Costco’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Cream Pie

I am not a dessert person and can easily pass up a piece of cake or after dinner desserts.

But not this one.

OMG, it is like mousse and creamy deliciousness with subtle peanut butter on a crunchy wonderful crust meet up in rich delight. I have had pies from Costco before and have been underwhelmed with them, but THIS one takes the top prize. It is a very big rich pie so it is best to share with friends and/or neighbors. I already cut out a portion to save for myself in a lidded glass pyrex square.

It is quite messy – or maybe it is because I cut it and plop it on my plate so I can dig in right away. No matter. This one is a winnah!

Update: After having a piece a day for 3 days in a row, I am overloaded and don’t like how sweet it is. We ended up giving our neighbors three quarters of it and hope they like it.

Ring and the Neighborhood

I remember the first time I encountered a Ring doorbell. I went to visit my brother in Palolo but no one was home after I went to their front door. Then I had to jump back because my brother’s voice came out of the woodwork and said “Hi! We’re at Costco right now.” and I could hear my sister-in-law laughing in the background because she could see my shocked reaction via the Ring camera.

A few years after that, I decided to buy one for my front door and it has been one of the best techie gadgets ever. It is super easy to install – especially if it is the battery model. My grandson loves to ring it and hear the chimes and I can see whoever is there whether they press the door bell or just pass by. $39 per year will save videos so I can scroll backwards and see who came by (as well as seeing myself going in and out). There are several different models that can be found on the Ring.com website and once you sign up and buy one, you get special deals and discounts (so now I have a second ring for my back door). At first I balked at paying $39/year but it comes out to a bit more than $3/month and being able to scroll back is a wonderful feature vs. only getting live views that are not recorded.

The Neighborhood app

Just the doorbell and video features are great, but what is even niftier is the sister app to Ring called Neighbors. I signed up for notifications about crime, lost animals, community events all within a certain range from where I live. I get notifications about break ins, weird people walking into yards – captured and shared videos posted by other Ring users in my vicinity. There are some unlawful incidents and the perpetrators are caught on camera to alert us and help the police catch them.

Tonight, the Ring Neighborhood app brought home my daughter’s doggie.

Toshi wandered out of the yard around noon because the side gate was left open. Usually he hangs around since he is 14 years old, slow, and deaf but this time I didn’t notice that he was missing until a couple of hours had passed. I drove around and around and then put on my walking shoes after killing my feet with rubber slippers and walked for blocks in the hot sun asking people if they saw a loose dog. I gave up in the evening, called the Humane Society to report a lost dog, posted on Facebook’s Paw Posse Ohana (which takes a few hours to be moderated and approved), and then decided to try the Ring Neighborhood app.

I described the situation and posted pictures of Toshi. The app shows the general vicinity of where I live and immediately I started getting feedback and support from others in my neighborhood, asking what cross streets I lived on, kind sympathetic messages of hope, people saying that they would go driving around, etc. Within 10 minutes, a message showed up with a phone number and that they found Toshi! He was on a leash at a man’s house and when they saw him and asked the man about it, he said he found a dog roaming around on the street, fed him, and was taking him out to poop, hoping someone would show up looking for their dog.

I called the number and was given an address. I zoomed over and found a nice young couple (Tessa and James) in front of their house holding Toshi in their arms. The kindness of strangers. A community of caring individuals. How wonderful is that.

It makes me want to cheer: “I’m from Kaimuki and no one could be prouder. And if you cannot hear me, I’ll yell a little louder! …..”

I love this neighborhood and Ring helps us to be better neighbors. A big mahalo to Ring and its Neighborhood app. It makes me want to cheer for Ring but it’s hard to figure one out for a name that is just one syllable. “Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring!”

Diamond Magic and the Honolulu Tool Library

All of my friends and family know that I am a mess.  Messy house, cluttered rooms, too much going on all the time.

