Product review: Manual Lemon & Lime Squeezer Juicer

This lemon juicer has a heavy duty build. It feels well made. It has a large cup which means a lemon has a lot of room to spread as you squeeze and that makes squeezing easier. We have another manual juicer which has a smaller cup and it is harder to squeeze because the lemon does not have the room to get squashed.



In the video you see my husband doing the squeezing. As you can see he was able to get all the juice out and he said it was easy to use especially compared to using the juicer with a small cup.



The lemon squeezer weights 14.15 oz and is 8.5" long.



You can find it on Amazon by following this link.





Ali Julia review ★★★★★

Product review: Maverick ET-733 Long Range Wireless Dual Probe Meat Thermometer

I have been using Maverick thermometer for a week, including cooking the Thanksgivings feast.  The highlights for me were its accuracy and the fact that the receiver worked well at a long distance. I could would how my turkey was progressing in a room 40 feet away from the oven.



Despite key great features it is not perfect.  In this review I will highlight its strengths and weaknesses.



The first thing I did is to measure the accuracy of the thermometer.  My video shows this test.  Checking accuracy of the thermometer is very easy because we know the temperature at which the water boils at sea level is 212°F degrees.  The video shows the reading of both the transmitter and the receiver.  The thermometer final reading is 214, which is 2 degrees higher than boiling water.  This test shows that the thermometer is accurate within 2 degrees, which is acceptable. It shows this measurement consistently during several tests.

I like that the thermometer comes with two units: the transmitter which has the probes attached, and the receiver a unit which you can place where it is convenient so you can see and hear what is going with the temperature of the probe.  It will communicate with the transmitter up to 300 feet away.



The package includes a clip stand which attaches to the back of the unit, so it is easy to see.



The sensors are heat resistant for up to 716°F and come with wires that are 3 feet long. Enough to put the transmitted on top of the oven when the probes piece the meat. 



The transmitter unit is water tight, to open the battery compartment you need a small screw driver.  The receiver unit is not water tight, so the battery compartment has just a sliding cover.  The unit comes with batteries, but they were carbon batteries that we decided not to use and used our own alkaline batteries.



On the negative side, the initial sync function did not work smoothly.  The documentation says it should have happened automatically, but it did not. It took multiple manual attempts until it finally worked.  This is the steps:

1) Turn off both units. Then turn on the receiver by holding the on button for 2 seconds.

2) The turn on the transmitter by holding the on button for 2 seconds.

3) Then hit the sync button on the back of the transmitter for 2 seconds until the receiver shows the same temperature.  This function did not work when I had only one probe inserted. When I inserted both probes it worked.  Initially I was only planning to use one probe, but with two probes I was able to get the temperature from two different parts of the turkey.



"Taste" button controls the wellness of the meat.  For turkey there are no options, the only available temperature is 170°F.  I expected the thermometer to beep when it reached 170°F, but it did not.  The temperature just went past 170°F. I would have preferred an alarm to let me know that it is time to stop cooking.



I also wanted to use the temperature probe to measure the temperature of scallops which was I was defrosting.  The probe was not able to measure the temperature when it was below freezing. It displayed "LLL". It did work properly when it reached the 32°F.



Overall, pretty good, I wish it would beep when the goal temperature was reached and this is why I rate it good (4 stars) rather than great (5 stars).





You can find it on Amazon by following this link.



Ali Julia review ★★★★☆

Product review: Homitt One Touch Automatic Electric Milk Frother

I like having frothy coffee in the morning.  In the past I have used hand hand milk frothers which I thought worked pretty well.  However, Homitt frother takes the froth to the next level. It generate froth like you would get in coffee shop or restaurant with smaller denser bubbles compared to the hand frother.



What you see in the video is froth from soy milk. Whole milk, of course, makes the thickest creamiest foam but even soy milk generates thick foam that forms peaks.



Cleaning the frother is a bit difficult, because you cannot put in the dish washer, you cannot submerge it in water, and you need to clean quickly after use before the remaining frothy milk forms a solid crust which is hard to work with. I use a brush that I typically use for cleaning mugs.  The package also include a small cleaner that can be used to clean the spring that generates foam.

The max and min amount of milk are marked on the container. The minimum is 1/3 cup of milk enough to make frothy milk for two mugs. 



