If you coat the bottom of a stainless steel pan with burnt food,
like I did last night, soak the mess in water and baking soda.
Google said let it stand for 20 minutes, but I soaked it for an
hour or so. Burnt on debris washed off without a problem. Whatever trouble I run into, I generally go to google for a solution. Just wanted you to know, their idea really works!

I did not know that! Sometimes I make fried potatoes (did I say that out loud? Are they still politically correct?) they burn on the bottom of the pan in the first few minutes and I scrap the bits constantly throughout the cooking. I like the crispy fried pieces to eat, but not so much to clean up, and it isn't just potatoes, it's the zucchini, onions, bell peppers and tomatoes that will stick, and noooooooo, I don't leave the pan cooking on high all the time, it just gets like that. So this is a great tip. *Look* - my shortest post!

DreamrKate,
I was happy it worked. That was a new pan I bought myself at Christmastime. And cookware is extremely expensive. I looked at your blogspot and really enjoyed it. I agree with the idea that art is soothing. And I love your artistry!

Just stocked up on baking soda! LOL...

Friends have called me the baking soda junkie. I use it for all sorts of things. From cleaning counters to cleaning burnt on food in pans to getting odors out of pans.

And if you mix it with vinegar, it's like a science project. LOL!!!

Baking soda and white vinegar are the best toilet cleaner around and so cheap.

These are excellent tips. Thanks.

It's also great for cleaning glass vases with the yucky brown ring inside.

For clogged up kitchen drains, I pour a cup of baking soda down the drain followed by some vinegar....when that stops bubbling, I pour boiling water down the drain. If you do this once a month, NO CLOGS! It works like magic...

Now I'm wondering if a baking soda/vinegar solution would take the "smoke" stain off of the INSIDE windshield of my car....anyone know? It is an old car ('98 Toyota) and the previous owner was a smoker. At night, holy cow! You can hardly see out of it. Forget Windex or any of the other cleaners. They don't cut it (pun intended).

JawJaw,
I wouldn't use baking soda on the inside of a car - just because it can be messy. Yes, straight white vinegar works on the tar and nicotine left on the inside of windshields. However, it takes a bit of elbow grease and numerous applications of the vinegar to get it fully cleaned. I know this because my hubby and I smoke. He likes to exhale thru his partially opened sunroof - man, was that a bugger of a job to get clean.

If you have some sort of rag that won't scratch your windshield that may work better than paper towels. I think I need to find something like that for the next time I clean hubby's car windows. (I'm so glad we don't smoke in our house. And the bigger challenge is stopping altogether. Any suggestions, I'm happy to hear.)

I've used white vinegar and water solution with crumpled up _newspaper_ instead of paper towel and done this successfully on the soot inside a glass fireplace door, so most likely it'd work with cigarette smoke. It may take a stack of newspaper, but you're also recycling, so no worries. Gets glass squeaky clean. I've done this for years.