Category Archives: Home & Garden

How to Remove the Ikea Maximera Drawer

DIY, Home & Garden,

So I recently had an Ikea kitchen fitted as I really liked the configuration in particular of the drawers – they have a range of drawers in different sizes including some really useful 10cm deep drawers.

In fact you can choose whatever configuration of drawers that you want to fit into your units using the Metod bases and Maximera drawer carcasses.

Ikea Drawers
Ikea Drawers

In fact there are so many configurations in the Ikea kitchen that I changed my mind about what size drawers that I wanted in both of my drawer units! However, once I had installed the drawers I had trouble figuring out how to remove the maximera drawer from the rails and tried to Google to find that information but what I found fell short of helping me.

So for that reason I decided to inspect the one maximera drawer that I hadn’t put together to figure out how to get the drawer out. Doing this made me realise how to take the Maximera drawer out and I made a short video for anyone else who is trying to do this and is struggling:

In case you can’t see the video then what you need to do is find the two little clips that are quite near to the drawer front – they look like this:

Maximera Drawer
Maximera Drawer

There is one clip on either side of the maximera drawer and you need to push them both to get the drawer to release from the rails. You can then reposition the drawers where you want.

Where Can you Get RAL Tester Pots?

DIY, General, Home & Garden, Shopping,

With many more items being offered in colours in the RAL colour range, it can be useful to know where to get RAL tester pots so that you can check the colour before ordering.

RAL colours come in 210 shades for the matt colours and 183 in a gloss finish. They have been around since 1927.

You can actually buy RAL spray paint colours online for around £10 plus postage and you can get some more common colours in spray paint form from Amazon (see example to the left).

For example, many doors and windows come in anthracite grey which is RAL 7016, so if you need a touch up for that you can certainly get hold of something like that on the left.

In another example, a well known kitchen company offers kitchen that can be painted in any colour in the RAL spectrum. But obviously if you want to check out the colour that you are thinking of buying, then you might want to know where you can get RAL tester pots.

One place that you can go to in the UK is to Homebase where they have a Dulux mixing desk. here they can pretty much mix to any colour that you want including colours in the RAL spectrum.

So it is worth buying a couple of tester pots for £3.29 to decide on what colour you want the whole kitchen to be painted before going ahead with a big purchase like that.

Obviously when you get paint from different sources there may be slight differences in the actual result of the colour achieved so complete matching may be tricky.

In fact if you look online at pictures of specific RAL colours (for example google RAL 1013) you will get a massive variety of shades for one actual colour which will make it difficult to decide what it actually looks like!

How to Cook Parsnips

Food & Drink, Home & Garden

How To Cook Parsnips

Cooking Parsnips

Parsnips are one of those vegetables that, in the UK, only get eaten once a year in some households, and that is at Christmas! However, there is no reason why they can’t be eaten year round and give a bit more variety to your vegetable selection.

As far as I am concerned, the most tasty way that you can cook parsnips is by roasting them. Ideally you can do this as part of a roast dinner so that you can combine their cooking with that of the roast potatoes and other roast vegetables that you might have.

However, you can also just boil or steam parsnips along with other vegetables or mash them on their own or with another vegetable.

Add parsnips to your usual vegetables to get some variety.
Add parsnips to your usual vegetables to get some variety.

Boiling or Steaming Parsnips

Firstly, you will need to clean and peel the parsnips. Put on a large pan of water to boil so that the vegetables will all be covered by the water. Add salt if you wish.

Cut the parsnips into similar shapes as you might with carrots for example into rounds or else you can cut into quarters lengthwise or into strips. The smaller that you cut the parsnips the shorter amount of time they will take to cook. Parsnips take a similar amount of time to cook as carrots.

Now how long you cook your vegetables for does depend to a certain extent to how crispy or not you like your vegetables to be. If you like them to be reasonably hard (al dente) then only simmer them for 8-10 minutes. If you prefer them to be softer then cook for 12-15 minutes. Check with a sharp knife to see if the parsnips are cooked to your liking.

Mashed Parsnips

Another option is to have mashed parsnips. You can have them on their own or also mash them up with swede or something similar.

Once you have chopped the parsnips up into similar sized chunks, bring the water to the boil and simmer the parsnips for around 15-20 minutes. once they are well cooked, drain them and mash the parsnips with a potato masher whilst adding some butter (and possibly a little cream if you are feeling indulgent). You could also add a small amount of a spice like nutmeg to give it a twist.

Roast Parsnips

Roast parsnips may take longer than you think to cook, so make sure you plan in advance. Firstly peel the parsnips, then chop them in half and then cut them into quarters lengthways. If they are quite small they may just need chopping in half.

Parboil your parsnips for a short period of time. Basically this means simmering them in boiling water for only around 3-5 minutes. Drain the parsnips and dry them on some kitchen towel. put the parsnips onto a plate or into a bowl and add salt. Toss the parsnips around in the salt so that they have a light coating. If you want an extra flavour you can also add honey to the parsnips.

