历年感恩节晚餐

2020 

This year Aunt joined our dinner, together with Brandon's gf Toma, we have 7 Adults and 2 kids.

Dennis found a smoke Turkey from Aldi, $2+/lb, and it's already cooked. Just need to heat up. It takes pretty good and big time saver.

Dennis made:

1. Turkey with stuffing.

2. Lobster small Hawaiian sandwich appetizer

3. Crab cakes

4. MacCheese

I made:

1. Enoki dish

2. Bachoy

3. Sweet potato casserole

4. Mash potato

Toma and Brandon brought:

1. Beet smoke salmon

2. Kimcheese type Carrots

3. Baked corn cobs

4. A piece of Coby beef

Emma made:

Pecan cheese pie (It's pretty good actually)

Dennis also bought Donuts for Aiden's birthday.

Dennis's mom brought:

Sweet rice you(2) fan(4)

It's pretty good dinner. Was going to do it on Friday but Brandon and Tomo were booked on Friday so we moved to Sat.  I dont work on Thursday and Friday so it gives us plenty of time to do some cleaning and prepare the dishes. So I dont feel very exhausted for preparing this time. 

This year is special and challenging with pandemics. Dennis' Dad got really sick and almost died, that's a challenges for Dennis' mom. My sprint MM project ended so I was out of job for a month before I got on the Sprint MIT team which is much harder job than I can imagine. So that's a challenge for me. Brandon got a job and his relationship still doing good, so it's a good year for him. Both kids got to the new school and do remote studying for most of time. It was challenging for them and me also.  

It's a election year, with pandemic still out of control, it's challenging for the country. 

2019 Hot pot thanksgiving.

2017

今年准备感恩节， 5 个大人，两个小孩。不错。

准备食物如下：

Appetizer:
做了这个，我们买了那种salty的rip whole wheat cracker, 我觉得有点太咸。因为smoke salmon 也是咸的。感觉一般。
https://theviewfromgreatisland.com/easy-springtime-ritz-cracker-canapes-recipe/

crab pie, 现在costco都不卖can crab meat了。买了两罐fresh crab meat, 今年crab meat 涨到$21一罐。明年一罐就好了。因为做了8个，还剩很多。因为是婆婆喜欢吃的，成了保留项目。

Main course:
1. Turkey: 感恩节前一周多在Aldi买的，$1.29/lb, 买了个12lb的。 到了周末就降至0.99/lb。烤起来很漂亮，但是还是有点干。本来不想买Turkey了，但是Emma要。这次Dennis烤得不错。
2. 炒Bachoy

3. 婆婆的油饭

4. Green bean cassrole: 这次用了另外的recipe, 加了French Onion在上面，但是我烤的时间有点太长了。上面的Fried onion 和cheese都有点硬了。下次不做这个了。
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/18379/best-green-bean-casserole/
5. Dennis买了条龙虾和一些king crab放小面包上当成小sandwich

5. 酸辣汤：不错，销了一大半。

Side dish:
Macaroni cheese: 孩子们最喜欢的。

Candied yam casserole : 还是一样好吃
http://www.kincommunity.com/episodes/candied-yam-casserole/

Dessert:
pumpkin pie：这次Emma坚持做，味道其实比costco的好，又不会太大。
我做了十个大的红薯sesame ball, 都给婆婆拿回去了，因为吃不下了。
还在costco买了盒mozi-icecream.

2016

今年准备感恩节， 5 个大人，两个小孩。感觉比去年好。

准备食物如下：

Appetizer:
crab pie, 现在costco都不卖can crab meat了。买了两罐fresh crab meat, 一罐$17.

