We Bought An Air Fryer

Exciting things last week.  First this happened:

Yep, a brand new Dollar Tree opened here and Mom was there for the grand opening!  BOL!  She said the store is beautiful.  All the shelves were stocked and she probably used a cart that no one else had ever used.  I think she was there five times the first four days it was open.  She buys laundry detergent, dish detergent, some frozen food, pain relievers, doggy bags, etc from Dollar Tree.  Oh, they have 18 eggs for $1.  When we were in CA, we were paying $5 for a dozen.  She has bought eggs from Dollar Tree before and they have been fine.  She checks the expiration date.  A clerk told her that the eggs go fast.

The second exciting thing is that she finally bought an air fryer.  She has been wanting one for quite some time, but did not know if it would work as advertised.  We don't have a lot of space, so that was also a concern.  She started doing research and read a ton of reviews.  She was planning on getting a certain brand and then the reviews left her with doubts.  She joined an air frying group online and that is where she heard of Paula Deen's Air Fryer.  The reviews on that one were really good.  It has an enamel basket which doesn't chip or flake which was a problem with the one she had planned on buying.  It also had the accessories that she wanted.  She decided to go for it.  I think she stalked the shipping of it constantly from the time she ordered it on Monday.  It finally arrived on Friday.

TA DA!

It comes with a cake pan and a small pizza pan. It also has a steaming rack which she has used to do tier cooking.  It comes with a trivet but it is really small.

So what does an air fryer do?  It cooks food with little or no oil.  Basically it is super heated air that circulates and cooks the food.  The food is supposed to taste like you have deep fried it in oil.   Does it?  Well, the fries she made did not.  She did play around with them and found that if she put a little oil on them and then seasoned them, they were good.  As good as deep fried?  No, but they are good and less calories.  They were steak fries, so maybe a thinner fry would taste better.  Most people seem to make their own fries, but Mom is probably not going to do that.  She bought the fries at Dollar Tree which is why she visited so often last week.  She stocked up on their frozen items so she could try out the air fryer.

She fixed chicken thighs the first night and they turned out great!  She just dipped the chicken in self-rising flour, salt and pepper and cooked for about 30 minutes.

Very crispy on the outside but juicy on the inside.

Dad was impressed with the chicken. I thought it was really good too!

She made grilled cheese sandwiches and Dad thought they were really good.  She has also made hamburgers, mozzarella sticks, onion rings, chicken fried steak, and frozen burritos and she hasn't even had it a week.

She let the mozzarella sticks bake a little too long, but the clean up was easy.

A hamburger in the air fryer. Steaks are supposed to turn out good, but we haven't tried that yet.

This is the basket that the food goes in.  It has the grease from the hamburger.  Clean up is really easy.

The only thing that hasn't turned out was a cake.  Mom thinks she messed it up.  She didn't flour the cake pan, so it stuck to it.  She put foil on top as directed, but it also stuck to the cake, so she needs to make an adjustment.  She will give it another try.

She really wants to try hot wings.  Oh and fried pickles.  There is only so much food we can eat, so she is pacing herself.

This is a great appliance for us because our convention microwave/oven does not work properly.  It is very hard to get things to brown in it.  The air fryer browns like a champ.  As far as space goes, it really isn't that big.  She is just leaving it on the counter for now.   It doesn't heat up the RV and it is quiet.  Five days in and Mom loves it.

We also got a power head for our central vacuum.  I am not really thrilled with it since I hate vacuuming, so I am not going to talk about it.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Likes When His Mom Cooks

Concord Point Lighthouse

Tuesday morning we didn't get to walk to the park because Mom needed to get back to the house.  We walked to the stop sign and back.  It is probably a mile. She had to put dinner in the crock pot and then leave to go sightseeing. She fixed red beans and rice with smoked sausage.  It actually was better than she expected it to be.  It sure smelled good all day while it was cooking.

Dad needed a haircut, so while he was doing that, Mom went shopping at Dollar Tree.  Can you believe she spent $27 there?  She loves shopping there because she can afford everything.  BOL! She bought shampoo, detergent, fabric softener, cold medicines, batteries, cookies, candles, etc.   She usually buys our poop bags because they sell the big dog size.  We didn't need any this time because she really stocked up when we were home last month.

The folks then drove a few miles to Havre de Grace.  That is where the Concord Point Lighthouse is located.  It was built in 1827. It is one of the oldest lighthouses in continuous operation on the East Coast. The folks really enjoyed walking along the promenade.  It was such a beautiful day that they decided to eat outside at a restaurant there.  Mama said it was a really nice day.

This is the light house keepers house.  Tours ended on Sunday, unfortunately.

This used to be a hotel.  It is now a condo.  Mom said she would love to live there just for the view of the water.

This is where the folks ate lunch.  The food was good.  They really enjoyed eating outside on such a pretty day.

After the folks got home, we all sat outside for a few hours.  Dad went fishing and caught about 15 fish.  It was a nice day.

The weather person is threatening us with the "s" word for this weekend.  It can't get too bad because it is going to heat up again after Sunday. You know how the weather people like to hype things up.  It is going to be a cold and rainy day tomorrow.  Blah!

We have a Halloween mystery here.  Our neighbor who has been here for 1.5 years left.  He didn't tell us he was leaving.  He made it sound like he was going to be here for a long time.  He worked here part-time.  He even gave Dad a fishing lure to use on Tuesday and didn't mention he was leaving.  Dad didn't see him after fishing, so planned on returning it to him later.  I guess it is his now. Tuesday afternoon, while our neighbor was gone, a man came by and he flashed a badge and asked Dad what he knew about our neighbor.  Dad thought he pointed to another neighbor, but maybe he met that guy.  It is odd that he took off suddenly. A truck hooked up his travel trailer and took it away, but the neighbor followed in his truck.  We are not sure why the neighbor didn't tow the trailer himself.  We have seen him move boats with his truck. :::shrugs shoulders:::  Mom didn't really like him. She said she felt a strange vibe around him, but doesn't know why.

We hope everyone has a nice Halloween.

Joey,
The Greyhound Who Will Try To Solve The Mystery Of The Neighbor This Weekend