Gary Payton II has been cleared to play Saturday after missing the last 13 games with a torn calf, providing a much-needed boost to the Warriors’ struggling defense.
December 2023
Big 12 preview: 4 undefeated teams tip off competitive conference with Texas-Baylor matchup up first
It’s shaping up to be a competitive Big 12 season with four of the 11 remaining undefeated teams in Division I residing in the conference.
Ohio State WR Marvin Harrison Jr. opts out of Cotton Bowl, likely headed to 2024 NFL Draft
Harrison finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting in 2023.
Red Sox reportedly land RHP Lucas Giolito on 2-year, $38.5 million deal
The deal reportedly contains an opt-out after the first year.
How to Make Dull, Dingy Linoleum Floors Look New Again
In the more than 160 years that linoleum has been around, it has cycled in and out of fashion multiple times. Most recently, it went from being ripped out of kitchens on home renovation shows at the end of the 20th century to winning favor again over the last few years as natural and biodegradable flooring option. While linoleum flooring is durable and can be long-lasting, it does require some maintenance—otherwise it can start to look dingy, dull, and perpetually dirty, and intricate patterns can begin to fade.
But dpending on the age of your linoleum flooring, the room where it’s installed, where you live, and how it was maintained over the years, it’s often possible to restore its luster and shine.
Why linoleum floors always seem dirty
If you’ve tried washing your linoleum floors but can never get them to actually look clean, you’re not alone. In all likelihood, you’re dealing with multiple layers of film and ground-in dirt on floors that need a deep-cleaning.
As a real estate professional specializing in remodeling, Jim Gray of Agent Advice has completed dozens of home renovation projects over the years, and has seen his fair share of linoleum floors requiring restoration. “These floors can take a beating from everyday wear and tear, and before long, they start looking dull and worn,” he says. “The culprit is usually just a buildup of dirt and grime from years of traffic.”
How to make linoleum floors look new again
A quick clarification before going any further: The process described below is for linoleum floors that look dull and dirty, but are otherwise in good shape. If you’re dealing with century-old linoleum in a damp basement that starts to crumble when you try to pick it up, that’s more of a historic preservation issue, which isn’t the focus here. (Though it is the focus of this blog post from the Tenement Museum in New York City.) OK, here’s what to do:
Sweep the floors
Before anything gets wet, use a vacuum or broom to sweep the linoleum floors, getting rid of as much dirt, dust, and other debris as possible.
Remove the layers of dirt and wax
Fill a large bucket with about a gallon of warm water, one cup of white vinegar, and a squeeze of mild dish detergent. Sprinkle baking soda over one section of the floor, then run a mop over that same section using the water/vinegar solution—but only enough to dampen the baking soda, rather than washing it away. “Vinegar cuts grease, baking soda scrubs gently,” Gray says.
Next, use a brush to scrub that section of the floor until it looks sufficiently clean. If there are any areas that still need work, mix some baking soda with just enough water to make a paste, then scrub it in, like a spot treatment.
Repeat this process on all the sections of the floor. Then, fill a bucket with clean, warm water and use a clean mop or clean cloths to rinse the floors.
In most cases, this should be enough to strip the old layers of wax off the linoleum—without having to deal with harsh chemicals. But if you’d prefer that route, you can purchase a dedicated floor-stripping product, or mix one cup of ammonia with one gallon of warm water, scrub that into the floor instead, and then rinse—just be sure to open windows for ventilation, and wear gloves and eye protection. Keep in mind that while some experts swear by ammonia, others think it’s too harsh for linoleum, so it’s a good idea to start with a small patch test on an inconspicuous spot on the floor to see how yours holds up.
Wax the floors
Now that the floors are cleaned and stripped, the last step is applying a new layer of wax. “Waxing protects surfaces, returning radiance,” says Gray, who recommends rewaxing twice a year.
When in doubt, choose a wax or polish specifically made for linoleum floors—or at least one that specifies that it’s safe to use on them. Armstrong Shinekeeper ($32.03 for 32 ounces) and Bona Multi-Surface Floor Polish ($18.69 for 32 ounces) are two longtime favorites. Regardless of the wax or polish you choose, follow the directions on the packaging, as they differ from product-to-product.
Celebrate New Year’s Eve With a Crunchwrap Supreme Baked Brie En Croûte
I’ve been looking for new ways to en croûte wheels of brie. Brie en croûte (“en croûte” translates to “in crust”) is a staple New Year’s Eve party snack, promising decadence with softly oozing cheese. Plenty of recipes add jam, honey, or nuts to the parcel, but I say we welcome 2024 with a dose of whimsy and ground beef. Instead of serving the same old baked brie, serve the unexpected at this year’s New Year’s Eve party. Astonish your guests with a Taco Bell-inspired Crunchwrap Supreme brie en croûte.
I’m not ashamed of my love for Taco Bell, and the Crunchwrap Supreme is hands-down their best product. It’s composed of seasoned ground beef, molten cheese, a hard corn tortilla, lettuce, tomato, and sour cream all encapsulated in a soft tortilla. The pouch is griddled on both sides to secure the tortilla and heat it up. It may not be sophisticated, but it’s damn good.
