Food, Entertainment, and Arts
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
101 Things I Love about Portland Maine
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
101 Things I love about Portland Maine
271.Need a quick safe tan before you go on a cruise or to sunny clime?
Try Acapulco for a variety of services including beds and booths.
http://www.localacapulcomaine.com/
Try Acapulco for a variety of services including beds and booths.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Sunday, November 18, 2012
101 Things I Love about Portland Maine
270.The Tavern at Brunswick Station: Pleasant surroundings for a delicious brunch. Try the eggs Benedict or a juicy burger!
http://innatbrunswickstation.com/tavern_dining/
Thursday, November 15, 2012
How to Clean Up After Thanksgiving in Half the Time
How to Clean Up After Thanksgiving in Half the Time
Want something to be thankful for? Check out these tips that’ll make your Thanksgiving kitchen cleanup faster and easier — and will give you more time to enjoy family and friends.
Plan a potluck: The first Thanksgiving was a potluck; so let your guests share the fun and bring dishes to share. Then make sure they take home their serving bowls and platters, which will cut down on dishes to wash and put away.
Decide on disposable: Leave Mom’s good dishes in the breakfront and set your table with disposable — and recyclable — place settings. Party stores sell plastic dishware that look like real china (12 dinner plates for about $13). After eating, collect and toss. If you can’t stand to set a table with anything but your best, use disposables for hors d’oeuvres and dessert.
Triple-duty cookware: Cut down on cleanup by selecting cookware that can go from oven to table to freezer. Or, serve food in edible containers, such as bread bowls or hollowed-out winter squash, which you can either consume or compost.
Empty fridge: Start your holiday with a clean slate, which will make the inevitable mess less daunting than piling clutter onto clutter. Before beginning Thanksgiving prep, pick up depressing home clutter and clean out your fridge to make room for ingredients and leftovers.
If possible, designate a shelf for Thanksgiving food, which should be empty when you start your meal, then filled with leftovers when you’re finished. In a week, clean out that shelf again. Make soup from leftover meat and veggies, and then freeze. Compost wilted greens. Toss old dairy products.
Prepare roasting pans: You won’t have to clean what you don’t get dirty. So line your turkey roasting pans with heavy-duty aluminum foil, or cook the bird in a bag. Pour drippings into a pot to make gravy, then throw away the liner.
Line garbage cans: Double- or triple-line garbage cans, which saves time when the cleaning campaign begins. After you toss a trash bag, there’s another waiting for action.
Soaking bin: Soak pots and pans as soon as you transfer food to platters. But instead of filling the sink with soaking pots, designate a small trashcan as the soaking spot. Fill it will soapy water and dirty pots, and hide it under a sink or in a mudroom. That way, your sink is free throughout the evening to clean as you go and rinse dishes on the way to the dishwasher.
Stop stains: Don’t let stains on carpet or rings on furniture set. While wine stains are still wet, dab with go-to cleaner hydrogen peroxide mixed with a few drops of dish detergent; blot with a clean cloth. Get rid of water stains on wood furniture with a dab of white toothpaste (not gel). Rub in the direction of the grain.
Pump up the music: Up-tempo music will give you a second wind for cleaning. So turn off the soothing dinner tunes and get rocking with our cleaning playlist.
Decide on disposable: Leave Mom’s good dishes in the breakfront and set your table with disposable — and recyclable — place settings. Party stores sell plastic dishware that look like real china (12 dinner plates for about $13). After eating, collect and toss. If you can’t stand to set a table with anything but your best, use disposables for hors d’oeuvres and dessert.
Triple-duty cookware: Cut down on cleanup by selecting cookware that can go from oven to table to freezer. Or, serve food in edible containers, such as bread bowls or hollowed-out winter squash, which you can either consume or compost.
Empty fridge: Start your holiday with a clean slate, which will make the inevitable mess less daunting than piling clutter onto clutter. Before beginning Thanksgiving prep, pick up depressing home clutter and clean out your fridge to make room for ingredients and leftovers.
If possible, designate a shelf for Thanksgiving food, which should be empty when you start your meal, then filled with leftovers when you’re finished. In a week, clean out that shelf again. Make soup from leftover meat and veggies, and then freeze. Compost wilted greens. Toss old dairy products.
Prepare roasting pans: You won’t have to clean what you don’t get dirty. So line your turkey roasting pans with heavy-duty aluminum foil, or cook the bird in a bag. Pour drippings into a pot to make gravy, then throw away the liner.
Line garbage cans: Double- or triple-line garbage cans, which saves time when the cleaning campaign begins. After you toss a trash bag, there’s another waiting for action.
Soaking bin: Soak pots and pans as soon as you transfer food to platters. But instead of filling the sink with soaking pots, designate a small trashcan as the soaking spot. Fill it will soapy water and dirty pots, and hide it under a sink or in a mudroom. That way, your sink is free throughout the evening to clean as you go and rinse dishes on the way to the dishwasher.