However, after many many listens to Mari Kondo’s Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, I started doing a bit of cleaning at a time.  My kitchen countertops got cleared off (oops they need another go round), my bedroom got cleared out and my wardrobe has been halved.  Little victories and areas of clean inspire more work and focus with new spots to tackle.

Our old bathroom was transformed with classic travertine walls and floor.  I found a gorgeous old vanity with marble top and grand wall mirror for it.  All was beautiful except for the old tub, which was grungy and dirty.  The travertine tile mason (Jason Carroll of Hawaii Kai Custom Stone) recommended that I use a product called Diamond Magic to make the 90 year old tub look like new.

Elbow grease and a power tool help

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Diamond Magic is made here in Hawaii!  I bought the product and white scrubbing pad, watched the videos, and then headed out to Re-Use Hawaii to see Ben at the Honolulu Tool Library to borrow a sanding machine that had a velcro attaching disc.

It took a couple of hours of vibrating and sweat.  A lot of clean rags that soon became dirty.  I used Diamond Magic with the sanding machine and also by hand on inside curves.  I also used a pumice stick to remove the stubborn calcium buildup by the drain.  I took a break halfway through.

The finish line

Before I knew it, I was done!  The tub looks good and my old bathroom sparkles!  I don’t have to draw the shower curtain to hide it anymore – though I still might because I use it as a storage space for my overflow of fabric and projects.

Kudos

I love using Diamond Magic and plan to use it on my soap scum challenged glass blocks in my shower as well as on my windows with hard water spots.

Ben over at the Honolulu Tool Library is so helpful with supplying me with the right tool that a senior old lady like me can handle.  They are open on Tuesday mornings, Friday afternoons, and on Saturdays.  I pay the senior discount rate of just $35 per year and can borrow whatever tool I need for free for a week!

In the past I have borrowed a Gorilla Cart to haul buckets of dirt and rocks, a mini jack hammer to dig out a lemon tree (that didn’t survive), a sawzall to cut away trunks and roots, a staple gun to repair an upholstered chair, and a Dremel sanding kit for polishing up this tub.

I have saved so much time and money there and will continue to do so until I can’t lift and carry a sack of sand.  I returned the wonderful Dremel kit on Saturday and borrowed an angle grinder with a diamond wheel so I could cut out a portion of a cement wall.  I am also using it to cut off some points on a concrete grass block.  It is so very empowering to do it yourself.

Aunty feels macho.  And that’s a good thing.  Tawanda!

 

The new iPhone 11 first thoughts

Way back when, AT&T used to give the newest Apple iPhone free for each line, every 2 years.  Not sure how they did it but it was such a deal and opportunity, and Aunty used to have the newest phone until the free phone offers disappeared.  After that, Aunty would make do with older models.

Aunty recently went to the Apple Store and bought herself a brand new wonderful iPhone XS and was happy as a bumblebee (are bumblebees happy?) until Apple revealed the debut of the iPhone 11 with 3 different models.  Whaaaaa???  Suddenly, this bumblebee wasn’t happy, but the nice folks at the Apple Store assured Aunty that she could return her iPhone XS for a full refund if done within 14 days.  Or, give Aunty a “rebate” of $100 because of the timing of the new product release.

AT&T makes the deal

Meanwhile, while google searching if the iPhone 11 was superior to the iPhone X, Aunty discovered that AT&T (our family plan) was offering a BOGO – Buy a new phone and get one free (up to $700 in value).  Whoa Nellie, that sounded awesomesauce!

But it had a catch.  The free phone offer was only if a new line was purchased, or a number ported over from a different carrier.  NO problem!  Brand new son-in-law’s Verizon phone line got ported over to Aunty’s family plan (welcome to the family, Jack!) and Aunty got her beautiful silver iPhone 11 Pro, and son-in-law got his new space grey iPhone 11 Pro that he graciously gave up to his brand new wife.

Big deal

The iPhone 11 Pro is really big compared to Aunty’s old iPhone 6SE.  And much heavier.  Much.  It is also slipperier because of its rounded edges and thinner profile.  So slippery, in fact, that it flew out of Aunty’s hands at the AT&T store, crashed on the tile floor to the gasp and intake of breath of everyone there – without a scratch, shatter, or damage!  So, it passed the almost indestructible test with flying silver colors.

