Category Archives: Product Reviews

Fitbit Service vs Performance

09 Friday Jun 2017

Posted by in Product Reviews

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

,

Not sure if this is a positive endorsement, or an indictment of Fitbit.

I was gifted a Fitbit Charge about 10 months ago.  I’d thought about getting one for a while, but hadn’t pulled the trigger.  Having set it up, its been interesting to see what it had to say but I try not to be a slave to it.

Most noticeably, while the base flights of stairs goal came almost automatically, getting to the magical 10K steps was rare initially.  I bumped the stair goal to 20 flights a day and I still get there most of the time without thinking hard about it.

The steps, on the other hand, were interesting.  Moving alone added a couple of thousand steps.  Yes, we have a bit more square footage.  But, from Fitbit’s perspective its the attributes of newer houses that increase the steps.  For example, modern hallways are wider by code so just crossing the hall from the bedroom to the bathroom takes almost twice as many steps.

So, it does what it says it should do.  And, its interesting data for one’s life.  Does that make it worth purchasing?  That would be your decision.

Now, for the meat of the post though.

Over the winter the band on my Fitbit Charge started bubbling and then last month it separated entirely so it is no longer a band, but an open circle.

IMG_6412

Mr. Google told me that this was a reasonably common problem and I should contact Fitbit for a replacement.  This was a remarkably quick, hasslefree process and my replacement (now purple as I couldn’t find red on the color choices) arrived soon after.  It synced and we were off and running again.

But, then I discovered that the only two other people in my immediate family to own Fitbits also had theirs fail (for various reasons) within the first year and were having Fitbit replace them at no charge.  So, now a bunch of folks I know plus all those who wrote in to Google about their experience have free replacement Fitbits.  (There was also an option of a significant discount on an upgraded model.)

So, is this a ringing endorsement.  It does perform as advertised.  It’s easy to use.  And, their customer service is great.

Or, is in an indictment of their poor quality.  Maybe both.

Product Thoughts – Socks and Goldfish

01 Thursday Jun 2017

Posted by in Product Reviews

≈ Comments Off on Product Thoughts – Socks and Goldfish

Tags

I didn’t really have enough to say on either to make they’re own post, so let’s put two random things together.

A request to the sports sock makers – and really all sock makers out there:  Please include the size on the socks.  We’re all now used to baby/toddler socks being marked with the size.  It’s a useful pattern for their anti-skid materials.

But, it can be done with big people socks also.  See how the M for medium is stitched into the red bulk socks from Target.  I have “S” and “L” Target socks too.  It makes life so much easier.

In contrast, the yellow soccer socks are entirely unmarked.  These are a small and large pair.  And, yes, its reasonably easy to tell them apart.  But, that’s just because we don’t have anyone wearing medium at the moment.  Plus, I hand down soccer socks to the next person, which often means storing them for a bit.  So apart from yellow (town team sock color), I try to buy different colors for different sizes.  But, that’s not the best solution.  Just stitch the sizes in.  Thank you, in advance.

IMG_6457

 

On an entirely different topic, I was given a pack of whole grain cheddar Goldfish crackers.  Now, they don’t taste bad.  But, they definitely don’t taste like the original.  I think they’re less tasty, which might also lead one to eat fewer.  Whole grains might be better for you, but is part of that “betterness” just that we’re eating fewer of those carbs because they don’t taste as good?  As you can see, the main nutrition spec on the package is almost exactly the same.

IMG_6455

Last Week’s Accomplishments – The Cuisinart Replacement Blade Arrived!

16 Tuesday May 2017

Posted by in Accomplishments, Family, Product Reviews

≈ Comments Off on Last Week’s Accomplishments – The Cuisinart Replacement Blade Arrived!

Tags

,

Unless you have been in hiding, or don’t think about kitchen stuff at all, you probably know that in December Cuisinart recalled about 8 million food processor chopping blades because metal fragments were coming off in people’s food.  You probably also know that they’re getting a lot of bad press because of how long its taking to get people new blades, despite telling them to throw out the old one immediately.

I filed for my replacement blade on December 16, 2016 – three days after the recall went out.  On December 22, I received a form email, thanking me for my patience.  It also said they’d let me know when my blade was on the way.  I received basically the same email again on February 4, 2017.  It also included their much discussed online recipe book (apparently it contains recipes that require the chopping blade), but I haven’t looked at it.

Well, months went by and I didn’t hear from them again until it just showed up on Friday.  I definitely would prefer to have the blade vs another email, but it should be pointed out that they never did alert me that it had been shipped.

