The Coffee House

[terri]

Throw a brisket in a crock pot with a bottle of Claude's marinade (well, ok, pour the marinade over the brisket and throw the bottle away) and let it slow cook all day, chop it up right before guests arrive, take a couple of cans of great northern or white beans and put in a smaller crockpot with your favorite BBQ sauce (I prefer a vinegar based sauce for this) and let them stew, and get some bags of chips, and some slider buns, and the food is ready when the guests arrive. For some extras, you can put out some green and black olives, and mini sweet pickles. Minimal fuss and cleanup when all is done, especially if you use a crock pot bag for the brisket.

Okay, now you're just showing off.

Do we get your fruit tart for dessert with that?

 

[terri]

I have one of those in the bedroom. I actually find it a little bit of a pain in the ass to move around. You need a good seal around the window so that the cool air actually stays in and the warm air stays out. I wouldn't want to have to reseal windows constantly like that, so the floor unit stays in the bedroom (which has sliding windows so there really isn't a good option for a traditional window unit in that room.) And it's more efficient to keep it running in one room to keep it relatively cool during the day (I turn the temp a little higher up during the day when I'm not using the bedroom but turn it down at night to sleep) than it would be to take it out of the room during the day, let the room warm up, then try to cool it back down at night.

The other thing is that because the compressor is in the room and it generates heat, the BTU of the unit isn't the 'true' BTU. I think mine is 8,000, but by the time it compensates for the heat generated by the compressor, it's really more like 5,000 BTU. So my two window units add up to 11,000 BTU to cool off the largest expanse of the house and to deal with direct sun in the afternoon and evening. Moving the 8,000 BTU floor unit into the living room actually provides only enough cooling as the smaller of the window units. It may be fine for early summer when we still have cool spells and the night time is still cool, but it really isn't enough to keep up with when it gets really hot and humid, and nights don't really cool off too much.

I've tried all the various configurations and done tons of calculations. This is the most efficient way to keep things cooled off until I can get central air (hopefully early next year.) This is my 3rd summer doing dance between a/c units and strategically-placed fans, and I'm very tired of it.

Whew - that does sound like a lot of moving stuff around and figuring out the most strategic air flow. Hope you can get the central air installed next year. Expensive, but it will not only make your life easier (and more comfortable!) but it's a huge upgrade to the house. Win-win!

 

[snowbear]

The patio has been neglected for a number of years, but I got most of the leaves and compost dirt off: 25 five-gallon buckets‘ worth, taken down to the back and dumped in the bamboo. It seems to be draining OK. I had to quit because a storm is coming.

I’ll finish tomorrow and get the new patio furniture put together.

 

[cgw]

Miraculously, I survived a Phoenix childhood/adolescence without a/c. Old school evaporative coolers ruled and worked well provided the humidity stayed at Sahara-like levels--which it did till late summer. A swimming pool helped, too. Those old "swamp" coolers are long gone but did draw only a fraction of the electricity that a/c units do now.

 

[jeffashman]

Okay, now you're just showing off.

Do we get your fruit tart for dessert with that?

Yep!

 

[jeffashman]

Miraculously, I survived a Phoenix childhood/adolescence without a/c. Old school evaporative coolers ruled and worked well provided the humidity stayed at Sahara-like levels--which it did till late summer. A swimming pool helped, too. Those old "swamp" coolers are long gone but did draw only a fraction of the electricity that a/c units do now.

Swamp coolers were great, as long, as you noted, the humidity stayed down. Evaporative coolers definitely lose their effectiveness when they can't evaporate. I grew up in FL on the Space Coast, so AC was a must, because swamp coolers just didn't work in FL.

Reminds me of a time when I taught a computer programming class in Phoenix, and the AC in the building wasn't working. The students piled on me in the class critique because of the heat in the classroom. Ugh!

