Product review: Aicok 8-Inch Chef Kitchen Knife

Don't let the low price scare you away (it was under $10 when I got it). This is a nice knife!  The handle has a nice shape I am finding it very comfortable to hold.  It is sharp, cuts well and is easy to handle. It has a nice feel overall, and it is light weight (7.15 oz), relatively light for its size.

 This knife had been used for every day cooking for almost two weeks. It remained sharp, I do not see any imperfections or dents.  I am quite pleased with it.  In attached video you can see the knife in action.



You can find it on Amazon by following this link.





Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: symGLASS 16-Ounce Unbreakable Pint Glass

Just like Plexiglass is not glass, symGLASS is not glass but a plastic material. Description says it is made with Tritan, which I was not familiar. I looked it up and found that it is a clear polymer developed by Eastman company and is safety tested for food products. Eastman web site has a lot information about this material and its safety tests for those who are interested. It is rated for food.



The glasses look nice, but I could immediately tell they are plastic by look, feel, weight and the noise they made when they clanked. So the marketing description is a little overstated. However, if you are looking for non-breaking high quality plastic drinking glasses these glasses are what you are looking for. In my video I dropped them onto a tile floor from the height of the kitchen counter with no ill effects - the glass did not break and had no scratches. Each glass weighs 8.9 oz.

They work well not only with cold drinks but hot drinks as well. Because plastic is less conductive than glass these glasses do not feel hot when they are filled with hot water for hot tea or coffee.

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.



Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: HoneyGuaridan CG-8120 Electric Coffee Grinder

This is a powerful grinder. The grinder is 6.5" tall (with the cap on).  Its capacity is only 30 grams (for coffee beans it means 4 coffee scoups of beans) but it does an excellent job and fairly quickly too.



The package includes two small brushes to clean the grinder - they do a really nice job!  I show how well they work in the video.



Overall, pretty nice grinder!



You can find it on Amazon by following this link.





Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Garbage Bag, Hmane PE 6 Rolls - 4 gallon

The thing about unknown brands of trash bags is that their volume does not always match my expectation. A few times I got trash bags that were much smaller than expected.  The HMANE trash bags are the same size as a 4 gallon Glad bags. In attached photo you can see the purple HNAME bag on top of the white Glad bag for size comparison.  They are almost identical!



HMANE bags are thinner than Glad bags, they are good for soft light trash.  I am using them in the bathroom trash bin, they work very well there because all the bathroom trash is soft and small. In one of the photos I show my hand inside the bag, I think it gives a good idea of the bag thickness.



Each bag length is 18" and the width is 18" when folded in half (36" total).  The bag is wide at the top and tapers at the bottom.



I received 6 rolls. The listing states that the color selection is random and I got two purple bags, one blue, one yellow, one red, and one green.



This trash bag is a good match for the bin in the small trash can of the Nine Stars touch-less trash can set as well as another small trash bin I own.







You can find it on Amazon by following this link.





Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Leeaw Defrost Tray Plate

In attached video I show the defrosting of a salmon filet and two scallops (one on the tray and one on the plate).  The frozen salmon filet is defrosted in 1 hour when laying on top of the Leeaw defrost tray. Without the tray it takes me several hours to defrost similar pieces of fish. I like that the tray border can be easily removed for washing.



In the scallop video I defrosted one on the tray and one on the plate. In 15 minutes the scallop on the tray is defrosted on one side, the scallop on the plate is still a frozen brick.  In 45 minutes after I flipped the scallop one it was totally defrosted.  I use a thermometer probe to measure the temperature of both scallops.  The scallop on the tray showed 36°F, the other tray is below freezing point.



If you know a little bit of physics why defrosting trays work is pretty obvious. Frozen food lying on an aluminum tray thaws more rapidly than food lying on a tabletop rather than on a plate or a wood cutting board because aluminum is a better conductor of heat. What this means in practical terms is that the warm air in the room is transferred faster to the piece of fish or meat on the tray than when it is on the plate or the cutting board.



There is nothing remarkable here and you can get the same results using any heavy duty piece of metal, such a large coopper or aluminum pan or skillet.



In attached video you can see a piece of salmon that was in  my freezer for several weeks. I show it in one hour when it is totally thawed out. Without the tray it took me several hours to defrost the salmon filet.



How does thermal conductivity work?  The higher a material's thermal conductivity the faster it can equalize it's temperature with what it is touching.  Heat "flows" from the aluminum to the frozen fish, increasing the temperature of the frozen fish and decreasing the temperature of the aluminum tray. Heat also flows throughout the entire tray so that even the parts of the tray that are not touching the fish are losing heat.  As it loses heat it becomes cooler than the surrounding air.  Since the tray and the air want to be same temperature the heat from the air is absorbed by the tray increasing its temperature, which in turn heats up the frozen fish.  Since there is endless supply of warm air in the room this processes is continuous. The fact that the tray has feet on the bottom which elevates it from the table increases air circulation and helps the temperature exchange with surrounding air.





You can find it on Amazon by following this link.





Ali Julia review ★★★★★