Some pictures of the new vs old blade and the lengthy set of instructions (obviously meant to prevent them from being sued by the customer or trash collector that cuts themselves).  Clockwise, its the new blade in its complete packaging, the new blade out of the packaging, the two blades together for comparison, and the old blade packaged for the trash.

I have used the new one and it works fine.  It’s also easier to clean, which is a nice side benefit.  But, it took the full six months to get here.

Other things that happened last week:

  • I managed to get the whole house cleaned, at basically the same time.
  • We hosted a Mother’s Day brunch.
  • The younger boys had their last skating class.
  • I went to the 5th grade camping trip meeting.
  • The contractors came by to adjust the doors.
  • We had 4 baseball games.  We also had more rain and thus rain outs.
  • We had 3 soccer games.
  • We went to soccer and baseball practices.
  • The older boys had bike club.
  • We went to the kindergarten concert.
  • We went to the art show where the 3rd graders’ work was on display.
  • We went to a high school baseball game.

Do I have to buy the Starbucks Snacks …

24 Friday Mar 2017

Posted by in Product Reviews, Recipes

≈ Comments Off on Do I have to buy the Starbucks Snacks …

Obviously the answer is no.  You never have to buy anything specific, least alone a snack from a drive through.

I am not a coffee drinker, but I do stop by Starbucks from time to time for a hot chocolate because it’s pretty good.  I’ve also never bought food much at Starbucks, until I was pregnant with my youngest.  Then, inevitably, I was hungry in between the preschool drop off and whatever errand I was running that day.  So, I tried a Cheese & Fruit Bistro Box.  For the uninitiated, this includes apple slices; a mix of dried cranberries and almonds; small chunks of brie, cheddar, and gouda; and some multigrain crackers.  While nothing spectacular, this was all pretty good.  But, one day they were out so I tried the Protein Bistro Box which includes an egg, apple slices, grapes, cheddar cheese, muesli, and honeyed peanut butter.  The egg was a nice addition so that became my go to box.  Though, ideally I’d have the egg, three cheese mix, grapes, and apples.  The other items are not fine, but I ate them because they were there not because they were my favorites (excessive calories are not a problem in our hose).

Then, the baby was born and not faced with 24/7 hunger I stopped buying the Bistro Boxes.  Enter the Sous Vide Egg Bites this past January.  Since we own a precision cooker (item required to sous vide things), I wanted to give them a try.  And, they were pretty good.  Add to that that soccer/baseball season is coming up pretty soon so I’ll be spending many entire Saturdays away from the house.  I thought, maybe I can replicate these snacks, only with the ingredients I want.  They would be reasonably healthy and are designed to grab and go.  They include things that, in many cases, are already at home.  And, it would be a lot cheaper to assemble them myself.

So, I purchased some divided Tupperware containers to keep the wetter things from the dryer things or the colder from the warmer (though I’m trying to keep anything extra warm or extra cold).  And, behold, I have everything I need for homemade Bistro Boxes – apples, grapes, cheese, egg, and crackers.  My plan is to assemble on Friday night so I can grab and go on Saturdays.

Then I came to the heart of the issue, the egg bites.  I found some inspiration from Anova (https://anovaculinary.com/easy-homemade-sous-vide-egg-bites/), bought some 4 oz jelly jars, and adapted the recipe to what I had at home.  These came out lighter than Starbucks’ version – more like the creme in creme brulee.  But, they were tasty, easy enough, and batch cooked so I’ll have them for a while.

Sous Vide Eggs
Adapted from Anova

Ingredients:
12 eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup grated gruyere cheese
½ tsp salt
4 Tbsp diced red pepper (this could be about anything, but you’re looking for 4-6 Tbsp total volume)

Directions:

  1. Set your precision cooker to 172°.
  2. In a blender, combine the eggs, heavy cream, cheese, and salt.
  3. Divide among 12 4-oz jelly jars, filling about half full.
  4. Divide the peppers (filling) among the jars.
  5. Use the rest of the egg mix to top up the jars.
  6. Use the two-part lids and close to finger tightness.
  7. Submerge the jars in the water bath for 1 hour.
  8. When done, if you are not eating immediately, move to a cold water bath to bring to room temperature before stashing in the refrigerator.
  9. They can be eaten straight from the jar.  Or, use a butter knife around the edge to loosen from the jar and invert.  When ready to eat, microwave for 30 seconds.  (Or, I’m sure a few moments under a broiler to brown would be great.  I just haven’t tried that yet.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Hoover Air Cordless 2-in-1

09 Thursday Mar 2017

Posted by in Product Reviews

≈ Comments Off on The Hoover Air Cordless 2-in-1

Tags

I purchased this vacuum cleaner about six months ago to replace our previous canister vacuum and Dust Buster that were on their last legs and so hit the trash in the move.  Best decision.

