Tender, tasty, quick, and easy meals courtesy Cosori Electric Pressure Cooker (review)

Pressure cookers have intrigued me for nearly 50 years. They've also scared me that long, thanks to the monstrous meal-making machine that spouted steam and terror in my mom's kitchen as well as my grandma's decades ago.

I've always wanted to learn how to make meals with a pressure cooker. It just seemed that's what grandmas are supposed to do. Or at least try. But the idea the pressurized pan might go kabang has prevented me from giving such culinary craftiness a try.

Until now. Until I learned there's an electric — safe and kabang-proof — pressure cooker. Until I was offered the opportunity to review for free the safe, sturdy, and stylish Electric Pressure Cooker by Cosori.

 cosori electric pressure cooker

When I first unpacked and prepared my pressure cooker for cooking, my husband asked, "Are you sure that thing's not gonna explode?" Which confirmed that he, too, recalled pressure-cooker fears...

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ETEKCITY Digital Kitchen Scale: The key to perfect portion control

Portion control is key to a better bottom line, whether we're talking one's budget or body. Buying in bulk and portioning out pieces and servings saves money. Portioning out the correct serving sizes when gobbling goodies at snack time saves calories.

It takes a precise kitchen scale for perfect portioning, though, as eye balling just doesn't cut it. The ETEKCITY Digital Kitchen Scale — a handy dandy tool I recently received free for review — portions precisely, perfectly. Every time.

etekcity digital kitchen scale 

The sleek Digital Kitchen Scale has an 11-pound capacity and measures ingredients by grams, milliliters, pounds and ounces. It also has...

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Homestar Original Home Planetarium: Sega Toys moves stars from the sky to your ceiling

When my daughters were young, my husband and I used to take them camping to a family spot far from the city, far from city lights. One of our favorite activities while out in the wilderness was to stare up at the night sky and look for constellations and shooting stars.

homestar original

The Homestar Original Home Planetarium (which I received free for review) provides the same experience. For the most part. We can't build a campfire indoors, and we thankfully don't hear packs of coyotes off in the not-too-far distance. We do, though, see 60,000 twinkling stars — some of them shooting, even — plus constellations galore, right on...

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ASUS MeMO Pad 7 LTE tablet: A super tool for Intel's Family Skill Swap and more

Chances are your grandchildren know a whole lot more than you. At least about some high-tech gadgets and games and such.

You know a whole lot more than them, though, on other skills. Things like handicrafts and cooking crafts, playing musical instruments and more.

Considering the wealth of knowledge on their part and yours—albeit in different areas—how cool might it be to swap some of that knowledge, share those skills? Intel encourages grandparents to do exactly that by inviting a favorite youngster to swap skills between the generations.

Intel created an invitation for such swapping, something they call a Family Skill Swap. It looks like this:

Intel Family Skill Swap 

Click on that graphic for a PDF version you can print and pass along to a grandchild or two...

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Fry without oil? Avalon Bay AB-Airfryer100R (video review)

I've never liked to fry foods as it not only makes a great mess, it makes for fat-filled food that messes with my stomach.

AB-Airfryer100R

The Avalon Bay AB-Airfryer100R eliminates the mess as well as the need for oil when frying foods. I was...

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iCoffee Opus Single Serve Brewer: Ring in the new year with a new way to brew coffee

Coffee hovers near the top on my list of my most favorite things. Trying out new ways to brew coffee is on my list of second-most favorite things. In light of that information, you can be sure this review was one of the more enjoyable tasks on my to-do list.

I recently had the opportunity to try out the iCoffee Opus single serve brewing system, which immediately proved to provide a more flavorful cuppa joe than many single-cup brewers, thanks to its innovative technology.

 iCoffee Opus

The Opus single-serve brewing system features an...

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Strider No-Pedal Balance Bike a super holiday gift for beginning riders

What kid doesn't want a new bike from Santa? Even the kiddos who can't yet ride a bike want one.

For those youngest wanna-be bike riders, the Strider 12 No-Pedal Balance Bike makes a great gift — while providing a revolutionized way to teach a child to ride a bike.

strider no-pedal bikeMac tries out the Strider No-Pedal Balance Bike

See, the Strider No-Pedal Balance Bike has — you got it! — no pedals. The idea is...

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Labeling Epson LabelWorks and iron-on labels AWESOME

I have a long history of labeling things. I label books I've read so I know which of my many books I've finished. I label movies I loan out so I'm sure to get them back. I even used to label my athletic socks that looked just like those my then-teen daughters had so I was sure to wear my own, not theirs (and vice versa).

 Epson labelworks

I believe my affection for labeling began 32+ years ago, when my husband and I — then just dating and coworkers — worked...

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