In The Kitchen with Laura McKenna: Stainbusting

Ever spilled red wine on a brand new shirt?

Well, my husband has. He actually manages to spill something on himself pretty much every time he sits down to eat. This time, however, with the wine- it was not his fault.

Picture it: We’re seated at a really nice restaurant for his 40th birthday. His mom orders a glass of wine and the waitress brings it to the table on a small tray filled with a few other drinks. As she’s removing the drinks one by one, the balance of the tray got all messed up and whoooooops! The wine glass tips right over.

It was like a slow motion nightmare. I could see it starting to happen as I sat across from him but couldn’t do one darn thing to stop it. And then WHOOOOSH!

It was a waterfall of deep, red cabernet. He never saw it coming and was instantly drenched. It couldn’t have been a glass of water (which would have been bad enough). Oh no. It was exactly what you would like to avoid ever splashing onto yourself in even small-drop form (let alone being soaked by it).

Immediately, I sprung into action channeling my inner Granny. She was THE BEST at stainbusting back in her day. I heard her voice whispering to me from heaven (or if you knew my Granny, she was not one to ever whisper). “Club Soda! Get club soda on that shirt immediately!” And so I did.

Granny was spot on! I am not kidding you, every drop of that red wine came out of his brand new shirt. Luckily, he had a shirt on underneath his dress shirt so he took it off and handed it over and into the restroom I went armed with club soda and a mission. It worked!

I soaked it in the club soda immediately and then washed the shirt as soon as we got home so the stain never had the chance to dry and really set in. But the club soda did work miracles (because it was A TON of wine!!)

So if you spill a little or a lot on yourself, CLUB SODA (hopefully) will save the day for you, too! At that point, it can’t make the situation any worse, right? It’s worth a try!

Want to contact Laura McKenna about some of your favorite recipes or stainbusting tricks that you love to use? Anything else on your mind? Email anytime, she’d love to hear from you: [email protected]
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