General Chat

Ah, that's one thing you can say for IKEA -- it comes with its own bradawls! Or in their case, Allen keys.

Those ingenious IKEA self-locking devices, I love 'em. I've also found that if you buy a jigger-load of disassembled display items in the IKEA as-is room for $10 (I got the complete makings of about 4 tall cabinets and several bedframes, plus some odds and ends -- we're looking at, like, several $100 worth of stuff here), you can then, disguising yourself or going on a different day, go the parts/repair desk and tell a sad tale about how you moved and lost all the attachment parts from your disassembled IKEA things that you love so, and they will give you complete sets of them for free -- the fact that they were missing being a large part of why you got several major pieces of furniture for $10 in the first place.

Of course, eventually you realize that you still have four disassembled tall cabinets and six sets of bedframe parts in your garage that were just such a good deal you couldn't leave them, but you've never actually had any use for.

A project for a snowy day, perhaps. Are you in, suzian?

Maybe while you're here, I can get you to look at the bedframe I put together about 15 years ago, sort of fakey iron, slatted headboard and footboard, and I swear the rest of it was produced inside out, as that's the only way I could get it all to fit together. "Wonky" would be a decent description, although I think plain old "wobbly" would do.

Anyhow, now I have to go google "bradawl", just in case I find myself in need someday.

Another way to boil eggs



Open can of tomato soup

Put soup in saucepan

Add egg (or eggs) to soup

Bring to boil, and simmer




That comes courtesy of OH's sister who, at one time in the dim and distant past, was a Home Ec teacher in Hull, England

She started a cooking class for boys, working on the principle that it was good for boys to know how to cook

However, as it was around 1968, she had to dress it up a little bit as "Cooking for Camping"


This was one of her ideas for easy cooking .... camping or in a flat!



s
xx

and we now have a huge collection of Allen keys, all the same size



all obtained from Ikea





Our downfall ............................ or rather OH's downfall, as I play no part in the process except to sit and watch



is



putting together charcoal bbqs




they usually come with inside out instructions, originally written in Chinese or Korean, which have then been translated into English by a Korean or a Chinese



helps enormously if you have a couple of G&T's first



Canadian Tire is the prime supplier of such bbqs

Suzian, I haven't laughed so much in ages.

Ta, I needed it. I can now go to my tomorrow's meeting to explain why I haven't done half of what I should have done - some Canadian woman directed me to a new website full of my dead rellies (they'll be dead impressed) and some other Canadian woman directed me to this thread where I've laughed my socks off.

Is there summat funny about Canadian women?

Oh, and Janey. This must take the biscuit. Cos I've actually broken my nose TWICE. The second occasion was also caravan-related. There we were, relaxing nicely on a campsite, and I decided the sun brolly was not in the right position for me. I twisted it round. Nope. I raised it up. Nope. I angled it. Nope. I lowered it. It wouldn't lower. It just wouldn't do it. I wrenched at the thing, and Woosh, it lowered. Right on said nose. With everyone else reeling around laughing, and me with stars in my eyes.

I like caravanning. Wonder why?

A bradawl is just a spoke. Very useful to make a dint at the point where you need to insert a screw. A pointed-endy thing. If you have a good bodkin (oops, Lancashire English might not be universal) that will do. Oh, or a knitting needle - perfect. I have at least 15 sets of Ikea Allen Keys. Will they sell on Ebay? We laugh about home-pack furniture, but actually Ikea did me proud in my satellite flat for 10 years. Nothing broke.

??? Canadian for bodkin ...................... tapestry needle?


we do have quite a few pieces of Ikea furniture, including the 2 bar chairs we bought just about a month ago for the new kitchen ....... the breafast counter is bar height (another of the "don't ask"), and we found the idela seats at Ikea.


We've had some of it for quite a few years, say 20 or 30??


We also buy quite a bit from the "as-is" .......... or as they used to call it at our local Ikea store, the Scramramadam area



s
xx

and MM's also discovered that she can blame Canadian women for everything!


oh well


I've got a broad back


don't know about JC!


s
xx

Great thread - needed a laugh!

Isn't it odd the way we giggle at others' misfortunes, same as the progs on the tv where someone tries to swing on a rope over a river and it breaks or they fall off etc etc


I have made the mistake of using a Pyrosil casserole dish on the gas ring of the cooker! And I so hate wasting food but couldn't rescue what was inside the bowl and risk eating glass.

Take care folks

Lizx

We did manage to rescue the chicken legs, all bar one that we weren't sure about


half of them hadn't even made into the casserole to be browned and were far enough away not to be affected.


