The Pigeon and the Pencil: waxed paper bags

I detest plastic bags.  There.  I've said it.  OK, they are great for freezing food and carrying your toiletries on airplanes, but I hate them for how wasteful they are and how greasy they get after being used even once.  Sure, you can reuse them, but have you tried to reuse a just-washed plastic bag?  They are expensive and bad for the environment.  Parchment paper gets all the love.  Parchment paper can be used for baking in place of greasing cookie sheets and cake pans, is great for baking fish en papillote or chicken with vegetables and broth, but I have discovered a kitchen tool that is just as useful: waxed paper bags.  Not waxed paper. Waxed paper bags.  Ah, waxed paper. You probably haven't given it much thought since you last took a sandwich for lunch as a kid.  I am a huge waxed paper fan and use it for everything from baking to wrapping up leftovers and snacks. I recently discovered a great product that I'd never seen before moving to green-minded Seattle this past summer: waxed paper bags.  They make green versions of these out of brown paper but I found the Waxtex ones at my local grocery store. 

They are square waxed paper sleeves, similar to the paper wrappers used for pastries at the bakery.  Try using these bags instead of plastic when putting together lunches; they are perfect for containing vegetables, cookies, nuts, or leftover pizza. I discovered the best use for these waxed paper bags: for keeping cheese fresh.  Plastic wrap is the enemy of cheese and it is your duty as a cheese purchaser to free the cheese from the stifling plastic wrap. If you spend good money on a piece of Parmigiano Reggiano, doesn't it deserve some love?  The plastic basically suffocates the cheese, which must be treated like a living organism- it needs space and air to breathe. Unwrap your piece of Cheddar or wedge of Maytag Blue and wrap it first in a waxed paper bag (it can breathe now!) and then into a glass or plastic container for storage in the refrigerator.  I have noticed that cheeses stored in these waxed paper bags stay fresher for much longer. I tend to keep all my cheeses in individual bags within a glass container, and the bags make everything easier to access.  From kitchen wallflower to kitchen staple. 

I learned how to wrap a sandwich using waxed paper when I was a child.  My grandfather was a chef and he may have been the first one to show me how to do this but it was most likely my mother.  I love these waxed paper bags for how useful they are.

Like the waxed paper bags, I love this song, a favorite from childhood.  It is the classic tune "You've Make Me So Very Happy" written by Brenda Holloway and Berry Gordy. Holloway wrote "Every Little Bit Hurts," and other soul hits.  This was originally a Motown hit on the Tamla label.  I grew up with the Blood, Sweat, and Tears version and love it because it reminds me of Burt Bacharach- I have a ridiculous love for Bacharach's music and anything with horns.  As sung by Blood, Sweat, and Tears, it is a hurdy-gurdy of a tune. David Clayton-Thomas has a voice that is rich and masculine- it is the perfect compliment to Holloway's version.  Find the original version on YouTube and see what you think of the two songs.  Enjoy the song and then go get yourself some waxed paper bags.