Dyson Vacuum Cleaner Repair

I got the Dyson V15 Detect vacuum cleaner back in April 2024.  My favorite feature was the green light that helps you see all the dust on the floor.  You can check it out here.  

In December 2025, the green light stopped working.  It stopped working because the roller stopped spinning.  The roller stopped spinning because this end cap thing had cracked.

 

The cap covers the end of the roller like this.

   

This is what happened to the pin which is what caused the cap to crack. 

It took me weeks to figure out the problem.  The cap was available on Amazon (the bomb diggity shopping place), and was only $15.99!  And, so far it's still working. 

Swap Meet - 08/23/2026

I went to the swap meet yesterday especially to give some cheesecake bars to the vendor who found my car key.  I hope he enjoys them. 

These are my buys for the day.  In the back row, the Creative Station (I think sticker maker) was $1.  Desktop Vornado was $4.  The seller of the fan is sister Geri's classmate.  He said that he bought it from Amazon and it was smaller than he expected.  My fave Kaki no Tane kakimochi with peanuts were $1 each.  They expire this month so I got "only" 6 bags. Yarn for my mom was 2/$5.  I plan to use the narrow blue painter's tape in my craftwork.  It was $1.

 

Cleta's Beef with Sweet Sour Cabbage

Per Cleta:  This recipe was given and taught to me by my Chinese friend who passed away. She was a great cook.  So easy.  The sin choy keeps loooooong time in the back of the fridge.

Monkeypod Tree

Back in April a monkeypod tree got planted at the dog park to replace one that had died years ago, all thanks to the efforts of Ken Barclay who meets with a representative from the Department of Parks and Recreation once a month to voice any needs and concerns regarding the park.   

Ken is the president of the dog park hui and has been involved with the park since the very beginning in 2008.   He makes sure that the park is always well maintained and tidy, going in himself every single morning at around 4:00 a.m. to fill the water jugs and place the water bowls neatly next to them by the water faucets. 

Thanks Ken!!

This the tree back in April.

 

The tree now.  It's doing really well even after the storm!

  

No Powah

Blogging from my phone. No powah for 36 hours so far.

Electric generator worked good until it didn’t. Stopped working this morning for some reason. Hanging out with Kai outside ‘cause too hot in the house. 

No wind or rain damage. Just no powah. 

Storm Prep

The only things we've done are Wendell bought a Battery Generator and a spare Battery in case the power goes out for days like it did the last time we had a storm.

 

And I brought in my seedlings.  They're Habanero and Thai chili peppers.  I know, I know.   I suck at growing pepper plants, but Landon gave me the peppers and asked me to try and grow the seeds.  He also gave me a Serrano pepper, but none of those seeds sprouted. 

  

Sleeping Lizard

I don't have a name for this guy yet, but he's been sleeping on this same leaf for the past few weeks now.  He looks so comfy and didn't even wake up even though I was flashing a light on him.

Cy's Breakfast

From Lam's Kitchen.  

Fried Chicken ($8.99)

 

Rice Soup ($ 11.50)

  

On Da Desk

 It was birthday cards this week!  

Dd's Sticky Asian Short Ribs

 This looks like it fits the title well!  Good with rice.

STICKY ASIAN SHORT RIBS

 

2 #  short ribs, slice in half between ribs

Salt, black pepper

1 tsp. cornstarch, mixed with 1 TB water

Marinade:

1/4 c. soy sauce

1 1/2 TB rice wine vinegar

1 1/2 TB agave nectar

1TB sake

1 TB mirin

1 ½ tsp. siracha sauce

2 pieces ginger, sliced, crushed

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tsp. sesame seed oil

Garnish: chopped green onion

 

Season ribs lightly with salt and pepper. In a shallow container large enough for short ribs combine marinade ingredients well.  Coat ribs well; marinate at least 1 hour. 

In a saucepan over medium heat brown short ribs in oil. If necessary, brown in batches. 

Return short ribs to saucepan along with marinade. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Allow to simmer 45 minutes turning ribs as needed. Stir in cornstarch slurry and cook until “sticky” and glossy.

Garnish with green onions. Serves 3-4.

Zippy's August Special

 $10.99.  Thanks for the scoops, Cy and De!

Swap Meet - 08/02/2026

Here are my scores from the swap meet yesterday.  It was a good day with good finds.

But that's not what this blog post is really about.  It's about losing my car key a couple months ago.  It was on June 7th.  

