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#CheckIn @s banerian @Andrew Pam @Christoph S @Griff Ferrell @hackbyte (friendica) 13HB1 @David Sterry @robb @Guy Geens @Joseph Teller @Susan ✶✶✶✶ @smellsofbikes @Richard @Rob Anybody @Michele Hax @Nora Qudus @Isaac Kuo @Carsten Raddatz @Muse @Bob Lai @Mark Wollschlager @Alexander @Cass @su ann lim @Phil Landmeier (ᚠ) @Miguela @Klaus Lademann @Joltrast @Alrekr Járnhandr @Jacob C @That Harp Guy @David Calderon @Corinne Howell @Cats of Commons 💫 @Andreas G @John MacLeod @libramoon @Aline @davidamerland @gregg taylor @Holly Jahangiri @Phil Setnik @Dave Higgins [Main Account] @Lisa Stranger @Lee Rothstein @Deb Zaccaro-Rojas @Stan McCann (Uncle Pirate) @debo @Nat Weaver 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 @Debbie D. 🇨🇦 🇩🇪 @tomgrzybow @John Douglas Porter @Joyce Donahue @Samuel Smith @Janet Logan 🏳️‍⚧️ @Jodi @Katherine Bond @Kenny Chaffin @Jay Bryant @Jess Nut @Beej Cobalt @Jon Alcibar (main) @((( David "Kahomono" Frier ))) @roddio @Karl Auerbach @Paul Ferguson @Pedro Subrosa @sheilanagig @deanc @Don Little @John Hummel @randy.galbraith @⭐ Vinny ✔️ @tomgrzybow @V. T. Eric Layton
Jodi
May the schwartz be with you!

Product I swear by? Hmmm. So many options. I do like Harney's Chocolate Tea. And my pan of awesome meatloaf pan. And my bench scraper. And a sort of spatula/spoon. I used to like Jeegen's soap but can't find it any longer.

First?
deanc
Better Than Bouillon seasoned vegetable broth. It is a paste that comes in a jar. Much better than any homemade veggie stock I've ever made. I suspect it is the yeast extract. I fantasize getting ahold of some Marmite and running some experiments.

When I eat wicked (e.g. not from scratch), Screamin' Sicilian frozen pizza is pretty good.

When I lived in Seattle, Tim's Chips had an alder smoked variety of potato chip. I decided to order a case of them to be shipped to Multibore a few years back and it turns out they don't make them any more.

Ten-year-old me would have said "Count Chocula".
Richard
Ramen noodles, no question in my mind.
Paul Ferguson
May the schwartz be with you!
I see someone else is a big Mel Brooks/Spaceballs fan. 😀
Jodi
Ack! My Kitchenaid!
Jay Bryant
Nothing comes to mind, but here I be anyway. 🙂
Muse
@Jodi First!

🏆🎉

@Jodi
Mark Wollschlager
I go through spice mix phases, usually based on what Trader Joe's is selling at the time. No matter how much you like them, they will be discontinued. So it's best not to get attached to one. Currently they have a Crunchy Chili Onion Sprinkle Seasoning blend which I use on lots of savory things. Also their Every Day Seasoning is ok, kind of an 'everything bagel' blend with a grinder top.
Previous pop choices Ajika Georgian seasoning blend, South African Smoke ( also in a grinder top ). Some of the "Mrs Dash" blends are good, but they tend to cake up badly around here.
Cass
Mushroom bouillion. Garnier fructis fresh & clean shampoo conditioner - it had no lingering fragrance
Richard
@Cass
Garnier fructis fresh & clean shampoo conditioner
Yes! These days I shave my head with a # clippers attachment and get away with using bar soap - but back in the day when I had hair this was one of my preferred brands. 😀
#3 @Cass
Lisa Stranger
Formerly McCormick, now Morton, Season-All seasoned salt. Good on pretty much any kind of meat. It's safe/comfort food at this point. It took me many years to branch out into other flavors (lemon, cajun, etc.).

