Back to the "poke test"....which isn't really a poke but more of a wiggle to test the firmness of the meat beneath. those things about if it feels like your nose or your thumb are just "guides" for beginners. To really know, you need to feel test lots of pieces of meat and then see what the inside looks like. It's feel thing and you can cook a piece of meat to your liking anywhere without an instant read thermometer. It's experience....sort of like feeling when the texture of bread or pastry is just right or knowing when the bechamel has cooked enough. There was a cook book years ago called something like "Cooking by Hand" or "Hands on Cooking" and it touted knowing what a teaspoon of salt or a tablespoon looks like in your hand....how long it takes to pour a table spoon of olive oil into your pan, how to break up tomatoes by hand and how to separate an egg by hand. I could make a pie crust with just a bag of flour and a can of lard...it would take longer than measuring because I might have to add a little more flour or fat....but I could do it. And I could ( and have!) made breadw ith flour, yeast, salt and water....no measure, no bread pan....just the ingredients....by feel! Feel your steaks ( I almost said meat but remembered Jessica is peeking here!) and learn what "done to your liking" feels like, you'oll save lots of time over the years..... My son is so anal that he uses an instant read to check the temp of the water for proofing yeast! He is so anal that he proofs his yeast!! Linda c

FoodOnAStump, The reference to a "Pure" cycle means you have a Samsung. My sister has one 8-ish years old. It was given to her by friends who destroyed it by continual overdosing of liquid fabric softener and apparently washing everything either in cold water or minimal warm and never running the Pure Clean or Sanitary cycle. The drum support broke during spin, the front edge of the drum tore a gash in the outer tub. They were quoted something like $900 to repair it. Sister figured I could fix it for less, which I did ... $259 in parts. I found upon disassembling it that the interior of the outer tub and exterior of the inner drum was covered in a heavy waxy residue and the drum support was crumbling into gravel. The pump filter was full of the gravel, I'm surprised it wasn't throwing a drain fault. Anyway ... Pure Clean on her machine heats to 130°F. The instructions are to run it with no additives but I advised her to add 1/3 cup of chlorine bleach to the main "wash" phase, after the initial rinse. It'll drain away when the initial rinse drains if added immediately, which leaves none for the wash/cleaning phase. She wasn't running the cycle often enough at first, plus her water is b-a-d, so mold and odor developed. Bleach did the trick but she has to keep up with running Pure Clean at least every couple months, and leaving the door ajar between uses.

Not that many really answered your question! Yes, I also would inform them in a friendly, chatty manner. Last year, while visiting Seattle, we were introduced to "Penn Cove" mussels, farm grown I believe. They were fabulous. We came back home to San Diego, went shopping at Costco and what do we see? Penn Cove mussels, live of course in a 4-5# bag and so inexpensive, something like $3-$3.50/lb. Gosh, were we excited. We've now bought them many, many times. They appear to be de-bearded, almost all of them, and very clean - only have to rinse them off with water. Steam in water and white wine for about 3 min. till they are open and then serve with melted butter - oh my!!!

August 2021 I had to replace my 27 y/o Maytag dryer. I replaced it with the LG DLEX4200. In November, I had to replace my 10 y/o Whilpool Duet front loader. It was replaced with the WM4200, which is the 5.0 cu. ft. version of the above referred to WM4000. These models are still available. I"m going to provide you with informaiton you may find valuable or not. The temperatures I'm going to provide you will be in Celcius, not Farenheit. I am an old-fashioned guy weary of all the energy restrictions. I don’t approve of all the dumbed down water temperatures, and I believe contributes to the mold and smell issues in washers, along with poor laundry habits. For the following cycles Whites, Perm Press, Bedding, and Towels warm is 32 to 35C and the heater may come on or not to bring warm to those temps. Hot is 44 to 45 and heater will come on to reach those temperatures if needed, but once those temps are reached by the heater it turns off and won’t come back on to maintain temp. Adding steam option to Whites & Bedding will get the temperature up to 68 to 73C. For Normal and Heavy-Duty cycles, the only time the heater will be used is if Extra Hot is selected. For Normal warm is 32 and Hot is 35 to 37. Heavy Duty isn’t much better temp wise. In the old days warm was 37 to 40 and hot was 54 to 63C. For some average clothes, depending upon soil, I’ll opt for plain warm and maybe hot for the above-mentioned cycles. If I want hot water wash for towels and sheets and other items that involves pet needs, I will select the Sanitary cycle with lightest soil level. That will get water temp to between 57 & 62C. Heavier soil levels on that cycle will result in higher temps. As for rinsing, I always add at least one extra rinse for all cycles, particularly with TurboWash. When washing towels, I always opt for the maximum allowed additional rinses, usually the 3 offered. The WM4000 and WM4200 are still being sold but are being replaced with the 4.5 cu. Ft. WM5500 & WM5700 and the 5.0 cu. Ft. WM6500 and WM6700. The WM5500 offers and typical detergent dispenser drawer and the other 3 models feature auto dispensing of liquid detergent & softener. The new models could be a bit more frustrating in trying to access some functionality vs., the older WM4000 and WM4200 due to new control panel design. But all the new models offer a drum light in the washers. Hope this helps.