melt

Note to self:

Chocolate truffles melt at lower temperatures than chocolate bars. At 81 to 83 degrees F, they will melt together into a puddle of goo. Always put them in the refrigerator right away.

However, if they do melt, all is not lost. Put the bag of goo into the refrigerator for about 10 minutes, to firm it up some. Then use 2 small spoons to drop small mounds of the melted chocolate onto a baking pan lined with wax paper, and put it back in the refrigerator.


Note to self:

Based on past notes, the following may be good refrigerator settings. I'll need to further monitor the temperatures to make sure.

Keep the temperature control (in the refrigerator) between 3 and 4*.
Keep the air control (in the freezer) at a low value such as 1*, to ensure maximum cold air flow to the refrigerator section.

The freezer is good around 0 degrees F.
The refrigerator should preferably be between 32 and 40 degrees F.

* Setting the temp control to 4, and the air control to 2, keeps fridge at 38 degrees and freezer at -5 degrees F**.

** Air temperature. Would need different thermometers to measure food temperature.

done and to-do

Did Yesterday:

- vacuumed a bit
- cleaned toilet
- cleaned tub and tub mat
- cleaned bottom of shower curtain
- took shower
- cut some grass
- trimmed vines, etc
- used wire brush to scrub off rug backing which had stuck to the floor when removing the old rug from sunroom (2/3s still to go, when I remove the rest of the rug)
- went grocery shopping (got through 4 stores and back home in under 4 hours!)
- dropped off a birthday present for someone
- got alarmed by the refrigerator's high temperature alarm having come on again, especially as I had just **bought a bunch of food**! But I think it had just gotten too warm due to the doors being open a long time while putting away food. The motor and fans all seemed to be running fine. It seems to be cooling okay now, although I'm still trying to get the fridge section to stay at a lower temp.

Did Today:

- checked refrigerator temps and adjusted settings
- made 2 bins of muesli using the fixings I bought yesterday (rolled oats, Thompson raisins, golden raisins, coconut flakes, cashews, sweetened ginger, date pieces)
- gave Zorro her antihistamine pill (the antibiotic pills got finished off yesterday, thank goodness)
- gave the dogs their monthly anti-heartworm pills
- dealt with melted truffles
- sugared the blackberries so that they'll stay good longer

Still to do Today:

- give Zorro her 3rd weekly bath
- remove the remaining carpet from the sunroom; the bottom layer at least.
- finish cutting the grass
- take a shower
- make sandwiches for next week's lunches
- go out to dinner

Probably not going to happen today:

- wash towels, etc.
- install ethernet cable voice/data splitter thingies for the fax machine at Forestfen's house, and test sending and receiving faxes
- while at Forestfen's house, test swapping the battery from her cordless phone that doesn't work with one of the phones that does work
- look up whether or not our old Panasonic cordless phones happen to be compatible with the new ones as they are both DECT-6