Fagor 6 Quart Pressure Cooker

With the Fagor 6 quart Pressure Cooker, I need to re-learn cooking, and re-think meals.

As is the case in many American households, dinner time in our house is a hit-or-miss proposition on many a night because of busy schedules and not enough time to prepare meals.

With the Fagor Pressure Cooker, a complete meal can be prepared in a fraction of the time required using more conventional methods (like the stovetop).

Case in point:

After lightly coating the bottom of the cooker with cooking oil, I browned three partially frozen boneless 1" thick pork chops, just until the pink was gone. I added a quarter cup of chianti wine, some garlic powder and pepper on top of the chops, placed the lid on the cooker and put it on the stove. In less than 5 minutes, the cooker was at full pressure and I reduced the heat under the cooker and set the timer to 12 minutes. While the chops cooked, I prepared instant rice and frozen vegetables in the microwave -- finishing up just as the timer for the cooker went off.

After the pressure was reduced and the lid removed, the pork chops were done perfectly. And, because pressure cooking seals in nutrients and flavor, those chops were the best I've ever made.

Next I did a pot roast, complete with potatoes, carrots and onions. I added a cup of of beef boullion and cooked at pressure for 35 minutes. The roast fell apart, and the potatoes and onions were done perfectly. I had fixed a complete meal in 35 minutes.

With prep time done ahead of time (maybe even the night before), "too busy for meals" will become a thing of the past in our household.

What I love about the Fagor Pressure Cooker is the ease of use. There is the cooker, the gasket, and the lid. My specific model has only one pressure setting -- high -- but there are other models with two pressure settings for a wider variety of cooking styles.

The cooker's double handle system is a real bonus for those of us with small or weak hands and enables the user to more safely carry the cooker from the stove to the sink (or wherever else it needs to be carried) without concerns of burns and/or dropping a heavy cooker, causing a dangerous release of steam (as I've seen with other cookers in the past).

Releasing the steam is also safer than it used to be in the days of the old(er) cookers. A simple turn of a dial begins the release process, unless a faster release is needed.

Finally, the cooker comes with a DVD on the use of the cooker and its companion accessories.

At approximately $70 for this cooker, it will pay for itself in the energy it saves in no time.

Out of 5 stars, I rate this cooker with 4.5 stars.

Blue Stop

Four years ago I fell and injured my knee while playing volleyball. The Bursar's sack was swollen and fluid-filled, and I required several weeks of physical therapy before I was able to walk without crutches.

That same year, while splitting wood, my axe missed the wood completely and my hand hit the jagged edge of the bark-covered stump. My pinkie finger was burst open, requiring eight stitches, and both knuckles had been broken.

I was showing the damaged finger (still in the healing process) to my mother-in-law who suggested that I put some emu oil on it to help keep it moisturized and possibly minimize scarring. She happened to have some and offered it to me for my use.

I loved what the emu oil did for my finger almost instantly. It took away that dried, reddish look to the still-healing scar, and kept it away for a couple of days. I was really impressed -- impressed enough that I went in search of emu oil to purchase for my own use. I searched the internet high and low and, in my search, ran across Blue Stop™.

I was intrigued with the list of ingredients in Blue Stop™:

Aloe Vera, MSM, Kokum Butter, Witch Hazel, Emu Oil, Tocopheryl Acetate Vitamin E, Coconut Oil, Mineral Oil, Glycerin, Carbomer 940, Menthol, Glucosamine, Propylene Glycol, Triethanolamine, Tetrasodium EDTA, DMDM Hydantoin, Diazolidinyl Urea, Natural Herbs and other Botanicals, FD&C Blue

Let's explore some of these ingredients.

EMU OIL

"Research shows emu oil to be almost 100% triglyceride in nature which means
that emu oil is almost a completely neutral lipid and as such has tremendous
medical and cosmetic possibilities as a base carrier and neutral emollient.
There was also a lack of phospholipids, which explains the emu oil's high
penetrating qualities since the human skin is phospholipid deficient." -- Clavel

Hundreds of years ago, aborigines discovered that emu oil served multiple purposes -- a moisturizer, antiseptic, pain reliever and even an effective burn treatment.

Concluding more than a decade of research on emu oil, Australian Dr. G.R. Hobday has determined that emu oil can provide effective relief from such maladies as eczema, Keloids, joint pain, burns, bruising and muscle pain, wounds and insect bites. Emu Oil is very high in anti-inflammatory properties and has proven to relieve joint pain, where the joint is located close to the skin.

