Product review: GVODE Cold Brew Coffee Maker,42 Ounce, Large Glass Pitcher with Stainless Steel

I was looking for replacing lemonade and sodas summer drinks with unsweetened ice tea to reduce the amount of sugar we consume.  I heard that cold-brewed drinks have a more mellow taste, and I was not disappointed!  I have been enjoying our ice tea, and the family has accepted it too after the initial reluctance to give up the summery sweet drinks.

The Gvode pitcher turned out to be a more attractive appliance than I expected.  The pitched bottom is made out of geometrically cut glass, so it is quite attractive.  Its nice looks make it useful not just for brewing but serving the cold tea/coffee.  It is 8" tall and 7.5: wide. The tap is on the bottom of the pitcher, so it works best when it is on a shelve or on the edge of the table, so a person to fit a glass below the tap.

The manual called for 4 oz of tea used with 42 oz of cold water. The cold brew process generates a concentrate that one should dissolve with additional water. I used 1 oz and 44 oz of cold water and had a nicely flavored tea concentrate ready to drink in 1 hour.  My concentrate is not as strong, I suspect, as a prescribed recipe but it really works for us. I can do the brewing in the refrigerator or at room temperature.

I store the pitcher in the refrigerator.  The spout is leak-free and works very well. It takes up space in the front of the refrigerator to make it easy to pour out tea without taking out the pitcher out.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Mother Earth Products Dried Cabbage, Quart Jar

I really like the flavor and texture of Mother Earth's dried cabbage. This is a repeat purchase for me.

A small amount really expands, so it goes a long way. I like adding it to soups for texture and flavor. I add it to the soup before I microwave for a couple of minutes and that all it takes to make it soft yet still texture and flavor.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Ideaworks-Gorilla Ties-Reusable Ties for Hanging Items

I use these gorilla ties to keep things organized in the basement - cords, hoses, tools. They are pretty handy!  I got them at super nice discount at a local TJ Maxx store.


You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Book review: The Only Prescription For Healthcare Reform: A Physician's Inside Perspective of the Real Problems Plaguing the System, by Louis LoBalsamo M.D.

This book is written by a doctor and learning a viewpoint from a perspective that is different from mine is interesting. The author has first-hand experience and knowledge of what is going on behind the scenes of our medical system.  It is not a pretty picture, but it is best to be an educated consumer.

On the negative side, the book is not written by a professional writer and had no editor, so at times formatting issues made it difficult to read. I could overlook spelling errors, but I found random capitalizations as emphasis annoying. 

Despite the editorial negatives, I found the content interesting.
You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: Instant Pot DUO60 6 Qt 7-in-1 Multi-Use Programmable Pressure Cooker

I just my first Instant Pot on Prime day. First things first, I really like my Instant Pot.  So far, I cooked four things.  All four dishes were delicious and easy to make. The pot is 14" wide (side to side from handle to handle) and 13" tall.  Keep in mind that it releases steam in the upwards direction as it cooks, so you need additional space above the pot to allow for escaping steam.  As you cook, the outer container becomes warm to touch, but it but not so hot that I could touch it with my bare hand. The steam, if course, is scolding hot and one needs to be careful not to put your hand or face in the way.

The package includes an instruction booklet and a recipe booklet. I thought the instruction booklet that came with the pot did not explain to me things clearly enough when I did not know what to expect.  When I turned it on for the first time and selected "meat/stew" button, 35 minutes time period (default) was displayed briefly (which is what my recipe called for), and then the instant pot display changed to "On", and two buttons got lit up "high pressure" and "keep warm". I thought it meant it was in "keep warm" mode at that time, and I was not sure if I needed to press other buttons.  Nothing happened for 20 minutes, and I had to call a friend who owns an Instant Pot to ask if I am doing it right.  She reassured me that this was normal.  Sure enough, in 20 minutes the Instant Pot display changed from "On" to "35" and began a count down. So the total amount of time I needed was 20 minutes to reach the right pressure, 35 minutes cooking time, and then 20 minutes natural pressure release.  The lit "keep warm" button meant that once the cooking would be finished, the pot will go into "keep warm" mode.