It is so light and easy to use.  Yet, it picks everything up.  The light on the front of the upright unit is extra bright so you can see all the dirt that soon will be gone.  The upright transitions easily from carpet to hardwood floors, which is great for area rugs.  The wheels roll smoothly on both surfaces.  And, it becomes thinner than most vacuums to go farther under beds, couches, etc.

The handheld unit comes apart for easy cleaning.  That process is quick and intuitive.  And, most importantly, unlike the Dust Buster it doesn’t create a big new mess near the trash can.  I have washed the filter once.  I made sure to dry it thoroughly, but I’m not even sure that was necessary.

The crevice tool stores on the upright, but installs on the handheld unit.  It has worked everyplace I’ve tried to use it, though I could imagine having an even smaller crevice tool.  This one more lengthens the opening vs making it narrower.

If there is a downside, it might be the battery.  Generally, it doesn’t bother me.  But, it only has enough juice for one floor at a time.  With small children I am frequently interrupted anyway.  I’ve also forgotten to put the battery back on the charger on occasion so it ran out extra quickly the next time.  To address this, I’ve ordered the extended run time battery.  I expect to alternate the two with one always on the charger, but we’ll see how much I appreciate the extra 10 minutes of run time.

Even if you have a full size vacuum for deep cleaning or longer run times, the ability to pull this out of the closet and quickly tackle the job is wonderful.  I bought this myself and am getting nothing for recommending it, but I would highly recommend a Hoover Air Cordless 2-in-1 to anyone.

A Review of Eataly’s Paccheri al Forno Recipe

03 Friday Feb 2017

Posted by in Product Reviews, Recipes

≈ Comments Off on A Review of Eataly’s Paccheri al Forno Recipe

First, this is not a review of a dish from their restaurant, but a review of the recipe for the dish from their website.

I’ve mentioned before that I received a box of Eataly foods for Christmas.  Two items in the bag were paccheri (large cylindrical pasta) and canned cherry tomatoes.  I wasn’t sure exactly what to do with those so I started poking around online and found many recipes that put the two items together, but only Eataly’s used 1 can of tomatoes.

In retrospect this should have been a sign.  Compare their picture of the dish to mine.

There is a lot more sauce.  Also, the cheese is still inside the pasta vs melted into a puddle on the bottom.  The flavors of the dish were fine – like lasagna.  Overall, though, it was unnecessarily complicated.  And, it came out nothing like the picture.

I found there were some other oddities as well.  For example, the steps (paraphrased) were in this order:

  1. Make tomato sauce.  Remove from the heat and cover to keep warm.
  2. Make the cheese filling.
  3. Boil the pasta.  Drain and cool.
  4. Stuff pasta with filling.  Top with sauce.  Bake.

Basically the entire recipe is written as if done at different stations at a restaurant.  The parts of the dish would be done filling, pasta, sauce by a single home cook to keep things at the right temperature.  Also, with the ingredient quantities listed, there is far too much pasta for the amounts of filling and sauce.  You would need three times the sauce (3 cans of tomatoes per pound of pasta was the typical amount I found in other recipes) and double the cheese filling.

All in all I found this disappointing as Mario Batali has plenty of cookbooks.  I’ve never tried cooking from one so I don’t know if they present similar problems.  But, I did try the Risotto with Tomato & Basil from Eataly and its instructions were similarly odd/insufficient.  This is definitely an area they need to work on.

What We Ate – Week 4, 2017

30 Monday Jan 2017

Posted by in Menus, Product Reviews

≈ Comments Off on What We Ate – Week 4, 2017

I bought no food last week!  No grocery stores, no BJs, etc.  So, we ate things we already had available.  It also helped that we were gone for the weekend eating meals thought up and provided by others.