The others ...... well, they escaped getting glass in or on them, somehow




We were actually fated with this couple

The next time they came to dinner, I cooked something called Hunter's Stew ..... it called for pork steaks, and was a sort of hearty stew.

I did exactly as the recipe said and bought the exact quantites it said for 4 people. I forget the actual details of cooking now, but it did involve moving the pork steaks from one vessel to another for the last 30 minutes of cooking


That's when I realized that the steaks had shrunk, dramaticaly shrunk!


I could have eaten at least 2 of the 4 ..... and I don't have a large appetite!


OH was quickly sent out to the local shops, a Chinese-run grocery that was still open, with instructions to buy the best cheese they had and some crackers.



s
xx

Liz, you badly need those FAQs.


Can Pyrex dishes be used on the hob?

Pyrex dishes should not be put in direct contact with a flame or with a heating surface.


Write it out 10 times, now.


I will only guffaw at someone else's misfortunes if they invite me! and posting here is well beyond an implied invitation, I think.

Mind you, when my then BFF fell down a manhole in Havana while we were strolling along the sidewalk eating ice cream cones -- yes, folks, you had to be there, actually fell down a manhole, something else I've managed to never actually do myself -- I did just about bust a gut before I managed to get around to helping her out. I'm afraid she was miffed.

Oh yes


posting on this thread was inviting guffaws!

My home town (and I guess many towns in England) had another kind of booby trap, other than the manhole


Outside pubs there was often an opening in the pavement, covered by wooden doors that lifted up to show a ramp down in to the cellar.

The brewery truck (a horse-drawn cart in much earlier days) would pull up, the driver would open the doors, and then proceed to roll barrels of beer down into the cellar.

He was then supposed to close the doors, and the publican was supposed to latch them together from inside

But sometimes, one or both fogot and ...................................



Other places would have a similar opening in the pavement outside for coal to be delivered ...... the coal man would heave a sack of coal off his truck, walk over to the opeing and tip the contents of the sack down into the cellar.



I was taught very early NOT to walk on such doors "just in case"



s
xx

And I have the answer! for all those dying to know:

not Pyrex, but Anchor Hocking, a big US corporation.

http://www.anchorhocking.com/prodd_5046_cat_23_batter_bowl.html

(Mine, being an older model, is a little rounder and the handle's a little smaller and thicker, I'd say. Or at least it was.)

And on the bottom it says: safe for microwave.

So ... I wonder how much my deformed finger is worth ...

My mishaps aren't *all* my own stupidity!

Janey
Sorry to hear of your sore finger and your mishapen jug.
What sort of temperture 'melts' Pyrex I wonder?
No wonder your finger was frazzled. I hope it's soon OK.

I cook items in the microwave most days and always in Pyrex.
Maybe I should be alert for likely problems.

I did have a major mishap with some Tupperware when the children were small.
We lived abroad with no access to chocolate Christmas tree decorations so I though I'd improvise and make some using the 'alternative decorative base' for my Tupperware jelly mould.
I duly melted the chocolate and poured it into said moulds, hoping to make many stars which the children could wrap in various foils for the tree.
Instead the chocolate was so hot that it melted the plastic onto the worktop and it took a great deal of effort to scrape the top clean in our rented house.
Oh well. The thought was there.....

Gwyn

That made me laugh Gwen - I know it shouldn't but it's the kind of thing we've all done over the years:-)))

S x

I use pyrex all the time in my microwave. Ialso have a set of crning ware saucepans(another source of pyrex like dishes) and i have used them constantly as the only ones I have for 30 odd years. Had an egg explode in the microwave once, tryin a way of cooking them which was recommended!

We'll all be pleased to hear we're not alone with our exploding cookware -- well, I seem to be the only one with melting cookware, but some of you others have had explosions:

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/homeowners/anchor_hocking.html

SylviaInCanada
Sylvia, thanks for your offer!!LOL
but in my post re Vision prices,

most of the available Vision cookware is indeed from the States,
however the cost of transport puts them in the "out of of my price" range..

Visions, however is obtainable in the UK at sensible prices, and postage
xx
Bob

well, I tried!



off to the Thrift Store with them, if OH hasn't already delivered them there!

I've just looked at my 4 "pyrex" measuring cups

1. Very old 1 l Pyrex ......... says on the bottom, and you have to read it from above, through the jug "Not for Lab or Stove Top Use"

2. very old 250 ml Pyrex ..... you have to read it from above "Only for General Household and Photographic Use"

That one also has no measures showing on it ..... I put it in the dishwasher and all the red markings disappeared

3. modern Pyrex 500 ml ..... says nothing, bottom is blank

4. Anchor Hocking Fire-King 250 ml, quite modern ........... have to turn it up side down "Microwave Safe"



:)))