We’re big fans of stainless steel products, including our lemon squeezer. When it came time to finding a steamer for making our own baby food we decided to invest in a stainless steel product as well.

This time we opted for Progressive’s Steamer Basket. Unlike Tramontina’s product line, Progressive’s tend to be slightly more affordable and available at national stores such as Bed Bath and Beyond.

Unfortunately, the availability and affordability comes with a cost as the product doesn’t feel as sturdy as the Tramontina product line. So, while we’re not going to be recommending the product to serious chef’s, it does work as a frugal solution, especially since we’re trying to use this for making our own baby food.

With the steamer, it’s a breeze to make baby food and in our case we’ve followed the steps below to make everything from sweet potatoes to apple sauce:

1. Wash and dice the vegetables or fruit to be steamed
2. Fill a pot with enough water so that the bottom of the steamer basket touches the water
3. Place the diced vegetables or fruit into the steamer basket and place it in the pot
4. Cover the pot with a lid and place the pot on the stove and turn it to medium heat
5. Steam the vegetables or fruit until you can pierce them with a fork or mash them with a fork
6. Remove the steam basket when the vegetables or fruit are finished. We save the water to use during the puree process.
7. Puree the vegetables or fruit

The time has come to say good bye to our Youngstown Kitchen by Mullins.

Happy to be a resident of No. BL, fully translated to be, North of Baltimore and Lansdowne Avenues.

Happier still that the new Sycamore venture, No. BL is about to open.

Some interesting facts I stumbled on via the Whirlpool Corporation Fact Sheet:

Basic Facts

• Of the products we make, more than 80 percent of those sold in the U.S. are made in the U.S.
• Whirlpool exports approximately 12 percent of its U.S. made products to other countries.
• 7,500 jobs that support our global operations are located in the U.S.
• Additional exported products help fund additional U.S. investments.

Operations Investment

• Each year Whirlpool Corporation spends more than $7.4 billion to operate its nine U.S. plants and keep its approximately 15,000 manufacturing employees at work.
• Whirlpool employs more U.S. manufacturing workers than all of its major competitors combined.

Remind me again why we’re looking at Whirlpool appliances for our kitchen?

Made in America = Rare

Made in America = Pride

Made in America = Whirlpool

Argana, a Moroccan restaurant, located at 2 North Lansdowne Avenue, Lansdowne PA (i.e. the corner of Baltimore Avenue and Lansdowne Avenue) is now open for business. You may call them at 484-461-9595 for more information or follow the restaurant on Facebook or visit the Argana Restaurant website.

Apparently, after the birth of a baby, you can send a birth announcement card to the White House Greetings Office with the name of the baby, birth date, name of the parents and a return mailing address and receive a greeting from the President.

To request the greeting, send the announcement to the following address:

White House Greetings Office
Room 39
Washington, DC 20500

We decided to try and look what we just received in the mail:

Grab your free “Xbox Loves You Avatar T-Shirt” by using the codes below:

1. Male T-Shirt
• W6TM9-GVPHK-CC7R6-4V3GV-RDGFZ
2. Female T-Shirt
• 49G3X-PFRW2-XKHQC-GRXVF-4HXPZ

Note, this deal can only be redeemed by once. To redeem your token for your Avatar T-Shirt:

1. Visit https://live.xbox.com/RedeemToken
2. Select “Redeem Code” from the “Xbox LIVE” dropdown
3. Enter the appropriate male or female T-Shirt code

As part of our “How much does it cost?” series, we recently had our air ducts cleaned. The whole project ended up costing $500 with a NADCA (National Air Duct Cleaners Association) certified HVAC company in Delaware county, Pennsylvania.

As always, standard disclaimer applies as costs vary based on your location, project requirements,  permits and other fees.

The company we ended up using is called Interior Maintenance Company (IMC) in Lansdowne PA. We selected the company because it was based in Lansdowne and we wanted to support our local town in some way. The company provided an estimate based on the number of registers we had in our home. Their current breakdown of costs based on registers:

• 1 – 6 registers – $295
• 7 – 9 registers – $385
• 10 – 12 registers – $440
• 13 – 15 registers – $490
• 16 – 18 registers – $540
• 19 – 21 registers – $590
• 22 – 24 registers – $650
• 25 – 27 registers – $710

For a free event, history in any form is worth every moment. For a harvest festival at Newlin Grist Mill it’s a whole other experience.

As described on the Newlin Grist Mill site:

We enjoyed all of this thanks to Nathaniel and Mary Newlin, who in 1704, built a water-powered grist mill along the West Branch of Chester Creek.

Has anyone used Arnica Gel to soothe pain from vaccination shots? We picked up a tube from Whole Foods after hearing friends talk about how they loved the product, especially since it was considered to be a homeopathic medicine.

From the Arnicare website,

Thoughts? Comments?