers digest about a book called 1001 Home Remedies. I wanted it so bad that during our weekly stupid family meetings that my mom forced us to have (sorry mom), I used to bring the advertisement to the table and when it was my turn to speak at the meeting, my only request was that we buy the book because I felt that it would be very beneficial for our family. (My mom and brother remember this well). Everyone just sort of laughed at me – but I truly wanted that book. 

I remember the infomercial on TV back then – it would have the announcer talking as scenes played out - “Baby crying?? Run the vacuum cleaner! Have an ear ache? Massage your hand with oil! Gum in your hair? Use peanut butter to remove it!”.  Oh that infomercial just tantalized me and no one would buy me the damn book – despite the 3 easy payments (installments) of $9.99.  (No CODs). 1001 home remedies people..just think about it. 1001.

Now, in the day of the internet and giant bookstores, home remedy ideas are everywhere – not just in the 1001 Home Remedy bible sold on TV. (I’m laughing at myself right now, this is so dumb). But in all seriousness – who doesn’t like a good home remedy – how often have you shared these sort of things between you and your friends or been ecstatic that you actually buffed out the water stain on your coffee table with coffee grounds? I mean seriously! We love home remedies! 
Well you can thank me later – but I have put together a little list of my favorite home remedies. Not all have been tried and proven yet personally but just the thought of them makes me happy. So here are 21 Fabulous DIY Home Remedies for your reading pleasure!

Beauty and  Skin Treatments
1) Strawberries, which contain salicylic acid, can be mashed up and applied to your face for 15 minutes to combat acne and sun damage.
2) Shrink your pores with an egg white mask.  Whisk up some egg whites and apply to your face overnight.
3) Rose water is a great tonor for your skin. Make your own by pouring boiling water over rose petals or just buy it at the middle eastern market – lord knows they have enough of it there.
4) To help weak, dry hair – use coconut oil as a deep treatment either overnight or with a sexy shower cap or just for a quick conditioning. It’s been shown to actually strengthen strands.
5) Don’t pay $35 for Origins Salt Scrub! Make your own with one cup brown sugar, one cup olive oil, and 1 cup oatmeal
6) Brush your teeth twice a week with Salt and lemon juice paste to whiten enamel and get rid of stains (not for sensitive gums/teeth)

Jewelry/Metals
7) Untarnished your silver jewelry all at once (not steel, just silver).  Place all your jewelry into a glass baking dish covered in aluminum foil. Sprinkle everywhere with baking soda, then pour boiling water on top. Let sit for 10 minutes then rinse with WARM water and pat dry. Might take 2 times for some really tarnished stuff.
8) Shine your brass stuff. Put your things in a bucket - Mix half a cup of white vinegar with a tablespoon of salt and pour in the bucket, then fill will water. Let it sit for 15 minutes, rinse with warm water and dry.

General Health
9) Rub the inside of a banana peel on your bug bit to relieve itching.
10) Sooth heartburn with some cinnamon toast. Cinnamon can provide relief for acid reflux

Furniture
11) Remove candle wax from wood tables by applying a freezer pack until it hardens completely and then using a credit card to chip away.
12) Remove white water marks on wood by laying cloth on the mark and ironing briefly and repeating until the mark is gone.

General Household
13) Prevent your cheese from molding by spreading some butter on the exposed part
14) Ant problem? Squirt the source with a 50/50 mixture of peppermint oil and water
15) Keep ice cubes of your basic wall paint color in your fridge. When you need to do some quick touch up or cover up work, you can just thaw out the paint cube and roll.
16) Clean your microwave easily by mixing lemon juice with 1 cup water in a microwave safe cup and then microwaving it for 3 minutes. Then wipe down the walls.
17) My favorite thing of all – THE MAGIC ERASER! Have you guys tried this thing. It works to get anything shiny again. I’ve used it for jewelry, scratches in cars, bathtub scum, anything.
18) Use mayonnaise to get sticky adhesive residue off things. You price tag residue from picture frames, etc.
19) Use a bit of butter to untangle knotted up jewelry

Car
20) If you see your car about to overheat, turn your heater on FULL BLAST (open windows). This pulls out some of that hot air from the engine. My dad taught me this one and it’s confirmed on popular mechanic website.
21) To prevent your doors from freezing shut in the winter, spray silicone around the door edges. I wonder if cooking spray would work though??

Feel free to share your favorite home remedies with me by leaving comments!