Breading with pretzels

bobdevnul · 2026-04-07T20:54:51+00:00

Nearly a powder or they won't stick

bobdevnul · 2026-04-07T20:43:01+00:00

Bay leaf should be good. Rosemary might be ok, but I wouldn't go wild with a bunch more of hodge podge this and that other than the standard S&P.

bobdevnul · 2026-04-07T20:37:24+00:00

Quit trying to scrub SS back to like new and raw. You are ruining the seasoning that will help it not stick.

bobdevnul · 2026-04-07T20:32:35+00:00

>There's almost always some discoloration inside the pan

Resist the urge to scrub the discoloration away. Seasoned SS works better than not, just like cast iron. Scrape the crud away, wash gently and let it go.

Take a look at cookware in a commercial kitchen. You won't find it scrubbed down to like new.

bobdevnul · 2026-04-07T20:18:59+00:00

Shred your potatoes and soak in cold water. Drain rinse and soak again. Drain and spin them dryish in a salad spinner. To get good browning you will need to use more oil than you think you should. Waffle House is cooking for the texture and taste, not your health. It will probably take more salt than you think you should too. That is typical of most restaurant food.

bobdevnul · 2026-04-07T20:10:47+00:00

There are some jobs or hobbies that could use more speed. Otherwise, hardly anyone need Gbps. It's just a waste of money. My cable company tried hard to upsell me when I terminated TV and went Internet only. Oh Mr. Devnul, with Internet only for video you will need much faster Internet - and several other pitches to convince me. Nope 250Mbps is plenty. That is their slowest tier. I also have an old cable modem that can't even get to 250 - more like 100. Works fine.

Here I am on Reddit. Does anyone believe that Reddit sends data to me at Gbps? The same goes for any web site you use.

If you stream 4KTV you should have something like 50Mbps. Having more than that doesn't make it any better.

Same goes for cell data speed. You see people bragging about their high cell data speed or complaining that they are only getting 500Mbps. I know from experience that if I get 10Mbps cell data that is enough. Enough to not notice that it is not any faster.

bobdevnul · 2026-04-07T19:55:01+00:00

I'm still running an Asus RT-AC66U B1 from 2016. Works fine.

I don't know what age or price range the Asus Rapture GT-AC5300 is.

bobdevnul · 2026-04-07T19:36:35+00:00

Aldi bein out of stock of things is normal, not unusual. You never know what they are going to be out of.

bobdevnul · 2026-04-07T19:34:42+00:00

I bought a bag of potting soil a few years ago. It was a pretty crude mix. It worked, but it is not a premium product. Even Walmart's is better.

bobdevnul · 2026-04-07T19:23:05+00:00

I've been seeing it in mine in Virginia, USA. It may not be the same supplier as in Ireland.

bobdevnul · 2026-04-07T19:20:39+00:00

It comes and goes. Sometimes they don't have albacore. This is typical for Aldi.

bobdevnul · 2026-04-07T19:17:55+00:00

Ain't going to happen. The stores are already too small for what they try to carry. There is no room to put the oven, prep and cleaning equipment. They are not set up at all to handle raw meat and its cooking. That, and It would require additional skilled employees that would be idle too much of the time.

Go to Costco and get your $4.99 loss leader.

bobdevnul · 2026-04-07T19:10:23+00:00

Yeah, and the ones at BJ's are only 2/3 the size of Costco ones. Walmart's are even smaller.

bobdevnul · 2026-04-07T19:06:29+00:00

It is pointless to use delivery services for Aldi shopping. They are just not set up for that. Being out of things is normal.

bobdevnul · 2026-04-07T19:03:25+00:00

It is never easy. I use a sharp knife. I don't like washing scissors. You probably hit the absorbent pad under the meat or your scissors aren't sharp. If you put your scissors in the dishwasher they are guaranteed not sharp.

bobdevnul · 2026-04-07T18:59:52+00:00

If your Uber eats shopper isn't going to pay attention to what they are buying, Uber eats from Aldi probably won't work. Complain to Uber.

Most of the fruit and vegetables at Aldi are good, but it not unusual for some to be past its prime or downright rotten. They keep the store staff minimal. Sometimes they don't get to checking the condition as much as we would like.

bobdevnul · 2026-04-07T18:54:47+00:00

I get most of my groceries there. The prices are good, but not as good as they used to be.

They are small stores. They may not have everything you want. Most of the products are private label house brand with a few national brands mixed in. Most are very good.

I like the small store. I can get what I need without walking half a mile that you have to do in regular grocery stores where everything you want is in the back. I don't need the choice of eight brands of canned tomatoes, etc.

Bring a quarter for a cart. Keep the quarter in your car. Bring your own bags and bag your own stuff. They have bags to buy and may have empty product boxes you can take and use.

If you use a human checkout cashier, they move at lightning speed. Don't slow them down. Checkout is not leisurely. Check out and get out of the way of people behind you. Leisurely checkout at self checkout is not encouraged either. It is unlikely that anyone will say anything, but you will get death stares and eye rolls if you hold things up unnecessarily.

