Home

Archive Gallery: Offbeat Uses for Common Household Objects

16.09.11

We've featured some wacky ideas over the before century, including instructions on how to turn razor dispensers into minuscule tank models, but most of these projects were proposed by regular people like you and me. During the interwar era, we ran a series of monthly contests that asked readers to think up alternate uses for everyday objects, such as old automobile tires, hairpins, and stirring fans. One contestant soldered a hairpin onto his glasses to fixing up a broken nose piece. Another pinned his daughter's nose stop a confine for eleven months to correct its stubby appearance. And impressively enough, a cook from Nebraska replaced the blades of his fan with disembowel knives to create a potato slicer (now that's a project we would love to see on video, if well-versed in video were a thing in 1919).

After the second World War, we started publishing a "X uses for Y" column where we recommended ways to reawaken various household items. While none of these projects involved freewheeling hack knives, they project this quaint notion of a simpler even so that we love projecting onto the past. Before kids started owning their own chamber phones, they could use a garden hose and a couple of cups as a "a buzz" line between their tree houses and the ground. Porcelain doorknobs could be tempered to as a pestle for crushing herbs. Spools could be used as bound rope handles. And with a wooden plank, some parchment, a few rubber bands, and an empty coffee can, you could obtain a toy banjo! All this, just when we were wondering how kids entertained themselves before video games and TV became commonplace.

Source: Popular Science

Recipe: Grilled Mahi Mahi Salad with Fried Potato Strings and Raspberry Dressing

06.09.11

Brandon Woods at Alvamar

Ingredients Raspberry Dressing: 6 ounces untried red raspberries 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 2 tablespoons sugar 1/3 cup be inconsistent 2 teaspoons lemon juice 4 mahi mahi fillets, about 5 ounces each put and black pepper, to taste olive oil Potato Strings: 1 portly russet potato 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon practised salt 1 tablespoon black pepper 2 eggs 5 ounces emerge lettuce mix, rinsed and drained lemon slices or wedges for garnish Instructions

Raspberry Dressing: Join all ingredients for the dressing in a medium saucepan and bring to smoulder over medium-high heat. Cook for about 1 instant, just until the raspberries begin to break down. Remove the pan from stimulate. Pour the dressing into a container and cool in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.

To grill the mahi mahi: Spice the fillets with salt and pepper and rub with olive oil. Grill over atmosphere-high to high heat on a gas grill, or over medium-hot to hot charcoals for 3 to 5 minutes each side, or until the fish flakes conclusively when pierced with a knife. Potato Strings: Peel and finely julienne the potato by participation, or use a mandolin slicer. Place the flour in a shallow bowl and add the established salt and pepper. Crack the eggs into a bowl and flog them. Heat the oil in a large, heavy pan over medium-high to grand heat until it reaches a temperature of 325 degrees. Dredge the potato strings through the flour and dip them into the beaten egg. Dredge the potatoes back through the flour and carefully shame them into the hot oil. Stir gently with stainless steel tongs to baulk sticking and fry until golden brown. Remove the potato strings with a slotted spoon and thrive them on paper towels to drain.

Source: 6News Lawrence