OT - New Wireless Printer

Hi Guys, So -- Santa got me a wireless printer for Christmas. I don't have a printer up here so it is a great gift. Do you hear a "But"??? That being where the *&^^ do I put the thing??? We were all sitting around at DD's a few days before Christmas and Steven went to answer the doorbell to find that UPS or someone had dropped off a HUGE box. Steven brought it into the house and told Christen it was a printer and asked if she had ordered a new one. She hadn't and none of us could figure out WHO would send the kids a wireless printer!!! Never occured to any of us that GrandFather had sent it! He had phoned DD the week before and told her that he was having something sent to her house so she should be on the look out for a delivery. He never bothered to tell her it was a printer so she had no clue about it!!! Aside from not even having the luggage unpacked from the trip to the Valley for Christmas, I have to try and move things around so that I have a big enough level surface to put the *&*&^%&^&%^& printer! I'm not sure what size the printer is but the box is HUGE and HEAVY and I had so much fun schlepping it from behind DD's Christmas Tree to my car. It had to go in the back seat with the dog because the trunk was full of the luggage, the dog kennel, the cat litter box, all the dog supplies, all the cat supplies and various and assorted bag os "stuff". Just imagine the fun I had unpacking all of this stuff and dragging it into the cabin -- IN THE ICY SNOW. So, it's my understanding that there will be a cd with the printer that I load into the computer and it will walk me through the process to get the printer "hooked" to the computer. Honestly, I was happy just waiting until I got to DD's and then printing up stuff there. Mostly it's so that I can print up flight & travel info. With the Garmin, I don't even need to print up travel directions any longer! Anyway, I have this new piece3 of **electronic** equipment that I don't actually need and am not thrilled to have to hook up. This means that if there are any problems when I try to get it hooked to the cdompute3r, I will be here ranting and raving and generally being obnoxious and letting off steam. Be forewarned that I am certainly going to be a bit pissy if things don't go well :-))))). CiaoMeow >^;;^<

Tia Mary /\____/\ >^.,.^< = 0.0 = ( )~~~~~ Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their WHISKERS! NOTHING is complete without a few cat hairs -- they make the best decorative fibers! Tia Mary's Webshots

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Tia Mary
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My beloved proudly gave me an "As seen on TV " veggie slicer. You put the damn thing together, then twiddle to get the size slice. (thin or thinner).Then you feed the veggie into the tube gizmo. It is too small for zucchini, and the wrong angle for the curvy yellow squash. One has to move the slide back and forth for ONE slice.

I tried it, said "maybe" it would be good for cucumber salad, many thanks for the kind thought...and it is now in the back of a closet.!

Men REALLY try hard........but somethings are just left to those of us who use them. LOL

Gill

Reply to
Gillian Murray

My printer is wireless, and I really like it. I had to set it up with the cord first, then unplugged and away we went.

Reply to
Fran

*snip*

LOL - DSIL (the crazy, mean one as opposed to the just mean) once sent us: A tuna fish can strainer (we used it in the sink when the disposal was broken, while waiting to install replacement) A rubber nozzle thing that fits on your sink faucet then you (it looks like a rubber megaphone, about 1" diam at fat end) crack the end of a hard-boiled egg and insert that into the nozzle thing and blast water thru it to remove the shell. Uh huh- needless to say in the time of hooking up the egg is peeld. A carrot peeler that is supposed to do round & round -haven't figured it out yet

The just plain mean one sent us a cordless scrubbing machine for cleaning bathrooms...

Ellice

Reply to
Ellice K.

A friend who knows I like gadgets has twice asked a sister to get "something" for me from Verimark. The first one was a battery-driven duster, and the second was a set of bowl covers which are supposed to keep the contents vacuum-sealed! Even if they did, who wants a bowl with the lid sticking out way beyond the dish itself? And a duster which twirls while you're using it? Great fun - if I could be bothered! I never just redistribute the dust, I prefer to remove it properly once a week.

