Welcome to the new season of Fusion! We are
so happy to return to TV with a full season
of great ‘home’ information for our viewers.
You can tune in each week to get some
wonderful home improvement, cooking and
decorating tips to make your home a
showcase! We have expanded the show to 4
markets in the Northwest including KOIN in
Portland, KEVU in Eugene, KWVT in Salem and
CGN in the Columbia River Gorge.
Paint Goobers
Our quick tip this week is one that will
help you get rid of the fuzzies on your
paint roller to keep them off your wall when
you paint. Jamie joined us from
Sherwin-Williams to show us how a little bit
of painter’s tape can clean up your roller.
Just step on the tape, roll it out and run
the roller over the sticky part of the tape.
This will collect the fuzzies and you are
good to go to finish your paint job.
Pick a
Color
Picking the right color for a room can be a
daunting task. The right color can be the
key to a successful room design. Amy Troute
from
‘design for home’ (503-805-0811)
walked David through some of the rules for
picking colors at the
Sherwin Williams (503-222-1200) in the
Pearl, and some common mistakes. Mistake #1
in choosing a color is not taking the whole
room into consideration during the process.
There are a number of elements in a room
that go into creating a ‘look’ and you need
to look at all of them. That leads into
mistake #2, don’t use small paint samples.
Small paint chips can never give you the
right impression of the final color. Paint a
large piece of cardboard to give yourself a
good visual of the color and how it will
look. Mistake #3, don’t get frustrated and
give up. Amy called this the ‘give up and go
beige’ syndrome. But even choosing a neutral
color like beige still can create a huge
number of choices. Instead of getting
frustrated at the paint store, you should
look at a full range of colors and then pick
out colors that you are drawn to. This means
that you will start out with a group of
colors that you already like. One other
design tip… look at possibly using more than
one color in a room. Paint different colors
on different walls to make a statement. If
even this seems tough you can always give
Amy a call to walk you through it!
Lemon Zest
Looking to add a little zest to your
recipes? It is easy to do with some great
kitchen tools from
Pampered Chef. Nancy Chinn
(503-679-6922) joined David in the kitchen
to show him 3 different tools that you can
use to spice things up! First was the
Microplane zester. This zester will not
scrap your knuckles when you use it. It lies
flat for use. It also has a handle to stand
up and even has a guide so you can do
smaller pieces of cheese and spices. Another
tip for the zester; put a piece of plastic
wrap on the back of your zester and you will
be able to save every little piece of peel
for your recipe. The Citrus Press was the
next tool we looked at. You can use this one
to get the most juice out of your lemons and
limes with just a squeeze. A tip for
preparing a lime or lemon to get the most
juice; roll it on the counter to soften it
up or microwave it for about 15 seconds to
help the juice flow. Finally, we checked out
the kitchen shears. Nancy showed us how to
use the shears to cut up cilantro in a bowl
so you don’t make a mess when you are
cutting it up. Nancy then showed us an extra
little tool for the kitchen, a lemonade
pitcher. Actually this pitcher is quite
unique. It has a plunger that allows you to
mix the fresh lemon slices so you get the
most juice out of your fruit and into your
lemonade. For more information on these and
other great kitchen tools give Nancy a call.
Cutting a
Potato
If you are looking to make fresh cut
potatoes you may have run into a problem
with slicing due to the round shape of it.
Chef David showed us how easy it is to cut
once you know a few tricks. First, cut of a
small slice on one side. This will allow you
to have a flat surface on one side and it
becomes more stable to slice. From here you
can make scalloped potatoes by cutting off
rounds, or you can slice long planks that
can then be sliced into long French (or
steak) fries. Then you can also cut these
down even more by dicing them for a southern
style hashbrown!
Easy
Healthy Pasta
Creating a delicious healthy dinner for your
family is not that hard. Chef Eric Nelson
from
Vitality at Wellspring (971-983-5280)
made a whole wheat spinach pasta in just a
few minutes for us. This pasta is easy to
make with just five ingredients. We also
found out how to make a quick spinach powder
for your pasta. You can just get some fresh
spinach leaves and let them dry under low
heat in your oven and then run them through
your coffee grinder or a food processor. To
see the whole recipe click here, ‘Whole
Wheat Spinach Pasta’. Then once you are done
you can try your new pasta in this quick and
easy dinner.
See the video here.
Chef Eric works at Vitality at Wellspring in
Woodburn. The name “Vitality” itself means
the power to survive and the capacity to
live, grow or develop, which perfectly
reflects their menu philosophy and attitude
towards food as it contributes to living a
healthy lifestyle. Their menu is designed
for diners with wellness in mind. Over half
the menu is prepared with no added fat, but
that doesn’t mean it doesn’t taste
fantastic. In fact, most diners at Vitality
don’t know what they’re missing.
Easy Tomato
Sauce
Creating a good sauce can
make all the difference in your recipes. A
good sauce can mask a dish or it can bring
out a fuller flavor for whatever you are
cooking. Chef David Musial joined Robin at
the demonstration kitchens at
Standard TV and Appliance in Beaverton
(503-619-0500) to show us how to make a good
basic tomato sauce. This sauce can stand on
its own or you can use as a base to make a
variety of different sauces. This one
combines carrots, celery, garlic, tomatoes,
and onions to make a fantastic sauce! You
can find the recipe here.
Parr Awning
With the cooler days of spring still ahead
of us you may be thinking of how to enjoy
your outdoor activities on your deck or
patio without freezing or getting wet. All
that outside fun may come to a halt when the
weather is too over-powering. We stopped at
Parr Lumber (503-531-7277) to visit with
Chris to see what suggestions he had for
beating the cold and wet. He recommended
having a patio cover to extend your outdoor
enjoyment. The experts at Parr can help you
if you are looking to build a wood and
fabric cover, but today we focused on the
more popular and more permanent aluminum
structure by SkyVue. These newer awnings can
even be color matched to your deck or house
color. They will even install them for you.
Maintenance is a lot easier and you can keep
it clean with just soap and water. These
awnings can also help block harmful UV rays.
If you are thinking of a patio cover or
awning, check with the experts at Parr
Lumber.
