Martin Fisher

Instant Pot IP-LUX50 6-in-1 Programmable Pressure Cooker, 5Qt/900W, $67.89

We had 4 cats that were FAR outnumbered!

In all my years of — mostly rural — gardening/farming (35+years) I've had minimal trouble with rabbits, woodchucks, deer, etc. Voles, on the other hand, are nothing but pure evil! Here's one of my posts from another forum back when I still had the farm...... "Yes, voles are pure evil! LOL They're the worst warm blooded pest on my place, they'll nibble on almost anything in the garden..beets...potatoes...carrots..... tomatoes...you name it. I've reached almost 100% control with 4 measures....a shallow trench around my raised beds discourages them....cutting the grass quite short surrounding the garden area makes it easier for the hawks to get them (there are a lota hawks here)...and trapping (placed where my dogs or cats won't be bothered)...a regular unbaited mousetrap will work when placed perpendicular to their paths...they'll just run over it and SNAP! I also use a regular mousetrap under a one foot square piece of plywood baited with a small piece of apple! Also.....I have several 4-foot X 4-foot pieces of heavy rubberized roofing (basically, extra heavy tarp material) that I have placed on the ground around the place...my dogs will flip the pieces of roofing looking for voles... the dogs and cats both will readily munch on them! Good luck!"

FWIW, one is the Wi-Fi model ($30 discount using code LUVMOMWIFI,) the other is the Bluetooth model ($50 off.)

Yep! Years ago I installed some left-over, supposed, 'moisture-resistant' laminate in a tiny utility room. Knowing that exposure to moisture was a possibility, I coated the laminate with a couple coats of polyurethane. Moisture eventually caused some issues in spite of the precaution.

Yes—FWIW—from On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen By Harold McGee, Page 88: "Difficult peeling is characteristic of fresh eggs with a relatively low albumen pH, which somehow causes the albumin to adhere to the inner shell membrane more strongly than it coheres to itself. At the pH typical after several days of refrigeration, around 9.2, the shell peels easily. If you end up with a carton of very fresh eggs and need to cook them right away, you can add a half teaspoon of baking soda to a quart of water to make the cooking water alkaline."

I have regular laminate flooring in a couple rooms, but not the kitchen. I like laminate flooring but I'd only install something like highly durable resilient vinyl planks in a kitchen or bathroom.

It's a trick that's been around a very long time—it's especially useful in suppressing the bitterness of cheap robusta coffee. My grandparents—extremely frugal folks—added a tiny pinch of salt to the coffee pot for decades.

Potatoes can turn sweet if stored too cold. See more here.

I also much prefer the steaming method for various reasons—I've been using that technique since back in the '80s.

I was thinking similarly.

They require special and specific conditions to thrive, including a cold period to break shoot dormancy. It's unlikely they'd do well in the lowlands of the deep south. Around here, the southern-tier of NY state and northern-tier of PA, in certain 'sweet spots' they grow abundantly, literally blanketing the forest floor in a sea of green. They're a welcome early sign of spring but largely considered an ubiquitous pedestrian food. A dinner or two, or sometimes a few, satisfies until next year. Cultivating Ramps: Wild Leeks of Appalachia

Ball Wide Mouth 1.5-Pint Canning Jars are straight-sided and easy to clean. About $10.40 for 9 jars at Bed, Bath and Beyond with the 20% coupon. The small jelly jars are also straight-sided. The wide-mouth quarts have a small hip—but still easy to clean.

Heavy cream was back in stock last Tuesday.

My grandfather used to say, "There isn't a single rock on this farm—they're all married and have big families."

I agree somewhat. I think, it may be even more basic, in terms of umami rich flavor enhancers made by humans, look at the cultures that have done a heck of a lot of fermenting for a heck of a long time, and, both lived close to the sea and cultivated crops high in glutimates, Japan, arguably, tops the list. The less the fermenting and access to umami-rich fermentables of a culture, the fewer the man made umami rich flavor enhancers.

It may or may not be soy. "The most commonly used sources of hydrolyzed vegetable protein are soybeans, corn, and wheat. Animal hydrolyzed protein is sometimes made from milk protein (casein) or from whey proteins derived from cheese production." Source: Umami, Unlocking the Secrets of the Fifth Taste, by Ole G. Mouritsen and Klavs Styrbæk, page 169 (interesting book, by the way.) Here in the USA, as per the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act, foods containing the major allergens milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat or soy must be clearly labeled as such. The only allergen noted on the label is fish (Anchovies.)

First, are the fruits fully ripe? If they're not, you're likely flirting with frustration. Seeds from immature chiles tend to lack vigor and germinate poorly, if at all. Second, optimum soil temperature (touching the seed) for chile germination is between 80° and 85°. So be mindful of evaporative cooling which can lower the soil temperature in the seed zone. Both are common issues that can lead to headaches or failure when starting chile seeds.

Unfortunately, Lea & Perrins (USA version) is the only readily available Worcestershire sauce, here, that's reasonably decent. Some interesting reading: History of Worcestershire Sauce (1837-2012), by William Shurtleff and Akiko Aoyagi, 213 pages. As to the pronunciation of Worcestershire; my father, who's quite a jokester/prankster, called it "What's this here?" sauce when we were children.

They ditched the HFCS five years ago and reverted back to sugar.

Well, of course it's not the alleged original recipe or the British version. It's actually referred to here as "The Original Worcestershire Sauce" and the term 'original' is often used to differentiate it from other Lea & Perrins Worcestershire products, a low-sodium version, a thick version, etc.

FWIW, I also think it's an old Dexter pizza knife. Dexter currently sells a couple pizza knives (here and here), which, when combined with the optional helper handle, equates to essentially the same design.

Here in the USA, Heinz sells Heinz labeled Worcestershire Sauce. It's cheap, nasty and definitely NOTHING like Lea & Perrins; they're distinctly different formulas. Edited to add.... Heinz labeled Worcestershire Sauce ingredients: Distilled White Vinegar, Water, Molasses, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Salt, Soy Sauce (Water, Wheat, Soybeans, Salt, Sodium Benzoate As A Preservative), Natural Flavoring, Caramel Coloring, Anchovies, Polysorbate 80, Soy Flour, Garlic Extract. Lea & Perrins Original Worcestershire Sauce ingredients: Distilled White Vinegar, Molasses, Sugar, Water, Salt, Onions, Anchovies, Garlic, Cloves, Tamarind Extract, Natural Flavorings, Chili Pepper Extract.

I used to be able to find it locally, but not in recent years.

Depends on the curing method, cut of meat, muscle fiber orientation, temperature, etcetera With salt box style curing, you're basically exposing the outer parts of the meat to a high concentration of salt - for a relatively short period of time - that will later equalize throughout the meat. One of the major problems with that method is it's unpredictability, it's very easy to over-cure/over-salt - especially small cuts. The Marianski's do a good job of describing some of the particulars here.