One feature this electric frother does not have that I have seen on other electric frothers is whether the milk is warmed or not.  Some frothers can generate cold foam, this frother has only one option warm foam. The foam is not hot so it cannot burn you, it is slightly warm.



The plate and the cover of the frother are made out of light weight plastic.  The body of frother has more heft and is metal.



Note that there are two attachments in the frother, one is attached to the cap and one to the spindle in cup.  The set also includes plastic spoons: several small spoons and one teaspoon size spoon.  They are made out of light cheap plastic and detract from overall package because they feel very cheaply made. They are not something I would use in the kitchen, but I found the use for them in my garden shed I will use them to scoop plant food and fix up liquid soil supplements.



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 ★★★★★

Product review: Eparé USB Mug Warmer

I thought this mug warmer would be really handy. However, turns out it does not provide enough heat to make a difference.



I conducted four experiments. I measured the tea temperature in several different cups after 30 minutes and after 60 minutes. I the "control" test I did not use the warmer, just let the tea cool naturally. In the first test, I used my favorite mug (this mug does not have a flat bottom). In the second test I was using a narrow cup that makes full contact with the heated surface. The third test was the using the same narrow cup without the heater. Finally, in the forth test I used a paper cup.



The most conclusive experiment was using the same narrow cup with and without the warmer. The heater made no difference, the tea cooled by approximately the same percentage. The cooled cooled off 41% while on the warming plate, and 40% without a warming plate. What made a bigger difference was the type of cup I used. The mug cooled off slower than a glass cup or paper cup.



~ At start of the first experiment the tea temperature is 136 degrees (mug)

~ 30 minutes later the tea temperature is 113 degrees

~ 60 minutes later the tea temperature is 104 degrees

~ In 60 mins temperature went down by 23.5%



~ At start of the second experiment the tea temperature is 179 degrees (narrow cup with heater)

~ 30 minutes later the tea temperature is 123 degrees

~ 60 minutes later the tea temperature is 105 degrees

~ In 60 mins temperature went down by 41%



~ At start of the third experiment the tea temperature is 163 degrees (narrow cup no heater)

~ 30 minutes later the tea temperature is 118 degrees

~ 60 minutes later the tea temperature is 98 degrees

~ In 60 mins temperature went down by 40%



~ At start of the forth experiment the tea temperature is 185 degrees (paper cup)

~ 30 minutes later the tea temperature is 129 degrees

~ 60 minutes later the tea temperature is 109 degrees

~ In 60 mins temperature went down by 41%



This mug warmer is slightly under 3" wide. It does not fit most of my mugs. It fits my favorite mug because the mug does not have a flat bottom but rahter a raised ring which is narrow enough to fit the warmer. Despite making limited contact with the mug warmer this mug did best in my tests just because its material held the heat better. The mug warmer does fit tea cups. The documentation indicates that it fits most cup and mugs under 12 oz, all the mugs I tried are under 12 oz. So measure the base to determine the if this warmer fits your favorite mug, not the capacity.



I took 1 minute and 40 seconds for the warmer to become hot (the switch is on the back next to the cord). The warmer has a green power indicator and a red heat indicator. The green power light turns on as soon as USB is plugged in, red indicator turns on when you press the switch on the back to turn on the heat. Note that documentation has the position of the two indcators reversed.



I my experiments using the warmer with different cups and mugs it did not keep the tea any warmer than not using it. I received this warmer for evaluation and review as part of the new product introduction. Getting a free review product does not effect what I say. I leave critical reviews when the product deserves it and unfortunately this is the case this time.



You can find it on Amazon by following this link.



Ali Julia review ★☆☆☆☆

Product review: Timeliker Digital Kitchen Cooking Timer by Timeliker

The best thing about this timer are the large and easy to read numbers.  The controls are also very simple: to clear push both minutes and seconds at the same time. To set press minutes or seconds. This kitchen timer runs on one AAA battery.  The battery is included.

The timer works well. The timer can be mounted two ways: using a magnet or using a stand.  The magnet is strong enough that the timer does not slide.

I received this timer for evaluation and review. The buttons are big and simple to operate, the numbers are large and easy to see. This is a very simple timer and just right for my needs.  Note that it has only minutes and seconds.  

You can find it on Amazon by following this link.





Ali Julia review ★★★★★