new bbq; but no grate for lava rocks
maxthedog
16 years ago
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msmarion
16 years agojono123
16 years agoRelated Discussions
new to koi and need HELP!!
Comments (12)With all your koi you will have to expand your pond, can you imagine say 8 24inch koi in your pond? They would barely be able to move. If your readings are correct and ammonia and nitrite is zero then something else must be going on.. hard to say without seeing your pond as every pond is different and remedies vary from pond to pond.. some people think the same remedy for one will do the same for another which is not true. If you can post a pic or send one to me that would help.. kevip@excite.com I wont say I am a expert but I have made every mistake already and have learned a great deal. I also have my koi experts that I use to help for any advice as well.. I would say they have helped me the most as they not only sell japanese koi but are also koi vets and not just some person with a cert. If you had a spawn your koi would be dormant but there should be signs of the spawn like eggs and a ammonia spike. The fin in the algae is not a good sign.. is one of your koi missing one? Besides water chemistry another thing could be a predator.. if you had an attack, bird/snake.. koi would isolate for sure.. anyway a pic would go a long way in helping to troubleshoot more.. also what kind of water test are you using? If you are using some kind of test strips.. throw those away and buy a good kit with test tubes and the chemicals.. its not hard to do the test with these kits if your not already using them.. congrats on the house.. I am also in my first house as well and I know its alot of work.. you can see my site and pond too on my website.. I will try and help the best I can with the resources I have but bottom line at some point you will have to either remove some fish or bite the bullet and expand the pond.. Here is a link that might be useful: our site and pond...See MoreNew Stainless Grill at Costco (Virco?)
Comments (103)Wow! Nice to see so many fans of the grill I just purchased! I had Tuesday off (June 18) and was getting ready for a party that night. So I went to my local San Leandro Costco to get chips etc. Well, there on the floor were four Virco grills, one out of the box. I took one look, and wished I had brought my truck. I was back later that day with the truck and brought one home. IMHO a full size pickup truck is needed to carry this thing. I also had some ignitor problems but after adjustment of the gaps they all seem to work ok. I also fiddled with the connectors underneath the control panel and that seemed to help. I also found some fraying of the glass fabric cover on the ignitor wiring to the rear rotisserie burner, where it exits the back of the cabinet. I moved the whole cable up a bit to expose an unfrayed portion to the metal edge. I'm planning on wrapping the cable with some heat resistant tubing where it goes through that area, to prevent more fraying. I had a similar problem with a table-top patio heater I got at Costco a while ago. The ignitor cable frayed and shorted out on some metal. Easy enough to fix once I discovered the cause. I cooked a rib steak on it last night and it came out great. It was kind of hard to see some of that beautiful stainless get carbonized, but what the heck, it's a BBQ grille. The right door on mine has a very minor crease in it,which it took me a couple of days to notice. I'm not about to return this behemoth because of that! The burners all seem to function perfectly, with nice blue flames. Oh, I don't think the handle and the shelf are interchangeable. The spacing on the bolt holes are wider for the shelf than for the handle. Still have to hook up the rotisserie motor. I'll probably do a chicken tomorrow. All in all this is a beautiful, extremely well made grill. I've been using charcoal for years... I have a Kingsford egg shaped grille that I use to roast chicken and turkey. It comes out great, but I'm tired of all the smoke inhalation I inevitably get doing this. I also have a New Braunfels horizontal smoker with separate fire box. I have been consistently disappointed with the dried out results I get with this one. It's also very labor intensive, adding just the right amount of wood/charcoal and trying to keep the temperature even. I'm keeping both, because sometimes you just want that real smoke, but the Virco Classic will be my main grill. Faster and cleaner! Oh, and thanks to those who posted the info on the natural gas conversion. I'm going to order one of those kits right away. I'll have to run the gas line a considerable distance to the patio, but it will be worth it in the long run. One minor complaint: the wheel locks are very hard to get at... but they do work. Just for grins, I took a magnet to the whole unit. It's nearly all 304 non-magnetic. The only magnetic parts I found was the surround for the ceramic rear burner, and some nuts holding the chassis bolts under the cooking unit. As for the stainless burner tubes not holding up to heat, I hope they do ok. After all, they use stainless steel for automotive exhaust systems... which contain a lot more corrosive gases than propane....See MoreNew Recipe Review---December 2011
