Readers' Tips
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I'm a big fan of the Circulon range of non-stick cookware, so I was pleased when the Stevens homewares chain started stocking some of the range, often at quite good discounts.
It gets better: Stevens has a new range of totally excellent baking/roasting pans from Circulon at most appealing prices -- as little as $25 a piece in their sale, and not much more at regular price.
We made a totally excellent gourmet pizza in the large regular pan on Friday evening -- it slid out and just sat there looking hot and sexy on the chopping board. Then we ate it.
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Last year I commented on my disappointment with Tui beer.
Well, I finally got around to the last remaining bottle last week -- about 5 months after its "best before" date -- and was quite pleasantly surprised to find it had actually become drinkable, having picked up a very slight honey flavour and a certain smoothness that it had entirely lacked back in November. Something you may wish to try at home. Or you could just buy a better beer... -
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Re: onions - I've found just washing them and not drying them before chopping takes care of the teariness.
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Cleaning the bathroom and kitchen: use bleach instead of commercial brands. I've found diluted bleach is faster, easier, and much much cheaper. Of course, you want to turn on the fan and open the window when you do this, as chlorine fumes are somewhat harmful.
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JLM,
For Dunedinites and other hardy southerners - a pair of socks pulled over the shoes let you stride out on icy pavements without worrying about slipping. Don't understand the physics, but it works!
I cut an old pair of woolly work socks down the front to get them to fit over and they lasted a winter, but last frost I pulled on a loose pair of airline socks as far back as the heels, and it worked just as well.
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Michael S - really appreciated the vegan/veg quotes & the link. I'm not a vegetarian (I eat fish, birds - titi & free-range chooks (home-killed) -and wild animals shot by people I know are good & responsible hunters i.e nothing abbattoir killed.)
Andrew - brillant bucket-potato tip! Especially the watering bit: our tyre-stack failed this year because we were away a lot & it was strangely warm, south...
Three tips: a looong time ago my father told me how to remember the difference between stalactites & stalagmites - c for ceiling, and g for ground.
And, if hand-strength is failing, using a rubber-gloved hand can increase pressure for twisting/unscrewing actions.
Also: food-for-free: not just the overhanging fruit-tree branches!
There are still a lot of wild-grown edibles to be gathered -kareko/karengo/parengo; puha & dandelion leaves (not in any area exposed to fuel fumes), and at least a dozen others I can think of (go Google.) Several supply essential elements, and all are freely available here (after journeying to the coast or where-ever.) -
the difference between stalactites & stalagmites - c for ceiling, and g for ground
I see your stalac__**t**__ites and stala__**g**__mites, with station__**e**__ry and station__**a**__ry. An **e**__nvelope is station**e**__ry.
And raise you with a personal bugbear, which for some reason I have never been able to get right. It's a **pie**__ce of **pie**__.
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Help - effect vs affect
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Help - effect vs affect
"Affect" **a**cts on things (verb), "effect" is **e**vidence of something (noun).
When I first went caving (at age 9) I was told, "When the 'mites go up, the 'tites come down". I never been exactly sure what it means, but have never had a problem knowing that stalactites hang down from the ceiling ...
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Cleaning the bathroom and kitchen: use bleach instead of commercial brands.
I feel like such a fifties housewife saying this, but white vinegar. I was already using it to clean hard water residue off, well, everything in the bathroom. Then I was told it works as fabric softener. I've done one load with fabric softener and another with white vinegar (about a quarter of a cup in the fabric softener dispenser and another quarter in the wash water), mixed the two loads together and been unable to tell by touch which was which. Smell is another matter.
If you don't have hard water you probably don't have to use so much. I buy those big bulk bottles of vinegar, and it works out a bit cheaper than fabric softener. The vinegar doesn't seem to set off my daughter's eczema the way fabric softener can.
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And we all know to dry our washed windows or mirrors with old newspaper, right? Streak-free!
(Of course, my windows are constantly shocking, but if I ever *did* wash them, I'd know.)
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Cheers Brent
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"piece of pie"?
Ahh, the joys of spoken English...my favourite - well, not bugbears but bogglers I suppose - are the "ough" family, cough, rough,though, through & other eccentric siblings. -
Here's one from Leo: and it's a good 'un!
If your XBox 360 boots up with the dreaded flashing red ring of death, you don't necessarily have to send it off and hope it can be revived.