Main course:
1. Turkey: 感恩节前一周在costco买的，小的都被买走了，只剩下大的，最小的都有17，8磅。但是太早买冰箱又没地方放。烤起来很漂亮，但是还是有点干。
2. Garlic sauce egg plant：还不错。没吃光但是基本上消灭。用了四个茄子。

3. 婆婆的油饭

4. Green bean cassrole: 我觉得味道不错。不过只消耗了1／3. 觉得要用新鲜的green bean做也许比较好。 
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/13717/grandmas-green-bean-casserole/

5. 排骨汤：只有我和Aiden喝。菜太多了。

Side dish:
Stuffing: 剩一大堆。只有Dennis喜欢。
Mashed potato: Aiden, Brando, I like it. Emma doesn't like it.
Macaroni cheese: Emma & Aiden like it.

Candy yam: Dennis's Dad, Brando, Emma like it.

pumpkin cheese cake：Not bad.
http://bbs.wenxuecity.com/food-thanksgiving/1491686.html

A busy day

今天两个小孩的计划表有点忙。
3:50 到4:30 Aiden 在MSA游。
送他到小区游泳池游，从4:45 到5:30。
5:00回家接Emma到MSA游，5:20-6:20
5:30接Aiden, 他说肚子饿，所以跑回家给他弄了一包爆米花和一瓶gatarade, 送他去球队，结果找不到人，等了10钟，没法再等了，只能回去接Emma回家。

回家一查，原来训练场地改了。这前一天计划得好好的，就差这一点没看清，就破坏了一场球赛的训练。

很多事情可以凑在一起：
1. 刚好我跟Dennis两个人都没注意到邮件里注明的场地信息。
2. Dennis的手机里没存教练的电话。后来在信箱里翻到了，打了没打通。（估计那时教练已经开始训练了，不可能接电话。）
3. Dennis 的手机里没有另一个教练的电话。
4. 新的训练场地离原场地很远，（我让Aiden在周围看了一下，没看到教练）。
5. 我那时情急之下，没想到去找邮件出来确认一下场地。主要是心理上还依赖Dennis, 他都没怀疑场地有改。
6. 教练转发训练信息时没有强调场地改了。

这些因素加起来就导致我们无谓地浪费了一场训练。
所以一步都不能忽略。

Reading note of "Amazing tips to make you smarter"

• Use dryer fabric sheets as dust rags. They pick up dust much better than cloth does.

• If your little Picasso has used the wall for his crayon artwork, just dip a damp rag in baking soda to clean it off. You’ll have to work at it, but it works.

• Use dryer fabric sheets as dust rags. They pick up dust much better than cloth does.

• Next time you get a splinter, place Scotch tape over it and gently pull. The adhesive should take the splinter right out.

• To make your carpets smell fresh, sprinkle some baking soda over them, let it sit for about an hour, and then vacuum.

• Before you clean your toilet, pour a can of Coke into it and let it sit for a couple of hours. The acid in the Coke will get rid of most of the stains!

• When you need to fill some nail holes in your wall, gently rub a bar of white soap against the hole until it’s filled in. The soap works as a quick Spackle.

• Stick cupcake papers in your car’s cup holders to keep them clean.

• Clean your blender by filling it about halfway with warm water. Add a drop of dish soap and then run it. Rinse and dry—all clean!

• Put an open box of baking soda in your refrigerator to absorb unwanted odors. Change it out every three months.

• To keep your drains clog-free, squirt some liquid dish detergent down your drain, let it sit for 30 minutes, and then run hot water for several seconds. Do this once a week.

• Try a mixture of Mountain Dew and water in a vase to keep roses fresh.

• After painting a room, place a couple of bowls of vinegar in the room to help absorb the smell.

pg24img1.jpg

• When you boil corn on the cob, add just a pinch of sugar to the water. This will help bring out the corn’s natural sweetness.

• Place an apple in a bag of potatoes to keep them from sprouting buds.

• Use a clean ketchup or mustard squeeze bottle for your pancake batter. After a little practice you’ll have perfect pancakes every time!

• For fun fried eggs, crack the eggs into a cookie cutter.

• To keep brown sugar from clumping, toss in some marshmallows.

• To keep cake from sticking to your knife, place the knife under warm water before you slice.

• If you need just a small amount of lemon juice for a recipe, don’t cut the lemon in half—it’ll dry out too soon. Instead, poke a small hole in the lemon and squeeze out just what you need.