 

[jeffashman]

Tonight was my mock spaghetti bolognaise. Sautee a sweet onion (Vidalia or Texas A&M sweet) and garlic until the onion is soft. Scoop the onion to the side of the pan (a deep sided 12" pan) and drop the ground beef with salt and pepper to taste in the middle, and brown the beef. Then add a jar of your favorite sauce (we like Rao's Ariabatta), a jar of red pesto, a can of tomato sauce, Italian spices, garlic and onion powder, and about a half cup of heavy whipping cream. Let that simmer while the pasta cooks to an al dente doneness. SU made a caprese salad (tomato, black olives, buffalo mozarella, fresh basil, crushed garlic, and olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing to go along with the pasta.) We are happy, content, and full.

 

[cgw]

Tonight was my mock spaghetti bolognaise. Sautee a sweet onion (Vidalia or Texas A&M sweet) and garlic until the onion is soft. Scoop the onion to the side of the pan (a deep sided 12" pan) and drop the ground beef with salt and pepper to taste in the middle, and brown the beef. Then add a jar of your favorite sauce (we like Rao's Ariabatta), a jar of red pesto, a can of tomato sauce, Italian spices, garlic and onion powder, and about a half cup of heavy whipping cream. Let that simmer while the pasta cooks to an al dente doneness. SU made a caprese salad (tomato, black olives, buffalo mozarella, fresh basil, crushed garlic, and olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing to go along with the pasta.) We are happy, content, and full.

If available, barese sausage kicks up the meat side of this dish. Eight ounces of lean ground beef+a hot dog-size piece of barese crumbled with the beef is good for 2-3. I do trad "White" with diced celery and carrot--no tomato. Do add diced hydrated porcini+strained liquid. Cheap pinot grigio reduced works, too. The usual cream+grated Reggiano.

Barese?

Coiled on the grill in "Goodfellas."

Barese sausage Goodfellas - Google Search

 

[smoke665]

I grew up in Swamp East Missouri just a few miles from the Mississippi River. Summers were horrendous 90-105 temperatures with humidity levels so high you cut the air with a knife. We didn't have a/c till I was in my early teens. It was a big two story house with minimal insulation (apparently that wasn't a thing when it was built), we had a large fan in an upstairs window pushing air out. Dad was the "window Nazi", constantly going around measuring how far we had our window open. Many nights it just wasn't enough, you'd lay there in a puddle of sweat, till the early hours of the morning. To this day, I can not sleep in a warm room.

 

[limr]

I grew up in a time when most people didn't have air conditioning, and one might not think of New York as a place that would need it, but summers are hot and humid (even more so these days.) My father had a rough life and he absolutely hated to be hot (I take after him!). My father renovated houses so when they bought the house that I would grow up in and he had it gutted and half torn down, he took the opportunity to install central air conditioning. We moved in when I was just turning 5 years old. We didn't have color TV or a microwave until I was a teenager, but we had central air. He had control of the thermostat and, as I mentioned, he hated to be hot, so even though we used it more sparingly during the day, he'd drop the temperatures at night so we were all able to sleep comfortably.

I lived through at least without air conditioning, and so I developed strategies to deal with the heat without a/c. But if I don't have to get through the summer without a/c, then I won't.

 

[SquarePeg]

Living in the city, the pavement sucks up the heat and things don’t cool off at night. We had one window ac growing up. It was in the living room and barely capable of cooking that room. In the hottest part of summer, we would sometimes roll out our sleeping bags on the floor and camp out in there overnight.

 

[jeffashman]

I grew up in Swamp East Missouri just a few miles from the Mississippi River. Summers were horrendous 90-105 temperatures with humidity levels so high you cut the air with a knife. We didn't have a/c till I was in my early teens. It was a big two story house with minimal insulation (apparently that wasn't a thing when it was built), we had a large fan in an upstairs window pushing air out. Dad was the "window Nazi", constantly going around measuring how far we had our window open. Many nights it just wasn't enough, you'd lay there in a puddle of sweat, till the early hours of the morning. To this day, I can not sleep in a warm room.