The Instant Pot has markings of 1/2 and 3/4 on the inside of the pot.  These are the maximum fill levels. If you fill the container more then the 3/4 mark, the pot will be spitting out stuff out of the steam valve as due to an over-filled internal container.  For my stew, I used 1.3 lb of meat, 2 large potatoes, several carrots, one large onion, and 1/2 lb of mushrooms, a couple of cloves of garlic. This filled the pot to the 3/4 level. I also added 2.5 cups of beef broth and spices.  Note: next time I will try less broth as the stew came out more like a soup.

The pot is easy to clean.  The part you need to wash is the inner stainless steel pot and the cover. When I use slow cooking or pressure cooking, nothing sticks to the pot, so cleaning is effortless.
I selected the Instant Pot brand because of the stainless steel inner pot. The Crockpot instant pot has a non-stick coating, some off-brands use aluminum inner containers, and I prefer stainless steel inner pots.

Overall, so far, I am happy with the purchase.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Book review: Five Deadly Sins That Can Destroy Your Home Insurance Claim by Steven Lazarus

This book is written by a British author and if you are an American reader keep in mind that laws in the US and Britain are different.  The book starts with an unappealing pitch that proclaims that the author's company can be me an insurance agent for you and provides a phone number.  It immediately made me feel that the book might be an advertising brochure, not a book.  What a bad way to start a book! Dear author, wow me with your expertize first, then try to sell me something!

The rest of the book continued in a similar matter, it talks about British insurance companies, British laws, and continues to make the case for hiring the author to handle your claims.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★☆☆☆

Product review: TracFone (Smartphone Only) Airtime Prepaid Service Card 365 days

We have been using Tracfone for a family member who only uses the cell phone occasionally for about 10 years. 1-year service has been around $100 for years, and this year it has gone up to $125.  You can roll over unused minutes a year to year.  The minutes do not expire as long as the service is extended before the expiration date.  My mother has over 10,000 minutes accumulated through the years, no problem.

In the past, I purchased 1 year service minutes from third-party dealers on Amazon or directly from the Tracfone website (whichever gave me the best deal). This year was the first time I purchased minutes directly from Tracfone on Amazon, the 1 year service smartphone card was the same price on Amazon and their own site.

The smartphone card arrived 7 days after I ordered it via UPS.  This year I decided to keep the phone we purchased last year, so all I had to was enter the pin number into the My Account App (selecting "add minutes" icon).  The end of service updated immediately, the minutes and text did not get updated until the morning (and after the phone was rebooted).  However, I was able to log into my account on their website and saw the updated minutes right away, so I knew it worked okay.  To see your balance on the website you need to enter /balanceinquiry after the web site address (Amazon does not allow URLs in the text so I can't give you the complete URL here).

The other methods for adding minutes are texting the word "add" 611611, calling 611 from your phone, calling the Tracfone support, or adding minutes on their web site.

Overall, all worked very smoothly, and it is a good deal for someone who is not using the phone all that much.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Logitech Trackman Marble Trackball Mouse – Wired USB Ergonomic Mouse for Computers

I have been the entire day in front of the computer for many years and recently developed shoulder problems from excessive mousing.  I had to get a mouse that lets me vary the position of my hand and the stress on the shoulder.  This mouse does that because  you move the pointer with your fingers rather then moving your hand.  However, learning how to use has a steep learning curve as it is so different from a standard mouse. It took me a number of days to feel more or less comfortable doing everything I need to do. Scrolling and clicking and moving the pointer is very easy. However, highlighting a chunk of text and doing copy and paste takes more work then an old mouse.   These days I have two mice in front of the computer and I switch. I still use the old mouse for copy and paste.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: Kingso motion activated bulb (avoid!)

