Rainy Day Magazine: RainyDayKitchen Home

Feb 3,2008

The crew in the RainyDayKitchen has tested their share of cleaning tools and gadgets. When we asked them to check out the new Dirt Devil line they were thinking it would be more of the same. However, when they saw the new Dirt Devil line, volunteers were suddenly a lot easier to find.

First up is the Dirt Devil KRUZ. The KRUZ is a cross between a dust buster and an upright vacuum. It is designed for chasing down dust bunnies and quick crumb cleanups.

The KRUZ comes partially assembled. There are three main pieces (handle, motor, base) which fits together to form the unit. The connectors are all designed to align and mate uniquely. Most will find it simple to assemble the pieces.

We probably should read the directions, but since we rarely do...we saw no reason to start now :-) The assembly steps seemed logical enough: attach the handle and base to the motor. You will need a Philips screwdriver.

The base of the unit plugs into the motor via a central tube. On the side of the tube are two metal pins. There are matching holes at the bottom of th motor unit. The two pieces snaps and locks together.

The handle attaches to the upper part of the motor by sliding onto it. It is held in placed with three screws. Again no force is needed to mate the two pieces. If it does not fit, you have the orientation wrong. The entire assembly process took us about 15 minutes.

When fully assembled, the KRUZ stands about 4' tall. The switch is at the top of the handle. The unit will fit neatly in a corner. We will let it charge overnight before taking it on its FirstUse run.

The KRUZ, with its tiny footprint, can be stored just about anywhere there is a free square foot of space. There is a perfect spot in the kitchen in the corner next to the bookcase. It will be readily accessible, but yet mostly out of sight. However, the KRUZ is so good looking that you may not care even if it is out in the middle of the room! - Wan Chi Lau (permalink)

Feb 1,2008

Some nice black pepper, akin to what you might find on a sunny side up egg, is no stranger to those with a hankering for beef jerky. But with New England in the grip of a record cold wave we wanted something extra to stoke the home fires. It just so happens Rainy Day had some Bull Whip Ring of Fire, Red Hot Pepper Beef Jerky on hand.

Vacuum packed to retain it’s punch this jerky is something of an unknown quantity. The label assures us it’s not only made from solid cuts of beef but that it is has a heat equivalent an order of magnitude or so beyond the norm. So would that be at just north of Tobasco Peppers (about 40,000 Scofield Units of heat) or at the top end of 16 million Scofield units where the essence of Capsaicin lives? . In these situations it’s good to be King and even better to be Editor because you can bring in one of your food testers to determine if there is life after ingestion. We had just the fellow. Recently returned from South Africa where he had sampled Biltong, a mild but flavorful variety of dried meat he was looking for something to ward off the chill.

You can see the results in the photo essay below. The upshot is while not for the faint of heart Ring of Fire has not only the heat but the requisite flavor to carry it off.

Bull Whip’s Ring of Fire beef jerky appears to be the perfect antidote for a cold winter’s night in New England. Unsure of what we’re getting into we have one of Magic Hat Brewery’s special winter beers at the ready, just in case I go the route of the Fab Four’s Human Torch.

Like any fine comestible the bouquet, or nose as the epicures say, of an aged jerky should be savoured prior to that first bite. Without a doubt there is some heat in there. I decide the first bite is best taken in the Roman reclining position. “Ring of fire” is an apt name for this jerky. The heat is the perfect compliment to round out the rosy glow of a log on the hearth and the rich beef flavor.

In case my hair burst into flame the fire extinguisher was at the ready but a cool beer chaser turns out to be just the ticket for this hearty repast. The next time you have to shovel the sidewalk and scrape the car’s windshield bring some of this along to warm you from the inside out. Taking a note from our editor’s intro we also tried it with some morning eggs instead of bacon. Delicious. - Jay Rogers (permalink)

Jan 31,2008

Dirt Devil became a household brand when they introduced the hand vac back in the 1980s. Years later, the original Dirt Devil design was reissued as the "Classic."

Fast forward to 2007: the entire Dirt Devil line has been revamped by Karim Rashid, with an eye toward both modern forms and innovative functions.

RainyDayMagazine will be reviewing them in our RainyDayKitchen section this year. Some will be featured in this year's Spring Cleaning issue. Others will be used in our Fall Cleanup project. Look for a RainyDayPuzzler at the start of February where you can win something and get a jump on your own Spring Cleaning (hint, hint). - Wan Chi Lau (permalink)

Jan 26,2008

The Sake Tasting Fundraiser at Shobu Aikido of Boston tonight was a LOT of fun. We watched a great Aikido demonstration, tried ALL of the sake, and met TONS of great people.

The dojo received a generous donation of sake for this tasting, enough for 200 guests. Judging by the crowd, it was a good thing they did! Our favorite was the third one from the left. We also liked some of the unfiltered ones (frosted bottles).

What was not consumed were auctioned off at the end of the evening. If you did not managed to get down there for the event, you really missed out! - Wan Chi Lau/Photos by Larry Murray (permalink)

Jan 6,2008

Yesterday we laid down all of the whole tiles in the center of the room in about 2 hours. Another five hours were spent on making the single cuts for the various tiles along the edge. Today, we finished up the more difficult compound cuts of the corners and around the door mouldings.

There are two ways to place a tile around door mouldings: under it or around it. To place the tile under the door moulding, the moulding must be removed. To place the tile around the moulding, the tile needs to be cut. We opted for the latter option.

The easiest way to fit the tile around a moulding is to use a form tracing tool. The tool is simple to use. Just press it against the shape, trace the outline onto the tile, and cut. We found that it was not necessary to cut too deep into the tile, just deep enough so it can be removed using some needle-nose pliers.

There is a compound cut every time a tile hits a corner. There were ten of them in the kitchen. We found the old saying "measure twice, cut once" really was something one should take to heart when making these compound cuts.

This size project can easily be completed by two people in one weekend. The main recommendation we have is to work from the center, take care in aligning the tile edges, and to wear knee pads :-) - Wan Chi Lau (permalink)

Jan 5,2008

Indoor renovation projects in the Winter are great because not much can be done outside :-) It is also feels good to have accomplished SOMETHING right at the beginning of a New Year!!!

We decided our first RainyDayRenovation project of 2008 is going to be retiling the floor in the kitchen. The floor which is there now is a single sheet of patterned linoleum. The light color gave the 10x15 sq ft room a nice spacious feel. However, it easily showed dirt from the traffic and it was difficult to keep clean. We wanted something which will both warm up the room and make it a little easier (ie: show less dirt) to maintain.

The original floor in the RainyDayKitchen was still in pretty good shape so there was no need to pull it up or put down a new plywood subfloor. This saved us about a day's worth of work.

The interns spent a few days moving all of the stuff into another room, vacuumed and washed everything. For good adhesion, it is VERY important for the floor to be grease and particle free.

To complete the entire project will take most of the weekend. Our recommendation is to lay down all of the whole tiles first, next do the ones which requires only a single cut, and finish with the more complex ones.

Laying down the tiles is pretty easy, just peel and press. The key to a good looking job is to realize that little errors will accumulate over the course of several tiles...so LINE THINGS UP before proceeding on to the next tile. The tools required are simple (rolling pin, angle square, box cutter).

For a 150 square foot room, a reasonable estimate is between 10 to 12 hours of work. This is excluding all of the "prep" work: moving, cleaning, buying tiles. The job can be done in much less time by the pros, but it will cost you about 10x more :-)

Tomorrow, we'll show you the completed project. If you have started your own RainyDayRenovation projects, drop us a line or send us some pics when you are done. We'll be happy to share it with everyone! - Wan Chi Lau (permalink)