@lleechef, so sorry for your Christmas Day kitchen nightmare. It must have been such a disappointment to you and all of your friends and family who were depending on your formidable cooking skills to make that day special. At least my bad experience didn’t involve a special occasion where I was anticipating cooking for a lot of expectant people. Don’t ever put corn husks down a garbage disposal. Every decade or so I have a senior moment when the corn comes in after winter and forget that the fibrous corn husks won’t assimilate. 

@mar52, the ridiculously long cycles on dishwashers and washer, I would attribute to Chinese manufacturing. Taking our jobs overseas. Decades ago, while dumping products on our market, extremely cheap products were available. I have a lamp in my bedroom with a very believable faux silk shade and hand sewn clear crystal beads around the lower edge of the shade. There’s a plastic piece around the base that looks remarkably like real ivory. I paid $5 for the piece. Well now that they have put all of our abandoned manufacturing plants into the rust belt, their offerings aren’t up to par. I’m lucky to have a washer/dryer pair purchased from Sears in circa 1990 that the sales rep said was manufactured by Whirlpool. When I called a local mom and pop repair shop about 5 years ago to replace a bearing in the washer, the elderly, but very experienced technician confirmed that my washer was indeed manufactured by Whirlpool. I’m still using this washer and dryer pair that cost $800 back then. Electronic appliances suck a huge, huge amount.

I know no one wants to hear about the leftover rib eye steak I served for dinner, but it was very good warmed up near the electric range top burner I was boiling elbow macaroni for homemade stovetop creamy mac and cheese. I used Kraft brand “Deli Deluxe”. Mistake! This was more expensive than the grocery store deli brand real American cheese I can get, and not nearly as good. It used to be better even in the individually and conveniently wrapped slices I purchased. Now, if you read the small print, it is nothing more than “pasteurized process cheese food”! It did not thicken nor flavor my mac and cheese like it should have. Never again, but you know what? Even lesser mac and cheese is not getting thrown out. It’ll be eaten. We also had sugar and butter corn on the cob with butter. I had green leaf lettuce salad.