New Vanity

One upgrade we've been wanting to make is replacing our upstairs bathroom vanity with the model shown below.  With my brother-in-law's help (really the other way around), we first removed the old vanity which was so strongly caulked it took several tools, including a crowbar, to finally pop it free.  The new vanity posed its own challenges.  The holes for the faucet handles were not predrilled wide enough so it required a trip to the hardware store to buy a rounded file.  Three of the drawer handles needed two long flat-head screws, but only four were included, so that took another trip to the hardware store.  One more trip to the hardware store was needed to buy a longer PVC tailpiece (more on that in a couple of days), bringing the number of trips to three, which is about average for a project like this.  The result was beautiful and worth the work.

Huge shoutout to Albert for taking his morning to make this a reality!

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Home-Decorators-Collection-Clady-31-in-Single-Sink-Deep-Blue-Bath-Vanity-with-Silver-Ash-Cultured-Marble-Top-Assembled-HD2030P2-DB/315622122

Food Bank Donations

Gourmet Chef Elaine and I signed up at St. Charles Church to make this April's deliveries of all the charitable items donated at the entrance to the church to the Catholic Social Service food bank near downtown Dayton.  The first week resulted in filling the back two rows of our SUV (shown below) and unloading fifteen crates of beef ravioli, canned corn, peanut butter, pasta, cereal, soups, paper products, and more at their donation site.  We learned they had provided food to about 130 families that morning and that their food bank is just one of many in our region.  Pretty impressive operation and much-needed help to people in need.

https://cssmv.org

Lebanon Bologna

I love Lebanon Bologna (shown below) but never thought of why it's named that.  A quick search led me to the Wikipedia link below where I learned that Lebanon refers to Lebanon County, Pennsylvania where the Pennsylvania Dutch developed it about 240 years ago.  I also learned it's not so much akin to bologna as it is to sausage.  It's cured, smoked, and fermented to impart its signature robust taste.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanon_bologna

Strawberry Mule

The Strawberry Mule shown below is from Cooper's Hawk.  It combines Tito’s vodka, strawberry puree, and ginger beer with garnishes of sliced strawberry, lime, and a big sprig of mint.  You can make this without the puree, but I like the extra sweetness.  This basic recipe can be used to make tons of different flavors, with peach and watermelon next on my list.  Bring on summer!

Bottle Protector Bags

I ordered an 18-pack of the inflatable bags shown below from Amazon for $20.  That's way more than I needed but the price was OK, so I got them anyway.  They come packed flat and include a hand pump that worked one time before it broke, so I resorted to my battery-powered pump instead, which was way easier.  It's a bit tricky to inflate and I wasted a couple of bags before I got that hang of it.  I inflated two bags all the way and that made inserting a bottle difficult, so I inflated a couple more about three-quarters, which worked much better.  These bags are great for packing bottles in my suitcase and not worrying they may break.

The link below now points to a 36-pack of bags for $30, so you might want to shop around for other options.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B098DCV7X7

Resident Alien

Like most folks I talk to, my list of must-watch streaming series includes Yellowstone, 1883, 1923, Lioness, Tulsa King and pretty much everything currently being put out by Taylor Sheridan.  But when I take a moment to watch a series that Gourmet Chef Elaine wouldn't like, I've been watching Resident Alien on Netflix.  Without giving too much away, an alien (shown below) crash lands on Earth during their mission to wipe out all human life.  It takes on the form of Dr. Harry Vanderspeigle and tries to complete his mission, however, becoming partially human complicates things.  The show can be a bit off-color at times, constantly humorous, and plot twists are aplenty.  Most episodes end with Harry explaining his greater appreciation of humanity.  You can see a preview at the link below.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8690918

Grippier

Last November I wrote about using a pair of pliers to twist off the lid on a quart of Half-n-Half.  Well, perhaps that post and a lot of complaints got to the geniuses that designed the cap because as you can see below, they have recently increased the height of the cap and changed the design of the vertical ridges to make it much easier to grip.  It's still difficult, but at least at this time, I'm able to open it without resorting to my toolkit.