Comments (24)This morning, I made a sweet potato hash with bacon and eggs, loosely based on the recipe below. Not only did I scale the recipe down to serve 2, I used bacon instead of sausage, and I made major changes in the cooking methods. My changes: Caramelize the onions on a low-ish heat with butter. Then dice the potatoes and mix them with the ingredients called for in the original recipe. However, instead of baking in the oven, put the sweet potatoes in the skillet with the onions, cooking the sweet potatoes on medium low heat until they are soft and lightly browned. Cut the cooked bacon into 1 inch pieces and add to the skillet with the sweet potatoes and onions. Make wells in the hash. Crack an egg into each well. Bake at 350 degrees until the eggs are set to your liking (we like ours totally done, so I baked for 15 minutes). I did not add the cheese, only because I forgot. This is definitely a keeper! Sweet Potato Hash with Caramelized Onions, Sausage & Eggs serves 8 2 pounds onions, about 2 large 1 tablespoon unsalted butter Table salt 1 pound fresh Italian sausage or chorizo 3 pounds sweet potatoes, about 3 large potatoes, ideally organic 6 large garlic cloves 4 long stalks rosemary, about 1/4 cup of leaves 3 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more to taste if necessary Freshly ground black pepper To serve: Large eggs Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper Parmesan cheese, to serve To make the hash: Heat the oven to 450 degrees F. Peel the onions and cut them in half lengthwise, then cut them into thin half-moons. Cut the half-moons in half. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. When it foams up add the onions and sprinkle lightly with salt. (Don't worry if they are crammed into the pan; they will rapidly cook down.) Lower the heat slightly and cook the onions for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, and lowering the heat if they seem to be burning. Cook them until they are very dark brown. Meanwhile, put the sausage in another skillet and brown over medium-high heat, chopping it up into fine crumbles with a spatula. Cook the sausage for at least 15 minutes, or until it is cooked through and quite crispy. Drain away any excess fat. While the onions and sausage are cooking, chop the unpeeled sweet potatoes into cubes that are about 1/2-inch to a side. Finely mince the garlic and rosemary leaves, and toss them in a large bowl with the sweet potatoes. Toss with the olive oil, kosher salt, and a generous helping of black pepper. When the onions are dark brown and the sausage is crispy, stir these into the sweet potatoes as well. Line a large baking sheet with foil or parchment paper, and spread out the sweet potatoes evenly. Roast the sweet potatoes for 30 to 45 minutes (roasting time depends on the size and uniformity of the sweet potato chunks, as well as the variety of sweet potato you buy) or until they are soft and browned. Refrigerate the cooled hash for up to 5 days. To serve: Heat the oven to 425 degrees F. Spread a relatively thin layer of the (already cooked) sweet potato hash in a baking dish, such as a cast iron skillet or a 9x13-inch baking dish. You can also bake in individual ramekins. Make small wells in the sweet potatoes and crack in large eggs. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are hot and the eggs are baked through. (Test the eggs by prodding them with a fork to check the firmness of the white and the yolk; baked eggs are deceptive in that the white often looks much less cooked than it really is.) Serve immediately, with shavings or sprinkles of Parmesan cheese, if desired. Faith Durand December 14, 2011 05:30PM Here is a link that might be useful: The Kitchen Sweet Potato Hash with Sausage and Eggs...See MoreNew to Succulents and need advice
Comments (14)Whether Joe's claim about who speaks against grit has any merit or not, I do use gritty mixes, and in various formulas. Making it "wrong" is one problem with it because the "right" way depends on your climate, plant, watering habits, size of your pot, etc. Al tells people all the time that his 1-1-1 gritty mix recipe can be altered to hold more or less water. Few people know what the right ratios are for them BEFORE they ever mix it, which means one might have to adjust the ratios after the plant has been growing a while. Personally, I don't want to have to repot a plant after a few months to adjust its mix and experiment. $10-$15 for a bag of Turface, $2-$15 for bark, $10 for granite, plus screens in 3 sizes, Foliage Pro fertilizer or calcium and magnesium to mix into the grit, and probably containers to store your grit and/or grit constituents, all seem like a lot of money to me for just one cutting, but everyone is different. People who try grit but aren't successful with it often switch back to soil, leave GardenWeb, or stop posting about because posting anything that isn't in favor of the mix can lead to attacks and accusations from some of its almost cult-like followers, but a Google domain search of this site using "failure to thrive in gritty mix," "problems with gritty mix," "plants dying in gritty mix" and the like brings up plenty of posts by people who have problems with it, and people who gave up on it. I'm not sure why some people refuse to see both the pros and cons of the mix, but it is definitely a point of contention on this forum, which can lead to more problems because it then becomes difficult to get unbiased help with it when a problem does arise. That said, many people do like it, and are successful, but be warned that it can be difficult to adjust to. One issue I find frustrating is watering densely planted pots. Water pours right through grit, so you have to water the entire surface rather than watering at an edge and letting the water flow over the surface and under the foliage like you can do with most soils. To keep rosettes dry, for example, I was dunking some pots for a while, but that meant a lot of wasted fertilizer, and it was a pain. I now use a laboratory squirt bottle to get into all the spaces under and between rosettes, but it still isn't a good method for some plants. I'll post a photo of my water bottle, and some photos of plants that are especially difficult to water in grit, just so you have an idea of that particular challenge....See Moretexascableguy4u_msn_com
12 years agojcgriller
12 years agomeester_66_yahoo_com
12 years agobonadea99_hotmail_com
12 years agovanole
12 years agolindac92
7 years agoSuzi AKA DesertDance So CA Zone 9b
7 years agolast modified: 7 years agobarryv_gw
7 years agoMichael Schalk
6 years ago
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