Optical Options: Part 2

Years ago I created a post about online options for those of us whose eyesight is less than perfect. Well, I have a couple more entries, and a few updates.

Firmoo:
The glasses are great. The website is well designed and easy to navigate. Also, it's one of the easiest to find exactly what I was looking for. The prescription quality is top-notch - easily on par with coastal.com. They've got a different sort of selection, which is greatly appreciated. The frame quality varies with style. I chose a frame without spring hinges, but other options include them. Shipping was extremely fast, especially so since these were shipped from China. I'm estimating that from the time of order to the time the UPS man stopped by to drop them off, maybe a week had passed -- I wasn't expecting them to show for a few more weeks! Packaging was good, and I was especially happy with the case. It's much more solid than with some other companies. Overall, Firmoo gives Coastal a run for its money. Its pricing is on par with other companies, though you can usually find a great deal if you search for promotional codes. Selection is great. And the prescription quality is awesome.

EyeBuyDirect:
A couple months ago I started to realize that my regular pair of glasses (ie. my "work" pair) were starting to get seriously scratched up -- if I didn't have them pressed to oculars every day I'm sure they wouldn't have been in such sad shape. So I decided it was probably time to find another cheap backup pair of glasses. I searched for discount glasses and came to Eyebuydirect.com. The selection they offer is great, and you're likely to find a new style to try. The pair I found was one of the least expensive, but had an interesting look to them. I wasn't expecting much, because they were so cheap, but I was pleasantly surprised when they arrived. They're single hinge (no surprise there,) and incredibly light. So far I can't attest to the durability of the frames, but they definitely feel solid enough. The prescription was very slightly off, but not enough to warrant any major complaints. It just takes less than a second for my eyes to adjust. Overall, eyebuydirect is a great place to find yourself a new look or a new backup pair of glasses for super cheap.

Goggles4U:
Update: I ordered two more pairs of glasses from Goggles4u and was happy with what I received. I don't think you can find a better price than what they offer, (be sure to look for promo codes.) Both pairs were what I expected from my previous experience. A great place to buy for those 'just-in-case' pairs.

GlassesShop:
Update: I did go ahead and ordered another pair from glassesshop.com. Just like the original I ordered, these ended up beating my expectations. They're stylish and good quality. The prescription is very good, and the prices are pretty good, too.

Prison Cider

As a sort of addendum to R's most recent post, I thought I'd mention a little something heard at the National Homebrewers Conference this year, which was held in Philadelphia. Each year homebrewers from around the nation flock to this event (which next year will be held in my motherland -- Grand Rapids, Michigan! Hope to see you there..), to listen to the list of guest speakers and other authorities in the homebrewing world.

This year there was a seminar dedicated to the joys of hard cider in which the host exclaimed "Just get the cheapest, crappiest, clearance cider you can find from Walmart or Sam's Club or whatever and just dump some yeast in there -- and bam, you have an awesome cider."

I may be paraphrasing a bit there, but in essence yes, that's exactly what he said. So as an experiment for this year's Michigan Homebrew Festival (an event lovingly run by my brother-in-law and a small group of good people), my b-law made a keg of this -- henceforth known as Prison Cider -- as a kind of joke.

The results? A pretty decent cider.

Prison Cider

Ingredients:

5 gallons cheap, UV pasteurized cider

2 tbsp baker's yeast (or pick your poison at a homebrew shop**) 

Supplies:

6 gallon fermentation bucket with lid and airlock

(If in an actual prison a Faygo bottle, condom, and spork shiv will do in a pinch.)

Sanitize bucket, lid, and airlock. 

Pour cider into bucket. 

Add yeast.

Put on lid and let ferment for 2 weeks.

** Note: No actual poison is involved. Unless you're that witch from Snow White, in which case there probably is poison involved.


Bottling:
Depending on the cider you're looking for, you should be able to just throw it in a sanitized bottle and be good to go. To really give it that 'prison' feel, you can use old plastic soda bottles.

If you want a sparkling hard cider (ie. you want good carbonation with a decent head), add 3/4c. sugar (be creative -- table sugar works fine, but you can use dextrose, fruit juice concentrate, etc.) to a 5 gallon batch before bottling, then give the bottles another 2 weeks to condition.


