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Thank you for clarifying. It was a very long day and I didn't think to check reviews.

With all of these incarnations of Zeus floating around, I am not sure whether this guy in Phoenix is our Zeus or a different one.

Trader Joe's and Whole Foods in AZ have required customers who use their own bags to bag the groceries for some time. The checker "asking" if you'd like to bag them yourself might be a polite way of saying "if you use your own bag, you have to bag the groceries."

Maybe he'll switch it up and become Hera in Houston. Then again, Zeus seduced lovers in the form of a swan and a bird, so who knows what this one will do next.

No, you are not. Although I never hired him, from what I heard he is unlike Amazon insofar as he never left a delivery at the wrong house.

Andrew Justice?

I unearthed this from his RM profile: Hello Gentlemen... Making my way back...get at me on here and all the social media for exclusive content ? In fairness, he was last online Thursday evening. He probably just made this update.

A Ninja Foodi is COMPLETELY different than an InstantPot. NOT. THE. SAME. COMPLETELY DIFFERENT! Did you hear me? COMPLETELY DIFFERENT! There is only one InstantPot. All hail the InstantPot!! Except for the InstantPot model that caught fire and was recalled. Nobody hail that one. In fact, don't even bring it up. We like to forget it was ever manufactured.

As much as I like using a pressure cooker, I couldn't agree with you more. The Cult of The Holy InstantPot is rather silly. When I saw you can bake a cake in it (assuming you have the right bakeware, which is conveniently available on the InstantPot website) I thought "hmm, wouldn't an oven do that better?" Then again, when I was in a hotel prior to moving to a corporate apartment I bought a George Foreman grill that included (and I am NOT making this up) muffin and brownie pans. Why in God's name you would want to bake using a George Foreman grill is beyond me, but you can.

Given overnights run, on the low end, at $1,250, $5,000 for three days is not a bad deal. It averages to $1,667 per day.

Because that's where he is based. He is simply visiting Phoenix (through today). The review itself states I met him in Phoenix.

I have an InstantPot and really like it. Like @maninsoma I bought it for the pressure cooker function, which works very well. A couple of things that set it apart from others (Breville and Cuisinart are two brands I've had previously) are: The ability to buy extra seals, non-stick pots, lids, and other accessories. Williams-Sonoma, Amazon, and Target all sell them. Breville, on the other hand, says they sell them but they are always out of stock The seal is very easy to remove, clean, and re-install. Without a properly-installed seal, the pressure cooker simply does not work. Re-installing the Breville seal was a production. Cuisinart had this seal/inner lid combo thingy that was very easy to remove and re-install but was also easy to damage. The inner pot is made of high-quality stainless steel. The Instant Pot has a stainless steel pot that is very easy to clean. You can buy a non-stick pot, but I find that food scorches when I use it to make chili or other tomato-based foods. It is easy to clean. You can put the lid, seal, valve, and inner pot in the dishwasher or hand-wash it. Hand-washing is very easy, as there are fewer nooks and crannies than other brands. Let me unearth the recipe from "Pressure Perfect" by Lorna Sass and send it to you. Works every time! BTW - I highly recommend Lorna's book "Pressure Perfect." Although it is primarily a collection of recipes, it also serves as a primer to pressure cooking in general. She includes cooking charts, suggestions for using pressure cookers, tips for adapting your recipes, and suggestions for cuts of meat. Her recipes typically include the standard recipe, variations, and what she calls "transformations," which are ways to use her recipe as a base to make something else. An example is one of my faves: Chicken Cacciatore Pasta. It starts with a cacciatore recipe, but the pasta recipe is the "transformation." Also, Hip Pressure Cooking is a great website for pressure cooking recipes and cooking lessons. Laura Pazzaglia founded the website and does a good job of eliminating the ridiculous stories that food bloggers feel compelled to include in their recipes. She also has a "pressure cooker school" feature on the website.

My review was published last night (same day I submitted it!).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCer2e0t8r8:45

Too bad he doesn't have any pics of that cucumber. Hope it isn't a cornichon in real life.

Just got home. Sweet guy and lots of fun. Review is forthcoming.

So I texted him and set up a playdate for later today. Let's see.

I sent him a note via Rentmen messenger and have not received a reply, despite him having read the message. Apparently, the courtesy of a reply is not something he believes in providing. EDIT: He apologized for not getting back to me. See below

I agree with you on that, which is why the Nespresso works for me. I am not a fan of flavored coffee, so the limited Nespresso flavors is not an issue for me. Another bonus w/Nespresso is since they stopped offering tastings in the store they give you two sample capsules when you place an online order. Of course! They've come a long way. I think they reduced the minimum for free shipping since the pandemic forced them to temporarily close stores and, upon re-opening them, reduce the number of people they let in at a time. I make iced coffee routinely in summer and it is great! I fill a cup with ice, make two espressos over the ice and voila! perfect iced coffee. They also sell capsules made especially for iced coffee, typically at the beginning of summer. My biggest complaint about the Keurig is the coffee lacks flavor and strength. The Virtuo capsules are bar-coded, so you can choose to make the Costa Rica stronger and the Columbia weaker and the machine stores the setting for that type of capsule.

Nespresso now offers free shipping on orders above $35, which is about the cost of three sleeves of Vertuo capsules. If you sign up for the machine plan (scroll down the FAQs), you pay $1.00 for a Virtuo machine and a milk frother and are charged $35/month which is applied to your account. You can then use the $35 toward the cost of coffee. Essentially, you are receiving a machine at no charge. I had a Keurig and disliked it intensely. Thank you for the tip on the replacement foil seals for the Virtuo pods. I will try that. What grind do you use for a cup of coffee?

I used to feel the same way about buying pre-packaged vs bulk coffee beans at Sprouts/Whole Foods/etc. until Whole Foods was out of bulk coffee and I had to buy a 1 lb sack. The pre-packaged coffee beans tasted much better because they were not sitting in a bin exposed to air. A few years ago I switched to Nespresso Virtuo Line and never looked back. Those store grinders are terrible! All kinds of coffee residue gets mixed in with whatever you grind. I used my own grinder for several years until I broke down and bought a burr grinder. It really made a difference in the flavor of the coffee.

My local Safeway and Target were both wiped out of toilet paper and paper towels. I still have two and a half packages from the three I bought over the summer, so I am good.

No, but if I lived in NYC I would certainly try!

Very funny! Brings back memories of being in my twenties, shopping for a suit at Marshall Field's and the salesman thinking it was for my high school graduation. He was very embarrassed when he learned I was on my lunch hour from the bank where I worked as a commercial loan officer. (you'd have thought me walking in wearing a suit, tie, dress shoes, and trench coat might have tipped him off). Let's hope they continue to look younger than their age as they grow older.

As my beehive-wearing, chain-smoking Aunt Elaine would say (in her crackling, cigarette-stained voice): "Honey, a hurricane couldn't mess this hair."