The Weather Service official highs for the
last week I was at Lilli's were 90, 93,
102R, 103R, 101R, 95, 102.

There was a fire that led to evacuations
within 1 1/2 miles of Lilli's house.

There was a 5.-something earthquake.

When I left town, we were sort of expecting
locusts or something. The frogs were a couple
of visits ago.

=

Presto Flipside 03510 Belgian waffle maker -
so Lilli, having at the moment at least more
money than sense, got this from Amazon because
the price was very advantageous, plus she gets
the urge to eat waffles at least twice a year,
plus she thinks that Eggos taste like cardboard
(they do). It's a cute design, sort of like the
hotel ones, but lighter-duty, plus it flips up
vertical when not in use to save counter space.

Just like the hotel, it beeps when the cooking
is done; unlike at the hotel, you have to set
the timer manually.

We set it up - it took no time at all. The
timer didn't work, so I dug the battery (it
doesn't run on the household current that the
iron itself is wired into) and cleaned the
contacts and jiggered it back into place, and
it worked okay.

The wafflemaker exuded a horrid smell, which we
fixed by running an empty run to burn the yuck
off; this also worked okay.

So Lilli made waffles. Thwy came out both dry
and fluffy, the way they're supposed to, only
these were maybe half a minute overcooked. I
suggested doubling the shortening in the batter
and cutting the cook time by a bit, which seems
to work. The other complaint - they're deeper
than hotel waffles, so you use about 4x the
butter and syrup, I pointed out that it was a
Belgian-waffle maker, not a Belgian waffle-maker.

=

Veev acai spirit (vodka with acai and prickly pear) -
sweetish aroma, mixed berries and cherries, sweetish
on the palate, unassertive finish - got lost in mixed
drinks.

Leblon cachaca - mild, little real aroma, a bit of cane
on the palate, pleasant warm burn; sort of like a decent
rum cut with a decent vodka, so nothing earth-shaking.

Brentwood corn - big pearly white kernels, big ears,
thick, maybe 10" long. Rather tough, popping skins,
typical supersweet inside. Mild cornish flavor. These
were bordering on the dent stage; as I understand
supersweets easily get that way. I don't know the exact
variety, the brand name (and the supposedly unique growing
conditions) being emphasized over the individual type.

=

Brim's hot crunchy cheese curls - Lilli wanted to get
another oven thermometer, so we took a detour to the
Dollar Tree, where she could look for one, and I could
pick up my favored poison snack, Lay's Stax, but there
was a pile of these, and they looked like Flamin' Hot
Cheetos, so what could be bad.

When I opened the bag, there was aroma of vinegar and
plastic wrap. Not much chile presence. Pretty good crunch.
The dominant flavor was popcorny rather than snack foody,
so that was a bit strange, and there was a large hit of
MSG. Some heat, little or no cheese flavor, little to
no vinegar tang. The heat continued to grow pleasantly
as I continued to eat, but there was no other redeeming
social value.

I wondered what the Internet consensus was on this
product - well, the reviews tended to say pretty much the
same thing, all true - in order of frequency, they're
flavorless aside from the taste of corn, they are fairly
hot, they don't taste like cheese, there's a verse from
Revelation on the package (but not a hugely frightening
one), and they don't stain your fingers very much. The only
one of these I have severe reservations about is the first.
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