It does take getting used to swiping instead of pushing.  And apps got a bit messed up because of the temporary storage in the iCloud such as Aunty’s Starbucks app which had to be re-enrolled on the new phone which Aunty realized after ordering an iced caramel ribbon crunch frappuccino at the drive through so she could get bonus points.  It asked for user name and password and after several wrong guesses, Aunty was defeated and paid as a non member.  Ah well.  It is all good now once the super important secret notebook at home was consulted and user name and password entered correctly.

The camera to shoot for

This phone looks strange with 3 lenses.  Aunty has no clue how to use it – yet.  However, the camera is the reason that Aunty decided to go through the hassle of returning her brand new wonderful iPhone XS and going without a phone for a week.  That, and the extra long battery life – 5 hours more than the previous model and wireless charging!

A picture taken indoor at night from 10 feet away was quite good.  Surprisingly good, actually.  The selfie above was taken at night with an auto flash that didn’t really flash.  Pretty good and sharp, even with the mirror flip camera option, dontcha think?

Crushing candies

Candy Crush is more fun because the screen is so much bigger.  It also seems smoother to play, with the explosions and falling rows of candy moving faster and with less jerk.  Aunty is careful to limit her playing time because it really is a waste of time, just as Korean dramas are.

Ah, Korean dramas.  Something that Aunty can do on her new phone because of the bigger screen.

Hmmm.  Aunty thinks this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Funeral pictures and the new iPhone X

from “Miss Granny”

Miss Granny is still Aunty’s favorite Korean drama movie.  A grouchy old lady who sacrificed her youth and life to raise a son who loves her – but still, she is a grouchy old lady that not too many people liked.  One day she decides to get her funeral picture done because Korean funerals all have a nice 8×10 photo of the deceased looking their best surrounded with rows of flowers.  She walks into a very good photo studio with amazing results.

Over a year ago, Aunty and a few friends hired Jalna to take our individual funeral pictures – several shots in various poses, and all in clear perfect flattering focus.  These would come in handy for “that” day when a funeral picture is needed so our families don’t have to go scrambling around to find a smiling picture to put in the frame.  Most local funerals that Aunty have gone to show a nice color photo of the deceased that has been cropped from a group photo, and not in the best of focus or setting because most local people don’t go to photo studios for individual head shots.

Then came the iPhoneX with portrait mode

And now, everyone can have a funeral picture of themselves, their family members, their friends, their dogs, etc. that is of Korean drama funeral worthiness.

Awesomesauce, really awesomesauce.  Aunty is still learning how but all kinds of filters are available at the touch of a finger, sliding this way, that way, making backgrounds diffuse, disappear, get brighter, cartooney, etc.!  There is more to find out – and one of the best bonuses of having an iPhone is the support at the Apple Stores and the nice folks there.

If you are ever at Kahala Mall and stop in the Apple Store there and say hello to Kale.  Cracked Aunty up when he spelled his name K-A-L-E after pronouncing it Ka-lay.  Super nice young man who would even make Miss Granny feel special.

An OOOPS update!!!

A few days AFTER Aunty got her new iPhoneX, guess what happened.  Apple released its news of the newer iPhone 11!  Aaargh!

However, because of poor timing, Apple will offer a credit of $100 to offset the pain.  Or, better yet, if Aunty returns her “old” iPhoneX within 14 days, the entire charge will be reversed and Aunty can start over again and purchase the newest Apple phone beginning on Sept 20 either online or at the store.  Aunty will do that but will be without a phone for a week.  That is rather scary but then we didn’t have portable phones back in the day and meanwhile all the files will be stored in that mysterious iCloud until the new phone arrives.