I also unexpectedly love Weiman stove top cleaner.

I'm sure I'll think of something else in the next ~22 hrs.
kennyc
Every time I swear by a product they change it.... Puffs Simple Softness for example....
Karl Auerbach
Not spices - but, rather, ingredients.

Barley malt syrup - I never knew it existed until I started making bagels. It's also great on ice cream.

Maltose - again, I never knew it existed until I saw it in a Char Shiu recipe and thought that might be a good base to revive a honey-lemon-pepper sauce I once had.

As for spices, I like picking (and eating) the red peppercorns straight off of the pepper trees that grow here in California - they are not as hot as the Indian black pepper corns, but more tasty. I hear that some people are allergic to 'em, so I am careful about using 'em.
tomgrzybow
Hmmm... computers - old and cheap.
((( David "Kahomono" Frier )))
Old Bay
tomgrzybow
... and crab.
Christoph S
Good morning, my egg yolk separator! Such a simple design and so useful
Joseph Teller
Morning. We're now in the heat wave (was yesterday too) thats been affecting the middle of the country. Limiting computer use as it throws out a lot of heat.

Nothing to offer on products I swear by... all brands have betrayed me at one time or another, either by cheaping quality or just plain wearing out. I might get 20 years out of an appliance, but the replacement will always cost twice as much and last at best a quarter as long. Way too many seasonings and food products have failed me, either adding in stuff I couldn't eat or removing things I liked and changing the result badly.

I have outlived too much of the world as I knew it already. I am nostalgic for that which once was and has vanished in the last 20 years.
Deb Zaccaro-Rojas
Chinese 5-spice, FTW - it's the only thing we use when making our own Char Shiu
Griff Ferrell
Thinking of @Joyce Donahue , we both have used Fairlife ultra filtered milk. I almost never need milk, but I had an unopened bottle for almost a month, and it still was still two weeks to the "date". Needed some milk and it was still good. Used the last about two weeks later
@Joyce Donahue
Jodi
I do hope she is OK/improving.
Pedro Subrosa
D'Addario 80/20 bronze guitar strings even if they go dead sooner. It's that metallic twang that counts. Pronounced duh-derry-oh.
Carsten Raddatz
We have Aldi here, but what Trader Joe's they have is sub par quality. My wife brought the Everything but the Bagel sesame blended with salt jar from New York. Kind of addictively good on many things. Unavailable here.

My other favourite spice is a blend, Harissa. Chili, salt, paprika, cumin, dried tomato (I think) and whatnot. Elevates most tomato sauces, a pinch of it loves to be on a plate of Hummus bi tahina.

Image/Photo
Jodi
I am also a harissa fan. And my nephew loves the bagel stuff.

There’s a store here in NYC called Kalusyan’s that’s rows and rows of spices and sauces, and teas, and herbs, with some baklava and Indian potato chips thrown in. Every once in a while, I go a bit nuts in there.
stefani banerian
Schwalbe Marathon Smart Guard bike tyres.
years without punctures!
Karl Auerbach
@Pedro Subrosa - I never knew how to properly pronounce that string maker. Which reminds me that I am waaaaaaaaaaaay overdue on changing my mandolin strings. (I play so badly that it doesn't much matter how the strings sound: I'll ruin it.)
@Pedro Subrosa
Lisa Stranger
The bagel stuff has spawned many knockoffs. Mr. Stranger has approved of all he has tried so far.

Disclaimer: He's not picky.
Jodi
My nephew is really picky.
Karl Auerbach
@Joseph Teller - My main Linux desktop died a few weeks back. It was a desktop case with an ASUS mini-itx motherboard and an Intel i5-11600 processor. It would draw about 25 to 30 watts at idle (peak was rather higher)

That machine died (motherboard went silent in all regards).

