Bread——your favorite brands?
Joaniepoanie
4 years ago
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favorite brand of deer & rabbit repellent?
Comments (5)Well, you could pay an outrageous sum for that stuff, or you can make your own for really cheap. Take a whole bulb of garlic, peel it, chop it up, then throw it in the blender with some water and try to liquify it. Add a dozen eggs, then liquify the whole mix. Top up your blender with some water, and strain the mixture through a fine mesh to a milk jug (outdoors is better). Keep the cap loose, so that air can escape. (if you keep it too tight, the jug may explode). I use it at the rate of about 2 oz per gallon in my sprayer. This works just as well as liquid fence. People can smell it for a day, the deer can smell it for about a month....See MoreFavorite brand of red wine vinegar?
Comments (34)Twoyur, this is where I ordered the red wine vinegar. I found it at several on-line sources, but this one had the best price, once shipping was added it. I only buy Japanese black vinegar and only at Japanese markets. The Chinese black vinegars taste nothing like it. I am also annoyed that so many vinegars in the U.S. call themselves "Balsamic" without the proper Italian certification. I had fake Balsamic vinegar at a pizza restaurant in Florence that was very popular with young Americans, and I complained about it to the waiter. He told me that the rest of the Americans loved it, and that was that. He knew it was fake. We only went to that restaurant on our last evening in Florence. We had been avoiding it, even though it was the closest restaurant to our hotel in the historic central district. I was unaware of avocado oil fraud! I've bought olive oil from the olive ranches here, and I often find it in the farmers' market. I always ask about the harvest date. Local California olive oil tends to be a bit expensive, and the flavors vary quite a bit. We had a good time tasting various olive oils in Paso Robles, which is known more for its wine. We bought wine there too, but that area is better for red wine than white, and I generally prefer white. I do like red wine with some cheeses, however....See MoreFavorite 36" Oven Brand
Comments (32)I personally think you get a better deal with the RNB. The Platinum has a "weird" oven heating element. It supposedly addresses the problem with taking a long time to preheat. But it comes at the cost of having more hot air focused in a few spots close to the back of the oven. Personally, I'd rather deal with the longer preheat in exchange for a perfectly evenly heated oven. It really just requires you to plan ahead. And on days when I didn't do that, the CSO is up to temp within 5 to 10 minutes. So, I always have options. I understand the market pressures that made Bluestar come up with the PowR oven. But I just wished they had a more flexible built-to-order system that allowed you to opt out of this feature. The extra BTU for the improved burners on the Platinum can be nice though. It certainly makes a difference when cooking in a wok. The RNB is already infinitely better than most competing models, but you can never have too much power when stir frying and searing. Fortunately, it is relatively easy to replace one of the RNB burners for a Platinum burner after the fact. Bluestar will throw a hissy fit, if you ask them to do this, as they desperately try to differentiate their product lines. But with a little effort, you can find the required parts online and switch them out yourself. It's really easy to do and should cost about $200. Maybe, if you ask really politely, your dealer will even do this for you (they are not supposed to, but some dealers just go the extra mile for their customers). We felt, we really only needed this for one of the burners. High power is needed in relatively few and short periods during cooking, and the difference between 22kBTU and 25kBTU is only just over 10%. So, it doesn't make much of difference, but sometimes, every little bit helps. I find that the Bluestar burners regulate to low temperatures much better than pretty much any other gas range (only some, but far from all, induction ranges do this even better). This of course requires the installer to have adjusted the shutters and the low set point correctly. And that depends a little on the gas mix that you get from the city and on the altitude that you are operating at. So, make sure your installer checks this. If they don't, it is something you can do yourself. Bluestar has YouTube videos showing you how to. But you really shouldn't need to; this is a job for the installer. I believe the vast majority of complaints about Bluestar ranges are a direct result of the installer failing to do a proper job with the checklist. Either because they didn't calibrate everything correctly, or because there was damage in transport that nobody wanted to take responsibility for. We felt that even the 22kBTU burner simmers pretty well, and the 15kBTU burners that we have in the back work wonderfully for simmering. So, we ended up removing the dedicated simmer burner and replaced it with another 15kBTU. Having an extra 15kBTU was more important to us. This works great 90% of the time, unless you really need very low temperatures for an extended amount of time. And in those cases, I find that simmering on the cooktop is actually the wrong technique. Do what restaurants do; move the pot into the oven. Ovens do a much better job at providing very even and precisely controlled amounts of heat. This is one of the reasons why I feel you can never have too many ovens. We really like having the gas range, the CSO and the speed oven; and in extreme cases, I have had to co-opt the gas BBQ on the patio as another oven. Four ovens are such a luxury to have when managing a complex multi-course menu. Knowing how and when to use ovens has improved my game so much. It took a bit of a learning curve, but it was well worth the effort. The oven door hinges were a genuine problem with earlier models. Our range was bought at a time, when this was an issue. It is now over 10 years old. We reached out to Bluestar when the door started seizing up after several (8?) years. It was well outside of the regular warranty period by that point. They offered to sell us a current model door at a heavy discount, and they even gave us the option to change the color -- that conveniently coincided with our kitchen remodel. We picked a black door to match the stainless&black look of the Miele ovens. The old door just lifts out and the new one drops in. Very happy with how this worked out. Presumably, in the new model, this particular problem has now been fixed. I found Bluestar's customer service fine to work with. They are not outstanding, but they are also not bad. But it sometimes does require a few follow-up calls. We have had to call them a few times over the years, as I had made changes to the range for the remodel, and as we bought a floor model as a gift for a friend's cabin; and that floor model turned out to have a bunch of missing and broken parts....See MoreWhat is your favorite brand of white wine vinegar?
Comments (19)Now that I'm back in L.A., I can identify my favorite white wine vinegars. For general use, I like Acetaia Ducale Estense Vinagro di Pinot Grigio with an acidity of 4.5%. It tastes slightly sweet. My other favorite (which is quite a bit sweeter) is Olivas de Oro Fig White Balsamic Vinegar, with an acidity of 6%. I bought this in Paso Robles, where it is made. Olivas de Oro is my favorite olive oil producer, and so I buy their olive oils as well. Pasolivo is good also, but not my favorite. We always do olive oil tasting when we go to Paso Robles, but there is vinegar tasting as well. I will have to try O Champagne vinegar, since it is slightly cheaper than my favorites....See MoreJoaniepoanie
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