• To keep radishes, carrots, and celery crisp, place them in a bowl of ice water 

• Store cottage cheese or sour cream upside down in the refrigerator. (Make sure the lid is on tight!) This forms a vacuum that inhibits bacteria growth.

• To rid your soup of excess fat, toss some ice cubes into the pot as it cooks. The grease will cling to the ice cubes. Retrieve the cubes and throw them out before you serve the soup.

• To ripen your fruit faster, place it in a paper bag with an apple.

• Freeze extra pancakes or waffles in a plastic bag. When you want to serve them again, just pop them in the toaster.

• Book your flight at least a month out. Insiders say that you’ll find the best fares 45 days before your departure. That can save you serious money.

2 Check out every online discounter you can find. Everybody knows about Priceline and Expedia, but have you looked on Orbitz, HotWire, or CheapOair?

3 While you’re at it, check out your airline’s website. Sometimes they’ll surprise you by giving discounts if you deal directly with them.

4 Sign up for travel alerts. When a fare goes up or down, you’ll get a text alert. Check out BestFares.com, FareCompare.com, or Airfarewatchdog.com for details.

Repairing our Jenn-Air oven - Hood fan broke

Our Jenn-air hood fan has 5 speed control, recently the first 4 speed controls were not working, it would turn on for a split second then cut off. The maximum speed fan control is the only one that is working. It rules out the motor problem though. Also the two brightness setting on the oven light was not working either, the brightness can only be set to bright, not dim.

After searched from internet, I found this service manual (it didn't come with the manual when we purchased this oven 8 years ago.)

http://applianceassistant.com/ServiceManuals/16023510_maytag_jenn-air_jxt_vent_hoods.pdf

My hood model is JXT9048CDP. After read through the service manual, I knew the problem was either touch pad or control board. I disassembled the hood to expose the wiring.

I removed the touch pad, use multi-meter to test the continuity. The switches on touch pad are special kind, they need to be pressed down and hold when performing the test. It took me a while to figure it out. At first, I thought it was just on/off switch, so I press it once, test it, it was open state, then I pressed it again, it was still open. The correct way to test them is to press the switch and hold it down until the reading is shown. The touch pad turned out to be fine. After all, they are just some simple switches.

There was no much you can do to test the control board. The service manual only tells you to test if you can get the 120V of input voltage to control board which I did. So input voltage is right, the control board must be defected. There is no model # printed on the board, so it took me a while to find out it's part no. from internet, which is #49001238. On some big company's website, it is sold for $228. I ordered it from the site below for $148. Not the cheapest one from internet but it's more reliable seller from the review.

http://www.centralapplianceparts.com/Whirlpool-Corp-Electronic-Control-49001238-p/49001238.htm?gclid=Cj0KEQjw5ti3BRD89aDFnb3SxPcBEiQAssnp0qSNURkaR-N-MYg784ZWSEDKd4O7fB2TILmm-9CixIoaAsfi8P8HAQ&Click=37826

After replaced the control board, the problem solved!

P.S. After a month, the control board stop working. Called the company, they agreed to send another part. Got the part in a week, installed, nothing works, there was a crack on the PCB board, same cracks was also found on the first shipped one which I didn't notice before. Called them again, they sent another one, this time the part looks much newer and no cracks. It worked but I hope this one will last longer time.

生病的一周

星期二DH从牙医那里回来，就说很不舒服。一量体温，发烧，没法上班，只好躺下休息。这中间各种难受，肌肉痛，头痛，各种症状像flu。到星期四，烧下降到98，99度之间，他跑去上班。他们公司的护士给他检查，说不是flu. 但他还有点发烧，还是具有传染性，就把他送回家了。这一天早上，我也觉得喉咙有点异样，一測，我也开始发烧了。Emma 回家，说不舒服，測她，她也发烧了。从星期四到星期六，Emma就缺了三次游泳训练和一天的课（星期五没去上课）。我和Emma一直到星期一早上, 烧才退了。