So I replaced it with an ASUS NUC Pro 14 (not the latest model) with in i7 in it. I slapped a couple of SODIMMs into it and a 1T M.2 SSD (we have a couple of file servers in the house, so a bigger SSD wasn't needed.) It's got Thunderbolt 4 in case I want to add an external drive (like the one on my Mac Mini.)

Wow, it is nice. It is tiny - really tiny - with an Core Ultra 7 155H processor. It is at least as fast as the dead box and draws very little power and thus adds not a great deal of heat to the room.

It was not inexpensive, however.

I would recommend it to anyone looking to replace a Windoz or Linux machine.
@Joseph Teller
Carsten Raddatz
@Karl Auerbach now that is a surprise. The Asus NUC model, I mean. I was pondering to buy the same, then er.. by accident, I swear :sweat: I trigged the Asus web shop logic such that their NUC 15 Pro Tall Kit came for the price of a i3 100U model. Ahem.

I have the discount in writing, and the distributor said, oh well you pay the price that was quoted to you, kthxbye, a happy camper bargain success. I'm now waaaaiting for the RAM to arrive (don't have any DDR5 around), it was due today, so soon I'll join the crew. I looked it up on Ark, the CPU idle draw is just 3W. Incredible.

My old Gen 7 NUC is still around, but 8 years on, an upgrade is in order. Transplanted into an Akasa aluminium passive case, very reliable.
@Karl Auerbach
Carsten Raddatz
@Karl Auerbach I'm still a Gentoo Linux person, so shall go that route when I start. At least I know if anything breaks it was me personally. I have an HP docking thing that translates from TB3 to clunky everything else. But yes, cabling is slightly messy.

Intel is shedding in all places, product ranges and staff among them. Asus IMHO was the best option, and they seem to not mess it up. (Their phones, different story, updates are sparse.)

10G, I have a router now that supports that by an SFP+ module. Broken atm as its battery exploded, eek. As things are, it is the only device here that could, everything else is 1G or 2.5G, and not an improvement on any horizon. At home that is still plenty. What is the product again? Smells like media production something. 😀
@Karl Auerbach
Muse
@Pedro Subrosa, Good morning!
"Pronounced duh-derry-oh."
I must not be fully awake yet. I thought at first you were describing the sound the string makes when you strum it! Maybe like the noise a slack string guitar makes...
@Pedro Subrosa
((( David "Kahomono" Frier )))
We make our own spice blends for things.

For chili: 8 parts Cumin
3 parts Black Pepper
3 parts Cayenne Pepper
3 parts Garlic Powder
2 parts Oregano
1 part Allspice
1 part Ginger

For mashed sweet potatoes: 12 parts ground cinnamon
4 parts ground ginger
2 parts ground cloves
1 part ground allspice
1 part ground mace
1 part ground nutmeg
pinch of black pepper
Cass
Oh, making pancakes and remembered another amazing ingredient. Butter extract. It adds a complexity to sweet goods. Also I've found smoke to be great for reducing salt because it gives the sura of saltiness.
Pedro Subrosa
There's a video on YouTube of the company owner explaining how to pronounce his name, @Karl Auerbach. Many people say dee-a-dario and that's not right. It's like Takamine guitars. Tah kah me nay. Not ta ka meany. How hard is it?
@Karl Auerbach
Richard
Paraphrasing from memory: "Hi, I'm Linus Torvalds and I pronounce Linux 'Linux'"
Karl Auerbach
@Pedro Subrosa - There are two guitar companies here, but their names are easy to pronounce: "Hill" and "Santa Cruz"

But I paid $5 for my Yamaha (1970's era) - and got an album as part of the deal. The locally made ones are about 1000x that.

Too bad (for me) that my playing is so bad that my mandolin shudders and my guitar trembles in fear when I approach. (And now my aging fingers are unwilling to bend in the needed ways.)
@Pedro Subrosa
((( David "Kahomono" Frier )))
@Richard Had a sysadmin at one job who insisted on pronouncing it "LYE nuks". Every time they did, I dropped that YT link into the chat
@Richard
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