Posts from — September 2009

Simon Harris writes on fireplaces at: http://www.fireplace-expert.com.

Cooking of Grains
All grains, with the exception of rice, and the various grain meals, require prolonged cooking with gentle and continuous heat, in order to so disintegrate their tissues and change their starch into dextrine as to render them easy of digestion. Even the so-called “steam-cooked” grains, advertised to be ready for use in five or ten minutes, require a much longer cooking to properly fit them for digestion. These so-called quickly prepared grains are simply steamed before grinding, which has the effect to destroy any low organisms contained in the grain. They are then crushed and shredded. Bicarbonate of soda and lime is added to help dissolve the albuminoids, and sometimes diastase to aid the conversion of the starch into sugar; but there is nothing in this preparatory process that so alters the chemical nature of the grain as to make it possible to cook it ready for easy digestion in five or ten minutes. An insufficiently cooked grain, although it may be palatable, is not in a condition to be readily acted upon by the digestive fluids, and is in consequence left undigested to act as a mechanical irritant.

Water is the liquid usually employed for cooking grains, but many of them are richer and finer flavored when milk is mixed with the water, one part to two of water. Especially is this true of rice, hominy, and farina. When water is used, soft water is preferable to hard. No salt is necessary, but if used at all, it is generally added to the water before stirring in the grain or meal.

The quantity of liquid required varies with the different grains, the manner in which they are milled, the method by which they are cooked, and the consistency desired for the cooked grain, more liquid being required for a porridge than for a mush.

All grains should be carefully looked over before being put to cook.

In the cooking of grains, the following points should be observed:

1. Measure both liquid and grain accurately with the same utensil, or with two of equal size.

2. Have the water boiling when the grain is introduced, but do not allow it to boil for a long time previous, until it is considerably evaporated, as that will change the proportion of water and grain sufficiently to alter the consistency of the mush when cooked. Introduce the grain slowly, so as not to stop the sinking to the bottom, and the whole becomes thickened.

3. Stir the grain continuously until it has set, but not at all afterward. Grains are much more appetizing if, while properly softened, they can still be made to retain their original form. Stirring renders the preparation pasty, and destroys its appearance.

In the preparation of all mushes with meal or flour, it is a good plan to make the material into a batter with a portion of the liquid retained from the quantity given, before introducing it into the boiling water. This prevents the tendency to cook in lumps, so frequent when dry meal is scattered into boiling liquid. Care must be taken, however, to add the moistened portion very slowly, stirring vigorously meantime, so that the boiling will not be checked. Use warm water for moistening. The other directions given for the whole or broken grains are applicable to the ground products.

Place the grain, when sufficiently cooked, in the refrigerator or in some place where it will cool quickly (as slow cooling might cause fermentation), to remain overnight.

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In the computer age, you should realize that there is software out there to help you do virtually anything, even organize your closet! This type of software is very simple to use. It will allow you to enter information including the dimensions of your closet. You can then choose from various layouts and materials to get a visual picture of exactly how your closet area can look. Most closet organizer software will also give you information on the exact materials needed to complete the project as it is layed out and an estimate of the costs.

More advanced closet organizer software will keep a complete inventory of your closet for you. This is a great way to always know what you have in there. You can also store the clothing and shoe size of all your family members in there. This makes it a very good reference when you are considering purchasing any items of clothing for them. This is also an excellent way to keep track of household items in the event you need them for insurance purposes.

Not all closet organizer software is designed the same. You need to check the level of expertise needed to operate particular types of closet organizing software. Some features to look for in such software include the click and drag method to add and remove items from your virtual closet design. You should also only purchase closet organizer software that offers excellent customer support services at no charge. Of course the price of the software should be taken into consideration as well.

You can purchase closet organizing software beginning at $25 up to $200 from retailers, home improvement stores, and the internet. Online auction sites including Ebay and Yahoo Auctions are great places to find closet organizer software that is used. This is a great way to get the close organizing software you want at a lower price. Just make sure the software you purchase is compatible with your computer and that it comes will all the instruction manuals.

If you want great ideas for organizing the closets in your home or if you are in the business of organizing closets for other people, then purchasing closet organizer software is a good investment. Look for software that is compatible with your computer, easy to install, and very simple to navigate. If you can’t operate the software then it isn’t going to work well for you.

If you plan to use it to help other people organize their closets then you should look for software with all the options to meet the different needs of individuals. If you will be for your own personal use then you are better off only getting closet organizer software with the features you need to get the job accomplished.

Investing in closet organizer software will allow you to create original layouts for all the closets in your home regardless of their size. This is a great resource for getting your home organized. You will be able to find anything. The issue with most home storage space isn’t a lack of it, just that it isn’t being used to its pull potential. Closets have a great deal of unused space when you consider the amount of room under your hanging items. Put that space to work for you with the help of closet organizing software.

Previous: Build a Pantry Behind a Door -1
To make the shelves, measure down from the top of the frame along each side piece and mark the shelf positions-make sure you measure exactly the same on each side. The marked shelf positions do not allow for the thickness of the wood; measure 3/8 inch down from each marked line to mark the tops of the shelf support pieces. Set a 3 ½ -inch 1 x 2 shelf support piece at each marked shelf point, on each 1 x 4 side piece.

