When something used to be free, but now there's a charge

So, how do you deal with this? When you've grown accustomed to having or using something, that had always been available, free of charge, and now it's no longer free.

Our favorite beach, the one with a lighthouse, lovely park and near a fish and chips place, plus a couple of ice cream stands, is now charging for parking.

Because of the nature of it's location (on the other side of train tracks), there is no convenient street parking near the main parking lot and beach front. You drive over a bridge to cross the train tracks, to get to the beach.

Anyway, starting June 1, there is now a $2 per hour charge for parking. That's just too steep for me, when I just want to spend some time in my thinking spot. I'm really sad about this, so much so I was awake for a bit the other night pondering my options.

There is a local bus, but the fare is $2.25 each way. The nearest street parking, over the bridge, would be quite a hike, but possibly do-able. However, I am very sure that I wouldn't be the only person considering this as a possibility, and free street parking is extremely limited in this small community (some streets require permits). And then there's the possibility of changing favorite beaches.

Maybe I should look on this as an opportunity to explore other possibilities. I think I need some chocolate.

Have you ever been faced with a similar dilemma, something that used to be available for free, now has a charge? How did you handle that situation?


On another note, I want to say a big thanks to all of you who suggested that I freeze homemade flour tortillas. I began doing this about a month ago, and they thawed perfectly. Then, yesterday afternoon, I went to make tortillas for burritos, and I was somewhat absent-minded and accidentally added 2 cups of flour, instead of one (and I'd already added the salt when I figured this out).  And then, I remembered I could freeze the extra tortillas. Great! So, half of the tortillas were used last night, and the other half frozen for another day. Thank you!!!

Salvaging bottles from the recycling bin, for homemade herb vinegar and dressings

Each summer, I make a couple of types of herb vinegars, to use on salads and in cooking. A favorite of mine is rosemary vinegar. But I also make chive blossom vinegar and thyme vinegar.

I always have lots of white vinegar on hand, and plenty of herbs in the garden to use. But I never seem to have enough bottles for my homemade vinegar. I wind up giving away some of my bottles to friends who are interested in making herb vinegars with me.

So, in winter and spring, I begin "collecting" bottles that I think will work well for storing and pouring vinegar.

This bottle, here, is a coffee flavoring syrup bottle. I finished off the hazelnut syrup from this bottle, for my coffee this spring. I like this bottle, as it has a plastic cap, which won't corrode from exposure to the vinegar. (BTW, it does need more rosemary. I'll be adding more as my plants grow this summer.)

Here's another bottle, from sparkling apple cider. The name brand of sparkling apple cider that I see on sale during the holidays, uses a green bottle. But this particular brand uses a clear one, which I prefer for vinegars.

I just gave away a smaller 16-oz bottle. It had contained commercial white-wine vinegar. That bottle was a good size for the vinegars that I only make in smaller quantities, like sweet blueberry vinegar.

When I had a couple of friends over to make chive blossom vinegar, recently, one friend asked me where I got my bottles. I explained that while she could buy bottles at World Market or a thrift store, she could also look around her kitchen for bottles about to go to the recyclers. A lot of beverages, sauces and condiments still come in glass bottles. Some of these bottles have a shape that looks right for storing/pouring the vinegar. While others have a look that I like for storing homemade salad dressings.

For storing homemade vinaigrettes:

This is a brandy bottle, from making brandied cherries 2 summers ago. It looks just right for my homemade vinaigrette, don't you think? when one of my daughters came into the kitchen one day, she thought I had bought bottled salad dressing, that is until she noticed there was no label. I could store homemade dressings in canning jars (and I do from time to time), but I do like how dressings pour so easily and neatly from a bottle with a narrow neck.

Occasionally, I have a bottle that's missing a cap. Bottles that I buy second-hand often come without caps or stoppers. A couple of years ago, I bought a small bag of corks at Cost Plus, for about $2. The bag had about a dozen cork stoppers. Craft supply stores also carry cork stoppers. Or, you could save one (or ask a friend for one of theirs) from a used-up bottle of wine.

The other option to buying cork stoppers for bottle lacking a cap, is a plastic cap from any other bottle. If it's a screw-top bottle that you need a cap for, check other bottle caps about to be tossed, to find one that fits. Those green sparkling apple cider bottles that I mentioned above, come bottled with a metal cap that you use a bottle opener on, not reusable, but they also have a plastic pop on, pop off cap, for resealing the bottle. These plastic caps work well on many repurposed bottles from the kitchen.