Bag in Flour/Sugar Dispenser

I've been looking for a practical way to store my sugar and flour so that they are safe from (guess...ants!) and that are easy to pour when you need them, without the mess.  You know, when you're trying to pour flour or sugar from the bag, you usually end up getting stuff all over everywhere...at least I do.  I was super excited when I saw this plastic dispenser that could be used for flour or sugar and that was designed so that you could pour with a spout straight out of the bag.  Sounds too good to be true huh?

A 5lb bag fits right into the container.

Just cut the paper bag flush with the outer rim of the plastic container.

 

Put the lid on, so that it fits inside the paper bag...

 

And, voila! Flour straight out of the bag...without the mess...

NOT! Yup, too good to be true.  The lid doesn't sit on the container tight enough, and as I was trying to get the flour out of the spout with a tapping action, this is what happened! It's a brilliant idea, but needs some major work!  AHHHHHHHH!  

Man...the clean up was a pain. I should have put my ice cube tray somewhere else while I was testing this thing.  Arg!

So, here is my review of this product.  Buy at your own risk, haha!

Pro's:
1. You don't have to pour the flour or sugar out of their bag, as it does hold the bag inside it pretty well.
2.  As long as you don't try to pour using the lid, it's a great container for storing flour...I suppose.
3.  It's great for sugar, as sugar pours out of the spout easily, but I would hold the lid just to be safe.
4.  It's easy to clean.

Con's:
1.  The flour doesn't pour out of the spout whatsoever. You either need to take the lid off, or use the larger opening to scoop flour out.
2.  It only fits a 5lb bag of flour or sugar, anything smaller or bigger will cause problems. So, Costco shoppers...you're screwed!
3.  The lid doesn't sit on tightly or securely. You need to hold the lid down with your hand if you're going to attempt to use this product as it's intended.
4.  You can't stack these containers on top of each other, so they do take up a lot of space.
5.  If you don't cut the bag opening correctly, the lid will sit on even worse than before and then you're going to have problems.

I would return them, but for now I'm just going to keep it and use them as storage containers. They work as just that.   

My Weekend

I spent the weekend running errands, "cleaning" the house, doing laundry, and shopping :D of course! I mean, it wouldn't be a MY weekend if there wasn't shopping involved.  This time it was for my balcony.  Time for my mini garden to be spruced up in time for Nooruz (you know, Persian new year...first day of spring).

I did a complete overhaul of my flowers in some of the pots after a seriously disgusting infestation of ants. They had built a nest in my flower pot. I mean, the nerve! Who do they think they are and how dare they take over my soil and flowers!!!  It was so bad, there was a line of them from one side of the balcony to the pots and when I would water the pots, they would overflow out...and ya, well, you get the picture. YUCK!

Anyways...here are some pix from my weekend, and balcony pictures to come soon :)

So eeny mini cute!

Oh the blue was so beautiful...I would have/should have bought them all!!

 Amazing colors for a snapdragon.

So, we had crazy rain storm the night before that pretty much came out of nowhere.  Typical SoCal weather.  So, when I saw these flowers, I was amazed.  They always say that the first rain after a while is very acidic, but here is the proof!  See the discoloration on these morning glory's? The yellow tinge is the effect of acid rain.  Biology in action!

Babies are seat belted in :) and ready to come home! Yay!

This was the cutest perfume bottle.  Smell was okay :S

  If you've never had these, you are missing out.  Get to Costco now!

Billboard Gardens

Wouldn't it be lovely to drive through forests of beautiful, tall green trees, passing under arches of bent tree trunks flowing with beautiful flowers with a cool clean breeze wisping past you as you drive to work...or sit through traffic.  Sigh, distracted by my made up highway through the forest...traffic=no gardens, no fresh clean air, nada.  But, things can change (probably not that drastically), but a new project is under way to transform various billboards in Los Angeles to bamboo gardens.  I think this is AWESOOOOME!  Urban Air is on a path to transform urban billboards into what they call "an open space in the urban skyline", to bring urban sustainablity to cities around the world and add a fresh slap of nature to our crazy world.

So let's dream that some day there will be hanging gardens and fresh clean air for us to enjoy while we drive to work.

 

Happy Friday Everyone!!

Thank you HeLa

I wanted to take this chance to give a sincere thank you to Henrietta Lacks (and her family) for her cells (HeLa) that I have started working with in my lab.  I've used all sorts of other cell lines before, some cancerous, some not, but I've never used a cell line that was covered in such controversy and shame and derived from a patient without consent (and that was SO cancerous, practically nothing can harm them).  It is no wonder she died such a painful death...these cells are insane! They DON'T die! 

Henrietta Lacks, I wish there was more I could do for you and your family, but nonetheless, thank you for this opportunity! They will hopefully serve me well on my project. 

Check out this post I wrote a while back about her and the book ("The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot) that has been written about her life.

The elongated looking cells are the ones that have adhered to the dish and are growing.

Glass Gem Corn

Did you know there is such a thing as different colored corn.  I mean, yes, there is Indian corn, and yes that has different colors, but I mean beautiful translucent colors.  I've never seen corn that are pyhsically the color of gems.  Take a look at these beautiful pictures and the story of how the Glass Gem Corn came to be.  It's quite amazing to see corn in various colors, especially when we're accustomed to the plain ol' yellow corn that you can buy from your local grocery store, or frozen in the freezer aisle (my goldfish loves them though).  But, seriously, I would love to have some and see what they taste like!

Happy Friday

This is what I felt like this morning...see picture below.  But THANK GOD it's Friday.  I have Downton Abbey to catch up on :D and work to do (yuck!) and a visit to lab tomorrow.  But, it's the weekend which means, I can relax and sleep in!  Yay!

Happy Friday!