En croûte simply means “in crust,” so it seems to me that everything making the Crunchwrap great can make brie en croûte even better. (What monster could turn down a savory, Taco Bell-inspired baked brie?) I was ready to add seasoned beef and all the fixings to a wheel of brie, but then I wondered, “What do I wrap it in?” A Crunchwrap is secured in a soft flour tortilla, adding chewiness and an easily handheld wrapper. A traditional brie en croûte is wrapped in puff pastry, adding a flaky, rich, and buttery layer. I couldn’t decide, so I did both.
I found the puff pastry version to be a glorious display of bronzed pastry and overflowing lettuce. It’s much more party-perfect as far as presentation goes. I cut into mine a touch too early, which is the gamble with all baked bries, so the cheese was a bit too molten. Otherwise, it delivered as promised: Taco Bell’s Crunchwrap Supreme flavors with a decadent buttery crust and melty brie cheese.
The tortilla-wrapped version was much more of a Crunchwrap clone. I prefer the chewy texture of the flour tortilla to the flaky puff pastry, but many would disagree. Once the cheese cools down to a controlled ooze, this brie en croûte cuts in clean wedges for sharing, and is much easier to hold than the puff pastry one. That being said, visually, the puff pastry brie is much more of a showstopper.
Luckily, there’s no wrong choice. Serve it simply with a small knife and let your guests hack away. Your friends and family are bound to love it for its savory flavor profile, and creativity, of course. Either way you choose, you’ll be kicking off the new year with a taste of adventure.
Crunchwrap Brie En Croûte with Puff Pastry
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
Ingredients:
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5 ounces of ground beef
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1 tablespoon Taco Bell seasoning mix
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1 sheet of thawed puff pastry (I used Pillsbury frozen puff pastry)
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6 or 7 ounce wheel of brie cheese (a wide wheel is better than tall)
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1 corn tostada (I used Guerrero tostadas)
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½ cup chopped or shredded lettuce
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¼ cup chopped tomatoes
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1 tablespoon sour cream
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Egg wash
1. Brown the beef in a skillet (you can optionally add a pinch of baking soda to aid with browning). Use a paper towel to sop up extra fat and moisture if more than a tablespoon puddles up in the pan. Mix in the Taco Bell seasoning mix. Set aside to cool.
2. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Put a sheet of parchment paper on a sheet tray.
3. Lightly flour a work surface and lay the thawed puff pastry on top. Use a rolling pin to roll it out in both directions for an inch or so of extra area. Place the puff pastry onto the parchment-lined sheet tray.
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
4. Add the cooled beef mixture to the center of the pastry sheet. Top with the tostada and place the wheel of brie on top of the tostada. Lift the edges up and over to the top of the brie. Begin pleating the pastry so it gathers together. Use a light coating of egg wash on the outside to help secure the pastry and aid with browning. The top won’t close all the way; that’s okay because we’ll put the fresh vegetables on top. However, this may cause the pastry to wilt in the oven, so I wrapped a piece of buttered kitchen string around the midway point to support the pastry.
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
5. Bake the brie for 20 to 25 minutes at 400°F, or until puffed and well browned. Cool for 15 minutes.
6. Top with the shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, and a dollop of sour cream. Remove the string, and serve.
Brie Croûte-wrap Supreme
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
Ingredients:
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5 ounces of ground beef
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1 tablespoon Taco Bell seasoning mix
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1 ½ 10-inch soft flour tortillas
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6 or 7 ounce wheel of brie cheese (a wide wheel is better than tall)
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1 corn tostada (I used Guerrero tostadas)
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½ cup chopped or shredded lettuce
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¼ cup chopped tomatoes
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1 tablespoon sour cream
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Oil to lightly coat the pan
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3 or 4 toothpicks
1. Brown the beef in a skillet (you can, optionally, add a pinch of baking soda to aid with browning). Use a paper towel to sop up extra fat and moisture if more than a tablespoon puddles up in the pan. Mix in the Taco Bell seasoning mix. Set aside to cool.
2. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place the wheel of brie on a piece of parchment paper inside of a small cake pan. Place the brie into the oven and warm it up for 5 to 7 minutes. This is just to take the chill off and soften the brie. Don’t heat it up too much or it’ll be extremely difficult to work with. Set it aside.
3. In a non-stick frying pan, lightly coat the bottom with a neutral cooking oil. Don’t turn on the heat yet. Take the flour tortilla and put it on top of the warmed brie. Put the cooled pan in your right hand and lay your left hand on top of the tortilla and flip it all over so the brie comes out of the pan and is already centered on the tortilla. Place this in the cold frying pan.
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
4. Scatter the seasoned beef around the brie and on top of it. Lay the tostada on top of that and smear on the sour cream. Top it with half of the shredded lettuce and tomatoes. If you haven’t guessed already, the 10-inch tortilla will not close over this gargantuan mound, so use half of another tortilla and place in the center, on top of the lettuce and tomatoes. Gather and pleat the first tortilla around the edges to overlap with the second, patchwork tortilla. Use a few toothpicks to skewer the pleats (make sure to catch the center half-tortilla when skewering).
