A few weeks ago I occupied this space to carp about how social media have become distracting time bandits in our day-to-day lives. Now, it’s time to eat some crow. 

As my household’s head cook and bottle washer for more than 30 years, I figured I had a pretty good handle on all the tricks of the trade. Wrong. Day after day, the young Facebook and YouTube junkies in my family circle have been turning me on to an array of practical and amazing kitchen short-cuts. 

The latest insight was a video demonstrating a quick and painless way to cut slice and dice an onion into uniform pieces, employing a stainless steel hair pick. Poke the pick into a whole onion to hold it down securely on the cutting board while guiding the knife blade along the side of each prong. You end up with perfectly even rings. Do the same with a half an onion, then turn it 90 degrees and cut again to dice. Follow the same technique to slice zucchinis, tomatoes, lemons and other veggies and fruits. 

Need to separate an egg yolk from the white? I scoffed at this one, but it really works like a charm. Break one or more eggs into a shallow bowl or plate. Place the open end of an empty plastic water bottle right next to each yolk, then gently squeeze the sides of the bottle.Shazam! The yolk magically pops inside the bottle. Give a second squeeze to drop the yolk into a separate container. No breakage, no gooey fingers, no mess. 

I’ve tried all kinds of methods to keep leftover avocado halves from turning black, without much success. The simplest solution: dampen the cut edge with a few drops of purified water to act as a barrier to oxygenation. For extra measure I still leave the pit in the flesh and store the whole piece in an air-tight container.

Skimming hot grease off a pot of soup or stew can be a really tedious task. Just grab a metal ladle, fill it with ice cubes and run it over the surface of the hot liquid. The fat immediately congeals on the outside of the ladle.  Wipe the ladle clean and repeat until the grease layer is gone. 

Here’s a quick and easy method to peel garlic cloves without stinking up your fingers. Break individual cloves off the whole head of garlic, toss them in into a jar, screw on the lid and shake vigorously. The papery peel will fall off in seconds and you’re ready to roll.

And since mangoes are just coming into season, you may want to try my favorite time saver to peel this luscious tropical fruit. First cut the mango into two large halves, using a sharp knife to cut through the flesh running the blade long-ways along the flat edge of the pit. Pick up one half and slide it vertically, skin-side out, over the edge of a drinking glass.  Easy-peasy, you’ll end up with single chunks of peeled mango in a heart-beat.

All sorts of simple tips are shown on Internet video clips called “life hacks.”  My search continues for a fail-safe, non-poisonous tactic to keep hungry cutter ants from gobbling up my flower beds and herb patch.