First, try turning it on, swaddling it in towels and leaving it that way for about 20 minutes.
Take the towels off, restart the Xbox, and , with any luck, it will be fixed. (You may have to turn it off again to let it cool if the fans are gong nuts.)
I know it's not in the same league as killing your own food or anything, but he just did it -- and it worked!
PS: I take no responsibility if you try this and something goes horribly wrong.
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Russell, that is so weird I had to google it. I don't think the towel thing is good advice - you could damage the components in the xbox.
apparently the red ring of death problem is caused by the xbox overheating, warping the circuitboards and cracking the soldered connections:
There is a much beter way to fix this (heat gun). Now I will admit I have had to do the heat gun trick four times now but each time I get at least two to three months of play from it. The only real fix for this is to remove the CPU and GPU and resolder the BGA connections. I think that posting this on digg as the fix all for your xbox360 problems is misinforming and will likely result in alot of broken consoles if not housefires. If you want to learn how to do the heatgun trick go to xboxhacker.com and run a search for 0102. Side note you may also want to pull the heatsinks up and put down real thermal paste. I checked my processor last week and the thermal compound was literaly the consistancy of rubber. If you find the same on your 360 scrape it off and replace with artic thunder thermal compound or at least something other than rubber.
http://www.xbox360rally.com/the-red-ring-of-deathcure-found/
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When travelling make a list of what you pack in your main baggage and keep it in your carry on. believe you me, if the Airlines lose your baggage it's invaluable. Another travel tip is to know the contact details of NZ embassies and have them in your cellphone if going anywheree dicey.
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For those who bake a lot of bread/pizza and live in Wellington: fresh yeast is best bought in the wholesale section of Moore Wilson's, where it costs less than 3 dollars per kilogram.
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That was pretty lame, I know, but what can I say... I'm genuinely passionate about saving money. Call me an agent of change, even if it's just one or two bucks.
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O I dont think 'lame' Giovanni - I'm a big fan of not wasting money (hence 'wild food' options...)
You ever been frustrated by trying to put a screw in timber? Paticularly stuff like old rimu? Rub the thread of the screw across soap- you dont need the thing coated with it, but, believe, it makes an amazing difference.
Catering for the vegans in your life: you can still make them pies etc. using filo pastry & olive oil lightly brushed on each layer.
That goldfish excrement tip (way back up the thread) - beaudie, if it can apply to axolotyl water too? Please?
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OK, this should make Emma feel less 50s housewifey....
Baking Soda kills odours. (nice rhyme to help you remember it).
My dear Mum put me onto this after our wee one hurled all over her favourite cuddly toy (umm, not my mum's toy. You know what I mean).
Scrubbed the hell out of it but couldn't get rid of the smell. Mum said dissolve baking soda in water and apply. Worked a treat.
(another tip, from my sister, tangental but relevant here: when your wee one/s latch onto a favourite toy, buy a back-up. Can save a lot of grief)
Baking soda is also useful for shoes which begin to pong a bit, although I wouldn't do this if you have any international travel planned. Going through Customs with white powder coming out your shoes might cause unnecessary delays.
And also a useful substitute if you can't use deodorant. Just keep a packet in the shower and rub it where-ever you would otherwise apply the ol' Old Spice. Or whatever.
Pretty good for getting smells out of carpets as well, I gather..
Baking Soda. Is there anything it can't do??
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Baking Soda. Is there anything it can't do??
A cup of baking soda followed by a cup of vinegar (ha!) followed by three cups of boiling water will:
a)unblock drains
b)entertain your children -
Here's my tip - for what it's worth. When walking along Takapuna Beach with dogs offleash, do not smile. Do not say good morning to other walkers. And above everything else, do not laugh with joy or anything approaching it. In all these ways, you will successfully fit into the Takapuna beach early morning walking crowd. Oh, and do have breakfast at the Takapuna Beach cafe. It's a very nice place, with very yummy food, and very attentive service.
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And we all know to dry our washed windows or mirrors with old newspaper, right? Streak-free!
I've heard that this doesn't work so well with papers now because of modern printing technology. Today's colour inks (and this includes the black ink) can end up smudging off onto the glass.
Has anyone successfully dried glass using newspaper?
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I miss the days we would read yesterdays news on the fish n chips as the ink transfered from the paper to the food.
I haven't had ink on the windows though, but I avoid those heavily inked pages with big blocks of colour.
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