The friend didn't have access to the stores, so couldn't choose herself

- I'm sure she would have known better! Both items are destined for the charity shop, now that I've moved.

I often look at the ads for these gadgets, and wonder if they're worth buying - it always looks so easy on TV! Your slicer, Ellice - I've never heard of Oxo other than the meaty cubes! i suppose that's available only in USA?

Joyce in RSA.

Reply to
Joyce in RSA

*snip*

That is hilarious. Should be paired with the doesn't really work too well battery operated scrub brush.

Totally understand the trip to the charity shop. Frequently my DH says we should buy his sister one of those "head tingler" things that looks like an upside down, open ended whisk - to put on your head & cure headaches. Of course this is the one who has been known to call us and discuss her conversations with the "E.T.s" - her friends from wherever.

Seriously - DH is always walking into the stupid "as seen on TV" shop or aisle - to look for ridiculous things to send his sister. But, we can't actually afford much wasting of $$ - as they could go to more valuable stash. His sister actually is one of those people that thinks these odd things are fabulous. The list of stories is endless - one year we sent her

2 boxes of Twinings Orange Pekoe tea - as she told us (after seeing it in our stash at home) that "it's my favorite and I can't find it at home." Seriously, the woman lives in suburban Chicago - a very large city, even if in a suburb. She's just in another galaxy. Then there was the "where can I get kosher hot dogs like you - I want them for Jasmine's (her Papillion dog) birthday party." Again - same answer - the grocery store!

Ah, I don't know. But I'm putting link to them here. The slicer itself is called a Mandoline, and until the past few years, really something only serious cooks or chefs would have - as they're pretty dangerous tools. But, the company OXO (not the ones who do the bouillion cubes) which has won a lot of design awards, made what I think is the first relatively safe one. Also known as OXO Good Grips. OXO specializes in kitchen/cooking accessories that can be used by people with arthritis, have comfortable grips, etc. I have several things from them - peelers, salad spinner, tongs. Anyhow - here's the link to the OXO web site, & the mandoline. You can get a lot of their stuff thru Amazon.

formatting link
like on their website there is an international inquiry link ;^) Ah, the things we find...

Ellice

Reply to
Ellice K.

On 1/13/12 9:36 AM, in article snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net, "Karen C in Calif" wrote:

While I believe you may have won the race in your situation at the time, IMOSHO the FP is most definitely not a waste of time - even cooking for two. Because I have the space to keep it easily accessible -that helps. But, it truly depends on what kind of cooking you do. I've used it for bread doughs, pastry dough, quickly whipping up things that don't puree so well in the blender, or just want to be chopped to a certain consistency. Even for just two of us. And especially when cooking for a larger party it's a huge difference. Again - it's about what kind of cooking you do. Certainly I slice & dice by hand most of the time for just a couple of onions, some garlic, etc. But having the FP there makes some things just so much easier & quicker - including recipes that I might not make as often if having to chop by hand for 30 min instead of 5. I wash mine in the DW, certainly at least the blade. Honestly - washing the bowl, lid & blade doesn't exactly take much more time than washing a big knife & cutting board - compared to the time savings. The thing that is useful if you're really only ever cooking for 2, or 1, is the little mini-FP. Great for a quick puree or sauce. But, I'm not buying one. For us, I also tend to cook enough for 2 meals with many of the things for which I use the FP. Then one container in the freezer for some other meal. I'm definitely more likely to try some thing I may see on TV (like Hubert Keller using the FP to do Thai Chicken burgers) because I can get to the FP easily - than if I had to go unbury it.

I do use my immersion blender a lot - we refer to it as "the motorboat." That's a pretty small appliance, and great if you do soups that you want to puree, sauces, even whipped potatoes - as you just plunge it into the cooking pot. Takes some getting used to - when it tries to vacuum seal itself to the bottom of some soup pot - but works great. Easy clean as most of them come apart and the blade portion can go in the DW, or wash by hand, and the motor just gets put back in the drawer after wiping it off.

