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Here's the dinner with the sauce. The flavor was quite good, although a little more intensity would have been welcome. The sauce was great on its own, but the flavor got lost a bit when diluted with the rice, chicken, and veggies. Notwithstanding, it's worth playing around with some more. There was some left over, and I may try to punch up the flavor a bit before using it in another dish. Of course, just adding more sauce might have doe it as well.

Variation on Sweet & Sour Pork - made with pork tenderloin (drenched in some starch), red, yellow and green bell peppers, red onions and pineapple. Sauce made from hoisin, soy sauce, mirin, sriracha, brown sugar and lemon juice. Finished with some sesame seeds and served over rice

I’ve used my Creami very infrequently of late but I detect no odor. After use, I remove the blade, wash everything in hot, soapy water and air dry. I don’t reassemble until I’m ready to use it again. If I noticed an odor from the lid, I’d suspect something, even moisture, trapped under the big ridged O-ring in the lid and I was a bit surprised that Mr Water-Pik, in all his thoroughness didn’t address that. I didn’t try to see if that can be removed and replaced but if not, I’d try a scrub in hot, soapy water, a rinse in a dilute bleach solution and a nice sun bath outside for a few hours…or days 🙃 If you mean the threads on the shaft that retract back up into the upper motor housing, I’ve run the machine with just water to see if there was any obvious debris there. This was after I used it to make chicken liver pâté and was concerned about carryover. I can’t say there was none but there was no hint of turbidity, cloudiness or foaming you’d expect to see if there was any protein in there. Good luck with your troubleshooting and keep us posted!

Found a video where the dude uses water through the side ports and has the paddle half-way open. It's for a deluxe model, my lid is from the first gen units so I'm sure it is similar. He uses a waterpik for extra power if necessary. That gives me a place to start. If I manage to take it apart, will share.

I appreciate the response, and sorry for the confusion. Removing the blade is not my issue. The lid with the paddle which holds the blade is what smells really bad. When I have cleaned it in the past, I would run a soapy sponge through the hole, then block the hole and fill with hot soapy water and open/close the latch several times, and clean the whole thing with a sponge as well. Then shake out and let air dry. It smells pretty bad. Since it has moving parts and a tensioned action, there should be a way to disassemble it. If no one knows, I guess I'll give it a go and if it breaks, oh well, I don't want to use this for now due to the smell. Could those of you who use the unit on an infrequent basis take a sniff of the lid and see if it's tolerable or gross? The nooks at the shaft are also bothering me.. I found a few repair videos (here's an example quick teardown) and am going to try to take it apart and see if maybe my unit had different tolerances such that stuff got up inside (I bought a refurb unit).

Not the most photogenic plating but this shrimp and chicken karahi dish was delicious. It's loaded down with fresh garlic and ginger with quite a generous amount of kashmiri curry powder. Served on spiralized zucchini which helped to temper the spicy gravy.

For our friends in Ontario, pumpkin seeds sold at a few very specific small outlets are being recalled due to salmonella. https://recalls-rappels.canada.ca/en/alert-recall/pumpkin-seeds-recalled-due-salmonella?utm_source=gc-notify&utm_medium=email&utm_content=en&utm_campaign=hc-sc-rsa-22-23

No change yet from Kroger Private Selection Thick Spaghetti (bronze cut from Italy). $1.99/lb. But 10% might not be very noticeable.

Fresh Direct's price for DeCecco currently (and recently) is $3.19.

I buy Italian imported pastas in Mexico including De Cecco and since MEX is not in trade war with Italy I am curious to compare prices between US price and MX price once the tariff dust settles.

Blackened Salmon. Side leftover Med white beans over arugula.

Roasted Sweet Potato (garnet yams) and Carrot Sauce: I made this for dinner tonight. I'll be having it with a brown rice stir fry, veggies, and chicken. The veggies for the sauce were deeply roasted and caramelized, and there was even a bit of char on the carrot, some of which I kept. Chicken broth was infused with fresh and roasted garlic, added to the potatoes and carrot, along with salt, fresh ground Kampot pepper, a bit of fresh lemon juice, and freshly ground corriander and cumin, and given a ride in the Vitamix. It tastes pretty good as is, and the real test is how it works with the rice, chicken, and vegetable(s) tonight.

Made this and it was way better than I could have imagined. I have a recipe that I used from ATK t hat I used that can PM if anyone wants it.

I haven’t seen DeCecco around here for $2.00 in forever. I used Instacart to check prices in my area and most are in the $3.50-4 range. Sprouts has it on sale for $2.61 (regular $3.49) Walmart has a similar sale price. Ralph’s has a sale price of $3.72 with their loyalty card (regular $3.99) The fancy places are $4.99 or more

A few months back, someone on the local FB marketplace was selling a Cuisinart steam oven. I already had two at home, but didn't have one at work, so I had to buy it, if for no other reason than it makes the best toast. Yesterday I roasted a chicken at work. I brought the chicken home in the pan that I roasted it in, and put the pan on the stove to brown all of the juices and made gravy. Moe just picked at cold chicken for dinner, but this morning I made him a hot chicken sandwich with homemade potato chips.

GORGEOUS!!!

$2 a pound is cheap for De Cecco in this neck of the woods (DC) I like pasta and am very brand loyal to De Cecco. Tend to buy it in bulk and Jen I see it cheap. Haven’t seen sub 2 bucks in 5 yard or so.

Mrs. Melitta just rolled over in her grave.

If you move the paddle latch in the direction indicated on the lid, the blade comes right out for cleaning. After cleaning the blade and lid, move the paddle latch in the same direction and the blade locks back in.

I haven't used mine in a few months. Apparently I didn't clean the lid well enough, it reeks of mold. I can't figure out how to take it apart, shining a flashlight, I don't see anything but clearly there are some nooks and crannies. Ideas? The surrounding nooks around the shaft seem to be prone to collecting stuff as well, I used a toothpick and guess I hadn't cleaned it well enough before putting it away last time. Yuck

An easy fruit salad for breakfasts or more likely, snacking. Strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, mango, golden kiwi, and caracara oranges. No dressing this time, just a bit of juice from the oranges.

Burrito bowls made for a quick dinner- chicken thighs, lentils, black beans, and Mexican rice.

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. Thought I'd share it here, in case anyone's interested. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/05/the-tinkerers-who-opened-up-a-fancy-coffee-maker-to-ai-brewing/

Thanks for the helpful reply. And thanks for introducing me to the word "claggy." I'll have to see if I can work it into some conversations in the near future. Ottolenghi recommends Al Arz, so I'll give that a try.

I am going to try and replicate it at home. I really liked the butter beans in it. Yesterday was more walking, this time at the Audubon Nature Sanctuary in Wellfleet. We hit all the trails Painted turtles Scenic views Then back to the house for a slice of vegetable quiche from PB Boulangerie…kind of bland and a shared raspberry tart. We went to a beach near the house at low tide to walk on the tidal flats it was cold and there were lots of laughing gulls Dinner was at Mac’s shack. A mocktail of muddled jalepenos, lime, cucumber and mint, and a spicy margarita for husband oysters clam fritters with garlic-parsley sauce. The flavors were good but the fritter interior was a tad gummy Husband tried a special of stuffed squid with a lobster mousse and crisped potato wedges. I thought it looked dry, but he said it was decent. The seafood portion was more like an appetizer than an entree though. There was only one piece of squid. I had this year’s scallop dish, which came with a curried corn bisque, toasted pine nuts, raisins, and capers. Full moon with osprey nest