Label me stubborn, or maybe just an incompetent photographer who doesn’t know when to stop. Actually I think this is my best breakfast burrito photo to date. Getting the lighting right is very difficult, especially taking photos inside an RV early in the morning.
I think the composition is better on this one. I also tried for a different style of lighting. I just wish the sour cream was as white as it looked I guess it is time to start watching YouTube videos on how to photograph food. Maybe shining a bright led light on it would help? In the future I will try to limit the number of Breakfast Burrito posts to no more than one a month.
After watching a number of YouTube videos we attempted to clean our Mr. Slim unit the “easy” way. While the section of the case where we wiped it with a damp cloth and then brushed the blower vanes may look clean it really wasn’t. The brush only removed the dirt from the front section of the blower vanes, plus we couldn’t clean the case behind the blower. So much for the easy way which meant disassembling the unit. After another round of watching YouTube videos – why does each video leave out a step or two? – we were able to disassemble the unit. I say we because my wife handing me tools and carefully laying out the parts I removed made the task so much easier. Plus she remembered things from the videos that I didn’t. I’m so lucky to have married a farm girl. Smart Rob.
I can guarantee we will never let the unit get this dirty again.
The blower partially cleaned. A garden hose, a bucket of water with Dawn added (if it cleans oil off a sea bird it should clean an AC blower shouldn’t it) and you can see the difference it makes with the right half having been cleaned.
Build up of residue in the condensate tray.
The unit with the blower and water condensate tray removed.
After cleaning the case, the last step was to clean out the drain line. I opted for the water rinse method, using a water wand we use to clean out the 5th wheel RV’s hot water tank.
What came out of the drain line.
All cleaned up and reassembled. It wasn’t all that hard to do I say with a great deal of hindsight. Thank you YouTube.
Boxed wine or Bag in a Box (BiB) wine bladders are something we reuse. In our case it is to refill them with our homemade wine, but we see online that people use them for other liquids also. Most of our boxes come from friends and neighbors who have enjoyed consuming the contents. The bladder is easily removed through hole where the valve protrudes.
There are only two parts, the plastic bag or bladder and the valve. There are several types of valves but they are all a compression fit into base in our experience. I’ve used a twist valve style for this post but the push valve style can be removed the same way.
The tools I use to remove the valve. You have to be very careful because they are sharp and can cut you if they slip. Wearing gloves while learning the technique is strongly advised.
I begin by using a putty knife, inserting it between the valve and the base, then using a twisting motion the to open a small gap between the valve and base, then moving around the base . It takes very little effort to insert the blade. I grip the blade very close to valve and apply the twisting motion. I ruined a few bladders and valves when I was first learning that it is moving a round the base and repeating the twisting motion that opens the gap, not exerting a great deal of force in any on spot. Think, insert, twist, move a little further around the base, twist again.
Once a small gap is opened around the base and valve, I take a large bladed screwdriver and with a gentle twist open a larger gap that pops the valve out to the first rib. Usually I have to work my way around the base just as with the putty knife. Don’t try to “pop” it all at once, just work around the base and it will slowly start to separate.
Once it is popped out to the first rib I use a rocking motion with my hands to work the valve the rest of the way out of the base. Then it time to clean the bladder to prepare it for reuse. I use a special cleaner that is sold for cleaning wine making equipment which seems to do a very good job. I’ve been able to reuse bladders two or three times so far. Maybe some day I will post about my winemaking, but don’t hold your breath as we should begin traveling once again in the next two or three weeks.
The air conditioner/heat pump in our coach house is a Mitsubishi Mr. Slim split unit. We have always cleaned the filters but recently we learned there are other parts that also need cleaning.
Thanks to YouTube we learned how to open the louvers so we could clean the blower,
What it looked like in there after not having never been cleaned in the eight years since it was installed.
It was going to take more than just bushing the dirt from the blower to remove the buildup. But that is a story for another day.
The fresh jalapenos make a big difference, both in the taste and also in how it looks. It is almost a shame to add the Mexican sour cream, chili sauce and Oaxaca cheese then roll it up.