Will it be worth the wait and inconvenience?  Maybe so.  The new iPhone has 3 (THREE) crazy looking lenses under super tough glass and longer battery life.  Potentially Aunty can do awesome videos to post here.  Potentially, possibly, perhaps.  Another “we’ll see” in another chapter of Miss Aunty’s life.

Breaking solar deal, Craft Swap signup

Aunty had bought these solar LED accent lights on sale at Costco a few months ago for $20.  It came with 4 glass box lights that could be screw mounted to fences, walls, etc. and powered by the sun.  Since Aunty LOVES solar powered anything, it was a gotta try thing, and instead of mounting it on a wall, one was put next to the house in an area that only gets some morning sun.  Well, lo and behold, it was enough of a “charge” and it helped to light up that dark section of the pathway all night as soon as it got dark!

This was good stuff and sort of expensive so Aunty had to be manju and kept the other 3 in the box to figure out where to put them for maximum use.  The body was of metal and glass so sticking it on rock walls or in the garden where it could rust or break from a fall was out, and possibly mounting it on certain walls were options that Aunty procrastinated upon.  After all, $20 for the 4 meant that they were $5 each, and these were special!

Until …. yesterday, when Aunty did a Costco Hawaii Kai trek and saw the boxes and a clearance price of $4.97 each!  $4.97????  OMG, Aunty grabbed several boxes and told everybody in the store that this was the best deal EVER.  Fo real!  So now, Aunty is telling you readers (especially you, Jalna) about this super duper deal while it lasts.  *note:  these solar lights are sold out. 

Craft Supply Swap II

This next one is also for Jalna because she is such a craftaholic.  Kaimuki Library is having their second Craft Supply Swap session on Sunday, October 20!  Aunty signed up for their inaugural one in February and scored great supplies for free.

First thing, though, is to get put on the list by dropping into the library and signing up or calling the reference desk 733-8422 by October 11 (do it sooner).  Then, drop off craft supply stuff that you DON’T want or use according to their rules – i.e. new and unused good stuff by the drop off deadline of October 14.

Then you show up on October 20 from 2-3:30 in the basement meeting room and you receive your “tickets” for the stuff you dropped off, and with your precious tickets, you go shopping!  *note:  you must be registered with the reference desk and in order to get tickets, you need to drop off supplies in good condition at least 6 days prior to the swap day. There weren’t too many sewing supplies but had lots of scrap booking papers and plenty doo hickies and doo dads.

The best part about this Swap session was de-accessing Aunty’s stuff not being used but yet was good stuff.  The bonus was going home with more stuff with possibilities – that might end up back at Kaimuki Library, lol.

 

Non Techno Aunty in a Techno World

This has been a very busy week because of yet another marriage.  Two of Aunty’s kids got married in December (one big wedding and one very small).  Wedding #3 was on Wednesday with dinners for family and a beach house party for friends on Saturday.  Whew!  Three kids down, and one daughter left to marry off – the one in this video, catching the bouquet:

A great consequence of all this busy-ness (besides gaining 2 great son-in-laws and a wonderful daughter-in-law) is having son Mikey at home to tackle his assigned to-do list of computer fixing.  He whizzed through updating the company’s google listing search errors, transferred all the files and apps from Aunty’s old Mac laptop to the new one, and migrated emails and folders over (with some glitches that Spectrum and Apple Support helped figure out).  Aunty suspects a conspiracy with internet companies and computer makers that upgrade, morph, and change programs so we are forced to buy a new computer or phone every few years, and it is a pain to keep up, much less understand the new spin on it all.

Do you understand what the iCloud is?

If you do, congrats.  All Aunty understood was that it was storing stuff automatically, but where it was and how to access it was a mystery that didn’t need solving.  Except for pictures.

Nephew David is a photography hobbyist with a good camera and an eye for great shots.  He started sending Aunty bunches of photos with Google pictures.  Lots of them.  Waaaaah!  How to store them when iCloud is full and the desktop is already so crowded and iPhoto had years of old stuff taking up space.  “Mom,”, said techie son, “You need to store all your photos on Google photos because it has unlimited storage, for free.”

