Shinin’ the Stove

One of my favorite parts of this job is the cleaning up.  I know, some of you just might think I’m cuckoo for admitting that.  But, it’s true.  I just love those parts of the day where everything can be put in its place and the surfaces all wiped down and shined up.

Then there are the moments when we can get even a little MORE cleaning done.  How exciting is that??  (I know…I’m easily entertained.)

Before our next round of groups arrive, we did a little extra cleaning the other day.  Our first experiment was the walk-in cooler (refrigerator).  I wanted to see if 6 of us could get *one half of it done in under 10 minutes.

Yep.  Yep, we did.

I could have leapt and danced with excitement.

The other thing that happened?

Travis and Ben shined up the stove.

Isn’t it pretty?  It makes my heart sing to see a shiny stove!

This stove is a hard working and well-used piece of equipment in this kitchen.  It is used nearly every day, starting with the grill every morning (for scrambled eggs).

We experimented and researched ways to clean the grill.

There are all kinds of opinions and products out there.

Many of them are chemicals whose smell could kill a horse.  We weren’t wild about using those.

So, you know what we use?

This…

grapefruit juice.

Totally natural…and works just as good (or better than!) all those harsh, smelly chemicals.  Not to mention…MUCH cheaper!!

Having said that, though, cleaning the grill and shinin’ up the stove is a lot more than just the right cleaning solution.  It involves elbow grease.

In great amounts.

{Thanks, Travis and Ben!}

**Why did we clean only 1/2 of the cooler you ask?: I moved all the items over to one side.  Then we completely removed the empty shelves and scrubbed them and the floor and walls down in that area.  The next time we do “cleaning day”, we’ll do the other half.