Monday:
Spaghetti & meatballs

Tuesday:
Tacos

Wednesday:
Kids: Eggs
Adults: Eataly’s Risotto with Tomato & Basil

img_5952

Thursday:
Kids: Chicken nuggets
Adults: Homemade pizza

Friday:
out of town

Saturday:
out of town

Sunday:
Spaghetti & Meatballs

 

Quick comment on the risotto.  This was in the Eataly box I got for Christmas.  It claims to be four servings, but its more like a generous two.  The cooking process was easy.  The only issue with the recipe is that at the end it says to add butter, without specifying how much.  As for taste, it was fine.  Nothing really stood out though.  The texture was good, but the flavors were a bit muddy and lost.

House Design – Two Ovens?

01 Thursday Dec 2016

Posted by in Home, Product Reviews

≈ Comments Off on House Design – Two Ovens?

Tags

I went into the house buying process with the goal of getting two ovens in my next kitchen.  It was by no means the reason for moving (we could have renovated the kitchen), but if I was going to move it was something I was looking for.

I had assumed that this would be stacked wall ovens, which one sees in most new home construction.  But, I didn’t want the range in the island and that meant a distinct lack of wall space.  So, I went round and round evaluating different options.  Some newer models come with a second oven instead of the storage drawer at the bottom, or have divided the full height into two ovens.  This wasn’t going to help much as my goal was to cook two larger items.  Then we evaluated side by side 48″ ranges.  These offer a standard size oven and a small oven.  For us this was an improvement on the horizontal divider, but since my cookie sheets didn’t fit in the smaller oven it was not ideal later.

Mr. Google led me to the idea of two ranges and eventually to this blog which showed side by side Frigidaire ranges – http://www.chrislovesjulia.com/2015/09/idaho-home-full-kitchen-reveal.html.  This could solve our problem!

We went with Kitchenaid instead, as we had already selected their fridge.  In the end we swapped the dishwasher for the Kitchenaid model also giving us a full suite.

img_5358

As you can imagine, once I requested this there were many questions – from the appliance guy, builder, inspector, plumber, electrician, etc.  And, Kitchenaid wasn’t quite as forthcoming as the blog asserted Fridgidaire was in endorsing this arrangement.  But, everyone agreed there should be no issues and we moved forward.

It has been a great decision.  These are 30″ dual fuel ranges (electric ovens and gas cooktops).  When one switches from gas to dual fuel, Kitchenaid switches the storage drawer to a baking drawer so we actually have 4 ovens!  The lower ones are very small and I’m still not sure of the value of them.  You can’t do much more than a lasagna, but I guess you’re not heating up as large a space.

I have run both simultaneously.  I really appreciate the extra space on top to put hot items fresh from the oven.  One doesn’t quickly identify them as two ranges.  There’s a seam in the top section and two clocks, but that’s about it.

It turns out two standard ranges are also significantly less expensive than dual ovens plus range, even the dual oven wall units.  Two of these are also less than either a 60″ or 48″ range, even by a similar grade manufacturer.  All in all I think we got great functionality for significantly less cost.  And, if someday we want to upgrade to a professional 60″ range, it should slide right in.

BJs Coupon Policy – Some Education is Required

17 Thursday Nov 2016

Posted by in Groceries, Product Reviews, Websites

≈ Comments Off on BJs Coupon Policy – Some Education is Required

I like that BJs allows coupons.  But, they need to better educate their staff on their coupon policy as I have repeatedly had the same problem (maybe I should just bookmark the page on my phone).

The policy states, in part:

“When purchasing a multi-pack of “individual for sale” packaged items, which is a set of items that could be sold individually (each item has a barcode) shrink-wrapped and sold together, shoppers can use multiple manufacturer’s coupons (up to 5), and ONE BJ’s coupon on a single selling unit. The total value of the coupons cannot exceed the total retail value of the item.

Examples of a multipack:
Three-pack of toothpaste
Two-pack of salad dressing
Three-pack of taco kits

Examples of products that are NOT a multipack:
Box of cereal that contains two bags (the bags cannot be sold individually)
Case of water
Case of soda
Case of juice
Case of motor oil

Members may also use one BJ’s coupon and one manufacturer’s coupon on a single item.”

 

So, when I buy Coke flats, Cheerios, diapers, etc they are not multipacks.  But, if I buy a pack of cans of mandarin oranges or Campbell’s soup, or (my personal pet peeve) sunscreen, I should be able to use one BJs coupon plus as many manufacturer’s coupons as match the number of items in the multi-pack.

Like I said, sunscreen is my pet peeve in this department.  Every year there is a BJs coupon for Coppertone.  Every year there are $1 off one Coppertone product manufacturer coupons.  Because BJs sells them as three shrink wrapped together, I should be able to use the BJs coupon plus three of the manufacturers coupons.  I have never succeeded in doing this without a fuss from the cashier who eventually relents and agrees to let me use them “just this once” because they’re only supposed to accept one manufacturer coupon.