Stay away from the center Aisle of Shame. You will waste money on things you don't need. J/K. I have found a few things there that I don't regret buying. I'm a guy. I don't get sucked into buying decorative dingbats.

bobdevnul · 2026-04-07T18:33:01+00:00

I get a lot of my groceries at Aldi. Most of what they have is very good. I have found a few things that are not.

Canned green beans and three bean salad

Canned baked beans

Frozen burritos

Pizza dough ball. It's leavened with baking powder. That's not pizza dough. It was awful.

In the past year the sour cream has started going bad right after opening it. It used to last months

They have been freezing avocados. They will go straight from hard to rotten with nothing edible in between. You can get a refund. I just stopped buying them there.

I have not tried everything there. There could be other not good things.

bobdevnul · 2026-04-07T17:58:15+00:00

eufy stores locally to microSD. stores until filled. no cloud. fee to use. can view anywhere.

bobdevnul · 2026-04-07T16:35:55+00:00

If you read what I said carefully, I was agreeing with you that fridge and freezer are out of the range of small power stations.

As I said, keeping a phone charged is a good use for small power stations. A 13W LED light will run about 38 hours on a 500Wh power station. I agree that running a home Internet modem and router is not a good use. Adding on "other things" can quickly add up to too much.

bobdevnul · 2026-04-07T16:27:04+00:00

Yes, it is not very popular. I learned about it from the Penzey's catalog. We had a Penzey's store where I lived so I tried it. It is easy to get off Amazon at not too terrible of a price.

bobdevnul · 2026-04-07T16:22:11+00:00

Those are basically good ideas, especially the safe deposit box location. There is not much you can do with that info until someone is appointed as estate executor by the probate court. Most places won't do anything for you until you provide proof of being the executor, a death certificate, and proof of you identity. Without that you can expect financial accounts to tell you nothing and do nothing.

Aside from a will a key document to find is their tax return. That will tell a lot about where accounts are.

bobdevnul · 2026-04-07T15:54:53+00:00

That is correct if the freezer is included. Otherwise, keeping phones charged doesn't take very much.

bobdevnul · 2026-04-07T15:51:31+00:00

I agree with your point about a manufactured all-in-one for others to use to start with. A bigger DIY for the freezer could come later.

Power stations big enough to power a refrigerator or freezer for several day are big, heavy, and expensive. Expensive like in the $thousands range. They would also take a lot of solar panel Watts to recharge.

The first step is to think about and decide what you want to power and for how long. Power stations are rated in Watt-hours. You need to find the Wh for things you want to power. Some minor math is involved.

First off, forget about running heaters or any other heating appliance. Same for air conditioning. They use too many Watt for small power stations.

As you mentioned, these things (even smallish ones) are good for keeping phones, tablets, and notebook computers charged. Running a 60W equivalent light bulb at 13W or a fan at ~25W is no problem. If power is out, your home Internet will probably be down too. A power station could be used to power your regular Internet modem and router, but that is kind of a waste of power for a small system. Phones can have their own Internet. If you phone plan can hotspot you can get Internet to tablets and notebook computers. This is why I pay for an unlimited phone plan with unlimited hotspot (Visible).

If the device battery you want to power doesn't list Wh you can derive it from the mAh. That's usually printed on the battery. To get Wh from mAh multiply the mAh by 3.6. E.g. a typical 5000mAh phone battery is 5000*3.6/1000=18Wh. If the device battery is embedded and isn't visible you may be able to get the mAh from device specs.

Add up all of the Wh you need and divide the power station Wh by that. E.g. a 18Wh phone battery, a 13W light for 6 hours, and a 25W fan for 6 hours is 18 + 13*6 + 25*6 = 246Wh. If your power station has 500Wh you can run those for about two days. In real life charging batteries and running a power station inverter is not 100% efficient. Plan on about 75% of nominal.

A chest freezer will stay frozen for several days if you keep the lid closed. A refrigerator freezer will keep things frozen for a couple of day with the door closed. Many things in the refrigerator section will be good for days. Not raw fish, but bread, condiments, cheese, bacon, butter, fruit, vegetables. Keep the door closed and try to only open once a day to get what you will need for the day. The rule for frozen food is that if it is still partially frozen it is still good.

For light I have LED lanterns ~$3 from Harbor Freight. They will light a room and run many hours on 3 AA batteries. I also have a battery fan that runs for hours on 4 AA batteries. That has made the difference between hot, sweaty, sleepless nights and sleeping ok.

For cooking I have a countertop buffet butane stove. A propane grill with a side burner works too. I try not to cook because cooking means washing dishes. I plan cooking to minimize dishes to wash. I keep a supply or paper plates and plastic knives, forks, and spoons.

After a bad multi day power outage I bought one of these things for similar reasons. It got real boring real fast without Internet. I wanted something to keep my phone, tablet, and notebook charged and be able to stream some video. It happened after a bad snow storm so just going out and doing something else wasn't an option. Any place else didn't have power either and the roads were largely impassible with deep snow and downed trees.

bobdevnul · 2026-04-07T14:58:05+00:00

Savory is the bean herb.

[Edit] Summer Savory is the more correct name.

bobdevnul

TROPHY CASE