Tips:

• If you don't have a capper, use plastic bottles with screw top caps or old wine bottles with corks.
• To aseptically transfer the cider without a bottle filler, use a sanitized length of tubing filled with water. Set the cider on your countertop (or top bunk), place one end in the cider while keeping the other end elevated. Drop the elevated end into a waste bucket (toilet) and wait for the water to be expelled. Once you have cider flowing, fill your bottles. WARNING: This is gonna get messy.
• Baker's yeast doesn't tolerate high levels of alcohol well. After a certain point it will cease fermentation and leave non-metabolized sugars behind. In beer this leaves an undesirable malty taste, but in cider it'll add some extra sweetness.
• Bottle conditioned anything will result in a layer of yeast sediment on the bottom. Carefully pour into a glass to avoid the sediment.

Imma Tell Ya Sump'n

Under no circumstances should you purchase, nor consume, Simpler Times Pilsner or Lager.

Just don't do it. Save your money and spare your taste buds the torture. We did it for you.

Of the two of us, M really is the one knowledgeable in beer and fermented goodness. So here are his thoughts -

There's nothing wrong with it - R bought it knowing it was cheap beer, so little can be expected from cheap beer. **NOTE: Simpler Times is made by Minhas Craft Brewery (Monroe,WI)** It's no Unibroue (which makes TJ's Vintage Ale), but then again, we still haven't tried their stuff yet. 

When asked to explain further, he refused. Because I apparently put him on the spot and he can't work under pressure. Anyways, I don't like it either. It's on par with Steel Reserve, which is disgusting. But it does the job and it's cheap. And sometimes that's all you need. 

Shopping Wisdom

Ice Cold Tofu

Here's the thing with posting pictures from my phone via email - I can send a picture and give the post a title, but I can't put content. So that means having to pull it up on my computer/tablet and working on it... when I get the chance to do so. And lately that has been a trickle.

But comments help. And Jon, thanks to your comment, here's the update.

Not too long ago, tofu was on sale at Chopper. Two for four, something along those lines, so I grabbed a bunch. This is the silken tofu, which I have only seen used for this. You can cut it up to look pretty, or you can be in nom nom mode and just cut it loose from its container and plop it on a plate. A splash of soy sauce, a little dribble of sesame seed oil, and a grind of pepper and you are set. This was M's vegetarian version, to mine I added some minced scallion and a generous helping of bonito flakes. 

Extremely easy to make, and perhaps the perfect snack when the weather is like this.

Go. Try it. You can thank me later.

Never Say Never

Especially when you have a coupon. 

Dollar Store Snacks - Larry the Cable Guy Beer Bread

I had a bad feeling about this stuff when I saw it. Why? Hello, it's in the dollar store! Obviously was not a big seller, so my expectations for were low.

I waited for M to get home from work before making this. He was as skeptical about it as I was, but whatever... dinner. We used the cheapest beer in our fridge (bud light) and waited the twenty or so minutes for this stuff to bake. 

It looked like cake to me, and the smell that wafted from it was not all that appealing. I was able to manage a bite before I gave it to M. He thought it was okay, but reminded him too much of corn bread, something he doesn't really like.

So if you see this on the shelf somewhere, keep moving.

Meal Planning Freebie

Free lifetime membership to Foodonthetable.com when you use the promo code: MAYFREE (or just click here). From their website:

Food on the Table is an online budget meal planning service designed to help families eat better and save money. Our meal planner template combines the weekly sales from your local grocery store with your family's food preferences. What this gives you is a meal planning template that is ideal for creating a family-friendly and healthy meal plan based on kid-friendly recipes hand-picked by our chefs. Then, we send you to the store with a printable grocery list that can also be viewed on your smartphone.

There are only a handful of supermarkets available in the Capital Region as of right now, but they're continuing to add more all the time. Currently the list includes ShopRite, Grand Union, Big Y, Shaw's, Stop-n-Shop, and Save-a-Lot.

Who Needs Vision Insurance?