Heat up some vegetable oil in a roasting tin or pyrex dish. The oil should just cover the bottom of the tin although the more oil you add the more of a ‘deep-fried’ effect you will give the parsnips. The oven should be at around 220 degrees C but if you are cooking other things in the oven at the same time then you can use a lower heat but just extend the cooking time.

Once the oil has heated up, add the parsnips to the pan and turn them over so that they are completely coated in the oil then put the dish back in the oven. Cook the parsnips for around 30 minutes ensuring that you turn them over during cooking so all sides are evenly browned.

Where to Buy a Home Drugs Test

Beauty & Personal Care, Health, Home & Garden, Lifestyles, Shopping, ,

Buying Home Drug Testing Kits

Are you looking to buy a cheap but effective home drugs test? Is the easiest way to get hold of one for you to order it online and get it delivered to your home rather than having to go to a pharmacy?

There are many reasons why you might want to buy a home drug test, perhaps you want to test that your system is clear of drugs after stopping or perhaps you are worried about a family member.

Whatever your reason, if you are looking to buy one that has accurate results and is very simple to perform, then it is very easy to buy a home drug test kit on the internet and perform the test in the comfort of your own home.

These home drug tests can test for a variety of drugs and most of them use a urine test strip that you need to dip into a sample of urine and it will bring up two lines if any of the tests are positive. There are some tests that are combination tests and will test for Illicit drugs such as marijuana or cocaine and there are also tests that check for prescription drugs such as anti-depressants.

These drug tests vary in price but generally you can get a simple home drug test for around $10 or less. You can buy home drug tests in greater quantities if you want to test on an ongoing or regular basis.

It is easy to buy home drug tests online and they are sold by Amazon, among other retailers. There is a good selection of FDA approved products by various manufacturers.

Check out some of the tests shown below that may be suitable for your needs or else click through to be offered a greater selection of tests.

What We Bought in 2015 – According to Mary Portas

Beauty & Personal Care, Clothes and Fashion, Entertainment, Fun Stuff, Health, Home & Garden, Lifestyles, Shopping

The Big Trends of 2015So as one of the end of year TV programmes on Channel 4 in the UK, Mary Portas went on a mission to find the best selling things of 2015. Here is a summary of what she found that we bought the most of in 2015 and also details of where you can buy it all:

 

At the start of the year we all want to lose weight and the massive big seller of 2015 in terms of fitness DVDs was Charlotte’s 3 minute belly blitz.

Next on the list were 2 kitchen aids whose sales went a bit crazy in the first part of the year. One was the nutribullet and the other was the spiralizer. Both were designed to help you to eat more healthily and sales on both were massive.

On the back of the sale of the spiralizers came the bestselling book by vegan blogger Ella Woodward – Deliciously Ella.

In February came the film of the best selling book 50 Shades of Grey. As the DVD is now out, if you haven’t read the book or seen the film then you can watch the DVD.

In 2015, Mary Portas reports, the beard revolution was upon us. According to the program in some cities over 50% of men are now sporting beards. With celebrities endorsing the fashion came the trend for beard products which went a bit crazy, in particular beard oil.

There are a huge number of people selling beard oil on Amazon and jumping on the bandwagon so we have just chosen one option to show you on the right!

70s fashion was the next item on Mary Portas’ best selling list of 2015 but we will leave you to peruse the high street to choose your favourite 70s clothes options which could include flared trousers, A-line skirts and fake fur jackets!

Another massive bestseller which has been popular with friends of SpikyMouse was the adult colouring book. This trend suddenly hit our shelves in 2015 and was taken on by those needing a bit of relaxation in their lives from the craziness of everyday.

One of the best selling adult colouring books was the Animal Kingdom colouring book by Millie Marotta but there are numerous different books available and they are obviously not only available online but also in your local bookshop by the dozen.

Another trend that we have been promoting at SpikyMouse for a few years is coconut water. But sales of this also really took off in 2015 as well as other coconut based products like coconut oil to cook with.

Next in line is another fashion item that has been dubbed ‘athleisurewear’. Having seen the increase in leisure wear over the last decade or so, with whole shops dedicated to clothing that looks like you should be wearing it for playing sport but it really isn’t suitable, comes clothing that is suitable for both sports and leisure.

Quite a few brands of clothing have been sponsored by celebrities particularly in the music industry and many of the items are sold out online before you even have a chance to look at them.

One big seller in this area was leggings which had been elevated to a major fashion item with the addition of bright colours, patterns and stripes. Rita Ora was one person who had her own range of Adidas clothing which sold really well.

A fun trend which hit the shops and took off in major way was the pastel hair dye – another trend that was endorsed by quite a few young celebrities, including Pixie Lott who brought out her own range of pastel hair dyes.

There were some pastel hair dyes that were suitable for pre-lightened or very light blonde hair or there were chalk hair colours that just gave a temporary effect.

So at the end of the year came Star Wars which sent all fans into a major frenzy and thoughout the year Prosecco was our favourite drink.

How many of these trends did you embrace? And what is going to be the next big thing for 2016? We can only guess!