Soehnle Scale Brings Precision to the Kitchen

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Daisy B

What’s more frustrating that not being able to find the right measuring spoon right away? You give up, and either eyeball half of the one twice as big, or use one too small and have to dump it in and refill in multiple times. You won’t have that problem with a digital scale.  We’ve purchased the attractive and useful Soehnle Digital Scale; it has the sleek, minimalist European design that will make you want to leave it out on the counter …

Soehnle Digital Scale

… and unlike measuring cups and spoons, it never needs to be washed clean of whatever you put in it.

More importantly, digital is just easier and more accurate than mid-twentieth century analog. Put the bowl on the scale, press the tare button to zero it out, and spoon 220.00 grams of brown sugar out of the box. Just like that, you now have a cup of “tightly packed” brown sugar – no worries about how “tight” or “packed” you got it to be. Now here’s the best part. Next is three cups of sugar. Zero button again, and pour 384.00 grams into the bowl from the bag. You have exactly four cups of your batter, and you haven’t used the measuring cup once. No removing of any grains of brown sugar required in between. The measuring cup, and spoons aren’t needed at all anymore.

Once you have one, you can get all OCD about everything in the kitchen. Making cookies or pancakes with that exact amount of batter you mixed? Make each cookie and each pancake exactly the same size (by removing the same amount of batter from the bowl, by weight, each time). Get your family to guess which one’s the biggest (good luck with that when they are all identical).  In fact, using the scale is, in itself, a fairly OCD way to cook, since measurement by weight is much more precise than by volume — and, indeed, the way the rest of the world measures ingredients is by weight.  This precision is especially important to baking, where every milligram of each ingredient can alter the chemical interaction among ingredients and, thereby, change the cooking time and texture of your baked goods.

Key to success with any cooking scale is the conversion of your favorite recipes for easy reference.  The first time you try a recipe using the scale, note the volume-to-weight equivalents on the recipe; then, the next time you make the same recipe, you can add the ingredients by weight automatically without using a single measuring implement.  Another hint (and Max deserves the credit for this one):  if your digital scale, like the Soehnle, has both metric and U.S. customary units, converting your volume measure to the metric equivalent is much easier, and requires much less math, than will U.S. customary units that require another equation when the ounces you’ve added to your recipe convert to pounds (so you can finally thank your elementary school math teacher for forcing you to learn the metric system).

Oh, and the Soehnle scale goes up to 9.5 pounds, so you can also weigh packages for shipping (and very young babies) …

Available from Amazon for under $23.

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Moroccan Oil, Argan Oil … Whatever

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Daisy B

I have been fortunate for most of my life to have super-shiny hair without much effort.  I use few chemicals; most of them are gentle.  I condition regularly.  As a teenager I went through a phase of real eggs, from chickens; now I try to use sulfate- and alcohol-free hair products that won’t strip the natural oils from my hair.  Notwithstanding my record of success, as I approached — gasp! — middle age, I’ve noticed that if I want persistent shine, I have to apply a little more effort.  In frustration, I asked my hairdresser what to do.  He said (bless him), “I don’t know.  It looks pretty shiny to me [well, yeah . . . you just finished with it!].  ‘Moroccan oil’?”  I rushed to the Internets; what exactly was this “Moroccan oil” and where could I get some?  And, more importantly, would it work?

Moroccan Oil Hair Treatment

First, the facts:  what people call “Moroccan oil” actually refers to a particular brand, Moroccanoil — more on that in a bit — whose key ingredient is argan oil. Argan oil is a plant oil from the kernels of the argan tree, which is endemic to Morocco (you see where I’m going with that).  Argan oil is renowned for its cosmetic properties, among other things, and is specifically believed to add brilliance to hair.

Argan Hair Oil

So what you’re actually looking for is argan oil, not necessarily Moroccanoil, and if you want to try it, you can really start with simple argan oil, which you can buy online for about $15.00 per two ounces. If you search for it, you’ll quickly find several product brands whose key ingredient is argan oil; Moroccanoil is just one of them — and the most expensive one, with the prettiest packaging.  Most of these brands carry an argan oil shampoo, conditioner, and hair treatment.

Does it work?  Why yes, yes it does.  After using argan oil in shampoo and conditioner, or even just in conditioner, I received the best compliments I’ve ever received about my hair, and all of them were focused on its incredible shine.  I noticed it, too, and I also found my hair to be noticeably silkier and more manageable than EVER before; “lustrous” is the best description.

I read some reviewers’ complaints that argan oil products had had the opposite effect on their hair — made it sticky or “gunky” instead of silky — but I was not the only person in my universe who experienced hair success; I recommended it to a colleague with an entirely different hair type who swims frequently and has experienced increasingly dry hair as a result.  She loved it, too.

