Mortgage free in Forever Home :-)

beanielou

Such total cuteness with the kittens. Glad that you were able to help your MIL.
I have a small Ninja & love it.  It bakes & airfrys & I think it's fab.  I have it on the worktop with a good gap from the back of the wall. Generally speaking you reduce both time & tempeture for cooking by 20%.  I never use my oven now & it does not take long to pre-heat. It works well for me as it's at eye level.  

Less_Talk_and_More_Action

Hi @KajiKita.Great kitten pictures.  When our Labrador was a puppy and until he was about a year he used to sit on the back of the sofa.  Luckily he gave it up or I don’t think the sofa would have survived!! 

Re the air fryer conversation.  We have a 2 drawer ninja (it’s not multi functional- just an air fryer). We are veggie and try not to eat too many UPF (with varying degrees of success).  We use it but nowhere near as much as we thought we would- home made chips/wedges, roasted veg of many kinds, re-heating things mainly.  We definitely still use our oven a fair bit.  I think when we ate meat we would have used it loads more. I would say useful but not essential for us.  It sits on the work surface near a socket - we have a long kitchen with lots of work surface.  

L x 

redofromstart

Forgot to say it doesn't run especially hot, no extractor fan here. I have mine on a marble board with a good gap round just to be safe but haven't spotted it running hot. I am sure I read that they shouldn't be run off an extension cable. 

My only tip would be not to use spray oil in the  pan or on the tray, it seems to destroy the coating over time. I bought a second insert because of this. Cooking times - specifically bacon is 9 minutes at 180, although generally stuff is  20% less as per Beanie

PennysIntoPounds

I have no cooker suggestions but wanted to send hugs for what sounds like a productive and good but emotionally challenging day. The cats are gorgeous, thank you for the pics. They look so at home so quickly 😊
And I'm most pleased to see Hag Seed on your bookshelf too 😁 Did you get a chance to include it with your student's studies or did that run it's course before you could think about it?

KajiKita

@beanielou, @redofromstart, @Less_Talk_and_More_Action, @PennysIntoPounds thanks all. 😊 I have ordered a two drawer Lakeplace one and a recipe / techniques book with cash back and 20% off (couldn’t bring myself to spend Ninja prices! 😳) 

@PennysIntoPounds, the English lessons finished before we got to Hagseed - he got very bogged down in the Phillip Pullman he chose. I’m not entirely surprised as the shift in complexity of language between that and what he was reading before and the subtlety of the humour seemed to mostly fly over his head. It will be interesting to see if he resurfaces in September and asks for my help again, and if I d3cide to engage again ….

Bedlam here. Cats two are awake and ripping the house and each other apart (in a tussling sort of a way)! I have come downstairs to feed them and referee in the hopes of winning a bit more sleep for Mr KK! 😉

KK

Watty1

no idea on the air fryer but the kitties are super cute.

LadyWithAPlan

Loving the kitties ! And your home looks beautiful 

 I now rarely ever use my oven as  I have a halogen oven which is v similar technology to an air fryer -and I love it - had it for well over a decade 

 I use it 3-4 times a week as the halogen can roast a whole chicken /pork etc in 30% quicker and it’s smaller than a whole oven  so less energy - plus not so hot in the summer 
plus brilliantly there is room to add baking potatoes, onions  etc to bake around a large chicken so you can do a whole roast meal easily - 
it does amazing pork crackling as well 
plus I do chips etc in it, use as a grill etc so grilled veg etc 
So I love my halogen .. 

The issue with air fryers is that they can be too small to get a full meal in so look at that - as my halogen can cook a whole meal (it has an extension lid so you can fit a big chicken in) 
so 

halogens run from £25 to £60 so much cheaper as well - make sure you get the extension lid to raise it - Amazon have a £28 one

I can see on Argos they are calling some a halogen air fryer !! But it’s basically a large glass bowl with the heating element in the top - so v easy to clean 


I also have a pressure cooker with multi functions / clever chef 6 in 1 so that does stock in 20 mins, beetroot in 10 mins plus you can sauté stuff etc 
(I won this but the PC is useful) 

Brie

Less_Talk_and_More_Action said:

Hi @KajiKita.Great kitten pictures.  When our Labrador was a puppy and until he was about a year he used to sit on the back of the sofa.  Luckily he gave it up or I don’t think the sofa would have survived!! 

L x 

When I was a child we had a dalmatian that would lay on the top of a big arm chair as it meant she could keep an eye out the window to see if anything was happening.  She was deaf (common trait) so noises wouldn't alert her to anything but a flash of light from a car pulling into the drive or a flock of kids running past would.  That was from early 60s and my mom still has the chair which has been re-enforced in the seat and recovered more than once.  

Loving the kittens too....

KajiKita

Thanks @Watty1, @LadyWithAPlan and @Brie 😊

I have had a productive day here. Mr KK’s washing dried on the line, towels washed and all my washing put away. Mr KK vacuumed right through - little cats not impressed! 😂😉

Polite complaint sent to P Nyssen as three of the dahlia tubers they have sent of five have done diddly - if they aren’t sprouting by now they won’t! 

More sowing done in potting shed:
- 2nd batch of Tithoinia as first batch were very poor germination (won’t be buying those from Cr0cus again!)
- Flower sprouts as am interested to know what they will be like to eat
- cosmos for the cutting patch 😊🌸
- cucumber in a 50/50 compost vermiculite mix 
- cauliflower romanesco (first ever attempt)

Watered all pricked out seedlings in conservatory.
Planted out peas and sweet peas in the bed I was working on last weekend. Relocated a load of strawberries to the front of the bed to make room. Sweetpea germination also very poor and plants not strong, might have to replace with plants from plant centre if they don’t ‘do’  🙄 Just one veg bed left to clear but it’s the worst one …. However, I am being determinedly upbeat - I am further ahead this season than any previous one that I have gardened here 😉
Bashed all visible bindweed, especially around the garlic and shallots - Mr KK helped 😊❤️



KK

savingholmes

Looks like fab progress. Hope the sweetpeas come good.