Hi Ladies, I just watched one of the "CREATE" shows on PBS or Create channel not sure what it is. The little hippy gal (lol that's what I call her...a young thing with almost a hippy style). She made her rain chain out of 1/4 inch copper tubing. She wrapped it around a 2 inch (inside dia.) plastic pvc tubing. Then she took her dremel with a mini saw blade attachment and cut through down the line of ringlets on the pvc tube. Then took each ringlet and bent it a bit and strung them. She then explained how to attach it to the gutter, with some copper pipe hook she bent, it was not too clear. One of her finished pics showed the end of it going into a tub of water, and while it was raining the splashing water bounced around a couple of glass floatation balls (ribbed glass though and dark colored..maybe was not glass? but looked cool). So just thought I would jump on here and tell you about that. Also while trying to find this thread again I noticed there was some posts about rain chains in the Japanese Gardens forum if you wanted more info.

Posted by foodonastump "So couldn't this "potential difference for more energy to transfer" have an effect on not just the braising liquid, but also on the meat that's in the vessel? Or was America's Test Kitchen completely dillusional when they experimented with cooking pot roast in a dutch oven, in an oven at various temperatures and found: "We then tested higher temperatures to reduce the cooking time. Heat levels at above 350 degrees boiled the meat to a stringy, dry texture because the exterior of the roast overcooked before the interior was cooked and tender. The magic temperature turned out to be 300 degrees - enough heat to keep the meat at a low simmer while high enough to shave a few more minutes off the cooking time." Excellent questions. First, It seems to me that we can all accept that: 1. To the meat in the liquid inside the vessel, it makes no difference where the 212F heat comes from. By the very definition of thermal energy, there is no difference between heat from the oven, stove, coal, candle, -------. 2. However, to the meat, how long the meat stays in the 212F will make a difference. To tenderize the meat, it is important to cook it long, in the ATK experiment, as they stated, they cook the meat at 350 but shorter time, therefore some of the meat is tougher. "By the way, the oven cooking time for their pot roast is 3.5-4 hours after the liquid comes to a simmer, stove top. And yes, with an internal temperature of 210 degrees they themselves called the roast "overcooked", in quotes. In other words it was a desirable result in this case. Again, unless they're dilussional, it sure sounds to me like there's 212, and then there's 212. And that generations of cooks weren't wrong. " I don't think that generation of cooks were wrong. Cooking with a covered Dutch oven inside an oven will produce wonderful results. Whether that will have more delicious end results than doing it with the Dutch oven on the stove top is my question. "Last note - you asked why do it in the oven rather than stove-top. ATK found what LindaC mentioned above: "After a few rounds of stovetop cooking, we felt that it was too difficult to maintain a steady, low temperature, so we began pot-roasting in the oven, starting out at 250 degrees. This method required no supervision, just a turn of the meat every 30 to 40 minutes to ensure even cooking." I can understand that. For the purpose of the repeatability of the experiment, as in any experiment, it is important to maintain recordable and verifiable environmental conditions, and that is much easier done in an oven which has a limiting thermostat. There is no practical way to do that on the stove top. However, I am not sure for everyday cooking anyone would have a problem to get the Dutch oven to be on simmering low-fire setting on the stove top. ---------------------------------------------- BTW, ATK has provided much very useful and important information to the public, however, most of their tests are done in somewhat informal settings. To confirm a true test of 350F vs. 300F in the quality of the meat, I believe the experiment must be done in an oven with an electronic PID type of thermostat which has the ability to control the environment to 0.1 F resolution. Mechanical bi-metal or capillary hydraulic type of thermostats in normal ovens can vary as much as 30F to 50F. Humidity of the cooking environment should be monitored, and a chart recorder should be in operation to record temperature swings throughout the entire cooking time. Because testing by individuals chewing is highly unreliable, it depends on subjectivity, and where the meat from the same cut is taken for the chewing. Proper way to do it perhaps would be using a durometer tester. Finally, no test result is to be considered conclusive until the same test is performed by another independent testing facility. Bottom line: Stewing using a Dutch oven in an oven will make wonderful and delicious stew. However, beef "tenderness" cooked at 212 F is very different texturally than beef tenderness cooked at 135F. dcarch

Everyone has been so positive that I guess, well, I guess it is my turn. My town has about 20,000 residents. Our library looks huge. The center section is two and a half stories tall with huge long wings on either side of the building. It is solid brick, about 15 years old. It sits upon a gentle rise on several acres of land with a lazy stream meandering out front. It is connected, via bike/walking path to the community recreation center and to the town's sports fields and to all of the schools, K-12. Once you get inside, however, you will see great vaulted ceilings which, to many, signify wasted space, and which make every whisper an echoing shout. The children's department is located on one end of the building with no sort of divider which means kids and their mothers are squealing and yelling. Before you think me rude, I love that the kids come to the library. But I also think that both kids AND parents need to abide by the rules of the library. Many of the librarians are sweet and kind and read constantly. The lady in charge, however, is the black cloud over the whole thing. She would rather be an actress. And instead of putting her energy into the library, she allows it to coast along while putting all of her time and energy and creativity into finding little acting gigs in the area. She listens to no one, and thinks she knows more than everyone. The whole town wishes to fire her, as do all of the librarians. But so far, no success. As far as selection goes, non-fiction is okay... in need of updating. Fiction is very well represented as are videos, CD, DVD's and audio books. We have great ILL service as well as a huge selection of e-book titles. So, good and bad, but I am still grateful to have it. It is very close to my house and we often bike or walk over. PAM

That thought had entered my mind. They've been upgrading by sections,and got to my area late winter. Since they were replacing both equipment and cable, I figured there might be problems, but no, not while they were here. After they moved on is when the buggy video started. If I call the office, I get horrible info. If I call the IT dept, they say there are no problems in my area and to replace the router. I'll probably go that route, there's no cost involved. I know from talking to others miles from me that the internet can be "erratic". I'm going to talk to my neighbors on my road and see what they have to say, see if I can talk to the one and only engineer who works for my provider, I've spoken with him in the past, a real nice guy, and take it slow before I dump Dish. Thanks.