Moroccanoil is available from Amazon (and lots of other places)

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Fenix E21, the Best 21st Century LED Flashlight

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Maxwell Perkins

What do you need flashlights for? Camping, looking in small spaces, seeing in the car at night, going out in the dark, living through power blackouts – when you need them, you really need them. Or do you? Is the handy flashlight app on your phone good enough?

I say no. Power blackouts are a good example. The electricity goes off and you don’t know when it will be back on. The charge on your phone is precious; you need it to communicate and you can’t charge it anymore. The last thing you want to do is run it down using it as an emergency flashlight. Even the old-fashioned plastic flashlight with two D cells is better for that purpose. I decided I wanted something better, and flashlight technology has improved dramatically over the last few years.

I looked around and chose the Fenix (“phoenix”) E21 as the flashlight at the sweet spot of price and performance. It takes two AA batteries, and is just slightly bigger than the mini-Maglight it resembles. It is easy to use with just three settings for the Cree XP-E LED bulb: off, on, blindingly bright (150 lumens) and on, one-third as blindingly bright (48 lumens). Just a small turn of the front near the lens adjusts the brightness. Very simple.

Fenix LED Flashlight

The light throws a strong miniature sun in the middle, ranging from an inch or so close up to several feet at the limit, and a very wide spill that lights up the surrounding area well enough to see everything else just fine. So you can light up what you want to see and still notice anything in the periphery. It’s made of aircraft grade machined aluminum, so you can officially feel free to drop it from a meter and a half onto a concrete sidewalk or submerge it two meters underwater.

It’s a lot of flashlight for $35.

Luxury: 8              Affordability: 8

Available from Amazon

Want more luxury? You can pay about twice as much for a two AA battery flashlight with a much brighter Cree LED and many more settings. Take a look at the Fenix LD-22 or the ThurNite Neutron 2A to get an idea of just how much power you can hold in your hand …

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The Beautiful Crane Suzu Bicycle Bell

Posted on September 13, 2012 by Maxwell Perkins

While riding a tandem bicycle on a multi-use path, the ability to announce your presence is absolutely essential. Tandems are big, relatively heavy, hard to maneuver and fast, so a polite “On your left!” as you’re about to pass someone will not reliably prevent a collision. And tandems do a lot of overtaking; they pass almost everybody else under human power. My search for a sound that’s loud enough, but not too rude or abrupt led me to the Japanese-made Crane Suzu bell:

Japanese Crane Bike Bell

One loud ring from about thirty yards back will generally do it. Do they look back, or move over to the right to acknowledge that they heard? Usually, unless they have headphones in their ears with the volume cranked up, or even worse, are actually talking on cell phones, in which case another ring is necessary. Never more than that. The rings are easy to hear, which is why you don’t wait until you’re closer – the loud ring close by combined with an onrushing tandem might be enough by itself to startle the unsuspecting into doing something foolish instead of smoothly moving over. We cheerily thank them for their courtesy as we hurtle by. It’s not like we’re demanding they get out of our way. Oh, and of course it works just as well with a single or “half bike,” as the tandem people like to say.

The Crane Suzu is an attractive object with a great design and the bell tone will remind you of your childhood. Sometimes we ring it in tunnels just to hear the reverberation. It’s durable and will fit almost any handlebars in your choice of orientation. The brass gives it a vintage, almost industrial look that is even improved as the metal gets a little dark and tarnished. Or you can keep it polished, if that’s what you prefer.

Available from Amazon for under fifteen bucks.

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Feather Popular DE Razor … Try Wet Shaving for Under $20

Posted on September 10, 2012 by Maxwell Perkins

The Feather Popular razor is made in Japan by the surgical steel company that makes Feather blades – the sharpest in the world. “Razor sharp” obviously only begins to describe them. I’ve been using them in my German Merkur DE (double-edged) razor, the Mercedes-Benz of razors, but I wanted to try them with the Popular, the Honda of razors. It doesn’t cost much, so I gave it a try.

Feather Popular Razor

It’s surprisingly light, and comes in a nice plastic case, so it would make a great travel razor (although sadly not on a plane in a carry-on bag). When I first picked it up, I was disappointed by how light it was – none of the usual heft of a razor like the Fatboy. But after I twisted it open, cautiously chambered a Feather blade and lathered up, my opinion changed dramatically. Its lightness and mild* design made it easy and forgiving to shave and as quick as a modern razor or disposable – no need to worry about cutting yourself. Perfect for the weekday morning rush. But despite all that, the Feather blades still give you an extremely close shave. Remember, even the best DE blades cost at most fifty cents each, not the 2 or 3 bucks the modern multi-blade landfill specials cost.

The long handle and overall user-friendliness made me think it might make a good ladies’ razor.