But, a new coupon culprit raised its ugly head this past week.  Yes, this is the same picture from Monday.

img_5626

As you can see, there are four bags of chips/popcorn.  This is because I had two copies of the $2.50 Frito Lay coupon shown below. (Note – A Pick and Pack bundle is two bags of chips.)

bjs-coupon-page-11142016

This time, I was first told I couldn’t use it because you had to buy both the chips and the dip (he was pointing to the “and” between “Pick” and “Pack.”  When I explained that “Pick and Pack” was the term for the bag containing two bags of chips and that it very clearly said “OR” before “Dips” I was told that the coupon was printed in error and wasn’t being accepted.  They would have a sign up soon.  Well, this was two weeks after the coupon went into effect – no sign.  And, I got the above from the corporate website today, which obviously hasn’t been updated.

So, while I agree that it may be an error (because that is a lot off), with no sign and no removal of the coupon from their own website, they need to accept them.  They did, very reluctantly and with much too much complaining on their behalf, hence the rant here.

 

Of LEDs and Edison Bulbs

21 Friday Oct 2016

Posted by in Home, Product Reviews

≈ Comments Off on Of LEDs and Edison Bulbs

Tags

,

Last week there was a post on another blog I read that touched on the light value of LED bulbs.  I commented there, but thought I’d expand my comments and add pictures here.

First, let me say that I am so glad that fluorescent (of all sorts) are basically out of our lives.  We wrote that into the contract for the new house as I don’t want to be dealing with the mercury and other chemicals those entail.

We’ve had many LED bulbs.  These days one can use them for any sort of lighting fixture, but you do have to choose more carefully that I feel like one had to with incandescent bulbs.  Today one can buy many fixtures with integrated LEDs.  We have a bunch in this house so hopefully they’ll last a long time as I’m not entirely sure if one replaces the entire fixture or just the bulb when they do finally fail.

Regardless of location/type, the Kelvins are critical. For us, 4000 K is too sterile; we like 2700 K or thereabouts. I also feel like many of them are just ugly – whether its the cooling base or the shape of the LED itself.  In the picture below, I put a typical incandescent bulb, my favorite LED bulb (though they’re out of business now since they had leaking problems with other models), and a more readily available LED bulb.  The Duracell is on the cool end of the spectrum and has too industrial looking a base for me – though I’ve seen worse.  But, it will be fine when we need to replace the bulbs in the garage and I only have a few.  The Switch bulb is the level we prefer, we have lots of them, and have had no issue with ours leaking.  We also only have a handful of free standing lights that don’t have integrated LEDs so I expect our Switch supply to last a long time.

img_5482

We use Edison bulbs in all the fixtures that don’t have integrated LEDs.  By some trial and error I discovered that it is a bit challenging to find a dimmable, LED Edison light bulb.  Adding to this problem, antique-styled bulbs come in many shapes and filament patterns.  We preferred Edison squirrels nest.  On the left I what I bought first.  It was accidentally not LED, and its not dimmable.  But, we’ll use it in a few locations until the bulbs give out.  The center is the dimmable LED I found, which we’re very happy with, and its box.  On the right is a chandelier bulb, which we tried and found weird in our chandelier because of the short cylinder shape the light emanates from. We don’t have another chandelier so I’m not sure if/where we’ll reuse these.

img_5484

I tried to take a few pictures of the bulbs in their fixtures, both on and off so you can see the differences.  As you can imagine it is challenging to take a picture of an on light bulb, but here they are.

The kitchen light fixtures have the incandescent Edison.  When on, its just a ball of light.

We put the LED Edison’s in the dining room after discovering the incandescent bulbs didn’t support the dimmers.  As an aside, it turns out non-dimmable bulbs can overhead the dimmer even if they’re fully on.  As you can see, with the LED bulbs, the “filaments” are more distinct when on and more visible when off.

A couple of other miscellaneous notes.  I’m not sure they make sense economically for three way bulbs as 3-way LEDs are very expensive.  It is possible they’ve dropped in price since I looked a few years back, but they were way up there at the time.  I don’t have any three way lights anymore so this is now a non-issue for us.

Some people do notice a flicker with LED bulbs.  I don’t, but I have been told it is the case.  I don’t think its enough to cause problems, but it can be an annoying revelation.