I remember summers in my uncle's farmhouse, and how stifling it would get, even with the windows wide open, especially upstairs where the kids' rooms were. My uncle, who was from Germany, was all about opening the windows as far as possible to get the maximum air flow. We would just lie on top of the beds and drift off to the drone of the big oscillating fans and the chirping of the crickets and frogs. I have very little in the way of nostalgia for those days. The bonuses that contemporary life offers far outweigh anything in the past in my opinion.

 

[smoke665]

bonuses that contemporary life offers far outweigh anything in the past in my opinion.

The nostalgia of the "good old days" grows stronger the farther away you get from living it.

 

[snowbear]

I grew up in a time when most people didn't have air conditioning, and one might not think of New York as a place that would need it, but summers are hot and humid (even more so these days.) My father had a rough life and he absolutely hated to be hot (I take after him!). My father renovated houses so when they bought the house that I would grow up in and he had it gutted and half torn down, he took the opportunity to install central air conditioning. We moved in when I was just turning 5 years old. We didn't have color TV or a microwave until I was a teenager, but we had central air. He had control of the thermostat and, as I mentioned, he hated to be hot, so even though we used it more sparingly during the day, he'd drop the temperatures at night so we were all able to sleep comfortably.

I lived through at least without air conditioning, and so I developed strategies to deal with the heat without a/c. But if I don't have to get through the summer without a/c, then I won't.

Living in the city, the pavement sucks up the heat and things don’t cool off at night. We had one window ac growing up. It was in the living room and barely capable of cooking that room. In the hottest part of summer, we would sometimes roll out our sleeping bags on the floor and camp out in there overnight.

Not only does concrete and asphalt pavement retain heat, but tall buildings, especially those with highly reflective windows, help create the warmer urban micro-climates.

I sprayed down the patio, except for around a pile of bricks in the corner and the wall near the door. The drain has a bunch of the crud but it's draining. The patio is sunken, so the drain needs to remain cleared as nuch as possible. I'll probably put sone screening ont the grate to r=try and keep the bigger pieces out.

I put together the umbrella (ella, ella). I didn't realize it came with two bags for sand so I poured most of my four 50-pound bags into the two that came with it. Once it was together, we realized that it's a little shorter than we thought. It's fine for sitting under, but we have to duck when getting to the chairs. I'll make a "pallet" out of paitable pressure treated wood so we can raise it six inches. I'm not looking forward to pulling the sand bags out of the holder, but it couls also come forward, away from the wall a few inches.

Next week(end) I'll get the dining set put together. I'm probably also going to make a pine box for storing the bricks and neaten that corner up; it's creepy-crawly looking.

 

[SquarePeg]

Not only does concrete and asphalt pavement retain heat, but tall buildings, especially those with highly reflective windows, help create the warmer urban micro-climates.

I sprayed down the patio, except for around a pile of bricks in the corner and the wall near the door. The drain has a bunch of the crud but it's draining. The patio is sunken, so the drain needs to remain cleared as nuch as possible. I'll probably put sone screening ont the grate to r=try and keep the bigger pieces out.

I put together the umbrella (ella, ella). I didn't realize it came with two bags for sand so I poured most of my four 50-pound bags into the two that came with it. Once it was together, we realized that it's a little shorter than we thought. It's fine for sitting under, but we have to duck when getting to the chairs. I'll make a "pallet" out of paitable pressure treated wood so we can raise it six inches. I'm not looking forward to pulling the sand bags out of the holder, but it couls also come forward, away from the wall a few inches.

Next week(end) I'll get the dining set put together. I'm probably also going to make a pine box for storing the bricks and neaten that corner up; it's creepy-crawly looking.

The creepy crawlies are taking over up here. All this rain has created the perfect environment for slugs and earwigs. Gross! And destructive.