Ron Popeil fear me

[Jack Crow]

Hi all,
Good New Years Day to all here.
Have a little Be Bop Deluxe playing in the background and about to generate a new article.
Ready?
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There is an old line that reads 'necessity is the mother of invention'.

In my world it should read 'Irritation is the necessity of invention'.

It dawned on me that most of my little projects are the result of one annoyance or another.
That could explane why I am rarely invited to parties.
I understand, no blame assigned.

Anyhow, branching out from the workshop and into the kitchen.
Lots of room for improvement.

Had a knee go souar in the last few weeks.
So formerly simple things are now complex and painful.

True story time.

The wife and I keep our cutting board in a kitchen cabinet.
For most people it is a sensible thing to do.
In this case just above floor level.
With the bad knee what was once simple started to be a lot less fun.

Worked out this little gem.
A simple holder for the cutting board.

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In this photo you can see the 'notch' or channel the cutting board handle fits in.
Looked a little strange taking a dial vernier to the cutting board but it allowed me to get the minimum channel width just right.

This second photo is with the cutting board removed.

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The wife and I have Keurig machine.
Works well.
We also use the re loadable kind of cups.
Due to the way they are made, there is a little nub on the bottom that prevent them from sitting flat.
The rub, there is no good way to stow them since they tend to fall over and roll around.

Worked up this little holder for the Keurig cups.
It fits in the internal gap of the cabinet door.
Measured that at 135mm, and the flanges came out to 150mm.
Had to lie to Cura again to get just a little bit more out of the Simple Metal printer.
For the moment it's held in place with double sided tape until I know for sure the wife is happy with the location.

Also included a little pocket for any product information / coupons we may want to keep from the packaging.

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The plan is to make more of them to stow a whole box of 12 or 18 cups
Also put them high enough so that the space now taken buy the suspended cups is not used by a shelf or spice containers.

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This last item is the one I worked out first.

It is said that confession is good for the soul, let's find out.

Im from an ethnic Italian family.

All four of the grandparents came off the boat from Italy in the 1890's.

So in most respects, Im an ethnic Italian too.
I don't speak but a few words of Italian, and I am not in the mob. (retirement plan is rough)
Part of that is some limited cultural things, but mostly a craving for the food I enjoyed growing up.
Finding the proper goodies in this fly over country that is Virginia Beach VA is not so easy.

Remember the ending of Goodfellas where Henry Hill is complaining about living like everyone else?
A lot like that.

Have not found a good Italian Deli here yet.
Let alone a Pork Store.

It was worse in Baghdad but that was to be expected.

Anyhow, I have learned to make do with what I can find in the local markets.

Changing gears for a little bit...

Like many of my relatives (now departed) getting fat is real easy to do.
Rich food and healthy lifestyle run as phase cancellation to each other.

Life's required compromise is to eat well and eat less.

Most of Italian cooking is a bit of this and a chunk of that.
Organic chemistry done by feel and intuition.
Can't afford to do that any more.

So when I cook I tend to measure out the amounts.
On the plus side it works out very well.
I can make consistent food products.

One way to organize what was once once a by guess and by golly method is to use standardized measurements.

Have a little strain gauge scale for that task.
For loose pasta, a small plastic bowl on the scale works great.

When I went to measure a few ounces of spaghetti on it, the round dry rods of the pasta wanted to roll off and on to the floor.
More of that painful bending to pick it up before the dog snags it stuff.
Not good.

So after a few events of this type I got the bug to work on gadgets for the kitchen.

This is the spaghetti / linguine pasta holder.
Had to test it, so that was lunch today.

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Guessed the sizes just about perfect, 4oz fits in the center section, and the edges hold about one oz more each.

Need to add some non skid rubber feet and it will be finished.

Tuesday, is back to work day.
Hope all is well on your end.

Jack Crow aka Radio Mike in the Italian challenged area of Virginia Beach.

ps Cura said the pasta holder would be 43 grams, and it was!