To secure the shelf supports, use 7-penny finishing nails and carpenters’ glue. Apply a bead of carpenters’ glue to the face of each shelf support and to the face of the side frame piece, as marked. Set the support flat against the frame, with its top edge exactly flush with the marked support line, and nail through the outside face of the side piece into the face of the 1 x 2 support bracket. Drive two 7-penny finishing nails into each shelf support.

Use the remaining pieces of 20-inch 1 x 4 to make the pantry’s four shelves. For each shelf, apply a bead of carpenters’ glue to the bottom edges of the board’s cut ends, and to the top edge of the two shelf brackets that will support it. Set the shelf into place across the two brackets, and make sure it’s straight and flush against the supports. Secure each end with two 7-penny finishing nails from the top of the shelf into the support and two nails from the outside of the frame into the shelf edge; Stagger the nails so they don’t hit against each other.

To complete the shelf unit, nail 1 x 2 retaining strips across the front of the unit, one strip 2 inches above each shelf. Secure the retaining strips with two 7-penny finishing nails driven through each end. To keep tall things in place on the bottom of the unit, nail two retaining strips across the open area, placed as desired.

To complete the pantry, sand all rough spots and edges with medium and then fine-grit sandpaper. Paint as desired.

Finally, hang the pantry unit on the door, centered on the door’s width and set conveniently on its height. Use three 2-inch angle irons across the top of the unit and three across the bottom; mark the screw holes, and drill, and countersink. Fasten the irons to the door with 1-inch flathead wood screws.

If the door is a hollow-core type, be careful to attach the unit to the solid blocking inside the door-tap on the door to locate the blocking. Hollow-core doors are blocked around the edges, and sometimes also have other blocking. Mark and drill the mounting holes on the top and bottom pieces of the pantry unit, set the unit into place, and secure it with screws driven into the drilled holes.

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Build a Pantry Behind a Door
Kitchen storage space is always at a premium, but there is potential storage behind every closed door-build this simple behind-the-door pantry to take advantage of it. Tools: measuring rule, pencil, carpenters’ square, handsaw or power saw, drill, countersink, screwdriver, hammer, sanding block, paintbrush. Materials: 1 x 4 and 1 x 2 pine stock, 1-inch flathead wood screws, carpenters’ glue, 7-penny finishing nails, medium- and fine-grit sandpaper, paint, 2-inch angle irons. Time: 4 to 6 hours, plus finishing time.

The dimensions used here are for a pantry unit 21½  inches wide and 60 inches high, with four inside shelves. You can adjust these figures for a unit to fit a wide or narrow door, for any height desired. Keep the outside width of the unit at least 7 inches narrower than the door, to allow for the doorknob and provide the necessary clearance when the door is opened and closed.

Build the frame for the pantry of 1 x 4 Pine stock. Measure and mark two pieces of 1 x 4 60 inches long and six pieces 20 inches long; use a carpenters‘ square to keep the ends even. Cut the pieces of 1 x 4 with a handsaw or a power saw.

Put together a rectangular box from the two 60-inch pieces and two of the 20-inch pieces, with the long sides butted over the ends of the short sides at the corners. At each corner, drill two holes for 1-inch flathead wood screws through the face of the long side piece; countersink the screw holes so that the screw heads will lie flush with the surface of the wood. Set the side piece into position over the edge of the cross piece, mark the screw holes, and drill holes into the edge of the cross piece. Apply a bead of carpenters’ glue to the cut edge of the cross piece and to the end of the side piece, join the pieces, and secure the corner with two 1-inch flathead wood screws driven through the drilled holes.

Cut retaining strips and shelf supports from 1 x 2 pine stock. Measure, mark, and cut six pieces of 1 x 2 21½  inches long to hold stored goods on the shelves; measure and cut eight pieces of 1 x 2 3½ inches long for shelf supports. Plan the spacing for the pantry shelves, with tall things on the bottom and four shelves spaced as desired inside the frame. Measure the things you plan to store in the unit to determine the desired shelf spacing-a good spacing might allow 10 inches between the top of the frame and the first shelf, 10 inches from first to second and second to third, 12 inches from third to fourth, and 18 inches from the fourth shelf to the bottom of the frame. Or, if you don’t need such widely spaced shelves, add a shelf to this basic unit.

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See previous post: Carpet a Stairway

Begin the installation by nailing fastening strips at each riser-tread corner; wear work gloves. Measure the width of the stairway and subtract the part that will be covered by the carpet runner; divide by 2. This is the number of inches at each side of the stairs that won’t be covered. Measure in this distance from one side of the stairway at the base of each riser and the inside of each tread; mark each of these points with chalk or pencil. Then measure in the same way from the other side of the stairs. Measure each stair across from mark to mark to make sure you’ve measured accurately; the carpet runner will be centered on these marks.

