len_mullen

Ten months, ten topics... Feb: CES 2019 should give us some ideas about what Black Friday 2019 will be all about. A review of what they hope we'll buy. March: Best Air Fryer recipes/uses. Going to try a blooming onion tomorrow. Jury is still out on this counter top wonder. Apr: In 1999, I took a job in a group called Architecture Technology Organization (aka ATO). These were all the geeks and those who managed them. On my first day on the job, I learned about X10. Within a couple weeks, I was living in a smart home. Not a lot of X10 in my house these days, but the house is even smarter thanks to Alexa. Some thoughts on getting started with automation. May: In May of 2010 I fired Comcast. A lot has changed over nine years. This is how I would cut the cord in 2019... Jun: Cash back for dummies. Best credit cards and loyalty programs for people who do not want miles. Jul: Prime Day Primer. Aug: Drying food on purpose. Sep: Televisions. Oct: Laptops. Nov: Time to talk about Black Friday 2019!

Happy New Year!

My oldest insisted his brother open one present tonight. It was a genuine PS2 Slim. Up to the attic to dig out the old games and controllers. I've completely lost them. I'm OK with that. Great idea and a great night of fun. Who would think young adults would be nostalgic. Time for me to go to bed. Good night all and merry Christmas!

Crab Rangoons and Bacon Wrapped Scallops in the AF tonight. Loving this thing!

Woot... https://www.woot.com/offers/excalibur-9-tray-food-dehydrator-3 no timer, but nine trays for $155.

Thank you.

Do you have the leg lamp -- it was a major award, after all. (I do.)

Amazon Deal of the Day: Excalibur 3926TB 9-Tray Electric Food Dehydrator with Temperature Settings and 26-hour Timer Automatic Shut Off $174.99. This is a very good price on my dryer and I love it!

'Peep! Say it isn't so! You'll shoot your eye out! I actually own a Red Rider BB gun with the original wood stock. I love that movie as well as It's a Wonderful Life, The Sound of Music, and all the other seasonal movies my wife used to watch as she decorated our home for Christmas. It's not the same now -- she's gone, the kids are grown. I miss the magic of Christmas. Here's a Christmas story for you... There comes a time when every child learns that there is no Santa Claus. Parents are usually the last to know. One year as the missus and I were carrying the loot from the attic to the living room, she stumbled and dropped a pile of presents right over his room. We checked and he seemed to be undisturbed, but the next morning, while we were opening presents, he told us that a lot of kids at school said Santa was made up, but he KNEW Santa was real because he heard the sleigh and deer land on the roof. He got to be a kid for one more year. Merry Christmas!

Foolproof (I tested this) Chicken Cordon Bleu... https://www.meredithlaurence.com/recipes/chicken-cordon-bleu/

We used to have a substantial garden. Unfortunately, the New England season is short. Also, when we could grow stuff, it is inexpensive to buy very good produce. I don't particularly care for the canning process as a preservative. So, gone with that! Mostly, I am looking to grow things which are hard to get or are not very good when shipped from afar. Hot peppers and fresh salads are my focus. Indoors helps with the seasons. I have a small Aerogarden just on my counter just for herbs. Just getting back in stride with this. Hopefully some of those global warming predictions will come true so you can grow vegetables and my home on the hill will become beachfront property with endless summers!

