Flush Away Toilet Clogs

Nobody wants to be the one to have to unclog the toilet. Not only is a malfunctioning commode extremely inconvenient, but removing the problem can be really unsanitary. It is possible, though, to safely and cleanly deal with toilet clogs.

If you’ve flushed once without success, don’t try it again. This will only pump more water into the bowl from the toilet tank, raising the water level and causing a messy overflow. It may take a while, but the toilet will eventually drain on its own so avoid the urge to keep flushing until the clog moves.

This is definitely one of those jobs where you’ll want a pair of good quality rubber gloves. If you don’t have cleaning gloves, even a cheap pair of latex gloves will do in a pinch. It’s also a good idea to cover the bathroom floor if you can. Newspapers, old towels you don’t plan to use again, or rags are perfect because you can simply toss them in the trash later.

Hot water and liquid dish soap can help break up most clogs. Microwave or boil a few quarts of water; if you boil the water you’ll want to let it cool a bit before proceeding with this method, until it’s roughly the temperature of a cup of coffee. Add a squirt of dish soap to the toilet bowl and slowly pour in the hot water. If this doesn’t work the first time and the water in the bowl is not overflowing, try once more. If you live in an apartment, skip this method.

Enzymes are a good option as long as you have another toilet you can use while they do their work. These biological materials eat away at waste and are often used to maintain septic systems. You can find enzymes at most home improvement or hardware stores, but they’ll have to sit in the bowl at least overnight in order to dissolve a clog so you should only try this if you have another bathroom you can use in the meantime.

Plungers, while an old standby in many bathrooms, are not exactly the most sanitary method of clearing a clogged toilet, but if you’ve tried hot water and can’t wait for enzymes it may be a reasonable option. If you must use a plunger, invest in a large, good quality device. The bigger the plunger, the better it’ll work which means less splashing, less mess, and less time with your face down in the bowl.

If you’ve tried a plunger to no avail, a pipe snake or auger is the next logical step. Not quite as messy as a plunger, quicker than an enzyme treatment, and generally more effective than hot water and soap, a snake feeds a long tube down the toilet drain and into the pipes. The end of the tube pushes against the clog, clearing it from your pipes and letting the water flow freely again. You can buy a small pipe snake at most home improvement or hardware stores for less than $10. For larger jobs you can rent a bigger snake.

If these methods fail to clear your clogged toilet, STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING; chances are your efforts will just compound the problem and lead to more expensive repair work. Stubborn toilet clogs require professional drain cleaning services like those offered by Horizon Services. Our plumbing and drain cleaning technicians have the tools and training to quickly and safely unclog any toilet.

• Learn More About Clog Removal and Drain Cleaning from Horizon Services!
• How to Properly Use a Plunger to Unclog a Toilet, Sink or Tub

Karthikai Deepam

       

Hope all of you who celebrates Karthigai Deepam had a lovely celebration.  Karthikai, is the festival of lights can be explained as a combination of Raksha Bandan and Diwali, for the uninitiated. The lamps are lit for the well being of one's brothers. Small earthen lamps/brass lamps are lit in the front yard and placed on rangoli/kolam. The brass lamps are usually given to a girl as part of the wedding trousseau. In Kerala, only  the iyers celebrate the festival. In my neighborhood, others also join the celebration by lighting the lamps in their front yard, though they don't prepare any festive goodies as we do. So the whole street is a sight to behold. Neiappam, pori and Adai with vennai is the usual neivadyam. I made all the three.

Diced coconut is a common ingredient for all the three dishes. Fresh coconut is sliced as thin strips. The strips are then cut into bite sized pieces. I used half of a fresh coconut. The credit for equal sized pieces goes to my Dad.

Neiappam

As the name suggests, Nei is ghee. These sweetened rice balls are fried in ghee in a special pan which has depressions. I have used half and half of ghee and oil. There are many ways to prepare the batter. I have been following this way. 

Ingredients

Raw rice /pacharisi - 1 cup
Jaggery - 1 cup
cardamom powder - 1 tblspn
Half of a banana
Diced coconut pieces - 2 tblspn

Ghee/oil to fry

Wash and soak raw rice for 8 hours. More soaking helps in getting softer appams.  Drain the water. Powder the jaggery. Grind together jaggery and rice to a smooth paste. Add the banana too. Don't add water while grinding. If you are using more rice quantity, then you can use the wet grinder instead of the mixer grinder. Since we are grinding without water, your mixer grinder will get heated up fast and it will take more time to prepare the batter. Stir in the coconut pieces and cardamom powder. The batter consistency should be that of  idli batter. If it is too thick, adjust by adding water. Give a good stir everytime you scoop the batter into the pan.