I've been paying into my optical insurance for years, costing me roughly $100 per year, for a plan that only allows for one annual pair of glasses or contacts, often requiring another out-of-pocket payment of around $200. The last time I had an eye appointment I ended up with a pair of glasses that cost well over $200, didn't fit at all, and caused double-vision and major headaches. Pair that with the frustrating sales pitches they threw at me when looking through their meager stock of over-priced frames, and it's enough to swear off vision insurance altogether. My prescription never really changes all that much, I'd much rather not deal with the pushy sales folk, and I'd really like to stop spending those extra hundreds of dollars every year.


Enter the age of the internet.


I hadn't really heard of any alternatives, so I decided to do a little bit of research. I found there are a ton of places around the world that fill that certain niche I was looking for. And better yet, they all offer a better selection, more options, good quality and, when you catch a sale, insanely low prices. Low enough that I decided to buy some from a few different places, just to see if they could hold their own against the optician's offerings.

CB&C

It's March. It was St. Patrick's Day. And even though I am not Irish, I can't let the month go without making some corned beef and cabbage. And a potato and carrot... but that never makes it in the name. The red headed stepchildren of the dish.

This was incredibly easy and inexpensive to boot. In a crock pot throw in the meat plus the spice packet that comes with it ($2.74), half a head of cabbage ($0.17/lb, total weight 2lbs), pound of carrots ($0.79/2lb bag), and ~2 pounds of red bliss potatoes ($1.69/5lb bag). Enough water to cover the meat and let it cook for four hours. At the end of the cooking time I cooked up the rest of the vegetables on the stove so M could join in.

The Brown Bag (Troy, NY)

 Before I had to go across the river for some late night/night out eating. Now it looks like I won’t have to.

Solderless PMT Probe

Diagram show Back of Plugs - Wires Comin' Atcha!

[Open] - No Wire
[Closed] - Wire

[Probe] - Replace Wire with Probe, or add Probe to Wire

[Switch] - Replace Wire with Switch

Back View of Board Plug: (Wires would be coming out of the screen at you)

       | |                 | |

[ 1] [ 3] [ 5] [ 7] [  9] [11]
[ 2] [ 4] [ 6] [ 8] [10] [12]

[ 5]===========| |===========[ 5]       - Probe

                           \/

[ 6]===========/ _==========[ 6]        - Toggle Switch         


Back View of Drive Plug: (Again, wires would be coming out of the screen at you)

       | |                 | |

[ 1] [ 3] [ 5] [ 7] [  9] [11]
[ 2] [ 4] [ 6] [ 8] [10] [12]

Directions:

- Add Probe to 5

- Remove straight wired connection from 6 and replace with toggle switch

Items Needed:

   Stock DVD Drive Power Cable (or buy one here for $2.40 shipped)

   Switch and wires from old computer build; front panel (or buy some wires here for $3.60, without the
           switch. Radioshack should have a decent switch available.)

        Power Switch with attached wires and connectors (removed from plastic housing)

        Wire from front panel peripherals (x2; one side of one wire stripped)

   Leg of infrared LED (or any small, electrically sound, metal object to use as a probe. A pin or needle would
        work as well)

Tools Needed:

   Small flathead screwdriver or thin metal pry bar

   Electrical tape (just in case)

Completely solderless DIY Pogo Mo Thoin Probe.

I made one out of old parts, and it worked a million times better than cutting traces and soldering the PCB (MRA Hack). I'm going to order an extra cable from DealExtreme ($2.40, free shipping takes about a month to arrive) to make a permanent (ie. extra, soldered) version I can use to swap out and update firmware. The switch will be especially handy when updating, letting you power on/off the drive as needed.

I started out by disconnecting the [5] and [6] wires from the plug. The easiest way to do this (just like disconnecting the plastic housing on your front panel wires) is to pry up the small flap of plastic above the wire and pull it out. For the [5] wire, I used a long piece of wire for the front panel speaker, with metal connectors still attached. These connectors fit perfectly into the DVD power cord plug. I jammed the 'probe' (the LED leg) into this connector as well as the spliced end of another length of wire (with the connector also attached at the other end), creating a very snug fit with very little wiggle for the probe. Insert the opposite ends of your new probe wire into the [5] slots. The same was done with the [6] wire. It was removed and replaced with the power button switch. I checked all connections and the switch with a multimeter and recommend you do the same.


