Japanese Sweet Potatoes

Add another never-heard-of-before vegetable to our list of delicious sides.  Milder than your familiar sweet potato, the glaze adds a bit of sweetness to this Japanese variety's starchiness.  We went with the steam-first option and then charred them on the grill.  Ate the leftovers for days.

https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/charred-sweet-potatoes-with-honey-and-olive-oil

Contactless Payments

Paying with your mobile phone, just by holding it to the credit card machine, is old hat by now, but do that by tapping your credit card is likely to startle your server.  At least that's been my experience with several servers at Panera Bread. They start to correct me when I put my card on the machine, only to find the transaction is done.  Look for the symbol below on one of your cards and give it a try.

https://usa.visa.com/pay-with-visa/contactless-payments/contactless-payments.html

Fifth-Third Cardless ATM

No card, no problem.

I was greeted this week at my local Fifth-Third ATM with this unfamiliar screen, which turned out to be a new, and much improved, way to authenticating yourself to its services.  You bring up the Fifth-Third mobile app, scan that blocky image (called a QR code) and you're set to transact.  Best of all, those vile, card-skimming criminals can't get your card's account information.

https://thefinancialbrand.com/69417/cardless-atms

Lost In Space

This remake of the Robinson family's outer space journey is highly dramatic and emotional, leaving us with leaky eyes nearly every episode.  Unexpected plot twists, excellent special effects and "Danger, Will Robinson" around every corner made this a binge-watching pleasure.  Ten episodes go past too fast.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5232792

Carpool Karaoke With Paul McCartney

Carpool Karaoke, where late-night host James Corden drives around and sings with some of the greatest musical talent on the planet, hits a homerun with this nearly twenty-four minute trip down memory lane (including the real Penny Lane) with Sir Paul McCartney. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjvzCTqkBDQ

Hoisin-Glazed Pork Tenderloin

Sauces are so under-used these days in home cooking and finding this perfect complement to pork is not only tasty but beautiful.  The hoisin sauce, brown sugar, ketchup and soy sauce all contribute to the uber-flavorful glaze and the scallions and sesame seeds make the presentation really pop.  A half-hour or less and you're serving a gourmet meal.

https://onedadskitchen.com/tag/cooks-country-hoisin-glazed-pork-tenderloin

Best Wastebasket

Easy-to-grip handles on our office wastebasket makes pitching the trash much easier and it's the only one in the house like it.  We bought this at IKEA years ago and it doesn't appear they still sell this model.  Sometimes it's the little things that make a chore less so.

WizTree

I've been a big WinDirStat fan for years, but WizTree has won me over with its blazing performance, taking a fraction of the time to display every file on a disk drive in the same three-panel format. The graphical display is the best way to find those huge files you once needed but now just take up space.  WizTree is free (I love free), but you can show some love by clicking on the Donate button at the top-right.

http://antibody-software.com

Amazon Baby Registry

A recent baby shower invitation listed Amazon as one of the places the expecting parents were registered at, and the first time we've seen that.  My wife was totally pleased with the shopping experience, from the easy layout of items to select from to the shipping options to the gift receipt.  Amazon simply nailed it and puts the other sites to shame.

https://www.amazon.com/wedding/home

Half-Hidden Owl

We bought this sand-weighted, plastic owl a few years back to scare birds off our patio railing, which worked, but in plain view the birds figured out it wasn't a threat.  I recently moved it to the elevated herb garden after seeing a bird nip off a piece of basil and fly away with it.  But unexpectedly, we now don't see many birds anywhere in our yard, which I can only attribute to the owl being partially hidden, making it appear more dangerous.  Time will tell if the birds figure this out, but so far (ten days), so good.