Butter Blog

Image by Paul
(some guy from freedigitalphotos.net)

I saw an article online today that initially just caused me to laugh uncontrollably. How ridiculous: a link title of "How to Make Perfect Toast." Hee hee. It's still kinda funny. Is this so challenging?

So, of course, I let my curiosity get the better of me. I clicked it. It went on to slightly-sarcastically describe a gourmet toast recipe (including cooking in olive oil); still laughable. Then, I got to the "butter rant" paragraph. Here's what is said:

"We recently moved in together and we decided to defy our families' traditions: We're keeping our butter on the counter, outside the fridge. (No, it doesn't go bad there.) We think this is a defining household feature. Think about the homes you know. More relaxed homes: butter out. More uptight: butter's in the fridge. (If the household is near the equator, philosophy does not apply.) We're not really doing it for our reputation, though. We're doing it for the toast. It means the butter is always soft enough to spread. Don't you hate when the cold edge of refrigerated butter roughs up the surface of your bread? This is exactly the kind of thing I'm glad we're finally talking about." (http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/whats-your-recipe-for-perfect-toast-2460188/)

Dave and I use real butter, unsalted. (I'd rather control the amount of salt I use, even if it does make the stuff a little...bland.) We used to use a generic version of "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter". There was much conversation as to which was healthier, margarine or butter (or something else altogether). I think this is a controversial issue that hits the news every few years or so, much as the sugar vs. HFCS debate, which I also read more about today.

Ultimately, we chose real butter, as it contains more "real" ingredients, which is a big component of our whole foods diet. Yeah, it may be fattier, but I'm not as concerned about fat as I am knowing what's going in our bodies. If I can get Dave to cut down how much he uses, we should be all set! (And he'll have to get me to cut down on how much I like on our air-popped popcorn.)

But what I'm actually writing about is the fact that we don't refrigerate our butter. Apparently we're relaxed! Who knew? While I WISH we were that "relaxed" couple, I know better. We can be pretty uptight about some stuff, or at least what people see of our messes, etc. Maybe I should take a lesson from our butter...

Where do you keep YOUR butter?