I honestly got my first one over doing a lot of Indian cooking, and for groups, and totally understand the party cooking situation. My then DH had fought it, but I finally insisted and got a refurbished Cuisinart at a local kitchen specialty store, with full lifetime warranty. That thing was a workhorse, and a bargain - though pricey for us at $99 in 1986. Cut my time way down. Then we went to India - and he was still complaining that I only cooked Indian food a few days a week. The deal then was I cooked Western food 2-3 days a week, and Indian at least 2 times, then there would be the weekly Chinese night & one whatever. Finally even his sister yelled at him when he said "my mum cooks Indian all the time - what's the big deal?" Big deal being that as we pointed out, I worked full time (his mum at that time did a lot of charity work, having quit being a professor), and that she had a boy who started doing the prep for dinner immediately after cleaning up from lunch. So -yes - she didn't need a FP, as she had someone that exclusively cut, chopped, diced, and even used the mortar & pestle. She would then come in at the right time, throw in spices & supervise. All the women in the household ganged up on him! But, doing Indian food from scratch takes a lot of prep to slice, dice, make pastes/purees that get cooked down as the seasoning, sauces. Which now of course you can buy in jars of simmer sauce! FWIW, I still do a lot of Indian cooking - XDMIL was a fabulous cook and taught me well, as did many other family members.

Anyhow, as I told Cheryl when she was shopping for her new stand mixer - to me the usefulness of things like stand mixers & FPs is exponentially related to how readily you can access them. If you can easily access the thing, then you start using it, and will use it more and more, finding things that you might not have done as often before, or not at all. If the only place to keep it is awkward to access, then it's useless. At the least, they need to be where you can get to them without straining your back.

Just sayin'

Ellice

Reply to
Ellice K.

There's only one of me, but they will drag my Cuisinart from my cold, dead hands !

Reply to
lucretiaborgia

LOL - I do so love it when we agree...

Ellice

Reply to
Ellice K.

When we were cottagers we had two Cuisinarts because I could not bear to do that extra work at the cottage and it was one comfort from home I really wanted.

I do think top of the line makes the difference though, YDD tried a cheaper one and that was what it was, a cheap appliance you didn't bother to use.

I had an original, then bought this one maybe in 1980 for the cottage and turned over the original to someone when we sold the cottage. In those years I have replaced the main blade once, really couldn't get an edge on it anymore; I still use it once to twice a week minimum.

I have been thinking I would get a stick thingie for blending soups in the pots, but can't make up my mind which to buy.

Reply to
lucretiaborgia

I tend to agree with this, especially with smallish appliances, or things where the motor makes a difference.

My first one was close to an original, and honestly, it's likely still packed in some box that went from the Albuquerque house to storage/old house and then here - perhaps. There are still unpacked boxes. Who knows. With this newer one, it's a bigger bowl, and I only have 2 other disks - but it's fine, actually better than fine. It came with 2 full bowl sets, one top being with the full feed tube, and the other is more like a blender, with a removable-plug center opening. So it sits out on the island in that configuration.

I have a Braun MultiPractic - I'm quite happy with it. Came with a whisk & the normal blade bottom halves. Also there's a container attachment - that I've never used. DH bought it for me - honestly, don't know if I would've bought the Cuisinart instead. If you do soups a lot it's quite handy when you want to puree some but not all so I do use it quite a bit. The wisk works well when it's a quick thing and I don't need to get out the hand mixer, or use the stand. As far as I can tell they're pretty much the same

- only thing I'd look at is if there is a speed control. Mine is on/off - you hold the button area depressed while using it - so it doesn't run unless you're actively depressing the switch. Something to think about - but I don't know if all of them are like this. There are probably equipment reviews of them on the Cooks Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen site.

Ellice

Reply to
Ellice K.

I get that being your issue. Just completely disagree with the broad statement of FPs being of no use for the 2-person cooking situation.

Hey, almost all of us have that in our background - be it ourselves at some time, our friends, relatives, kids, students, etc. Called life and the people in it. Even if it is frustrating.

Ellice

Reply to
Ellice K.