Heat the appam pan. Fill ghee/oil to 1/2 the level of the depressions. When it is hot, drop spoonfuls of batter into the depression. Cook in moderate heat, so that the inside also gets cooked and you get a lovely golden color. After a minute, gently turn them upside down. Don't wait for the downside to get cooked well. When you do  like this, the uncooked batter flows outside on turning and a similar appam is formed on the flip side. So you will get an appam which looks like one is placed on top of the other. This is not easy as it is written.

Everytime I start making, I try to get this effect. But by the time, my appam pan is set and I get the drift, the batter will be over. I must confess I usually make appam only as part of any festive fare. I always think of making it on other days for the sake of practise. It never seems to happen. Don't bother too much if you are not getting it, this has nothing to do with the taste of the appam. It only contributes to the looks factor.

After a batch, check the oil in the depressions and add if required. If you add oil, wait for it to get hot before starting with the next batch.


Aval pori in jaggery syrup

My mom used to make nel pori  for Kathikai. My MIL makes aval pori (fried beaten rice flakes). In the place where I stay, everyone seems to make aval pori only since the vendors bring that and less quantity of nel pori. And personally I favor aval pori. My amma's measurement is in terms of edangazhi (measuring vessel) and achu ( jaggery blocks). Her version is for 1 edangazhi (approx 1 litre)  pori, 10-12 achu vellam (jaggery block) depending on the size of the block. Based on her measurement, I have a an easier measurement, ie for 5 measures of pori, 1 measure of powdered jaggery. That works fine for me. Measure the pori with a cup or bowl. With the same bowl measure out the jaggery also. The  jaggery syrup consistency is very important, since it helps to retain the crispness of the pori after coating in the syrup.

Ingredients

Pori - 5 measures
Jaggery - 1 measure
cardamom powder - 1 tblpsn
diced coconut pieces - handful

Method

Melt the jaggery with just enough water for it to melt. Strain and heat the melted jaggery. The syrup consistecy is 'kallu pakam'. Its the next stage of soft ball consistency. You drop a teaspoon of the syrup in half cup water and roll it into a ball. When you drop the ball, you should be able to hear the sound of it hitting the surface. If the syrup has attained the consistency, switch off the heat. Stir in the cardamom powder and coconut pieces. Slowly stir in the pori, gently giving a mix while adding. turn the pori well so that it gets coated in the syrup. While warm, you can roll into balls. When you are making in small quantity, its easy to roll. I made nearly half a kilogram of pori. So i made just few balls and left the rest as it is.

Adai

The recipe of karthikai adai is slightly different than the one prepared usually at home. Since it is offered as neivedyam only raw rice is used. That is boiled rice is avoided completely thought its used only in minimal quantity otherwise too. Pepper corns and jeera/cumin is added while preparing the batter. It surely gives a nice flavor. Also the diced coconuts are added too. It is offered along with home made butter.

Scones (Savoury)

I made some savory scones this morning and it took me no time to get a fresh yet delicious scones out from the oven. It's truly yummy with some cheese and back bacon added. I must say the crumbly and fluffy texture is a winner. One thing for sure it's got to be eaten warm. Anyway, it's really a simple and no much time consuming recipe that you can make it at anytime either in the morning or make it for afternoon tea. For me, it's my all time favorite snack! This great recipe came from "Do What I Like". I've slightly changed the recipe as I made it into a savoury version.


The first thing I do is making the buttermilk by adding two teaspoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice to 150ml of full fat milk and let it stand for 30 minutes. If you've got the commercial buttermilk and that will safe you some time. While I was waiting for the buttermilk, I chopped two slices of back bacon and fried them in a pan until it slightly golden brown. Turn off the heat and let it cool down while I continue with other stuffs. Roughly cut 30g of cheddar cheese into little cubes. It don't have to be in good shape as it will melt and stick at the scones when it bakes in the oven. Shift 200g self-raising flour into a large bowl. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 1/2 tablespoon sugar. Give it a quick stir to combine with the flour. Roughly cut 50g of butter and quickly tuck it into the flour and rub in the butter until a crumbly consistency, it don't have to be well combined, you would rather let those tiny bits of butter stay in the flour. Just don't over combine. This took less then a minutes to combine and by this time the homemade buttermilk should be ready.


Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, pour in 2/3 of the buttermilk and use chopstick to mix everything until it turn into a mess. You don't want a smooth round dough but a sticky and messy mixture. If dough is too dry, add in more buttermilk. For me, 2/3 is more than enough for the mixture.Turn the mixture out onto a lightly floured working surface, add the fried bacon and cheddar cheese. Using both hand to bring everything together and pat the mixture into 2cm thickness. Cut the dough with 5.5cm floured cutter and pressed all the way down without twisting or turning the cutter. Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper then glaze the surface with some leftover buttermilk. For more cheesy texture, sprinkle some shredded cheddar cheese on top. Bake in a preheated oven at 220C for 15 minutes. Serve warm and no jam or cream needed. Enjoy!