Feather Popular and Blue Star Lady Gillette Razors

Daisy has a vintage 1971 Blue Star Lady Gillette from an antique store, so we could compare it side-by-side with the twentieth century state of the art. It compared very well. The textured plastic handle gives an added margin of safety in the shower.

Available from Amazon

*”Mild” is what the wet shaving aficionados call a lightweight razor where the blade doesn’t stick out too far between the cover and the guard. Compare this with the “aggressive” 1941 GEM Micromatic Clog Pruf, that uses the same single-edged blades you get at the hardware store for paint scrapers:

GEM MIcromatic Clog Pruf Razor

It’s a beautiful vintage shaving tool, but it’ll cut your nose right off if you’re not careful.

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Monoprice 8320s – Very Affordable Headphones

Posted on September 6, 2012 by Maxwell Perkins

The Monoprice 8320 Bass Enhanced headphones have become very well known on the Internet over the last year or so for their remarkably low price and good sound. The low price, $8.40 with free shipping to be exact, created a demand for the phones among everyone who heard about them. Lots of people ordered them, lots of people tried them … and hardly anyone said anything negative about them. Even the most elite of audio snobs didn’t seem to have the heart to sneer at something so inexpensive and unpretentious. The surprising thing turned out to be that the Monoprice 8320s turned out to be good headphones, not just good for the price.

Monoprice 8320 headphones

The headphones have gold-plated plugs, fabric-covered wires and large 14.2 mm drivers that can’t quite fit into your ear behind the tips; they wait outside in your outer ear and somehow get the solid bass response in where you can hear it just fine. I compared them directly to my Shures to get sense of how good they really are. While they are different, I can’t honestly say the Shures are all that much better or that they let you hear more of the music, for about twenty times as much money.

But here’s the luxurious part: you can leave the expensive audiophile earbuds at home and take the Monoprice headphones on a trip, to the gym, the beach or anywhere you might be concerned about the good ones being lost, stolen or damaged. Great sound and no worries – what more could you want for $8.40? Or maybe you don’t have a pair of high-priced headphones yet, so the Monoprice ones could be the only ones you need. Or even better, two pairs are better than one, so pick up an extra pair and a splitter and you’ll always be able to share the tunes with a friend.

Available from Amazon

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European Toothpaste: Botot or Elgydium, Anyone?

Posted on September 4, 2012 by Maxwell Perkins

I’ve posted before about toothpaste as luxury item. GoSmile from Sephora, the morning and evening whitening toothpaste as an alternative to the same old boring Crest and Colgate varieties that fill the shelves at your local market or big drugstore.

There are other upscale brands out there. I’ve been checking out Elgydium and Botot since I first saw Elgydium at Bigelow Chemist in Greenwich Village. Their claims to luxury may be exaggerated; Elgydium is supposed to be the secret whitening method of movie stars who bring it back by the case from Paris and Botot is the world’s first toothpaste, created in 1755 for King Louis XV. Although it may be fun to imagine King Louis brushing with Botot in one of the fabulous bathrooms of Versailles before a liaison with Madame de Pompadour, what really matters today is just whether you like it or not.

Imported Toothpaste Elgydium’s claim to fame is its micropulverized bicarbonate. That sounds like fine baking soda particles that can get in those little crevices and give you maximum whitening power to get rid of those stubborn red wine or Gauloise cigarette stains that are always such a problem for French people. It does seem effective. It tastes kind of like Arm and Hammer baking soda (not very minty) and leaves your mouth feeling polished. A downside for me is that there does not seem to be any added fluoride, but it you have fluoridated drinking water or use a fluoride mouthwash it might not matter. Not to get too complicated, but they also offer a Decay Protection variety. Daisy misses the mint.

French Toothpaste

Botot, on the other hand, seems to have all the needed ingredients. Fluoride to prevent cavities and triclosan to kill germs (both added since 1755 is my guess), along with an unusual and very pleasant flavor of anise with a hint of cinnamon. Definitely a toothpaste for adults.

Clearly, these are much more expensive than the mass market kind, but if you like them, you can afford them more easily than a house in France.

Elgydium Toothpaste

Available from Amazon

Botot Toothpaste

Available from Amazon

 

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Daisy On a Bicycle Built for Two

Posted on August 29, 2012 by Maxwell Perkins

If you frequently ride bikes with another person, maybe you should consider trying a tandem. Why? Is a tandem better than two bikes?
For many people, it certainly is. Think of it as adding another motor to your bike, turning it into a twin-engine machine with double the horsepower, while keeping the aerodynamics exactly the same. Above 18 mph, 80% of the power in a bike is needed to overcome wind resistance, so two people on a tandem can ride faster and more efficiently than they can on 2 bikes. It’s like drafting, only much tighter. Going downhill, with twice the weight and less drag, is a thrill ride limited only by how safe you feel going 40 or 50 mph on a bicycle.