Update (3/10/12):

After receiving my extra DVD power cable, I went ahead and made an improved, soldered, easier to use, permanent version of this probe. The steps were exactly the same as above, but I soldered on a toggle switch from an old flash bulb, along with a green LED indicator light so I can tell whether the probe is on or off. I used a cardboard spool from some old thermal paper I found at work for the body, and closed everything up with some epoxy putty on either end. Here's my end result..

Walgreens Beer

2.99 for a six pack. Tastes exactly like cheap alcoholic beverages.

*Android Blogger Post*

MAKE: Chocolate Filled Crescent Rolls

Chocolate baked goodness for less than three bucks. Really!

Making Mead

Ingredients:
     24oz Honey
     12oz Frozen Juice Concentrate
     3qt Water
     1 packet Lalvin D47 Yeast

Materials:
     1 1/2+ gallon Brew Pot
     Chlorine Sanitizer
     2 4qt Containers
     6ft Plastic Tubing
     1 Balloon
     1 Needle
    
Notes:
     You will need a 1 gallon container for the primary fermentation, and enough empty bottles for bottling. I used a combination of grolsch bottles, beer bottles, and wine bottles that I had lying around. As for the primary fermenter, I used a thoroughly cleaned and sanitized gallon cider container, left over from my cider experiment. The balloon and needle were used as a stopcock/airlock.
     Sanitization is up to you. You can use the suggested chlorine sanitizer, or any other sanitization method you know of. Just keep in mind that this is the most important step for making a drinkable mead.
     Also recommended are a fermentation bucket with stopcock and spout, a racking cane, and a bottling wand. Depending on how you plan to bottle, a capper or corker may be necessary. Using a grolsch (or beugel) type bottle will eliminate the need for these. All these items, as well as the tubing and yeast can be found at your local homebrew store.
     The yeast that's used in this process doesn't have a great affinity for the sugars in honey, hence we'll be using a juice concentrate to kickstart the process. You can also buy a yeast nutrient and add to the must.


Procedure:

Sanitize Everything. Be sure all buckets, tools, utensils, etc. are thoroughly sanitized.
Bring 3qts water to a boil, then turn the heat down to a simmer. Add Honey and Juice Concentrate while stirring continuously until dissolved. Avoid boiling this mixture (known as a 'must').
Remove from heat and cover brewpot while allowing to cool. Once the brewpot is warm to the touch, add yeast and transfer must into 1 gallon primary fermenter (gallon jug?). Cover with airlock (a balloon stretched over the opening with a needle hole poked into it works like a charm). Allow to sit at room temperature for 3-4 weeks to ferment.
Once primary fermentation cedes (no more bubbling/deflated balloon) transfer the mead from the fermenter into bottles. I used some plastic tubing with a bottling wand and siphoned the mead into separate bottles. If you're using a gallon bottle, siphoning from the fermenter into the bottle should be all you need. Just be careful to avoid any sediment.
Cap your bottles (using any of the methods mentioned earlier) and allow to sit for 2-4 months.

   

CiCi’s Pizza (Colonie, NY)

Today was the official opening of Cici’s Pizza in Colonie. I wouldn’t have known about it had I not looked at Steve Barnes’ Table Hopping blog and his brief mention of it.

One free pizza buffet a month for a whole year to the first hundred people to show up at their grand opening? Okay, I’m game. M too.



We made it over to Wolf Road just after 10:30, thinking that half an hour before opening wouldn’t be too early, and hopefully the line wouldn’t be impossible (the line we saw the day before  wasn’t too bad… and that was the pre-opening opening). And we were right- no crazy crowds, just order and what could only be some very tired people. By the time we joined, the line had reached the entrance to Outback Steakhouse.