Oh, no, ANOTHER cloud thing?

Yep, but it had unlimited space and it was free, so….. Aunty said, “Okay, YOU do it, Mikey.”  And he did, at photos.google.com.   A prerequisite is a gmail account.  He also used an application to “pull” the photos from iPhoto into Aunty’s Google photo account.  This took a long time because each folder needed to be opened up and dragged into the Google photo page to be downloaded.  Once done, it was very nifty to be able to “search your photos” with a subject description (i.e. art or dogs) and create albums from those searches.  Really nifty, and that was just the beginning of Google brilliance.  Sharing becomes really easy because it is connected to your gmail account.  Pictures taken on smart phones also appear instantly on the computer, like magic.

Google also has another free cloud thing for documents called Google Docs – really awesome stuff where you can write, edit, save, etc. – but Aunty was already so full from computer migration and photo library moving, that it was techno overload and will be a lesson for another day.

Like Star Trek

Aunty feels like she has boarded the starship Enterprise, exploring strange, new worlds, to seek out new things and chuck the old.  Except Aunty is old and not ready to be chucked.  So it becomes a matter of learning new tricks, slowly, and one at a time.  It used to be a universal truth that the older you get, the wiser you become.  Maybe we still do get wiser, but those young people are smarter, learn faster and have nimbler thumbs.

Post note:  Aunty has used Uber twice since coming back from California.  Once to pick up her Mazda after servicing and another time to travel from Hawaii Potters Guild to Ala Wai Community Park.  It was VERY convenient.  The hardest thing about it is signing up for it at Uber.com (using this link will give Aunty some Uber credits!)  Google and Uber.  Two made up techie words that are changing our world for the better.

Aunty’s Googling day

barFirstly, Aunty wants to share her current favorite granola bar – 18 Rabbits.  This bar has been in Aunty’s purse for ages – carrying it around in case of hunger attacks while away from home, but never trying it – yet.  During the very (very) long car ride to Google’s Mountain View corporate offices, Aunty needed something to eat and opened this stored bar without any expectations.  It is rather flat (thus being easy to keep in purses), and “sounded” healthy, which meant that it might be not so delicious.

It is gluten free, certified organic, no refined sugars, and made with coconut, pecans, pumpkin & sesame seeds, cranberries, and whole grain oats.  This particular bar was the Cherry, Dark Chocolate & Almond.

Normally, Aunty doesn’t like granola bars with chocolate because the chocolate isn’t very good and makes it more of a sweet snack, but this one was el perfecto.  The dark chocolate was sparse and fine, the texture was chewy but didn’t stick to teeth,  pleasant to the taste buds, and it made Aunty’s tummy happy, like a welcome guest and not like a bomb of grainy oatmeal.  The entire bar was made with finely chopped ingredients all smashed together for easy eating .  LOVE!

Aunty is now going to actively search out and buy another one for her purse.

Googling

#1 son (only son), the crown prince of the family, works at Google.  He was always a computer nerd even though we didn’t have a computer at home until 1990.  In this day and age, young people have a great edge over us old people – computers and such have made them smarter than us.  Our advantage is that we are wiser.

google dayGoogle recently sponsored a “Take Your Parents to Work Day”.  It was like a huge college campus with a variety of free restaurant quality food in every building and in excellent food trucks.  Free quality snacks and drinks in convenient locations.  Recycle bins, personal gardening plots, ample parking, easy secured building entry and shuttle buses to the shop, demos and expos.

At the end of the day, we all gathered in a stadium that had a Harry Potterish canopy to hear about Google’s current and next phasing from co-founder Sergei Brin and CEO Sundar Pichal.  They were very unassuming and nice!  Loon is a Google project that brings balloon powered internet to remote areas.  Nest is like having a personal butler.  Medical tools for eye disease diagnosis to prevent blindness.  Couldn’t remember all the other stuff they talked about but Aunty walked away with a good feeling about this company.  It is a company that seems to want to help others and give us a more convenient life with self driving cars and free apps.

