"Ms Leebee" > wrote in
:

> Rhonda Anderson wrote:

>>
>> It's not a terribly common practice here (NSW, Australia), either. Of
>> course, in some cooler parts of the country it may be more likely to
>> be done. If I leave butter out in my kitchen for several days in
>> summer, unless we were to run the airconditioning most of that time,
>> I'd end up with a puddle of butter <g>.
>
> I leave mine out all the time except in warmer weather ( VIC,
> Australia ).
>
> If I had to keep my butter in the fridge all the time, i'd probably
> give it up for margarine instead, or Dairysoft (TM ).
>

I use butter for baking and that's about it, really. I rarely use
butter/margarine on bread myself. I keep reduced fat spread on hand for
Rob (he slathers it on in great quantities, and _really_ does not need
all that fat. He won't take any advice on cutting quantities, so I try to
cut the fat <g>). So butter comes out of the fridge to soften for
something I'm making, and that's it. In winter, I'm sure it would be fine
to leave out on the bench,(and probably people do, just not anyone I've
visited <g>) but not in summer, at least where I am - west of Sydney,
Cranebrook's a suburb of Penrith - as it gets pretty warm, and our house
gets pretty warm inside if the airconditioning's not going.

Rhonda Anderson
Cranebrook, NSW, Australia