Caramel Apple Martini

On the Walnut Grove Country Club fall drink menu was the Caramel Apple Martini you see below.  It's made with caramel vodka, apple vodka, and Apple Pucker, with a caramel rim.  A caramel sucker is used as a stirrer.  There are a variety of different recipes for a Caramel Apple Martini that you can find using the search link below.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Caramel+Apple+Martini+recipe

Cleaning Wiper Blades

On our trip back from Tennessee, the first few hours were in the rain, and the windshield wipers were very noisy as they did not slide well.  That noise was so annoying that when we got home, I asked AI what caused it and what I could do about it, short of buying new blades.  The surprising answer was to clean the blades with isopropyl alcohol.  That did the trick, so I also cleaned the blades on our other car, which you can see in the picture below.  With all that black gunk removed, the blades are like new.

Watt CS And Ampere

I was having trouble charging my iPad with the six-port charger I carry on trips.  I didn't know if my iPad, charger, or charging cable was at fault, so I asked AI for ideas, and it pointed me to Watt CS, a $0.99 app on the Apple App Store.  As you can see in the screenshot below, my iPad was trickle-charging, which pointed to the charger.  I changed ports, and I got better results.

I thought that might be handy on my Google Pixel 7 smartphone, searched a bit, and found the free (I love free) Ampere app on the Google Play Store, and it delivers the same information. 

https://apps.apple.com/me/app/watt-cs-charging-speed-meter/id6766040428

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gombosdev.ampere

Cutting Board Holder And Baking Sheet Organizer

We store our cutting boards, cookie sheets, and wire trays in two overhead vertical cabinets, as shown in the first picture below.  It's OK, but occasionally, when we went to pull out one of them, several others would come with them and come crashing down.  We solved that problem with a pair of organizers in the bottom picture.  They're sturdy and measure 5.5" deep, 7.4" wide, and 3.3" high.  There are two 1.0-inch dividers and three 0.6-inch dividers, so the thick boards and the deeper cutting boards went in the larger dividers on the left and right of the racks.  Much safer and easier to locate the right board for the job.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H8BXGGFZ

 

Rootie's Blue Cheese

You can find some of the best chicken wings in Buffalo, New York, and on a recent trip, I was introduced to Rootie's Blue Cheese dressing/dip, which you see pictured below.  Best I've ever had!  Ultra-thick and extra-chunky!  Rootie's fans call it "Liquid Gold Mold" and refer to themselves as "The Blue Cheese Mafia".  If you're in a Wegmans grocery store in Buffalo, I recommend you pick one up.  It has to stay refrigerated, so bring a cooler.

You can also order it online at the link below, and they will ship it appropriately packed.

https://buffaloship.com/rootie-s-blue-cheese-15-fl-oz

Premier Protein

I've become a fan of protein drinks, but when my usual CorePower Strawberry Banana doubled in price, from $2 to $4 per bottle, I said, "No way, Jose," and began searching for a reasonably priced alternative.  While I haven't found a permanent solution, I ran across a deal during the recent Amazon Prime Days and ordered the 12-pack of Premier Protein for just $15.56.  I think the Pumpkin Spice wasn't selling well, and they wanted to get what they could.  The taste is a bit over the top, but adding a few ounces of whole milk gets it to where I like it.  

You can search for protein shakes using the link below.  There are a few options for around $2 per bottle, which is my happy price.  

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=protein+shake

Ruggles Ferry

Gourmet Chef Elaine and I took a trip this fall to Tennessee and played 18 holes of golf at Island Pointe and Ruggles Ferry.  Island Pointe was a real challenge, with most holes played next to (or over) the French Broad River.  A couple of days later, we played Ruggles Point, and while it had some water, the course was very wide open, in great shape, and even included a little cemetery, as you can see in the bottom picture.  While it's difficult to see in the top picture, my tee shot on this par 3 stopped two feet from the hole, the closest I've even been to a hole-in-one.  At $73 total for an afternoon tee time, including carts, it was a real bargain, and we would definitely play it again.

https://rugglesferrygc.com

Google Weather Lab

According to Google's Gemini AI...

"Weather Lab is an interactive web-based research platform developed by Google DeepMind and Google Research. It serves as a live platform to showcase and test experimental, AI-driven weather forecasting models, allowing researchers, meteorologists, and the public to visualize real-time AI weather simulations."

It's cool to see what's happening weather-wise across the planet all at once, like the screenshot you see below.  You can look at the current weather at the link below.

https://deepmind.google.com/science/weatherlab

Google Storage

I buy 100GB of Google storage because I've been using it for twenty-one years, so I've collected a lot of stuff.  For those of you who are running up against the normal 15GB cap, the link below is your starting point for reviewing and deleting data.  As seen in the screenshot below, you're presented with a high-level breakdown of what is being used by service.  Clicking on "Clean up space" will give you some suggested items and options to clean up by service.

https://one.google.com/storage

DLM Lobster Rolls

Our local Dorothy Lane Markets feature an outdoor lunch special during the summer months, and when the Lobster Roll you see below was the feature, we couldn't pass up the splurge.  I don't know if it comes through that well in the picture, but this baby was simply PACKED with delicious lobster.  I had to eat some of the pieces to shrink the rest to fit into my mouth.  With the coming of autumn, we'll have to wait too many months for its return, but you can check out the other things going on at DLM's four locations at the link below.

https://www.dorothylane.com/events