Tuna Noodle Casserole

A tuna casserole was a mainstay when we were kids, but until recently we haven't tried one in years.  Gourmet Chef Elaine used the recipe at the link below to faithfully recreate Katie Lee's dish and the highlights are the egg noodles, a homemade béchamel (butter, flour, milk), and the cream cheese.  Start to finish in 40 minutes makes this a perfect weeknight dinner.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/katie-lee/tuna-noodle-casserole-19576702

Creamline Whole Milk

The milk bottle shown below is from Homestead Creamery, a dairy processing plant in Wirtz, Virginia, and distributed near us by A Bushel & A Peck Bulk Foods in Clayton, Ohio.  It contains Creamline Whole Milk, a type of milk that is minimally pasteurized and not homogenized, allowing a layer of cream to rise to the top.  The cream creates a two-inch plug, so you either have to turn the bottle upside down for a while or use a knife to cut a hole to get to the milk.  I used it to make homemade mozzarella cheese, as I demonstrated back in 2016 at this blog link.

The link to Homestead Creamery below includes a Where To Buy search function.  

More on A Bushel & A Peck is at the second link.

Big shout out to Dan and Kim for a half-gallon of this natural wonder!

https://www.homesteadcreameryinc.com/our-products/milk/whole-creamline

https://www.abushelandapeckbulkfoods.com

Locate Your Apple Watch

Even easier than training your faithful dog to find your misplaced Apple Watch (and other devices), your iPhone, iPad, or iCloud account's Find Devices takes a lot less time and effort.  For example, on your iPhone you go to the Apple Watch app, tap My Watch, and then tap All Watches.  Tap the Info button next to your watch, then Find My Apple Watch.  If you suspect your Apple Watch is close by, tap Play Sound.  If you believe you left it elsewhere, tap your watch to see its location on a map.

More information on Find Devices can be found at the link below.

https://support.apple.com/en-my/guide/watch/apdd3f9d7bc6/watchos

Dishwasher Wheels

It's unusual to do a repair on a household appliance and be pleasantly surprised that it was easy and cheap. When the wheels on our lower dishwasher rack fell off and could no longer snap back into place, I went to Amazon to find replacements.  They don't sell separate wheels but have the whole wheel mechanism, and a four-pack only set us back $10.  The old ones snapped off with a little help from a screwdriver and the new ones just needed a good shove to install.  Good as new.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BWY44GXC

Deep Tissue Massage Gun

This might be the best $40 investment we've ever made.  Believe it or not, getting older comes with increasingly more frequent aches and pains, but this massage gun and its ten replaceable massage heads can reach deep to relieve the soreness, loosen up knots, and in my case, eliminate a bicep pain (most likely a little scar tissue) that I've had for about fifteen years.  All its features can be found at the link below.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083L8RNJR

Easy Parmesan "Risotto"

Gourmet Chef Elaine makes some seriously delicious risotto, but the constant stirring is tedious and time-consuming.  This recipe from The Kitchen makes a faux "risotto" (pun intended) and starts with Arborio rice and chicken stock in a Dutch oven and baked, covered, for 45 minutes.  The remaining ingredients are added and stirred for a few minutes; it's ready to serve.

All the details can be found at this link.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/easy-parmesan-risotto-recipe-2172312

Wild Watermelon

Stopping at Buc-ee's on the drive from Austin to College Station, Texas is a must.  They have the largest, cleanest restrooms on the planet and there is always something new to try in its huge, 56,000-square-foot emporium.  I spotted their version of an Icee machine (they had several) and it was an easy decision to get the Wild Watermelon, a real treat for $0.99.  It made the remaining one-and-a-half hours on the road very pleasant.

Collectable Crypto

The Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently put out a statement classifying a meme coin as a type of collectible that is not subject to the agency's rules on securities.  So it's sort of like comic books, baseball cards, or stamps that people invest in hoping they will go up in value.  But unlike these examples, a meme coin, which is inspired by internet memes, characters, current events, or trends, does not actually exist as a tangible object., but is purely a digital asset that exists on a blockchain network.  Why in the world anyone would want to buy something with absolutely zero intrinsic value, is beyond me.  It's even crazier that dogecoin, the most popular meme coin, currently has a market cap of over 24 billion dollars.  

The SEC statement related to meme coins is at the link below.

https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/speeches-statements/staff-statement-meme-coins

iPad Charging Phone

If your phone is low on power, one option is to charge it using another phone or a tablet like the iPad shown below.  Since both my phone and iPad have USB-C connectors, I just needed a cable with USB-C's on both ends.  I didn't have that, but I improvised using a USB-to-USB-C cable and a small USB-to-USB-C adapter (which I bought several for my MacMini), the darker thing sticking out of the iPad on the right-hand side.  I now carry that cable in my laptop bag which I always take on trips.

https://www.iphonelife.com/content/charging-your-iphone-ipad-it-possible