Sunday 20 January 2008

Isobutane

Meet the latest addition to my flat - a fridge freezer! It is actually a gift - after having a conversation at Christmas time about how I was planning this year to finally get round to acquiring a means of storing frozen food, my mother said "Let me buy you one as an early birthday present - get one in the sales." We generally exchange bottles of Scotch on special occasions rather than large domestic appliances, but she was insistent, and here is the result.

Of course, this prompted me to have a look through Wiki on the subject of refrigeration. The results of my research? Practically nothing, I'm afraid. There's loads of stuff about it, but I couldn't understand any of it. Chemistry was never my strong point. One thing I did learn was that they've banned the inert safe refrigerants because of CFCs, and that my new frozen friend has the highly flammable isobutane running through its veins. They don't tell you this in the manual, of course. Well, actually, they do, since they mention "R600a", which is the refrigeration business' name for Isobutane.

Oh well, I wasn't planning to try and smoke it in any case.

So, I went shopping this morning, and in addition to my usual purchases bought a few other things:

Ice Cube Trays - It comes with one, but I'm planning to use a reasonable amount of the stuff, so I've now got another two. I wonder how long it'll be before I do what my mother does and just buy bags of ice cubes from the supermarket?

Bread - I'm forever throwing bread away because being on my own it doesn't always get used up fast enough. At least I used to throw it away, in the dark days before I was able to freeze it.

Peas & Sweetcorn - Peas are better out of the freezer rather than a tin, and again, I won't have any wastage. In addition, they are also essential for first aid - think of all the body parts people have had cut off, but managed to save because they could keep them fresh in a bag of peas.

Fish Fingers & Micro Chips - The above stuff looked too healthy and sensible. It's necessary to maintain a balanced diet, after all

Jaimie Oliver Chopping Board - This has nothing to do with my increased refrigeration capabilities, nor would I normally buy anything branded by a celebrity chef, but they're selling of all the "gift" products at sale prices.

Now that I've written about it, it'll probably develop a fault and blow up. Which will make for a more exciting blog post. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to relaxing this evening with a nice glass of Ouzo. On the rocks.

16 comments:

Jean Knee said...

yuck ouzo. We have something like it here called jagermeister. you probably have it too. Every hill-billy texas party I've ever been to the men whip it out and pretend like it's good-it is vile.

congrats on the fridge-freezer combo, unlimited green bean casserole is on the way, baby!

Brian o vretanos said...

Ouzo:

I like aniseed. It is quite rough though. I think I've heard of jagermeister.

Green Bean Casserole:

I suspect that will be one of your successful predictions ;-)

Brian o vretanos said...

However, I don't think Ouzo can compete with this (from Wiki entry on Jagermeister):

"It was used in World War II as an in the field anesthetic."

Bee said...

In the olden days when I used to go club hopping, we'd all gather our limited money and buy one bottle of something to drink before getting to the clubs. This way, we could be trashed and dancing without having to pay $6 for a watered down drink.
Each girl had their preference so we took turns. Mine was Tequila, the other girls were Smirnoff vodka, Southern Comfort Whiskey and Jägermeister.
This ended after a few weeks since nobody ever wanted to have Jäger but the one chick you liked it.
YUCK!!
Wow, long story.

CONGRATS ON YOU NEW FRIDGE/FREEZER!

Jean Knee said...

You could be right, however, jagermeister is drunk in shots, not sipped civilly over ice in a crystal glass. so it could work to anesthetize one.

no wait, you meant Jager was used in WWII? or ouzo

we have flu germs floating around our house so I'm not thinking clearly--I'm the well one, on clean-up patrol--ewww

Brian o vretanos said...

Bee:

I never understood the female habit of getting well tanked up before going out, I hadn't realised it was financially motivated. They even do it here, where the drinks aren't watered down.

Jean Knee:

Jager was used as a medicine. It says it still is in German households. Maybe you should take some to ward off the germs...

Brian o vretanos said...

I like southern comfort. You need ice with it, though.

Bee said...

At that time, we were all in our early 20s and barely making any money so that was our trick to having a "good" time. One of our friends would never bring more than a couple of dollars and would talk guys into buying her drinks. I never liked doing that since a)I don't trust people b)They always expected something in return and c)I'm proud to say I'm not a skank. ;o)

Dan said...

If you have a cold and have a couple of Jager shots it will go away.
congrats on the freezer put it to good use. I buying some peas to freeze just in case.
dan

Jean Knee said...

okay now, yes, jager is nasty stuff that I'm sure could even kill those antibiotic resistant bacteria

Brian o vretanos said...

Bee:

I went to clubs a couple of times, pretty much when I was dragged, and I never saw the point of them. Pubs were much better, because at least you could talk...

Dan:

Some cures can be worse than the disease, but I like the idea of medicinal liqueurs ;-)

Jean Knee:

I think I should try and get some. In the interests of medical research, obviously ;-)

Bee said...

We didn't go to talk, we went to dance. Except that one friend I was talking about, she would go to drink sometimes dance and always make out with random strangers.
She wasn't really MY friend... can you tell?

Jean Knee said...

so that was really you, huh. gosh I couldn't tell





Hi Brian

Bee said...

It most definately was not me jean knee... >:o[
Nah! I can't stay mad at your long!!





Hi Brian.

Brian o vretanos said...

Hello, ladies. I'm just writing another post...

Bee said...

uh.. that should read "mad at you long"