OK, I am breaking the pattern of waiting at least a week between posts...
Remember what I wrote yesterday? You know, "live, learn, engineer"? OK, a little more on that. I noticed a couple of weeks ago how nasty my electric kettle had become. You may not know it, but the water in Paris is VERY calcitic. I mean it is HARD. You do not know if you are being showered or sand blasted!
My electric kettle, a key component in the crafting of my morning coffee -- yes, I used the word "crafted", as Pam will tell you, and Shelby will affirm, it is more than simply "made" -- was looking pretty crusty. I hand grind my coffee beans fresh each morning, because I have found that electric grinders, no matter what style, either grind the coffee unevenly and.or burn the beans too much by the mere friction of the process. Besides, my grandson helps me hand grind, which is a worthwhile by-product of going "old school" on the coffee preparation.
Well, I told you before I went "old school" on the toilet using bleach, and after a few scrubbing encounters on my kettle, which heats water to a boil faster than you can name the capital of your state, I went old school on cleaning again. I went to good old Monoprix and found some white vinegar. I have used this miracle cleaner before, but now it was really going to be tested. The stainless steel of the kettle, and even its black plastic components were almost completely white -- OK, maybe just a strong shade of gray -- with calcite. I mixed a 50-50 blend of the white vinegar and water -- all the kettle could possibly hold -- and let it stand for 45 minutes. I poured it out. The kettle looked completely new. The cheap white vinegar had done what the expensive cleaners (like AJAX) could not even begin to address. "Old school" is seldom a bad way to go, IMHO.
All that calcite experience prompted me to buy one of those "new school" Brita water pitchers, and I can finally drink a glass of water here without cringing or adding G2. The coffee is better, too...
a bientot,
Mark
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