Stuff that works: Tips on White Vinegar.

There is a link at the bottom of this page - follow if you want to learn some cool things you can do with vinegar and baking soda.
The faucets that are connected to the hoses that feed hot and cold water into our washing machine were covered with lime and corrosion. I wanted to replace the hoses and saw the corrosion and wondered how I might clean it up before I tried to take the hoses off.
Went to Google - landed on the page below.
About half way down the page it recommends that you soak paper towels in white vinegar and wrap the lime encrusted plumbing for an hout. I did that. Worked like a champ. The connections look great now. I also made myself a batch of the anit-fog glass cleaner - works great.
Love DIY stuff that works.
Take a look:

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/vinegarbakingsoda

Stuff That Works: Review of Amore Trattoria in Comstock Park

A couple of weeks ago one of our customers in the jewelry store and I were talking after he picked up his repair. (Me? Talk? - a rare occurrence, but it happens.) Somehow we started talking about food and he starting raving about this Italian restaurant on Alpine in Comstock Park. He told me how they prepare everything from scratch and that it was a great place to eat. He even had a business card for the place and gave it to me.
Julie loves Italian food, so I gave  the card to her along with my re-telling of the glorious review.
Yesterday we went to the Auto Show (fell in love with all things Mini-Cooper, but that is another story) and Julie suggested we make the trip out to Amore.
They open at 4pm on Sundays, we got there at 10 after - I naively thought we would be the first folks in the place. HA! There were probably 8-10 cars in the lot. What the????
My goodness, once we started eating it became clear why there were people there the moment the clock struck four. Since it was our first visit, we decided to get the 5 small plate Chef Tasting deal for $25 each. We came to this decision after many minutes spent oooing and ahhhing over the selections on the menu. We each ordered different things (duh) so we could have a wide sample. Between us we enjoyed the following delights: Aranici and Sausage Stuffed mushrooms to start, followed by Russa and Speckemele salads, then the Lasagna and Garlic Parmesan soups, our main dishes (which were not all that small, let me tell you) were Spiedini beef tenderloin and a 4 cheese ravioli with bolognese sauce. We finished with tiramisu and a truffle.
Wow.
I am not a foodie. I do enjoy good food and I very much appreciate friendly service. Amore served it all up in grand style. Angela knew the menu and explained what was in everything we ate and she answered all of our questions. Everything we were served tasted fresh and home made. Even a non-connoisseur like me could taste and appreciate the complex and wonderful mixtures of ingredients in every course. I was going to try to pick out the high points - but everything was wonderful. There was enough garlic in the soup to bring a nice warm glow to my ears! The tender was present in the tenderloin and the salads AND deserts presented wonderful mixtures of flavors that made each bite a treat.
When we were almost done, Jenna Arcidiacono (chef and owner along with her husband) stopped by the table to check that everything was okay.

Jenna - it was Fantastic. We will return.

Amore Trattoria Italiana website

BRAVO J C Penney is bringing back sanity. No more "sales".

Read about it at this link:

J C Penney Puts an End to Sales!

JC Penney is going to quit with all the bullshit! Amen - no more 50% to 70% or buy one get one for a dollar. They are just lowering all of their inflated prices by AT LEAST 40% and doing away with all the sales. I have been harping and whining about this for years - I have a least 3 posts on this blog about these fake sales.

YEEEEE-HAHH! It is a happy day in my world.

I am going to spend some MONEY at JCPenney.

The net effect of doing business with a local shop.

Our daughter Ella has just completed her first complete year of owning and operating her coffee shop down the street from us in Lowell: Ella's Coffee & Cuisine

 Ella is a culinary school graduate who prides herself on the handcrafted sandwiches, soups from scratch she offers along with the top shelf quality coffee she buys from local small batch roasters.

She has some help in the baking department from her sister Amy - who is constantly coming up with delicious and tempting treats.

Anyway - I am doing some end of the year book work and I decided to tally up where the money spent at Ella's ends up. First, let me thank each and every customer who has crossed the threshold at Ella's - we appreciate the way you have helped Ella's grow.