I should take a look at America's Test, their product tests are usually good and practical.

Reply to
lucretiaborgia

That's what I've found. LMK if you can't get the full eval - sometimes that's in the subscribers only section - I can send you a pdf if you need.

Ellice

Reply to
Ellice K.

On 1/13ing - it always looks so easy on TV! Your slicer, Ellice - I've never

Joyce,

Actually OXO is a brand name for useful kitchen devices. I was moaning about my hand-operated can opener. I have two, one in the house which is OK..the one in the RV is rotten.

The same DH went on the Internet, and found this magnificent steel hand-operated can opener, and I got that for Christmas, too. I have never seen another like it ( alkthough I am well-acquainted with teir normal line, which is good).

Poor dear JIm didnt really undestrand I rarely use canned food. It too

10 days for me to try it out..and it is indeed great engineering. Like my Le Creuset equipment, it CAN be passed on to the next generation.

Gill

Reply to
Gillian Murray

Even though you and I may not use it for 50 years...buy the best!! It sounded so silly to say I was thrilled with a can-opener, with stainless steel handles, rotors etc. It is NICE to use good equipment when we do things. That is also why I LOVE my new washer and dryer..

Gill

Reply to
Gillian Murray

In the end I had to toss between two, Cuisinart and Kitchen Aid, the latter won because it was just the container and gizmo whereas the Cuisinart had the chopper thingie which with a tiny kitchen, I really do not want as I have the food processor.

I can put it in one of the deep kitchen drawers standing upright, so it takes little room. So far I haven't had any use for it but mainly I want it for thickening soups - I did make beef barley yesterday but the barley thickens that but it will be great for a spud/leek soup I make and also a spud/curry/carrot soup. I makes masses of soup because I loathe boughten ones compared to home-made. I make a huge pot and then pour into yogurt pots and freeze in single portions.

I have an oxo can opener, I got it years ago for David when arthritis had reduced his hands to almost useless. Still works fine although as you say, rarely open a can these days. The wet cat food comes with pull tab lid.

And Joyce, I also have oxo cubes, like them for stews and to enhance some gravies !

Reply to
lucretiaborgia

We can't even get Oxo cubes any more - haven't seen them for ages! I do have a jar of the paste (like marmite), but don't know if you can buy that any more either.

I'm always amazed at how many old well-loved items are now unobtainable in RSA. I got my nephew to bring me TCP, and brought some Simple soap back from Oz. Both have disappeared from our shops.

Joyce in RSA.

Reply to
Joyce in RSA

The Australians have that dreadful Vegemite though, instead of decent Marmite lol

I remember TCP - the other thing that changed was Atora Suet which was so convenient for steak and kidney pud or mincemeat for Xmas - now it is made from veggies because of mad cow - I still use it for mincemeat but think (maybe imagine) it is a bit more greasy but it does the job of stopping the mincemeat from fermenting.

Reply to
lucretiaborgia

You'll love the new toy. Great idea about the yogurt containers. I freeze in the pint or quart chinese take-out clear tubs, especially for stock. Have better freezer containers for real food (stews, etc). At one time I tried freezing stock in ziplock quart bags. Worked pretty well, they laid flat on a shelf in a stack, and were really easy to defrost - micro or boiling. Can see the stuff & just write on them with sharpie. Honestly, I use mine most frequently for exactly those 2 soups, and more often barley mushroom.

Seems about the only cans I open are diced tomatoes, canned italian tomatoes, and beans - so not too frequently using my lovely can opener. I know the day is coming when I'll have to get an electric one, but for now.... And the back-up plan of tinned tuna or salmon.

LOL - both of my regular grocery stores have good sized international food sections, especially Wegman's (which has I think 3 full double aisles), and carry oxo cubes. I don't often use cubes, but do indeed have some in the pantry, oxo, maggi & tema. For the most part I keep a bunch of stock on hand, using the cartons of mushroom broth, beef, some others - and am thinking about keeping a jar of stock concentrate in the fridge instead.

Ellice

Reply to
Ellice K.

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