I’m not sure when the first person on line got there, but it was pretty early. A woman ahead of us told M and I that her daughter got there at six in the morning so she could be one of the first to get in. Sounds crazy, but eh… it’s summer Gives you something to do, and a story to tell when you’re older.

People at the front of the line made their wait as comfortable as possible by bringing folding chairs and blankets. Many of the groups waiting to enter were families with young children (from the looks of it, the demographic CiCi’s may be aiming for).



If you were one of the first hundred, you were given a “token” as seen on the left. As you walked in, you handed your “token” to the owner, who in return handed over the free meal card.

Inside was bright, cheery, and very chain-like. After entering you are steered straight to the register where they do their hellos and explain how the buffet works. The $4.99 covers just the food, and it’s another $1.6(5/9) for a regular sized drink. Throw in another .75 cents and you get a large take out cup (which has some tab thing where you can win more free stuff).



I figured I’d whip up a layout of the place so you get a better idea of what’s going on. This could be their generic layout for all I know, but it’s very different from most buffets.



Salad Bar – There were two options available, although they looked exactly alike. Both were iceberg mixes, one just looked shinier than the other (pre-dressed salad I guess). There were some chopped vegetables you could add to your salad, and a few different types of dressing. I especially liked the large slices of mushrooms. No skimping out there.



Soup/Pasta/Garlic Bread – Both the soup and pasta tasted like they came from a can. I didn’t try the pasta, but M said it reminded him of Chef Boyardee. Funny, because the soup almost instantly made me think of Campbell’s soup. Little salty, little sweet, but good enough. Did not necessarily like the bits of “chicken.” As for the garlic bread… I might be rushing judgment here, but don’t eat it. I tried to look up the ingredients for what they put on it, but it’s nowhere to be found on their website. The garlic bread is one of their zero trans fat items, so I’m pretty sure it’s chock full of artificial ingredients. A good thing to know is that the marinara sauce they will offer you to accompany the garlic bread will absolutely cover that chemical taste.

 

Pizza – The customers at the opening today seemed to like the pasta topped pizzas. I didn’t have any, but I saw quite a few people going for the macaroni & cheese pizza. And for a second I swore I saw a Hamburger Helper topped pizza, but it was probably the Italian style sausage or beef pizzas. I helped myself to the Pepperoni flip, regular pepperoni, and thin crust Italiano. The pepperoni pizza was okay, but the dough was a little chewy. The thin crust was not as crisp as I thought it would be, and it was a tad too salty (but corrected with a dip in that tomato sauce). The flip I did not like at all- it was salty and oddly runny. I don’t know if that was from the oil that cooked out of the pepperoni or the cheese they used. But like the Italiano, a dunk in that tomato sauce made it much more tolerable.



Dessert – The apple pizza and the cinnamon rolls were pretty good. I’d actually consider ordering a whole apple pizza pie.

Lunch for two was just under 15 bucks. Not too bad, considering what I ate wasn’t the greatest stuff. Will I be going here often? No, but I will stop by at least once a month. And the prices on their take out pizzas (I think I saw $4.99 for a medium and $5.99 for a large 1-topping) are very budget friendly. We’ll see if M and I ever check it out.

CiCi's Pizza
145 Wolf Road
Colonie, NY 12205
518-482-2424

Su - Th 11:00A - 10:00P
Fri - Sa 11:00A - 11:00P

Breakfast of Champions

Two cans of chunky vegetable, one large bag of egg noodles = very filling breakfast & dinner for two. And all for about six bucks.

I knew I learned something worthwhile in college. Thanks SUNY!

Stocking Up

I'm not really a wine drinker, but I can be impulsive. And really, could I pass this up?

Last week I spotted the Gato Negro wines on sale. They're already pretty inexpensive, and the sale price had them under three dollars. I figured what the heck, and picked up the Shiraz and Chardonnay.

The Shiraz was alright. I have no idea what fruity/woody/whatevery notes I should be tasting, but it was drinkable. I didn't try the Chardonnay, but I hear that the people who did drink it at the party Saturday enjoyed it.

I was back at the Class Six yesterday, and decided on buy a case of the Gato. The varieties I bought were Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Malbec, Cabernet Merlot, and Shiraz.