Stop stains: Don’t let stains on carpet or rings on furniture set. While wine stains are still wet, dab with go-to cleaner hydrogen peroxide mixed with a few drops of dish detergent; blot with a clean cloth. Get rid of water stains on wood furniture with a dab of white toothpaste (not gel). Rub in the direction of the grain.
Pump up the music: Up-tempo music will give you a second wind for cleaning. So turn off the soothing dinner tunes and get rocking with our cleaning playlist.
Lisa Kaplan GordonLisa Kaplan Gordon is a HouseLogic contributor and builder of luxury homes in McLean, Va. She’s been a Homes editor for Gannett News Service and has reviewed home improvement products for AOLRead more: http://www.houselogic.com/home-advice/maintenance-repair/easy-thanksgiving/#ixzz2CK8PqIQ2
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
101 Things I Love about Portland Maine
269. Fun new place to shop in Portland: Circa Home~~lots of fun items including nostalgia and vintage plus home decor and furniture.
https://www.facebook.com/CircaHomeAndVintage
101 Things I Love about Portland Maine
268. Zen Chinese Bistro: elegant surroundings for delicious, fresh Chinese fare. Good luncheon specials with rice, tea, veggie spring roll, and soup.
http://www.zenportland.biz/Zen_Chinese_Bistro_Portland_ME.html
Monday, November 12, 2012
101 Things I Love about Portland Maine
267. Salt Water Grill in South Portland
Delicious and fresh seafood, fantastic views of Portland, and lounge with fireplace.
Saturday, November 10, 2012
101 Thing I Love about Portland Maine
266.Old Vines Wine Bar in Kennebunk~~Great specialty cocktails skillfully prepared and delicious tapas including a nice selection of cheeses and meats, olives or fried, spiced Spanish almonds.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Radiant Heat
Radiant Heat Takes the Chill Out of Your Remodel
Adding radiant heat is an easier remodeling project for your family room, bathroom, and basement than you think.
Some radiant heat mats are only 1/8-inch thick, so they won't interfere with
doors and thresholds. Make sure the subfloor is clear or debris before
installing. Image: Nuheat Floor Heating Systems
Any time is a good time to warm your family room, bathroom, and basement with
radiant heat. While forced air systems heat the air, radiant heat warms people
and objects. Although adding some radiance to your home is easiest when you’re
starting from scratch—everything is easier when building new—upgrading to
radiant heat when you’re remodeling will work, too. Here’s how to radiate warmth
to your family room, bath, and basement.
Heat your family room from the bottom up
Radiant heat is a natural for family room floors. If your basement ceiling is unfinished, installers can snake hot water-filled tubes between floor joists, and then cover and anchor them with aluminum heat-transfer plates. Toasty transfer plates and the warm air trapped within the joists heat the floor above, which radiates warmth to kids leaning on elbows in front of TVs.
Turn your bath into a spa
Stepping out of the shower onto a radiant-heated ceramic tile floor is not only bliss, it’s energy-efficient and easy to accomplish. Install either:
Radiant heat flooring panels, which operate between 150 and 170°F, rid your basement of that dank feeling fast. Installers can lay radiant heat panels over the existing concrete floor (it’s about 30% cheaper than snaking between floor joists) or embed tubing or electric coils within a new pour.
Radiant heat panels are usually 1 inch thick, which could be a problem if you’ve got a low ceiling or a tall family, so measure carefully before deciding. Also investigate local building codes, which may require you to change the tread height of the bottom step or, possibly, redo the entire staircase.
Radiant heat is a natural for family room floors. If your basement ceiling is unfinished, installers can snake hot water-filled tubes between floor joists, and then cover and anchor them with aluminum heat-transfer plates. Toasty transfer plates and the warm air trapped within the joists heat the floor above, which radiates warmth to kids leaning on elbows in front of TVs.
Turn your bath into a spa
Stepping out of the shower onto a radiant-heated ceramic tile floor is not only bliss, it’s energy-efficient and easy to accomplish. Install either:
- Half-inch radiant heat plywood panels pre-grooved to hold hot-water-filled plastic tubes. They’ll raise the height of the finished floor slightly, so you may have to adjust doors or add a new threshold to ease the transition.
- Electric radiant heat mats wired to, best of all worlds, a dedicated circuit. Some companies makes a fiberglass mesh mat that is only 1/8 inch thick, so you don’t have to mess with doors or thresholds.
Radiant heat flooring panels, which operate between 150 and 170°F, rid your basement of that dank feeling fast. Installers can lay radiant heat panels over the existing concrete floor (it’s about 30% cheaper than snaking between floor joists) or embed tubing or electric coils within a new pour.
Radiant heat panels are usually 1 inch thick, which could be a problem if you’ve got a low ceiling or a tall family, so measure carefully before deciding. Also investigate local building codes, which may require you to change the tread height of the bottom step or, possibly, redo the entire staircase.
Read more: http://www.houselogic.com/home-advice/heating-cooling/radiant-heat-takes-chill-out-your-remodel/#ixzz2BgyqIdom
Monday, November 5, 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)