It ended with a queue of parents asking questions or making comments.  Aunty refrained from joining that queue to avoid embarrassing #1 son.  If Aunty had gone up there, she would have suggested gifting each parent with one share of Google stock (that would have gotten a standing ovation), making a “find my car” app so she doesn’t forget where she last parked, and having them hire Aunty to be part of their think tank with her non-techie point of view of what would make life easier and better for “maturing” people.

It was a full and wonderful day, under a cool cloudy sky.  Aunty’s absolute favorite part of it was in the bathrooms.  Every stall in every Google building had heated toilet seats and electronic bidets.  Wow!  Aunty was too chicken to try it out in case water squirted all over the place, so next time Aunty will bring a change of clothes and sit in the lap of luxury and enjoy.

Sugru, like Super Putty on steroids!

Aunty loves Sugru.  It can fix almost ANYthing.  It air hardens to a tough flexible rubber in a day.  It is like super glue, polymer clay, and Playdoh, all rolled into one little package.  It is a bit pricey and comes in little bitty blister packages to keep the air out.  It can attach to wood, metal, rocks, plastic, rubber, glass, paper, and almost everything, except air and water.

Aunty will update in another post in the future, but wanted you all to know about an awesome sale that they are having this week – 40% off, eeeeYOWZA, that’s a sale!  Use the savings code “10millionfixes” to save during this flash sale.

Here’s the link to the sale: 2016-09-25_14-21-36

If you do use Sugru, please share how you use it with the nice folks over there as well as with Aunty.  Meanwhile, here is a very short fast video that will give you an inkling of Sugru’s potential:

Why the Hydro Flask

hydroflaskEVERYbody seems to have a Hydro Flask bottle.  Big ones, little ones, fat ones, skinny ones.  Aunty couldn’t understand what the hype was about and figured that it was just a fad.  Plus, they were rather pricey – $23 for the small ones and $30+ for the bigger ones!

Instead of a Hydro Flask, Aunty had a cute slim aluminum thermos looking bottle with a screw on lid and screw on cup.  This was taken to seminars and outings if water was needed and it served its purpose, though it would leak if it wasn’t upright (gross when it was in Aunty’s handbags) and ice water would cause it to sweat.

Truth to tell, Aunty thought the Hydro Flasks were not very stylish, and the colors were kinda ugly, BUT Aunty’s cool looking thermos was not doing its job and Aunty was getting tired of wet bag interiors.

So, like footwear, function and durability won out over looks, and Aunty bought a slim Hydro Flask that had a screw on cap with a hole for her finger to carry it around, in a zen green color.  It kept cold water cold, without leaking, at all!  Hmmm.  Aunty joined the Hydro Flask movement and the kids thought mom was cool.

After a few months, though, it seemed like the ice cold water would become warm before the day was up.  The youngest kid said to return it and get a new one.  Whaaatttt?  You sure?  Yep, for sure, and it was easy to do by registering and then letting them know wassup with the flask on their website.

Soon after, Aunty received an email from info@hydroflask.com.  This had instructions and a case number for the return.  Aunty carefully packed the zen green Hydro Flask in a box with paper padding after writing the case number on the bottle (with a Sharpie pen) and also requested any color if possible (zen green was not such a great color, in Aunty’s opinion).

Taking it to the post office for mailing, Dwayne (super nice counter clerk at the Kahala post office) weighed the box (over 13 ozs.) and suggested that I ship it without a box, making it much lighter and cheaper to mail.  Good idea, and rather surprising that this could be done!

A few days later, a box arrived for Aunty, with a spanking brand new Hydro Flask bottle, a new screw on cap, and in a nice bright kiwi green color!

Pretty neat, huh!  They have shown excellent customer service backing up an excellent product (kind of like the Apple Store).  Recently Aunty bought a short little silver looking Hydro Flask for cold water sips during the day.  It may not be stylish, but it IS cute!  Why Hydro Flask?  They made a believer and a loyal follower out of Aunty.