Processing of various kinds

I got a quote for a dryer for the condo. Twice as much as I'd expected. Installation will be another chunk. I think I'll go with it, though, since this guy has never steered me wrong, with several appliances. Sigh. I buy appliances so rarely it's always a shock to see the price.

I'm about to become a statistic, someone whose relief check, and some, was converted into a long needed appliance. Good for the economy. And my tenant has been without a dryer since March 2020, in a place with no outside drying possible.  He's been very patient about it.

In turn though, it may mean that another thing I wanted to do for the condo, a new mantel to replace my 25 year old diy one which finally fell off the wall, goes on hold. We'll see. I was thinking of getting my craftsman friend to make and install one like mine in the townhouse. 

It lifts the tone of the place.

Today we're recaulking  the bathtub over there, plumbers wanting incredible $$ amounts to do it.  It seems as if the condo is getting all the focus at the moment.

Plus there's a special HOA assessment since this year's snow removal far exceeded the budget. Because previous years hadn't been so snowy, it was a bit optimistic. So I'll have to write yet another check for this tiny condo.

When I lived there, my downstairs neighbor, who had all kinds of problems, dryer fire, swarm of bees, flood, commented "this place is the size of a shoebox, and there's still always something!"

Then, back at home, there's my little Oskar food processor which I was given about twenty years ago by a friend emptying her aged parent's house. She already had one, and gave me the one her dad had for many years. I rarely use it, usually find it's not much trouble to use a knife, though it's a sturdy old item, well made.

But yesterday I was a bit tired, and after washing and chopping a lot of Misfits items, especially ginger, which is a real bother to peel and dice.

I got distracted by the ginger and thought I'd start  bit of it as a houseplant, with a possible long-term hope of harvesting a bit. Since this is organic it won't have been treated to stop sprouting. I've been wanting to do this for a while. 

I ordered plenty this time, so I could pick a section with little growing eyes and plant that. 

The ginger we eat is a rhizome, like iris, and is planted similarly, very shallowly. It grows sideways and sends up foliage on the way. It's strictly tropical so may need more heat for growth of the rhizome  than our summer will offer. I'll put it outside once the weather warms up. Meanwhile I'll watch with interest to see if it starts.

After that I peeled and diced and froze the rest of it.

Then I thought I'd drag out Oskar for the carrots. They were long and slender and I needed to shred them. I thought I'd spare my knuckles,  and go the high tech route.

First I had to find the moving parts, study the booklet to remember how to proceed, and translate the booklet (translated from the German, I think) into usable English.

There are two options, two different food containers, one for slicing and shredding, one for reducing to smithereens. I thought I'd try the shredding option. 

All set up, chute pointing at the bowl, vivid past memories of missing the bowl and  chuting fragments at high speed all over me and the floor. Oskar is small but powerful. 

Anyway all set, everything correctly in place, and I couldn't get it to start. I couldn't push hard enough to engage the start mechanism. 

This involves turning the bit holding the food through a counter clockwise half circle and into a slot with some force. I remember this was stiff last time. 

That bit sticking up is a pusher you use to keep the food moving into the blades. It's not part of making it run. But it needs to be ready there on the offchance you manage to start O.

Soooo I decided on the smithereen option instead, and did get that to work. A bit finer shreds than I wanted, but at this point, I was past arguing. 

I now have several cups of rainbow carrots shredded together, looking very pretty, for carrot cake, salad and maybe the leftovers in soup.

Oskar and I declared a draw. And his various parts are all washed and back on the shelf, the counters are all wiped, and the floor swept, and the carrot shreds wiped off my glasses. 

I have a Donna Leon ready as first aid, reading style