Kingso motion-activated bulb is a bright LED bulb (on par with a 60 watt CFL bulb). Its unique feature is that it is motion activation, but unfortunately, motion activation does not work reliably in my lamp. I did see it come on a few times, but most of the time I can wave my hand in front of it and nothing happens. When it turns on, it does not stay on for a long time (less than a minute) even if I am continually moving under the light. So the motion detector does not work if the light is on, and most of the time does not detect motion when the light is off. Flipping the switch seems to help sometimes but not all the time.

I liked its brightness, but since motion detection does not work reliably, I did not find this bulb performance acceptable.

Ali Julia review ★☆☆☆☆

Product review: JBAMBOO Polarized Wood Sunglasses for Women and Men

I like the unique look of these sunglasses. The sunglasses have an aluminum frame with a thin cut of wood attached to the aluminum frame on both sides. The style of these glasses is a classic aviator style.

They come with a rigid leather-like case and a thin microfiber liner case.

The glasses fit well. The nose rests are adjustable, and the bows have enough tension to keep them in place but don’t dig into the sides of your head. The lenses are polarized.  The package includes a handy test card that demonstrates polarization (see my video). 

They look pretty nice especially given the price of under $30.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Weed Fabric All-Purpose Weed Barrier by Easy Gardener

Easy Gardner weed fabric is a relatively small cut of weed fabric but if that is all you need it is priced around $5. It is 4 feet by 8 feet in size. Enough for one raised bed of 4'x8' size or about 12 - 14 large pots. 

This a repeat purchase for me.  The fabric is fairly thin (as I show in the first photo) and let the water and air to the roots very well. It kept the weeds out effectively for 1 year, the next year the weeds grew through the fabric. So keep in mind that the work of reinstalling the fabric will need to be repeated. In most cases this means removing the mulch covering the weed fabric, removing the weed fabric,  removing whatever weeds appeared, laying down the fabric and covering with mulch.  Sometimes the fabric can be re-used but often removing the weeds growing the fabric tears it up too much. 

The only time I don't cover weed fabric with mulch is when I use weed fabric for growing strawberries.  I like using weed fabric for strawberries because I like that the fruits do not touch the ground and stay mold free better.  In that case I hold the fabric down with small stones placed between the plants.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: BIC Wite-Out Brand EZ Correct Grip Correction Tape

This is my first experience with corrective tape, in the past I always used the liquid white out.  It took me a little practice to get the angle of how to hold the tape dispenser so the tape comes out evenly.  It works well on thin lines, if you have a line that is thick and requires two swipes to cover an area then if the tape overlaps then the firt tape strip might start lifting and crunching up. 

So the benefit of the tape compared to liquid is that you don't need to wait while it dries, and that the liquid does not dry up in the bottle.  The benefits of the liquid is that it is easier to get get good coverage of large areas.

I expect that this six pack (I paid $12 for 6 dispensers) will last me the life time. I've been using it for a few weeks making one or two corrections every day and still barely made a dent in the first dispenser (which contains 33.5 feet of tape). I will post an update if the tape becomes unusable due to age.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: Replens Moisture Restore Comfort Gel

I heard a lot of positive comments about this product but it did not work for me. I thought it was too liquid and the effects did not last long enough.  I will not be purchasing this again.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: JBU by Jambu Ladies' Sydney Sandal/Flat Sandals for Women

JBU 's Sydney sandals are very comfortable.  They have closed toe and a velcro closure on the strap. The sandle sole has good tracktion. I can spend the whole day walking in them without any blisters or discomfort. They have nice arch support.

I got them at a local Costo where the price is $16.99.  Amazon price as I write this review is $3.75 more. I had a choice of charcoal or  denim color.  I would describe this blue as slate blue color.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.

Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Esing Car Trash Garbage Bag

We do a lot of long weekend day trips and a few times I have to admit finding banana carcasses that are weeks old, candy wrappers under the seat, and other garbage that should not have been there.  Having removable trash bags is a great solution to the problem, they keep all garbage in one place and seeing the bag gives me a good reminder to toss it out once a week.  The adhesive on the back of the bag removes easily and does not leave a sticky residue.  In the attached photo, I show the bag on a 1/2 inch grid for size reference.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.


Ali Julia review ★★★★★