Month: July 2021

Wildfire season is off to a tragic, early start in western North America. After a historic heat wave baked the Pacific Northwest earlier this week, flames have erupted across the region, including in the small village of Lytton, BC. At the beginning of the week, the village broke the record for the hottest temperature ever recorded in Canada; on Wednesday night, the town was engulfed in a fast-moving wildfire.

“The whole town is on fire,” Jan Polderman, the mayor of Lytton, told CBC News. “It took a whole 15 minutes from the first sign of smoke to, all of a sudden, there being fire everywhere.”

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Polderman issued an evacuation order, and residents were forced to flee for their lives as smoke and flames enveloped the town, which is located about 161 miles northeast of Vancouver. According to CBC News, about 200 Lytton residents evacuated to neighboring towns, and now efforts are underway to account for all of them.

A terrifying drive for residents forced to flee the village of Lytton, British Columbia as flames engulfed the town on Wednesday evening.

: 2 Rivers Remix Society #BCfire #BCwildfire #LyttonBC pic.twitter.com/nZ7BZFBu00

— The Weather Network (@weathernetwork) July 1, 2021

The conditions were ripe for a blaze. Shortly before the fire, Lytton endured three consecutive days of record-smashing heat, topping out at 121 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday. The unprecedented temperatures have dried out vegetation, creating fuel for fires. Even before the Lytton fire broke out, firefighters were already battling two other nearby blazes, CBC News reports. Although the cause of the fire that swept through Lytton is still under investigation, once sparked, strong winds fanned the flames and helped it quickly grow and spread.

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65 new wildfires in British Columbia in the last week.

One destroyed clinic & homes in Lytton, where Canada’s heat record was just set.

The fires are producing pyrocumulonimbus clouds & lightning that’s causing new fires pic.twitter.com/ppGYIoDubK

— Alec Luhn (@ASLuhn) July 1, 2021

Unfortunately, the weather doesn’t seem to be improving: A massive portion of western Canada remains under a heat warning. Conditions aren’t much better in the States, either. The same heat wave that broke records in Canada also affected the western U.S., which is already suffering from a sustained drought, and large fires have broken out across the West. The National Interagency Fire Center reports that 44 large fires have torched over 667,000 acres from Alaska to Arizona—and it’s still early in the wildfire season. Current forecasts show that higher-than-normal temperatures will continue across much of the West.

Last year, wildfires torched millions of acres across the United States, and this year is already off to a rough start. The hot, dry weather makes wildfire prevention even more critical: Make sure you do your part by camping and recreating safely.

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Like so many people, I don’t have time to regularly cook impressive, well-rounded meals. It’s not that I dislike cooking but between work, friends, and working out, there aren’t enough hours in the day to research and prepare decent meals. Something’s got to give and oftentimes, it’s cooking. When I caught wind of Multo, I thought it might be the solution to my kitchen woes.

Engineered by CookingPal, Multo is the “ultimate, easy-to-use, all-in-one kitchen appliance.” It features over 10 different cooking functions, includes pre-programed step-by-step recipes, and is controlled by a dedicated tablet. It does everything: weigh, chop, knead, mix, cook, and steam food. The goal of the device is to allow the average cook to prepare delicious meals with minimal effort.

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Out of the box, I was intimidated by Multo. I’m not a techy person, and the device is big and fancy. It includes a tablet and an app. I was afraid it would require hours of reading a manual, and I still wouldn’t be able to work it. Much to my surprise, the initial set up proved to be easy. Within minutes, I had the app downloaded and the appliance and tablet up and running.

After perusing the recipes available on the tablet, I was excited about my options. Recipes were broken down into categories: meals, dips, drinks, sides, and desserts. Due to the fact the device is new, options were limited but what was available sounded delicious.

For my first go, I opted to make a vegan chickpea curry.

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After setting out my ingredients and firing up Multo, I quickly realized there was definitely a learning curve. Although the directions were step by step, figuring out how to measure, chop, and blend was challenging—but once I figured it all out, it made sense. Once I finished cooking, I engaged Multo’s self-clean mode and, after a few minutes, the device was sparkling clean.

Although there were a few hiccups in preparing the curry, it turned out delicious, like something you’d pick up at a restaurant rather than make in your own kitchen. After the curry, I went on to make a pasta alfredo, mango lassi, keto cookie dough, and a few smoothies of my own creation. With each recipe, I became more familiar with the device and saw the doors it could open for at-home cooking.

While some functions could be used in manual mode, I couldn’t figure out how to chop and blend unless I was following a recipe. Another function I’d like to see improved is when you add ingredients to the bowl between steps, it requires you to have the lid on for measuring, meaning you have to squeeze your ingredients in through the small opening in the lid. I understand the requirement is for safety reasons, but it would be nice to be able to fully remove the lid between steps and still be able to measure at the same time.

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Another thing I noticed was there were some discrepancies between measurements for recipes on the tablet and in the app. The app seemed unnecessary with the tablet, so I typically went with what the tablet said but ideally the two would be in sync.

Something I really liked about Multo was the fact that for the most part, it was a one-pot experience and required minimal clean up. It was also nice that the device was self-cleaning; all that was required of me was adding some soap and water and hitting “start.” Additionally, the device is super powerful and I blown away by how well and quickly it chopped and mixed ingredients. Finely chopping vegetables and adding them to soups, curries, and even smoothies was a simple way to up my greens intake.

Multo is available at an early bird price of $799 but will eventually cost $999. For that price, it’s not something that I would personally buy but I can see the draw. It eliminates the need for multiple kitchen devices and allows you to do all of your cooking in one place. Multo was thoughtfully engineered and makes restaurant quality meals a realistic possibility. I imagine, with time, the device will only get better. Happy cooking!

[$999; cookingpal.com]

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