Cut the strips to the width of the runner with a small handsaw. On each stair, nail a strip centered on the riser, teeth pointing down, 3/4 inch above the surface of the tread below it; use a 3/4-inch-thick piece of scrap wood to hold the strip in place as you nail it. Nail another strip centered on the tread, teeth pointing in to the riser above it, 5/8 inch out from the riser. You’ll end up with an open V of fastening strips at the back of each stair, straight or wedge shaped, with one strip near the floor at the bottom of the lowest riser and one at the back of the top tread. Don’t nail a strip onto the top riser.

After nailing the fastening strips, measure and mark the carpet padding. Measure the padding to the width of the carpet runner, less about ¼ inch so that it will be very slightly recessed under the carpet edge at each side. With a heavy scissors, cut a strip of padding to fit over each stair tread, long enough to wrap from the tread fastening strip around the tread and down about 2 or 3 inches onto the tread below it. Make a paper pattern to cut the padding for each wedge-shaped step; the padding must cover the tread, round the edge, and wrap over onto the riser below it.

Install the padding with staples. Center a trimmed piece of padding, waffle-patterned side up, on each tread, with its end butted against the fastening strip at the back of the tread. Staple the end of the padding to the tread, using a staple gun to set staples diagonally every 2 inches along the fastening strip. Stretch the other end of the padding out over the tread and down onto the riser below it; holding it evenly stretched, staple it into place. Use the paper pattern to cut padding for wedge-shaped stairs, and fasten the padding the same way.

Finally, unroll the carpet runner and drape it over the stairway, with the nap or pile leaning out and down from top to bottom. Winding stairways are treated as straight flights interrupted by wedge-shaped steps; lay the carpeting out over the bottom straight flight and up to the first wedge step. Pull the carpet runner into place from the bottom up, making sure that the nap or pile lies in the right direction (down) and that the carpet is positioned straight over the fastening strips and between the chalked centering marks on the stairs. Even a small skew at the bottom can magnify noticeably by the top of the stairway, so adjust the runner carefully.

Start fastening the carpeting at the bottom of the first riser. Position the end of the runner directly over the bottom fastening strip so that about 3/4 inch of carpet is turned up along the floor. Trim any uneven edges from the end of the runner with a sharp utility knife.

Push the point of an awl into the carpet at one side and use the awl to push the end of the carpet onto the fastening strip, leaving about 3/8 inch of loose carpet below the newly fastened edge. Smooth the carpet firmly into place along the strip, working across with the awl until the entire end has been fastened.

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Christmas is an extremely busy time of year. By the time you get you shopping done, gifts wrapped and your cookies and cakes baked, it’s likely you don’t have the energy left to put into extravagant decorating. Although less than energetic, you still want your home decorated for Christmas. After all, Christmas is just not the same without lights and decorations.

Decorating your home for Christmas doesn’t have to be stressful. There are many things you can do and items you can use to dress up your home for this wonderful season. One suggestion when decorating your home for Christmas is using ribbon. If you have a decorating theme for Christmas, regarding color, choose ribbon to correspond with your theme. You can tie ribbons to all sorts of items in your home such as chair backs, wreathes, basket handles, stair railings and even doorknobs. Ribbons and bows are very festive. A good idea is to choose ribbon which can be easily untied and retied. This way you can reuse the ribbon another Christmas season.

Using holiday tableware is nice when decorating your home for Christmas. Search your home for anything Christmas, plates, bowls, mugs, glasses, any piece of tableware that has a Christmas theme. Make sure to use these items each and every meal, every day throughout the Christmas season. Another good idea is to buy a few pieces each year. In time you’ll have enough tableware to serve the entire community.

Lighting is important when decorating your home for Christmas. During the month of December turn off your lights. Make use of your candles in every room of your home. Place candles on the dining table, on the coffee and end tables in the living room and perhaps place a nice scented pillar candle in the bathroom. Don’t just put them there for decorations but also make sure to light them each night. If you have a fireplace, make sure to light it and enjoy it. A fireplace creates a cozy atmosphere which is nice when guests are visiting.

Decorating your home for Christmas should always include a Christmas tree. After decorating the tree with your homemade ornaments and strung popcorn, use the leftover branches to make arrangements for your home. Put the greens in a basket or bowl, add pinecones, bows and ornaments. Use the branches to make swags to hang over doors throughout your home. Take the evergreen sprigs and place them around your home, on windows, on a bookcase shelf or on a ledge. Evergreen branches and sprigs certainly reflect Christmas. Not only do they look nice but they spread a lovely aroma throughout the home.

Christmas is a time for celebrating. It’s a time to pull out all the stops. Snow is always nice for Christmas. When decorating your home for Christmas, why not use snow, artificial snow to add a sparkle to your home. Sprinkle it on the dining table, the hutch or the fireplace. Use ornaments which reflect light and hang them around your home, from doors or even indoor trees and plants. This will definitely look dazzling at night as the candle light flickers off the ornaments. Decorating your home for Christmas shouldn’t be a dreadful task but a delightful experience. One thing to remember when decorating your home for Christmas is not to over-think your plan. Keep it simple because simplicity is elegant and beautiful.

Connor R. Sullivan often calls on the expertise of a Cincinnati garage door repair specialist to fix with the garage doors at the apartment complex he owns. He relies on a Cincinnati garage door replacement specialist to help him keep up his property.