It shreds!

I think we use our paper shredder more than the average household. Other than documents we shred mostly food boxes, like cereal boxes and the like. The shreds go into a box next to the compost bucket. When food waste goes in the compost bucket we put a handful of shreds on top. The shreds keep the smell down and help the composting when the bucket gets emptied into the bin.

Compost on the left, shreds on the right.

Our old shredder, a Fellows 8 page unit, had served us well for 10 or 11 years. Then a month or so ago it started to make horrible screeching noises. About 2 weeks ago I took it apart to see if I could fix it. I lubed everything up and put it back together but the noises weren't any better. Last Sunday I had it apart again...

This is the drivetrain of the shredder. The motor spins the kind of reddish brown gear on the left. You can't see the motor's gear, its hidden behind the big gear in the center. This picture is taken after removing a cage that holds the gears on, at this point the gears slide easily off their shafts.

This is the front cage off the motor, its got two of these cages, one front and one rear. As near as I can tell they're identical and together they hold the spinning part of the motor. The bushing in the center is held in with a thin steel frame thats staked to the larger frame. I drilled out the stakes to release the bushing.

Well theres your problem lady! This little devil is a "spherical bushing". As near as I can tell its made from a mixture of graphite and PTFE (also known as teflon). It looks like the side load of the shaft was too much for it, that hole in the center is all wallowed out. I like this shredder enough I spent some time looking for a replacement bushing but had no luck at all. I did find something similar but the center hole was too small and you had to buy them in lots of 1,000.

A trip to Amazon got us this Bonsaii 14 sheet shredder. It arrived today and cost more than double what the Fellows unit did. Not only does this unit have greater capacity than the old one its rated for 30 minutes of continuous shredding. I don't know what our old one was rated for but it overheated pretty easily. I don't exactly love shredding so we generally let the paper build up for a week or so and plow through it all at once, the old shredder would always need a break partway through the job. This new Bonsaii shredder chewed through a MONTH of delayed shredding with no problems at all. The secret? Its got a fan. Why all shredders don't have a fan I don't know. Its also quiet, like really quiet, like half the noise of the old one.

I'd like to think that if a $40 shredder can last 12 years then this one will last the rest of my life. In reality I expect that isn't going to happen but if we get at least 12 years out of this one I would be happy...

Best BBQ ever!

I don't know if I've mentioned my friend Jon Bushaw before but back in 2017 when we ran the ICCC convention he cooked for the early arrivals dinner. I don't remember when we first met but it was at one of the cabin gatherings, 2015 maybe. Anyway Jon is an artist with a smoker, his attention to detail makes his product absolutely unrivaled. So I was super excited when Jon announced he was opening a food truck.

Located in Swanzy, NH Jon is setup in a big parking lot. I've never seen him not have a customer at the window. I usually have to wait a couple minutes when I arrive and theres always somebody waiting when I'm done. He tells me his signature brisket always sells out.

And the brisket is fantastic! Here with potatoes and coleslaw. His slaw has a little bit of heat to it, and unusual flavor thats really great.

For Christmas with my mother's family I asked Jon to do sirloin, there were actually two of these roasts. The meat just melted in your mouth, it was so good.

This was Valentine's day at our house, 3 servings of brisket to share.

Anyway, if you're in south western New Hampshire, south eastern Vermont or north central Massachusetts you owe it to yourself to go get some BBQ from Jon. Tell him Curt sent you!

So good!

Did you know that dried baby bananas are a thing?

I found them by accident in Trader Joe's one time and they are so astonishingly good! Its hard to explain what they taste like, its condensed banana flavor and since they're dried they're a little bit oxidized so they're kind of a weird brownish color. The texture is a bit like stiff marshmallow which combined with the flavor is a new favorite of mine.

Its worth mentioning that I really like dried fruit and I really like bananas so this is a perfect combination. The link above is a 2 pack which is only $1 more expensive than a single pack...

Something to buy

I didn't want to leave you hanging with something I didn't like, I do encounter a number of things in the world that I do like. In fact the other day I was posting comments on Amazon and I was impressed by the number of things I'd bought from them that I really do like.

Anyway on Friday I had one of my favorites:

Its boba tea, for the uninitiated boba are little balls of tapioca, these are about 1/4" in diameter although tapioca comes in all sorts of sizes. So what we've got here is "Tapioca milk tea with boba" which I had been advised to try after stating that I really liked "Thai milk tea with boba". This is at Boba Loca in Burbank.

I don't know what goes into tapioca milk tea but it has a kind of black tea flavor. A little research suggests thats probably exactly what it is. I like it but honestly I probably like Thai tea a little better as the Ceylon tea has more flavor. I'll have this occasionally just to mix things up, I've also had iced chai and iced coffee with boba and I like them both but keep coming back to Thai.

Why do I like it? Honestly its all about the boba, the little bubbles or "pearls" hiding at the bottom of the cup. This is a beverage you eat and the chewy texture really satisfies me. I like the big straw and hunting around for the last couple boba in the bottom of the cup.

Angie hates boba, she likes the tea but doesn't like anything solid in her beverage. For me liking something she hates almost makes it better and its probably good that I mostly only get it in California...