About Me 0083: calabasas

Friday, July 20, 2012

Everything You Should Know Before Attempting Any Home Improvement

The Cuisinart Mini-Mate Plus Chopper Grinder is an essential kitchen tool! I find that I use this little appliance quite often and for the most common tasks.

This little appliance consists of a small bowl that fits over the motor section. Inside the bowl you place a small blade piece that is reversible. That is, you can put it in upside down or right side up, depending on finely you want the food inside to be chopped. One side will chop the food and the other side is more of a mixing blade, a great little feature! The motor is mounted on top of the bowl and there are two speeds of processing.

The bowl on this small appliance only holds about 1 cup of food or liquid or a combination thereof so it is not meant for large jobs. However, if you want to chop some hard cheese like parmesan for topping the casserole you just cooked, this is the perfect choice. Or, if you want to chop some carrots or celery for a salad, it is so much easier to put them into this handy little appliance than to chop them yourself. It is also great for chopping spices such as cinnamon stick and it works great with nuts. I often buy whole nuts because they are cheaper and then chop them. I do almonds a lot because I love green beans almondine!

This is also good if you want to combine a more liquid ingredient really well. For esample, I make single servings of instant pudding for my children in this little Cuisinart. I simply add ½ cup of milk and a scoop of pudding mix (the scoop is exactly 3 tablespoons in case anyone wants to try this) and turn it on and off a few times and my children have pudding. It is much cheaper than purchasing those individual pre-made cups of pudding and you KNOW it has real milk in it!

In my opinion, the greatest thing about this mini chopper/grinder is that is is soo easy to clean. I have a large Cuisinart Food Processor and I only drag it out for really big jobs because I hate to clean it! This little chopper is so easy. I simply rinse the bowl out and put it in the dishwasher. The blade also gets rinsed and put into the dishwasher (I have a little basket on the top rack that is usually used for baby bottle nipples or sippy cup valves but it works great for the chopper blade too). The motor part of the chopper is simply wiped clean with a sponge and a paper towel and you're done.

This chopper also takes up very little counter space so it lives on my counter at all times. This way it is always handy and ready to use but I don't have to worry about not having room to keep it.

There is nothing I would change about this product except to make it more widely available. I bought this little appliance several years ago and I went to purchase one for my cousin and found that it was very hard, but not totally impossible, to find. I had to do an online search and I was finally able to find it.

Monday, July 16, 2012

The Best Advice In Home Appliance Repair For You

What's a gal to do when she moves to a new town with her 10-year old washing machine, and it conks out on her right as she starts a new job? Learning who is reliable in a new town can be a difficult chore, but here in Abilene, I found a great answer in Don's Appliance Service.

Perhaps banging around in a borrowed farm trailer for six hours on the move from Brenham to Abilene had something to do with it, or perhaps the key factor was reaching its tenth birthday, but, at any rate, my washing machine did not work recently, right after I had filled my black Kenmore Ultra Fabric Care with a load of darks and hit "No" (I have had to hit "No" after "Start" to make the built-in computer bypass the detergent dispenser ever since some type of computer glitch struck six years ago; finding that bypass spared me from having to replace the entire motherboard). The machine filled as usual, but the moment agitation began, Holy Moly! It made a hideous grinding noise, as if it were chewing on rocks. I turned it off pronto.

I decided that a repair service was in order. My husband agreed. Since the machine is a Kenmore, we started with Sears. After waiting about four minutes on hold, I took the pre-recorded voice's suggestion to check out the Sears website. To do this, I had to register with the site. Once in, I learned that there would be a minimum $65 service fee. I worried that they might get here, find the problem, and have to make a second trip with the proper parts. Further, although I could schedule the date online, I had no control over the time of day. This was a serious problem for me, since I had just started a new job and could not take time off. Disenchanted, I decided to do further research.

I first called West Texas Appliance Parts and Service. Their fee for a service call was less ($58.95), and the hourly rate was $60. The person on the phone warned me that if the repairman needed to return with parts, there would be a minimum cost of $30 in labor for the second trip. I decided to check on some others.

The next number I called was for a service no longer in business. I had an informative dialog with the former business owner, Joe, and he referred me to Don's Appliance Service. Don was on another job, but he called me back within ten minutes. His estimate was much less, and he came over immediately. He found that the problem was the drive coupling, as he had suspected from our conversation. He offered me a choice of a $12.95 part or a heavy-duty one costing about twenty-five bucks. Curious, I asked him which was more appropriate. He asked me if I had ever had trouble with the machine before. When I told him no, he explained, "Well, you see, some folks constantly overload their machines with comforters, or too many towels and jeans at once, and after they've broken the coupling several times, I offer them the heavy-duty one. Too heavy a load will still break the coupler, but it takes longer." I was impressed by his honesty with me.

The repair was done in a flash, it was successful, and my total bill for parts, labor, and tax was $78.97. (Joe had predicted $125.) Don charged me $60 for the service call, but he listened to me on the phone first, and made only one trip. I do not know what the other companies would have charged for the part, but I could have started with $90 in labor for two trips due to not having the proper part (though, to be fair, the necessary part was so common that they would most likely have had it with them). What I really liked was that Don was there on the very same day that I called, within an hour. I did not have to make any arrangements with someone else to be there, nor ask for any time off. I was very pleased to make the acquaintance of Mr. Don Warren.

A caveat, though: he doesn't work on the computer parts. Avowing that a washing machine needs no more than three buttons, he prefers old-fashioned models, not the computerized plethora of cycles and controls afforded by computerized models. So if the problem could be with the motherboard, you should call someone else. But when you know you have a purely mechanical problem or a simple electrical one (like replacing the electrical harness or a lid switch), Don's your man. As an added bonus, Don claims to be the only repairman left in Abilene who still rebuilds motors. In some cases, rebuilding a motor might cost a customer far less than buying a new one--and on an older model it might not be worth replacing the motor with a new one, anyway.

Don's Appliance Service is located at 2234 Poplar in Abilene. His number is 325-675-8421. Don also repairs dryers and and other appliances.

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