虽然不是大病，但生病起来真的是很不舒服啊，也很耽误事。退烧之后还咳嗽了一个星期左右才算全愈。Emma则错过了5次的游泳训练。这次的教训是我觉得以后像这样一人得病，要想办法杜绝传染到全家。生病的人头两天是最具有传染性的，这时跟病人接触最好要戴口罩，防止他咳嗽，打喷嚏溅到你（这是流感之类传播的主要途径）。嗯，就像护士那样戴个口罩。

Aiden是这场病灾中唯一躲过的一个。

Repairing our Jenn-Air Oven - Oven no heat

A couple of days before thanksgiving, the small oven of our Jenn-air oven/range broke. When the oven was turned on,  the oven light was lit but no any heat or noise came out from inside the oven. Imagine I need it to host the thanksgiving dinner for the family in next few days!

I open the small oven, removed all the shelves and the bottom cover to expose the inside, I saw the igniter lying on a metal rod. When I turn on the oven, the igniter does not lit up at all.

I flipped the breaker circuit of the kitchen area (it's hard to reach the power outlet of the oven which is located behind the oven, so we have to power down the whole thing).

Then I tried to unplug the igniter to test the continuity but it's really hard to reach the socket. After struggled quite a while, I managed to remove the black wire on the upper part of the socket but just couldn't get another one out. I even broke the plastic cover of the wire by pulling and squeezing too hard.

Igniter in the oven

That's when my husband stepped in and pointed out that I might try open the front bottom cover and gain access from there, which I did.  Thanks god, it's much easier to do from there, I unplugged the igniter, get it out, ask my husband to test the continuity with multi-meter. He told me no continuity. I feel lucky that we knew the igniter was the cause. (I learned that most of the gas oven problem are due to the defect of the igniter from internet.)

Remove the front bottom cover to access the wiring of igniter

Next, we will need to search the part online. There was no part no. printed on the igniter. I found the model no. of my oven from the sales contract which is Jenn-air PRG4810NP. After some search, we found the part we need from amazon for $22 (that's universal one, the authentical one cost over $200)

The broken igniter

The new igniter arrived after 3 days. My husband test the new part, the continuity reading is 0 Ω,(According to the youtube video, the range of working igniter resistance reading is 0~1300 Ω). We replaced the igniter and it worked! Horray!





I learned how to test the igniter from this video:

and how to test safety valve from this video

6/20/2020
一个月前小的oven又开始不正常了。预热很慢， 并一直达不到预热温度，并且也没有开oven 后“轰”地一声响。ignitor 有变红，温度最终也能挺热（二十分钟以上）。查了一下网上，应该还是igniter 又不好了。正常情况下应该加热六七分钟就能达到预热温度了。又在Amazon上订了一个igniter, $25 before tax. 这次修理不到一个小时。补充一下细节。

只需要拿掉两铁架下边靠门口的螺丝就可以了，不需要移除上边和里边的螺丝，就可以把下面的tray取出，看到igniter.

买来的部件没有配夹线插头，需要自己有。

才知道这是第三次换ignitor 了，大概每五年换一次。

读 “The life-changing magic of tidying up"

我是一边读这本书，一边马上动起手来清理房间.

首先清理的是衣服。我是不常买衣服的人。家里很多不穿的衣服都是Dennis的舅妈给的Ashley的衣服，还有婆婆给我的她以前买了不怎么穿的衣服，号码都不对（我穿size 4, 给的是size 10)。Ashley的衣服适合的不多，常常是一大纸箱里只能挑出两三件适合安玫穿的。以前还想留着以后也许还能再挑出些穿，现在想想安玫根本不会去穿那些厚厚的牛仔裤和花花的衬衫。

干了一天清理出来的不要的衣服，全捐到Good will了。

Books, magazine, papers

Get rid of all magazines, tear the pages I like and discard the rest.
Donate Dennis' outdated computer books.
Donate some baby books, children's books.
Get rid of a lot of papers, notepapers, statements.
Get rid of boxes.
Get rid of CDs.

Toys

Donate or pass along some stuff animals