Where do you store your butter?

Oh my goodness. There is so much I could ramble on about right now. My husband retired in April. (loving this!) We've remodeled not one but two circa 1954 bathrooms. I have a new grandbaby. Blake and Blair have moved and remodeled homes. I changed jobs and then 5 months later found out my employer is shutting down operations at our location. I've been growing out my gray. Each one of these is probably worth a discussion all to itself so look out for future commenting.

As I was getting out a stick of butter, the thought about how people store their butter crossed my mind. Now, I'm not talking about fake butter, margarine, or whatever you call it. I'm talking about real butter. And while I'm at it, have you noticed how ridiculously high the real stuff is? It doesn't matter. If it costs $6.00 for two boxes (eight sticks) I'm not changing. Oh, I'll curse a bit when I look at the price and then see a 4-pack of the fake stuff for .99. But I will not budge. My Grandmother only ever used the real stuff and she lived to be almost 104 years old and in pretty good health. Eating real food and avoiding processed foods probably had a whole lot to do with it.

As a young wife, or should I say misguided youth, I switched over to the massive tubs of fake stuff which served double duty as left-over and freezer containers forever. Yes, I crossed over to the dark side for quite some time. I knew better but did it anyway.

Growing up, one of my fondest memories was walking into the house after school and smelling fresh baked bread just out of the oven. Hot. Steaming. Slathered with room-temp softened butter that immediately soaked into the fluffy pillows of.... OK. I'll quit. But it truly was THAT good.

Did you notice I said room-temp butter? My Mom raised us in a home that always had a stick of butter in a glass butter dish on the counter. The box of butter stayed in the fridge until the butter dish needed replenishing. And you better get a stick out out if there was only two tablespoons left and dinner was coming up. There was no torn up bread when grilled cheese sandwiches were made by my Mom. That knife glided softened butter over tender white bread pretty as you please. Cinnamon toast? Perfection, thanks to an equal coating of smooth butter with homemade cinnamon sugar.

If you're wondering about the crystal dish you see in the picture? That was gifted to me by my Mom. When I finally saw the light she was horrified to see me using a small platter and covering my butter with plastic wrap. I swear she made it a mission to find me one and I have used it since.

I just turned 56 a few weeks ago and none of us has ever been sickened by eating room temperature butter. Now, if I'm going to be away for several days, I'll put it back in the fridge. Other than that, it stands ready to serve at a moments notice in its special spot on my counter.

Where do you store your butter?