EPISODE #65 -
SATURDAY MARCH 19, 2011
Welcome back… We took a week off last week (NCAA basketball
knocked us off the air) and now we are back for the rest of the
season. We picked a good week to take a break. The weather has
been rainy and we just felt like sitting around the house and
not working too much. But now that our batteries are recharged
we are ready to jump into spring.
Remodel Home Designer
Tackling a
home remodel is a daunting task. If you don’t plan carefully,
the costs of your remodel can skyrocket and the job may not turn
out to be what you want. To get some tips for success we met
with Louise Farrar-Wegener of
Z-3 Design
Studios (503-579-0452). Louise is an expert in remodeling
design and she has worked with clients all over the world to
make sure their projects come out right the first time. When we
met with her at one of her projects we saw that it was hard to
tell what had been remodeled! The design should be seamless so
that it looks natural like it has always been there. That
seamless approach comes with working closely with your
designer. The designer will look at the function of the room
and what your family does in the room. If you have kids or pets
it can really change the design. In the case of a kitchen, if
you entertain a lot or love to cook, those become factors in
your final design. All these are considerations for your
design. You should also look at the type of style you would
like in the room. Picking a style and staying true to it is
hard and, once again, that is where a designer can help you.
They can take an overwhelming job and help break it into
manageable pieces. By using experts you can actually protect
yourself from making mistakes and having costly overruns to your
budget. If you are considering doing a remodel make sure you do
your homework first so you can have a great experience with your
remodel.
Tasting Your Wine
Finding the
right wine may be at the tip of your tongue. Denise Brown
joined David to explain how to taste wine and what you should be
looking for in a good wine. Denise is a wine ambassador for
Willamette Valley Vineyards and she also has her own business
called Pour, Pair,
Toast & Taste (503-914-7515) where she does private dinners
and wine pairings. Today she walked David through some of her
tips. She started by telling us about the ‘5’s’ of wine making;
juice, yeast, barrel, age and a great winemaker. These in
combination are what can make a really great wine (or in the
wrong hands a terrible wine). Fortunately the Willamette Valley
pinots that she brought are very fine wines!!! Next she told us
about the tongue. There are 5 tastes to the human tongue,
sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and the new flavor, savory.
Depending on where the wine lands on your tongue can change the
taste that you experience or even what flavors you taste first.
Denise then walked David through some different Willamette
Valley Vineyards’ Pinot Noirs. Each of these wines, even though
they are from the same grape, had totally different tastes.
Flavors ran from peppery and chocolaty to having faint hints of
pine and berries. You can see by the different styles of Pinots
why it can change what you taste when you pair them with certain
dishes like salmon or red meat. If you would like to learn more
about wines you can take a tour at
Willamette Valley
Vineyards (800-344-9463) or even better, contact Denise
about scheduling a dinner and some wine pairings at your home
with some friends!
NYC – Lemon Curd We have a new
segment we are proud to introduce called ‘Now you’re cooking
with Natural Gas’ presented by NW Natural. Jenna Cooper-Gross
is the host of these segments and she joined Chef David in the
kitchen at the
NW
Natural Appliance Center (503-220-2362) to whip up a tasty
‘Meyer lemon curd’. This recipe is similar to custard and it
comes out tasting rich and creamy. Curds go great with scones,
crumpets or even on a piece of toast. You can also use them as
a filling for cakes or tarts. Chef David picked Meyer lemons
because you can find them at stores now and some people even
grow them in the Pacific Northwest. You don’t need much to make
the curd. 2 eggs, one egg yoke, the juice from a Meyer’s lemon,
the zest from the same lemon and some butter. You will also
need a double boiler because you don’t want to burn this! You
start by adding the eggs, the yoke and the sugar together and
whisk until the sugar is dissolved. Add the lemon juice and
zest. Keep whisking until the mixture turns opaque and starts
to thicken. Add the butter, whisk until it is melted and then
strain out the zest (if you want) and let it chill in the
refrigerator. Once chilled you can serve it to your guests or
enjoy it yourself. If you can’t find Meyer lemons you can use
regular lemons but you need to increase the sugar by 33-50
percent (to taste).
For copies of this recipe you can link
here. Chef David
also had the pleasure of cooking on the DCS stove by Fisher &
Paykel that has five burners, a very unique feature. Plus what
really made Chef David happy was the fact that it can get down
to a low simmer temperature, so low it reaches just 140 degrees
so there was no danger of burning the curd! If you would like
to learn more about this great natural gas stove, stop by the NW
Natural Appliance Center!
Oregon Hot Tub
If you are
considering a hot tub or spa for your home you probably have a
lot of questions, I know the Fusion crew did. So we met with
James Fossen from the
Oregon Hot
Tub Company (877-533-7772) to see if we could get some of
those questions answered. The new styles of hot tubs are really
loaded with lots of toys! You can get a bunch of features with
tubs these days; from massagers and different seating
configurations to cool lighting patterns and wireless TV’s,
there are so many things to choose from. The best thing is the
ease of installation and maintenance. You don’t need much to
install a new tub. Some of the newer tubs just need a secure
platform (you can even put them on an existing deck) and a
regular electrical outlet. As far as maintenance, you don’t
have to load up on chlorine either. There are new products that
are safer and easy to use. If you are just too busy to keep up
on the maintenance, the Oregon Hot Tub people will come out and
take care of that for you. The best feature to the new tubs is
the emphasis on energy efficiency. The newer tubs cost just a
couple bucks a month to operate, so relaxing in your tub won’t
eat you out of house and home. Take the stress out of buying a
hot tub by checking with the experts at Oregon Hot Tub Company.
How to Choose a Vacuum
Cleaning your
home well is not just a springtime chore; it is something you
can tackle year-round. To do a good job you need the right
tool! To learn about choosing the right vacuum we went to
Starks Vacuums
(800-230-4101) and talked to Ken Raasch. The first thing you
need to think about; what are your needs? What kind of flooring
do you have? Do you have allergies, pets, or children? All
those can help narrow down the type of unit you need. Next we
looked at the benefits of canisters versus uprights. If you
have primarily carpet in your home, the upright is the way to
go. If you have a combination of different flooring or stairs
then a canister may work better for you. Another consideration
is allergies. If someone in your family has an allergy then you
will want to get a unit that filters the air with a HEPA
filter. These filters remove much more dust and pollen
particles than the older units do.
Pay attention
to price too. The higher priced models are designed to last
longer and do a better job of cleaning. Of course you can check
with an expert at Starks to learn about the different models
they have and which one will work for you.
Tip of the week – Waste Baskets
Our tip of the
week will help you keep your hands clean when taking out the
trash. Just place a piece of paper towel in the bottom of the
trash can when it is empty. Then when it is time to dump the
trash it will all come out at once and you won’t have to scrape
the bottom to get all the ‘sticky’s’ that are stuck there. |
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