There are even uncorroborated claims of renewed hair growth in balding men.

Most importantly, emu oil penetrates the skin rapidly and much more effectively than most topical ointments on the market today. Combined with other ingredients, it's easy to understand why it is such an effective pain relief product.

MSM
Short for methyl sulfonylmethane, MSM has emerged over the past two decades as a highly effective supplement used for treating chronic pain. When James Coburn won his Academy Award, he didn't go through the regular litany of people he wanted to thank, he thanked MSM.

You may remember the controversy surrounding the use of DMSO on humans some years ago. While DMSO was found to be highly effective on race horses, its use on humans was still not widely accepted. MSM is a derivative of DMSO.

While Coburn and many others take MSM orally, it has begun to be used topically to treat minor pain in conditions such as arthritis, tendonitis and fibromyalgia, to name a few.

Methyl sulfonylmethane is a naturally occurring element found in many of our foods but is destroyed when the food is processed for consumption. While there are still different schools of thought regarding the oral applications of MSM, it is becoming more and more popular as a topical application, when combined with other ingredients such as emu oil and glucosamine.

GLUCOSAMINE

Each person produces a certain amount of glucosamine within their bodies. When people grow older, their bodies lose the capacity to make enough glucosamine, so the cartilage in their weight-bearing joints, such as the hips, knees, and hands is destroyed, then hardens and forms bone spurs, causing pain, deformed joints, and limited joint movement.

Glucosamine is classified as a nutritional supplement by the FDA and therefore is not approved for internal use. Topical application, however, allows glucosamine to travel directly to the cartilage and joints, aided by the highly penetrating powers of emu oil.

There have been some indicators that glucosamine can actually aid in the healing and reparation of damaged cartilage.


With a one-two-three punch of Emu Oil, MSM and Glucosamine, it's no wonder we have found such remarkable success when using this product.

Add to this combination the witch hazel (astringent), Kokum Butter (absorbed quickly into the skin without oily/greasy residue), and the moisturizing effects of vitamin E, coconut oil and Aloe Vera and you've got a product that ot only relieves pain, but has beneficial effects for the skin as well.

We love this product and have been loaning out samples of it to our friends for years -- ever since we discovered it for ourselves. With only one exception, Blue Stop™ has brought pain relief to our family and friends as well as it has to ourselves. The exception didn't so much experience no relief, but instead developed a rash -- later finding that he was allergic to one of the ingredients.

We gave the small remnants of an 8 oz. container for my mother-in-law when she complained that the pain in her hands woke her out of a dead sleep each and every night. She's a diabetic and has a lot of calcium deposits on her bones, which cause a lot of discomfort. The morning after her first use, she was flabbergasted to find that she'd slept the entire night away, without any pain.

Some time later, her oil furnace began acting up and because she felt nauseus and headachy, decided that she and her husband should leave the house, out of fear of carbon monoxide poisoning. She quickly grabbed her insulin, her purse, and her Blue Stop™. We can't find better testimony for this product than hers.

We have used this product for a myriad of pain relief remedies. After a knee injury, it seems like the cold and/or damp weather gets those knees to aching and, when that happens, I just put some Blue Stop™ on, and within minutes have reliefe from that pain.

After taking a fall on the ice and injuring my hip and experiencing a lot of sciatic pain, the Blue Stop™ has been a godsend when that sciatic nerve starts acting up. After a day of heavy gardening, when every bone in my body feels like it's screaming, Blue Stop™ makes me feel like a new woman.

What we have found with this product is that it isn't enough to just rub it on like you would a lotion. A little bit goes a long way and we find that, if we massage the Blue Stop™ into the affected area until we feel no more moisture, and then cover that area, we can feel it begin to work almost instantly.

While Blue Stop™ might seem a bit overpriced, you will find almost immediately that you have gotten a good value for your money. An 8 oz. bottle lasts our family 8 months to a year, depending on what home improvement or gardening projects we get ourselves into.

We carry sample/pocket sizes for you to try this product, as well as 1 oz. tubes that can be easily carried in a purse or gym bag.

Camping with Coleman

I love camping!

I realized last week, when I looked around our campsite that, if you were to take away anything with the Coleman brand on it, we'd be without just about everything we need for camping.

We have the 9x7 Sundome Tent which, by it's size and rating, is supposed to be for four people. Well, in all fairness to Coleman, when you think about just laying down and sleeping and doing nothing else, four people would probably fit comfortably in this tent. The problem is, if you're sleeping four people in this tent, there's no room for anything else. You can't stow your gear inside the tent and, if you're camping and have food and other items, it's really inconvenient to have to stow everything in the vehicle which could be parked quite some ways away.

Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my Sundome Tent but it's in my nature to sprawl, so it just doesn't suit our needs as far as space. And, as I get older, I find that hunching down inside a tent for an extended period of time doesn't do my neck and shoulders a lot of good, as it's only 59" tall at the center point.

This is a nice little tent, though. For two people with gear, it's adequate, provided you don't have an extraordinary amount of gear. We found that a queen sized air mattress fit nicely in the tent, and that left a bit of room to store a couple of small totes and still afford us room to stand (hunched) and change our clothes. For $60 (48.99 at BJs Wholesale Club for the 8x10 version), it's a good value if you don't require much other than a simple shelter for yourself and your gear.

We moved up to the Montana Big Sky with whopping dimensions of 16x7, rated to sleep seven people. Now, this tent retails at the Coleman web site for over $160 but we got ours for just about half that with an instant rebate combined with "wholesale" pricing at BJ's Wholesale Club.

The Montana Big Sky is 75 inches at the center point, allowing stand-up entry. It's roomy interior allows for that queen-sized air mattress without crowding the tent. There is ample room to not only stow gear, but set up sling chairs as well, if you need to shelter in the tent due to inclement weather. A window on every side, coupled with the mesh screen door allows this tent extraordinary ventilation while still keeping you dry.

Easy-up assembly using a simple shock-cord system is a plus, too.

Anticipating rain, we also took our Coleman Insta-Clip Screenhouse. At 13x11, the campsite picnic table not only fits easily inside, but there is ample room left to stow equipment and move around. Built-in UV Protection, two "D" doors, and shock-cord assembly make this structure a must-have for any camping trip -- and we don't go camping without it.

Coleman's tents and shelters come with their own weatherproof carrying cases, too. We always stow them up on the luggage rack for the drive to the campgrounds and, even after having driven through heavy rain, the equipment inside the bags was completely dry.

Accessories that are nice to have:

Coleman 2-mantle propane lantern - with attachable, folding feet for stability. Attaches to a 16 oz. tank. Lights easily with a match. Under $30.

Coleman freestanding organizer -- Flexible rod assembly (very much like tent shock-cords), three levels, holds a lot. Use it to store toiletries, keys, cameras, or other items that you want easy access to. With this organizer, you won't have to keep digging through bags for those things you need. Under $12.

Coleman tent fan -- for those hot, hazy, humid nights when the air isn't moving to create a breeze. This little fan moves a lot of air quickly. Runs on one "D" cell battery and will run all night long on that battery. Under $16.

Coleman 2 burner camp stove -- Hooks up to a 2.5 pint coleman propane tank, but will also hook up to the standard 16.5 oz. tanks as well. Powerful and reliable little unit that puts out 20,000+ BTUs. Included side wind blocking shields keep the stove lit even during high winds. Under $65.

Coleman illumisticks -- we bought a box of them (two dozen, I think). We hang them from the zippers of the screenhouse and the doors to the tent so that, in the middle of the night, if we need to get up and get out for any reason, the zippers are easily located. They also make great nightlights for any little ones you might have with you.

Don't look here for any reviews on camp kitchens, battery-operated blenders or other "luxuries." In my mind, that ain't camping.

A final thought...

Coleman products are really a great value for the money. They're built well, distributed by a company with a good and reliable name, and many of them carry really good guarantees. Unfortunately, dealing directly with Coleman through their web site is not only inadvisable, it's highly discouraged. The web site is very slow. After repeated attempts to contact Coleman via email without any response, I called the customer service line where I waited on hold for eighteen minutes before a customer service representative finally came on the line. Two minutes later, unable to answer my question about my order, he put me on hold where, after twelve minutes, I finally got disgusted and hung up.

Items in my order that were either backordered or ship-delayed were simply revised each day as to the "ship by" date. It changed by one day every day. No email notifications were sent out regarding stock status or delivery dates. Finally, after 36 days of waiting, I canceled my order and went directly to Dick's Sporting Goods and bought the items I had ordered that, for some reason, Coleman couldn't find in stock to ship to us.

That's really too bad, too, because great products absolutely NEED great customer service.

Where to find Coleman products: WalMart, Target, Gander Mountain, BJs Wholesale Club, KMart, Dunhams.

Out of 10 stars, we rate Coleman products:

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