One of our goals is to spend as much money as we can using local - Lowell based sources like Gary's Meat Market, Agape Coffee Services, etc. Our next choice is a regional supplier like Grand Rapids Coffee Roasters, Mooville Dairy, etc. Finally we try to keep the money in Michigan if at all possible.

I am happy to report that 77% of our gross sales stayed in Michigan. 

Of that total 58% went to suppliers and employees right in Lowell.

41% of that total went to regional suppliers and employees.

(FYI - everyone at Ella's now lives in Lowell.)

The last 1% stayed in Michigan. 

We also collected and sent to Lansing $7,246.00 in Michigan sales tax.

So, when someone spends $1 at Ella's - .77 cents stays in Michigan and .44 cents of that stays right in Lowell - where it gets re-spent and re-spent. For instance, four people from Ella's rent apartments in Lowell so there is several thousand of our annual payroll being re-cycled in the local economy. They also eat and shop in Lowell, etc. etc.

NOTE: I am sure the real numbers are actually a bit higher, but I am only willing to tear this down so far. For instance, we have our liability insurance policy through a local agent - Dave Emmette at AIC right on Main Street - but the company is Hartford. The annual premium of over $2000.00 goes out of state, but the commission to the local agency stays right in Lowell. We have also spent money at local/regional branches of national chains and a small percentage of that benefits Lowell and West Michigan.

Even with my somewhat limited math abilities, you can see the benefit of supporting your local businesses. Thanks very much for doing so!

Want a world with no EPA? Want to remove regulations from corporations? Check this:

Here are some pictures for people who want to remove all regulations from Corporations. (Er, I mean to say "Corpersons" since the Soopreme Kourt made them equal to people.) China is not big on regulations, especially when it comes to protecting the environment. All we have to do is take a look at these results of unfettered corporate concern for people, water, the air, and the planet in general.

 This lady is washing her clothes in a reservoir.

 Here is the amount of coal dust collected on the back and neck of a worker after only a couple of hours. Oh yeah - the worker happens to be picking crops. Still wanna buy your vegetables from Club Club, Cost-Mart and Wal-Co or where ever you can get it the cheapest?

Here is an industrial sewage pipe going out into the ocean.

These yellow blocks of industrial crud are introduced into the Yangtze River. The Yangtze is the longest river in Asia - just short of 4,000 miles long. Anybody want to get a drink downstream of this sludge?

 Another Corporate sewer emptying into the Yellow Sea - between Mainland China and Korea. Hey - I just heard they have a big sale on shrimp down at Wal-Co. Do those funny letters on the bag mean the shrimp come from China ..... or Korea?

Who needs those pesky (costly) smokestack scrubbers - think of the jobs created by all the savings for the Corporations if we would just let the smoke roll.

I found all of these images, along with thousands more, in seconds by searching for "pollution in China" - give it a try. Anyone with a memory back to the '50s and '60s in America can remember when our big companies and corporations did the same thing to the air and water in this country. Thank god for the GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS that put a halt to it.

Do you REALLY want to close down the EPA? 

Stuff That Works: Talking Heads Chronology

If you are a fan of the Talking Heads, then you need to get a copy of the Chronology DVD. It has some great stuff from the early days of the band - video record of them playing in the mid-70s.

Some of the high points for me are watching Tina gain confidence on her bass -you can see the difference a couple of years makes;seeing Adrian Belew crank out one of his twisted solos on "Crosseyed & Painless"; David doing some of his famous dance moves during "Animals"; the whole of "Burning Down The House" (recorded in '83 for the Letterman show) is tremendous, but I really enjoy Chris Frantz and Steve Scales doing what they do so well on the all-important drums. Speaking of Chris, his big smile is in full effect when they played "Life During Wartime" when they were inducted into the RnR Hall O' Fame.

If you enjoy Talking Heads - you will love this Chronology.

Get It Here From Schulers

Stuff That Works - Litehouse Bleu Cheese Dressing is the best there is.

As we were out running errands today, Julie and I ended up talking about Litehouse dressings in general and their Chunky Bleu Cheese in particular. We came to the conclusion that it is simply the best we have ever had - in a restaurant or bottled for sale.

What more can I say about it? If you like Bleu Cheese, you owe it to yourself to try a bottle of this ($3.49 to $3.99) spectacular dressing. Delicious.