It was a regular swap meet day, except that when it came time to leave I didn't have my car key.  No matter how hard I (and Sweetie) looked, I just didn't have it.

I reported the loss to the Lost and Found people and left my phone number.  Landon came with my spare key.  

I called the Stadium during the week to see if anybody had turned it in.  No luck.  It bothered me a lot, mostly because losing the key made me feel old and incompetent. 

It woulda cost over $200 to replace it so I never did.  Instead, every time we went to the swap meet after that I would always go first to Lost and Found to see if maybe the key was somehow there and to check and see if they still had the scrap piece of paper with my phone number on it in its place on the side of the desk.

Yesterday, for the first time I decided not to check.  A few months had already passed after all. 

Right away we ran into Len, a regular shopper who's there every Sunday (and Saturday too).  I jokingly asked him if he found my key yet.  He laughed and said no. 

We walked our regular route.  We saw the regular vendors.  

I decided to get some cucumbers from one of our fave veggie vendors.  There were just a few bags left.  As I was inspecting one of the bags, something familiar caught my eye. 

There on the counter right above the cucumbers, nestled in a shallow plastic container lay my car key.

I was stunned.  I almost cried.  I might've created a commotion.  I'm not sure. 

The vendor said that he had found it on the ground months ago and didn't know what else to do except to put it in a container on his counter and hope that the rightful owner would someday come to claim it. 

After awhile, I grabbed a bunch of vegetables to buy and thanked him profusely.  I gave him two of my mom's crocheted kitchen towels which I happened to have with me.

Maybe I'll bake him something for next time.  

I'm still stunned.

 

Beef Sukiyaki

Here's another imprecise recipe of mine that came out good so I'm blogging for the record.

 

Sorry to be lazy, but here's the recipe.  It's a combination of three different recipes. Please feel free to ask questions in the comments.

 

I bought this from Safeway 'cause I felt insecure about the flavor turning out okay.  Didn't really need it, but I added it in anyway.  It was $5.

  

Cy's Breakfast

 Zippy's Mini Chili/Chicken ($11.90)

Miso Soup with Fried Eggplant

This recipe is not precise, but I wanted to share (and keep a record) 'cause came out good.  We had leftover won bok so I just added that in.

Thinly slice and fry an eggplant after salting and soaking in water (to remove bitterness, supposedly).  Set aside.

Add a pack of dashi and a pack of bonito flakes (in teabag) to 5 cups of water set on medium heat. Remove and discard the packs after 10 minutes or so.  Add 1/2 cup of sake, a few dried shrimp, little bit of dried wakame, thinly sliced daikon, cubed tofu and the fried eggplant.

Just before turning off the heat put 5 tablespoons of miso into a strainer and strain the miso into the soup.

Aunty Sally's Biscuit

Wendell made the biscuit.  The crunchy parts!!  So gooooood!!

Dd's Aunty Sally's Morning Biscuits

Aunty Sally is my mom's sister and this is her recipe.  Back in the day my mom used to make this biscuit all the time.

Didi says:   SOOO easy……  SOOO …FYI-I make ½ recipe … in a loaf pan…..love love all da more crispy edges…..  I consider myself a biscuit FAN (obsessed)….. this is my fave fave of all times….  Probably because I can smell it from the late 60’s …..

 

MORNING BISCUITS (Sally Tellio) from Dd’s Table Talk Cookbook

(1/2 recipe)

2 TB                1/4 c. butter, softened

¼ c.                 1/2 c. sugar

1 c.                  2 c. all purpose flour

1 ½ tsp.           1 TB baking powder

¼ tsp.              1/2 tsp. salt

¼ c.                 1/2 c. cream

¼ c.                 1/2 c. water

 

Preheat oven to 450 degrees; lightly grease an 8-inch baking pan. In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in cream and water. Spread into prepared pan; bake 15 minutes. Serves 6.

Ama's Gua Bao

It took about 20 minutes for our Curry Guru stuff to be ready, so while I was waiting I ordered a couple of baos from Ama's Gua Bao which was nearby. 

This is the Pork Belly Bao ($8).  Tender with a sweet peanut topping.

 

Minced Pork Bao ($8).  Kinda spicy with the same sweet peanut topping.

    

I woulda liked to have tried the chicken or beef too, but $8 each for a tiny bao is a bit steep.

