Random Questions

[Northern Light]

Things on which I would like some input: (assorted subjects)

1) I'm thinking of getting a meat grinder; I'm quite happy to get my ground beef/sausages at the butchers; but sometimes I want to add ground bacon or pancetta to meat balls or meat loaf or the like.

For such a limited use, I was consider a manual grinder, as opposed to a commercial electric one. I figure it would see use 6-10x per year.

Anyone have thoughts?

2) I have pair of ancient tennis rackets. I've never used them, they belonged to my parents. I always meant to learn the game, but whether it was a bad back one year, or a pandemic the next, I haven't gotten to it yet.

The rackets are at least 40 years old. One is metal; one is wood; both would almost certainly need to be re-strung.

Should I retain? Should I re-string? Should I donate? Should I sell? Or are they just trash?

3) Why do contemporary Christmas lights and ornaments either come in ugly colours or bad mixes of colours? Personally, I'd like to do the tree in red-blue-purple, I think it would look classy and wintery but still warm.

But that colour combo isn't offered, and after a fiasco trying to customize LED light cords last year, I've determined it to be unworkable.

In any event; I'm likely go w/one solid colour as I find the rainbow sets gaudy; but all-white rather bland.

All-Blue or All-red? What says the crowd?

Either way I think the ornaments should be silver/gold/red or blue/purple.

All of those are easy'ish to find, except purple. Anywhere sell attractive ornaments in purple?

 

[someMidTowner]

1) if you do a lot of cooking or baking, stand mixers (which get pretty pricey) have perfect meat grinder attachments.
2) the wood ones have faces that aren't really the right dimensions for modern play. It would probably do better as decoration than functional. Amazon has some really cheap but decent quality rackets that are less than $40
3) I don't celebrate it, but I always thought single-colour Christmas lights looked the best. I'd go with the all white personally, but between blue and red I'd go with red. Seems more seasonal than the blue which comes off as cold and modern to me when the goal is likely warm and traditional.

 

[lenaitch]

1) I agree with 'someMidTowner'. We had a hand grinder growing up (it mounted on the edge of the counter - how old is that). For occasional use I think they would be ideal. One caveat might be that some modern counter profiles might not accommodate. A quality stand mixer can be expensive, and they either take up a lot of counter or shelf space.

2) No view - never played, but I doubt they would have any value. Someone might want them as objet d'art - for free. Wooden skis languish at garage sales.

3) Personal taste. I'm a fan of traditional colours, purple not being one of them. We do our tree with multi-colour lights, primarily because modern string lights are cheap and often don't last, but they are readily available and cheap, especially after Christmas. Decoration style - personal taste. One year the theme was plaid bows (Stewart as I recall). In all matters, I'm only one of two votes and don't get to break ties.

For outside lights, we are currently all blue. Our last house was a Victorian farmhouse which we did in all white and it looked really nice. Because of the very high roofline I decided to leave the 2nd storey lights up permanently, which worked because I was able to find strings with white wires/sockets (white facia). It seems now all lights strings, indoor and out, are green.

 

[Towered]

1) I'd probably go for a decent stand mixer that either comes with a meat grinder attachment or is compatible with one that can be bought separately. That way you have versatility for multiple tasks at your disposal.

2) Certified tennis instructor/long time player here! It all depends on your intentions. If your approach to the sport is super casual and you don't plan to go for more than an odd hit a couple of times a year and aren't willing to invest much into developing your game, then there's nothing wrong with using some old, obsolete metal or wooden racquets (though you'll definitely get odd looks from other players). If however you plan to make it more of a regular hobby then it's well worth your while to pick up a modern racquet, which are essentially completely different than old ones. How serious is your interest? I can't make further recommendations without knowing this.

3) I too am drawn to purple and also find it frustrating that the combinations you are describing are not readily available. Can't help with this one unfortunately.

 

[Johnny Au]

1. My family got an electric meat grinder from Canadian Tire on Boxing Day last year. I believe that it's CuisinArt.
2. Wooden tennis rackets are best used as decorations for mancaves these days in my opinion.
3. See here for suggestions: https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/christmas.html?adlocation=HP_CAT1_Christmas_20349

Other places such as Wal-Mart or Amazon have the stuff you might like. There are others with better suggestions than mine are.

 

[gabe]

3) Why do contemporary Christmas lights and ornaments either come in ugly colours or bad mixes of colours? Personally, I'd like to do the tree in red-blue-purple, I think it would look classy and wintery but still warm.

But that colour combo isn't offered, and after a fiasco trying to customize LED light cords last year, I've determined it to be unworkable.

In any event; I'm likely go w/one solid colour as I find the rainbow sets gaudy; but all-white rather bland.

All-Blue or All-red? What says the crowd?

Either way I think the ornaments should be silver/gold/red or blue/purple.

All of those are easy'ish to find, except purple. Anywhere sell attractive ornaments in purple?

I had purple lights years ago. They were the old incandescent mini lights. I miss those light, they had such a nice warm glow to them. I don't like the light emitted by the LED Christmas lights at all. I got "warm white" on my tree now, it's actually a blueish colour. It's awful. It's too harsh. Unfortunately you don't have much choice in Christmas lights these days, either mixed colour or white.