My wife has shockingly gone on a DIY run. She has spackled and painted walls and spray painted furniture. I have gone on a cleaning/organizing binge - closets, garage, shed and. And I'm trying to train myself to read again. I've also been doing all of the dinner cooking. And when cooking a lot, I want good food and good gadgets to facilitate the process.
So while I have held back on many dumb discretionary purchases during the age of corona, I have made some smart purchases to help me cook and help me pass the time. I thought I would share some ideas with you fine folks.
High quality meat thermometer (insert joke here, Zman)
We had an old fashioned meat thermometer. It sucked. I recently bought a good electronic one on Amazon. It gives temps in a couple seconds. Has been helpful as I cook bone-in chicken breasts, pork chops and thick steak cuts on the grill. Here's the one I bought (link here):
Empire of the Summer Moon
Yeah, so iPhones and iPads pretty much took away my ability to read books. The realization hit me a couple years ago. I start and rarely finish books. I just struggle to disconnect from my connected e-life for 20+ minutes at a time. But I found a good read you all might like. This book talks about the all-powerful Comanche tribe on the central US Plains in the 19th century, and how the US finally battled them into submission. It's an amazing look at the tribe. They were no saints, but they had a code. And it's a deep-dive into how and why Manifest Destiny-emboldened Texans pounded all American Indian tribes into submission. Not one of America's proudest moments. Link is here.
Lifeline Power Wheel (ab wheel)
I have been pretty good about the exercising thing. I have a makeshift basement set-up, complete with a coffee table functioning as a bench. And an old purchase - the Bowflex adjustable dumbell set - has been a godsend. I try to get out regularly as well to bike and run. My 10 y/o and I have run as much as 3.25 miles together, which is as good as bonding gets. But when working out in my basement, nothing crushes my abs/core like the ab wheel. The first week of soreness is brutal and humbling, but I find it orders of magnitude more effective than crunches. It also doubles as comic relief b/c your kid(s) will try to use it. And they will fail and fall and you can point at them and laugh while shooting video on your phone. Link is here.
Rubber-edged tongs
We have nice pots and pans we use for cooking. And we're using the shit out of them these days. I found a deficiency in my utensil arsenal: rubber-edged tongs. They're a god-send when gently flipping breaded chicken, bacon, chicken tenders and more. I hate that tight-rope of avoiding scratching a frying pan with a metal tong. These bad-boys have gotten heavy usage in the last two months (link is here):
Smores Kit
This is a no-brainer family fun purchase if you don't have a fire pit. Plenty of options under $30. We have one that uses a small sterno. Not keto-friendly but damn delicious as a treat. And who doesn't love a flaming marshmallow? It indulges every boy's pyrotechnic leanings in a safe, family-friendly way. One option is here. There are electric and sterno options. Ours is sterno, but it has a covering so you can't put the marshmallow too close. It's possible that the sterno is toxic and dangerous, but then so is New Jersey.
ESPN+
We pulled the trigger on this for the $5/month cost. Now I can read all the Kiper stuff! But the jewel is having all of the 30 for 30 docs on demand. I have chugged through a ton with my kids: Bo Jackson, June 17, 1994, The OJ doc series for a second time (with the wife), the Hank Gathers doc, the Laettner doc, the Hillsborough doc (that was a heavy one) and The Two Pablos come to mind. We are getting Disney+ for free from Verizon for now, but I know we're going to get sucked into the Hulu/ESPN+/Disney+ troika for $13/month soon.
Bone-in pork chops
This fell off our radar screen a while ago. It's a contentious food item in my house b/c the wife thinks any pinkness will kill us, despite the multiple credible articles I send her saying pink pork is fine. Here's one of many examples. I can't stand a dry, overcooked chop. Cooking a nice, thick pork chop makes that meat thermometer all the more important! Cliff Notes version: Pull your chops from the grill at 140 degrees, let them rest under foil for five minutes and they'll heat to 145 degrees. That's what you want. I found a good simple marinade for chops that only need an hour or two to make an impact: 2 parts soy sauce, 1 part honey and some minced garlic and red pepper flakes.Salty and sweet. Like Marls after four drinks.
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