Pardon the blurry picture, but this is how I tooth-picked the edges together. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just enough to flip it later..
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
5. Turn the burner on to medium heat and toast the bottom of the crunchwrap, about two minutes. Cover the pan with a plate and carefully flip it over. Use a spatula to lift the parcel back into the pan, tucking in the pleats, to toast the other side.
Flip the Crunchwrap and use the wall of the frying pan to help you crease any loose pleats.
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann
6. Cool the brie en croûte for 15 minutes. Top with the remaining shredded lettuce and tomatoes. Pull out the toothpicks, and serve.
Former Giants manager Baker eyeing return to organization
Former Giants manager Dusty Baker is eying a return to the organization.
How to Set Up Your Google Home App
Even without devices like the Google Mini or Google Nest Displays, the Google Home app can accomplish a lot when it comes to your smart home: it works like a dashboard for all your smart devices. And if you’re using Google Wifi routers, all of the information about your wifi network—including current connection speeds and what devices are using the network—is contained there. You can even prioritize or block devices from the network or change a network name.
In short, the Google Home app can serve as a digital hub for all your automations, and a record of all the activity across your devices from Google Home. It is a powerhouse of an app, and it takes almost no time to set up.
Download the Google Home app for your mobile device
You might think Google Home is an Android exclusive, but if you prefer to skip Apple’s Homekit app, you can use Google Home on your iPhone, too. While you’ll need a Google account to set up the app, you don’t actually need any smart devices, yet.
Associate your Google Account with Google Home
In order to set up the app, you will need a Google account, like Gmail. If you have more than one Google account, consider carefully which you’ll use. Setting up your home devices on a work account may not be a great idea; you want to ensure this is an account only you can control.
In the bottom right of the screen, you’ll see a button that says “Get Started.” Click on that button to proceed. On the next screen, enter the Gmail account you’ve chosen to use. You may need to enter a password for the account even if you’re already signed in on the mobile device.
Add services to Google Home
You should arrive back on the home screen now and see the “link services” option. While this is optional, you’ll find that linking media services to your account can be useful. For instance, if you want to be able to ask Google to play a particular song, it’ll pull that song from Spotify, but only if you have a Spotify account.
You’ll see all the available services from YouTube to Netflix available, and can work your way down the list.
Set up a new home in your Google Home app
Google wants to know where you are so it can give you more accurate information. For instance, in order to tell you the time, it needs to know your time zone. In order to tell you the weather, it wants your address. As you add devices, it wants to know what room they’re in, so when you say, “turn off the living room lights,” it knows which lights you’re talking about. Accomplishing all those tasks starts with setting up a home in Google. You’ll likely only have one (the house you live in) but if you’ve got Google set up at your office or a second home, you can add additional homes.
By clicking the “Get Started” button in the middle of the home screen, you can set up your first home. Google will ask for a name; you can call it whatever you want, including simply “home.” Google will guide you through adding your address, which is optional, but for the reasons above, you should probably include it.
Adding devices to Google Home
At this point, Google Home is set up. You don’t need to add a device, but it’s likely why you got excited about the Home app in the first place, so let’s add one. If you have a smart TV, any Google device from a Chromecast to a Nest device, or any other smart device, it likely works with Google Home and can be added. So, to start, go to “New Device” and it will ask you to help classify the kind of device:
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A Matter enabled device: Your device will be quite clear about being Matter enabled, if it is. It would be on the packaging somewhere or in the name of the device.
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Google Nest or partner device: Anything from the Google lineup, such as a Mini, Chromecast, or Nest.
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Works with Google Home: This is any device that has its own app that you’ve already added the device to. For instance, Meross devices, SmartThings, Eufy, iRobot, Govee, LG, Leviton, etc. Google Home has thousands of integrations, and clicking on this option will show you all the ecosystems that connect with Google.
Depending on which you choose, the next steps will differ. For a Google Nest device, you’ll be asked to turn on Bluetooth and it will search for the device. Once it finds the device, it will go through a series of guided actions to connect to the device via wifi, then name the device, and categorize it into a room.
For third-party devices that work with Google Home, you’ll simply find the service and then authorize it to connect to Google Home. You’ll sign into the ancillary service, and then be asked what rooms to place the devices in.
For Matter devices, you’ll be asked to scan a QR code that appears on the device somewhere, which will kick off some guided actions to connect to the device.
Managing Devices in Google Home
From the “Devices” tab, you can control and manage these home devices. By long pressing on one, you can access the settings for it. You can move rooms or change any other settings available via the dashboard. On some devices, particularly those that “Work with Google” but have their own app, you’ll likely have fewer controls in Google Home than you would in their native app, but you should always be able to turn the device on and off.
Now that Google Home is installed and connected, get started making automations and adding in Google Assistant.
Lamar Jackson keeps betting on himself … and he keeps winning
The Ravens star has always played quarterback and negotiated contracts his own way. It’s hard to question his methods as he closes in on a potential second MVP and possible AFC No. 1 seed.
Fantasy Football Week 17 Start ‘Em Sit ‘Em
We’ll need all the lineup help we can get in fantasy football championship week. Let Dalton Del Don show you the way.