As a practical matter, riders on 2 bikes who want to stay together are limited to the speed of the slowest one; whoever is the weakest or just the most tired. On a tandem, however, you both go faster than the speed of the strongest rider alone. If there is a big disparity between the riders’ ability, the tandem is an even better alternative. The person in the back, the “stoker,” is relieved from shifting, steering or even always having to hold on. This frees him or her up to navigate, take pictures, peel bananas, open water bottles or most useful of all, signal turns with sweeping and dramatic movements to enable those nerve-wracking moves into the left turn lane.

Tandem riders have another advantage over single cyclists:  conversation.  Without needing to reduce their speed or violate the rule that “cyclists maintain single file,” tandem riders can engage in conversation as they ride without having to turn around to shout in the direction of their companions.

Communication, cooperation and trust are absolutely necessary. You have to learn to pedal and coast at the same time, and the person in the front, the “captain,” has to announce upcoming shifts, turns, stops and bumps. Stopping and starting at intersections are not as easy, either.

It all gets better with practice. It’s like everything in life: try it and see if you like it. If you do, you’ll get good at it.

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Screen in the Bedroom – Part Three: Roku

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Maxwell Perkins

The Roku box looks almost exactly like the Apple TV from the last post and does almost the same job. The differences are quite subtle, and which one you might end up wanting to buy might be as simple as whether you plan to rent your movies (or TV shows) from iTunes or Amazon (the Roku is one of the devices that will let you stream the free stuff from Amazon Prime, if you are that into the Amazon world). The Roku is a bit lighter; a stiff wire may lift it right up, and also has composite output, the familiar red, white and yellow RCA cables.

Roku XS inputs

This feature alone might be the deciding factor if the TV or screen you want to light up is more than five or so years old and does not have HDMI. Also, the Roku remote is not IR and does not need to be line of sight, so you can put the unit behind the TV or in the cabinet.

Roku front view

The three models of Roku add a bit to the confusion. They offer the HD, XD and XS models. The entry-level HD and the 1080p enabled XD cost about the same $65-$70, so deciding between those is easy. The XS adds a motion control remote that you can swing around like a Wii controller and an Ethernet port for about $35 more (basically the price of the remote by itself). So if you want to play the occasional game of Angry Birds with a satisfying swing of the game controller, and you want to have the Ethernet for maximum bandwidth available in the future (3D, anyone?), you might want to go with the XS.

Setup is easy and the standard channels (Netflix, etc.) are right there. It is a much more open platform than the Apple TV; a huge universe of private channels are available to add (although not all that many that you’d really want, but definitely check out what Nowhere Man is up to).

See the first post: Screen in the Bedroom – Part One: TiVo.

See the second post: Screen in the Bedroom – Part Two : Apple TV.

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Screen in the Bedroom – Part Two: AppleTV

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Maxwell Perkins

     If the TiVo from my earlier post is not for you (you don’t have cable, it’s too 20th century, it’s too big), it’s now the perfect time to pick up the 3rd generation Apple TV. The brand spanking new version was just introduced yesterday, March 7, so you’re as safe from the danger of planned obsolescence as you can possibly be. The new Apple TV is not all that much different from its predecessor. It’s exactly the same form factor, but it can pump out 1080p video through a faster A5 processor, and it’s still the same $99 price.

     Compared to the TiVo, it’s very tiny (like a square hockey puck), and it hooks up in minutes to an HDMI-equipped screen. You must supply your own HDMI cable, of course, but they have come down quite a bit in price. The setup is quick and easy, then you’re ready to decide what to watch. Along with Netflix, which you can watch on just about anything, it also has YouTube and the all-important iTunes. Not surprisingly, iTunes just might be the killer app. If you don’t mind paying by the movie a la carte, iTunes is the place to go for the ones you just missed seeing in the theaters. With the old corner video store having gone the way of the dodo, what else can you do? Netflix used to be the greatest way to get movies (they more or less replaced the mom and pop video rental place), but lately they are acting more and more like a crazy passive-aggressive former lover, sweetly trying to lure you back to the couch to watch unlimited streaming. Then you remember yet again why you wanted to break up: most of what you want to see is only available on DVD, often with a “very long wait” (hint: just put it by itself in the queue; never mind the six they suggest). 

     The little Apple TV fits anywhere, is very high quality and is particularly useful as a part of the ecosphere in an Apple household. It can stream music through the TV out to an amplifier and speakers in any room, it can show you movies to buy and store in the cloud and the Airplay mirroring feature is a lot of fun with the iPad. 

     If you want to watch new releases and don’t mind paying to rent each one, iTunes through the Apple TV is the video box for you.

     See the first post: Screen in the Bedroom – Part One: TiVo.

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