  

Curry Guru

When Wendell asked if I wanted to go with him to the Kakaako Farmers Market this past Saturday I said sure, thinking that I could pick up some vegetables.

I totally wasn't expecting to see this.  We got there before the starting time of 8:00; the parking "lot" was almost full, and already had kinda planny people.  

 

Wendell came specifically for the fried rice from Curry Guru that he had seen on social media.   Luckily, we found the tent pretty fast even though it was across the street.

 

I picked the Morning Guru.

   

This is the Fried Rice with Chicken.

   

We also got the Combination Curry Plate with Meatballs and Chicken.  The gravy small kine spilled on the drive home.

 

I don't know the cost for each individual item, because as you can see there are no prices on the menus, but we paid a whopping $66 for all!  Was very flavorful and all, but 66 BUCKS!

  

It was really interesting to see all the different vendors, but as it got hotter and crowded-er as we waited for our food, I just wanted to get outta there. 

Agility Training 6

We don't train too often 'cause it's not Kai's fave thing to do.  He'd rather fetch a ball instead.  But he did good on this day, and I wanted to show off.  Click on the photo to watch a video.

BTW, my toe IS bent that way.  😄

National Ice Cream Day

National Ice Cream Day is this Sunday and my fave Roselani ice cream is on sale at Foodland tomorrow!

Dd's Pork Pernil

I think you can't go wrong when you combine pork with vinegar, garlic and pepper!

PORK PERNIL

 

2 #s boneless pork shoulder, soak in water to remove excess blood, drain well

Marinade:

4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 TB olive oil

2 TB apple cider vinegar

2 large bay leaves

2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. cracked black pepper
1 tsp. dried oregano

 

On work surface score pork with 1-inch-deep cuts lengthwise. Turn pork and make deep cuts creating diamond shapes. 

In a large dish combine marinade ingredients well. Place pork into dish; spoon marinade all over pork and into cuts.  Marinate refrigerated 6-8 hours or overnight. Baste pork every couple of hours.

 

When ready to prepare pork preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line baking pan with long piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil (large enough to cover and seal pork).  Place pork along with any excess marinade into prepared pan. Take ends of aluminum foil and seal pork tightly. Bake 3 hours. 

Preheat oven to broil. Unseal aluminum foil to expose pork.  Base as needed with marinade. Broil 18-20 minutes until top of pork is crispy to desired consistency. 

Serves 4. Note: Leftovers make great tacos, fajitas.

Dim Sum

I got these from Duck Lee in Market City.  So so ono.  But $53.14!!

3 crispy gau gee
3 baked manapua

6 pork hash

6 half moon

string beans with char siu

Costco Cherries

Plump, firm, sweet and juicy, the best cherries that I've had in a really long time.  Maybe ever. 

I-don't-care-for-fruit Landon said that they were "frickn"good.

The description on the top of the container says "10 row & larger".  According to Google:  A 10-row cherry means exactly 10 cherries fit in a line across a standard 10.5 inch box, making it roughly an inch in diameter.  Cherries that are 10-row and larger command premium prices, offering a meatier, juicier bite with a higher fruit-to-pit ratio. 

According to Wendell the cherries were only $3.69 for a 2-pound tub.  Can that be right?  Don't go buy yet.  Wait.  I want to get another container (or two) first.  

Costco Blueberry Cheesecake Croissant

As soon as Wendell busted this out from his shopping bag I said, "Oh no!"  

And yup, it was "oh-no-licious".  I cut one into four pieces thinking I'd just eat a fourth.  But nooooo, I went back for another piece.

 

It's so cheap by today's standards.

  

Cy's Breakfast

Liliha Bakery.

Hamburger Steak ($22)

 

Clam Chowder ($6)

  

Golden Duck

Landon came into some money (poker winnings) so he treated us to some Chinese food with a few $$upgraded$$ versions from what we usually order.

Salt and Pepper Squid ($22.95).  I really liked the onion-garlic topping.  Wish they had put more.

 

Singapore Chow Fun ($20.95)  Curry-flavored hit that Wendell looooved.

   

Dried Scallop Foo Young ($27.95)   Not worth the additional $10 for the dried scallops IMO.

 

Honey Walnut Shrimp ($23.95).  Ono as usual.

   

Crispy Garlic Seafood Fried Rice ($28.95)  This was really good, but don't think I'd order it again.  Unless Landon is paying again 😂.