dcarch

Holidays panic! Family is with us everyday for 10 days. We decided to replace many appliances so nothing will go wrong while they are here. There is one thing that I didn't think of, besides recipes for lunches and dinners . All these new "smart" devices, appliances have remote controls and numerous buttons. They are mostly have tiny inconspicuous labels that you need a magnifying glass to read. Total new buttons to memorize Dehydrater – 6 buttons DVD – 43 buttons Microwave – 22 buttons Toaster – 14 buttons. Smart TV – 20 buttons LED projector – 10 buttons Backup sous vide cooker -5 buttons Espresso coffee machine -6 buttons Total 126 buttons ---------------------------------- Help ! How do I disable the door safety child lock so I can take the food out? Help ! which button to get to the channel for the football game? dcarch

For those of you who live in cold areas and who have planned/invited big holiday parties, you may find the problem of where to keep all the food and leftovers. For me, I have found that my car parked on the driveway, the trunk makes a very good roomy refrigerator. Happy Holidays to all and Happy new 2026! dcarch

Statistically unlikely. Wining the top LOTTO price is easier. About Lithium battery system: A LiFePO4 (Lithium Iron Phosphate) battery is always a battery pack, a battery system. A LiFePO4 battery is only about 3.2VDC per cell. There are many cells in a pack. Each cell is connected in series or in parallel. Each cell is balance charged by a complex battery management system (BMS), then, another system (inverter) will convert the combined DC power to 110VAC (in the US, 60 hertz). If one component of this complex system fails, the battery pack will need to be replaced. dcarch

How? I used a hole cutter 😄 Not trying to be funny. That's exactly what that tool is called. dcarch

I have noticed that this year there has been a lot fewer birds in my garden. I don't think it's because of bird flu. Then a neighbor mentioned that there have been some new bad birds in the area bullying local birds and even eat their nestlings. So I planted birdhouse gourds and hope that birdhouse gourd bird houses can give some protection to local birds. dcarch

In the selection of a hood that has a built-in fan, besides CFM, is the noise level rating, DBs? Sones? A very complicated subject, but very important also. dcarch .

If a hood is motorized, it will have a CFM rating, but sometimes the fan (or blower) is not in the hood, like in the duct, or on the roof, the hood will have no CFM rating. dcarch

Go to YouTube and search for smoke test of kitchen exhaust hood. You may see that the hood for the exhaust fan may not be that critical, CFM is. dcarch

check with your town/city Department of Buildings. There may be Code requirement for make up air, and also distance to boiler exhaust. dcarch

I will try to make my own. Thinking of chestnut with pistachio nut filling. Hoping chestnuts will be available soon. Bought salted egg yolks already. dcarch

They are both correct. Sharpness and durability are two different qualities a good knife should have. There is a person on YouTube who can sharpen a blade made of wood, but the sharpness only last for one or two cuts. dcarch

6. A $1,000 knife can be permanently destroyed in a few seconds if not sharpened carefully by knife sharpeners. Maybe. If you do something dumb while cutting or sharpening, you're more likely to just create a big tedious repair job for yourself. Or for someone expensive. The final steps for a good knife is hardening and tempering of the edge. I am horrified to see people take their expensive knives to a farmers market knife sharpener who uses only a rough belt sander to sharpen a knife in a couple of minutes. You can't really repair a blade once the hardening is de-tempered. dcarch

When it comes to knifes, I always consider the following: 1. Do you ever sharpen a vegetable peeler? The peeler remains sharp because the blade never touch anything else except food. 2. Sushi chefs have razer sharp knives because they use good knife skills. If you watch carefully, the main part of the bade never touch the cutting board when they cut. 3. Steel is one of the cheapest metals. Stainless steel is also cheap. 4. Tool steel is so hard and so cheap, it is used to make tools to cut other metals. Some knife makers just use cheap files to make very good knifes. 5. Any metal can be make razer sharp. It's meaningless to judge a knife when you have a new razer Sharpe knife . 6. A $1,000 knife can be permanently destroyed in a few seconds if not sharpened carefully by knife sharpeners. So I make my own knives. dcarch

Not sure where to post this: With flesh-eating maggots effecting cattle in the news, should the practice of sous vide cooking be discussed? dcarch

Problem is 30+% fat in sausages. dcarch

The nice thing about this type of cutting boards, it's the only end-grain cutting board which does not have any plastic glue in it. dcarch

I am sure you know about this, you seem very knowledgeable about tech stuff, but just in case: If your ground is mostly dry, you may have to install the ground rod deeper and may be more than one rod. dcarch

You do need to maintain some degree of plant control. A higher power fence charger can actually kill / burn plants that touch the wire. For deer control there is 3D wiring method. dcarch

Electric fence works. dcarch

Go to youtube and do a search on "hostas recipes" dcarch

Hosta scapes are showing up big time in the garden. One of my favorite veggies, crispy and tender. SV steak on hosta scapes and yellow zucchini from the garden. dcarch

Got poison ivy. Never had poison ivy before. Got lots to learn! dcarch 🥶

A quick SV steak dinner. dcarch

Fiddlehead fern is around for only a few days from farmers market.. Made drum sticks with fiddlehead on asparagus from the garden, Morel mushroom sauce . dcarch

Spring is happy time. One of the very early harvests from the garden is hosta. Tender, delicious shoots, with shrimps. dcarch