Hello Club. Just nine days until Christmas. Looking forward to the final promotions. I have to say that Black Friday was a lot of work this year. Maybe because I already have two of everything. I didn't see any real door busters. I still have a lot of money in my pockets and will hand out some gift cards. Anyone returned, price adjusted, or price matched anything that has been cheaper since BF? I have been very close with a pair of laptops. In fact, I bought them as a safety net, but value (performance/price) hasn't quite triggered a return. I don't know if any of you harvest the various Amazon promotions where you get promotional credit downloading apps. I pay attention to AFTVNews.com where Elias posts such things. It's a pretty complicated process. First, you have to do the action. Then you have to redeem the reward. This posts as a credit to your account which you never see until you make a purchase that qualifies. You generally have less than a month to complete the process. These credits cannot be used on gift card purchases and can only be redeemed against Amazon sales. I never realized how much of Amazon's catalog was third party merchandise until I tried to find something to spend the $5 credit on. I ended up getting ground pepper (which I needed), but a lot of spices are sold be others as are many of the food and housecleaning products. All that smart home stuff is third party too. Even a card I bought was by a third party. If any of you are doing or considering hydroponics, Aerogarden has 25% off plus free shipping now using DECEMBER25 -- which I thought was clever. Good for one off purchases. I got some pepper and spice pods. After having purchased 24 ghost peppers on ebay and comparing prices and availability, I have decided I should be showing up to local farmers markets with dehydrated peppers, ghost pepper jerky, and other hot products. Keep my dehydrator busy. Besides ghost, cayenne, thai, jalapeno,and purple super hot peppers, I got basil, chives, cilantro, parsley, mint, oregano, and mint. I also got a pollinator. I'm going to try to grow habaneros from seed (unless anyone can point me to a source for Aerogarden pods).

The IMPORTANT ones are loading

You're a mean one Mr. Grinch!

I'm sure you will be happy. Impress upon the kids exactly how to clean the non-stick parts. It'd be a shame for someone to take a brillo pad to them.

they all dehydrate. so can your toaster oven. so can your oven. basically, anything that can be run at 165 degrees Fahrenheit can dehydrate. The dedicated dryers do it for $0.03 per hour. a 1550w ninja will be a star on your electric bill. my concern about your kids using one of these would be the nonstick surfaces. you will need to impress upon them the need to use great care in cleaning the surfaces. that said, the Cooks Essentials 5.3 qt is really easy to clean. another thing i like about the CE fryer is the controls. while there are presets, i generally hit power, plus or minus to the right temp and plus or minus to the right temp. if you remove to shake, flip, or simply inspect, and reinsert the drawer, it picks up where it left off. you have had your hands on the ninja. if you like it, buy it. if it doesn't meet expectations, return it.

Most professional reviewers have the Philips at #1. Not sure how a round oven with a fan and a pan plus control circuits can vary much beyond size and reliability, but the pros love the Philips... https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/reviewedcom/2018/09/24/best-air-fryers-2018/37892091/ https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/best-air-fryer/ https://www.cooksillustrated.com/equipment_reviews/1870-air-fryers I don't totally disagree with this... https://www.cnet.com/videos/dont-believe-the-hype-about-air-fryers/ Which is why I got an inexpensive machine to see what all the excitement was about. So far, a small chicken has been the best thing we cooked in ours.

Just so long as you get one in there.

I know. I have aerosol cans of various oils and sprays. So far, so good.

'Roasted' a whole chicken tonight. Awesome. Getting better at this. Here is something that should have been in the box... https://www.amazon.com/Misto-Brushed-Aluminum-Olive-Sprayer/dp/B00004SPZV

You might want to put an ampersand in there: BB&W. Not judging

Maybe link memberships to posts made until the end of November? That might increase traffic during November.

And, of course, Air Fryer trials and tribulations

We have so much to talk about. Broadcast television got a shot in the arm when Amazon launched their Recast. The Alexa Skills required to support the Recast open doors for others. I'm looking forward to the competition between the Tablo TV DVR and the Recast. Nothing new on the Amazon front for me, but I have started replacing the wall switches in my home with Insteon switches. I just bought my third TCL Roku TV. If you guys want to talk about the best television for OTA, I'm all mouth. I went to a mall last night to pick up a Snowblower. It was a Craftsman 88694 26" 208cc Dual-Stage Zero-Turn Snowblower. I have been shopping for three years and this was the smallest machine on my list. At $700, it was as inexpensive as I have ever seen it. Add $257 of SYW points and I was sold. We could talk about the AMAZING young woman who ran the pickup operation at that mall on her cell phone when the computers went down. I got a couple laptops this year. In a couple weeks, I will be able to offer first impressions. And only twelve more months to post...

i think i had too much, frankly. mine was wet. the recipe had me soak in buttermilk then dry the chicken, coat in egg, then the flour mix, spray with oil then fry.