Ask ten different people how they feel about boxed cake mixes, and you'll likely get ten different answers. Some baking purists will berate them and throw them in the same category as garlic presses and knife sets sold on infomercials. Many people will say that they prefer not to use mixes, but keep one in the pantry just in case. And I dare you to find a college student that doesn't sing their praises.
Poor chickens. Bacon fat is revered (and justifiably so), and duck fat is a staple at most fine grocers. Marbles of fat make a steak divine, and goose fat is the holy grail of fatty goodness. Yet chicken fat is usually thrown away.
There are lots of great reasons for going out to a fantastic coffee shop for a cuppa. Coffee shops have a lovely ambiance, are a perfect place to meet with friends or do some work, and are a great excuse to get out of the house. Seeking out a perfect cup of coffee, however, shouldn't be one of the reasons that you hit up your local café.
One of the most mind-blowing meals I ever ate occurred when I was 12 years old. The main course and sides were good, if unmemorable, but my jaw dropped during dessert when my friend's mother whipped out a blowtorch—as in a bona fide welding torch from the hardware store—to finish off the crème brûlée.
Like most people who cook in a small kitchen, I'm very wary of adding anything to my drawers and cabinets unless I'm sure it's going to be essential to my cooking arsenal or that it can be used in multiple ways.
If you've ever attempted to report a bug to a developer, no doubt you've heard the response, "Get a logcat." This is infinitely important to a developer because of the fact that a logcat captures a full report of every command that was recently executed on your Android device, and it allows them to see exactly where something went wrong.
Welcome back, my greenhorn hackers! Before we attempt to exploit any target, it is wise to do proper reconnaissance. Without doing reconnaissance, you will likely be wasting your time and energy as well as risking your freedom. In previous guides, I have demonstrated multiple ways to perform reconnaissance including passive recon with Netcraft, active recon with Nmap or hping3, recon by exploiting DNS or SNMP, and many others.
I don't deep fry food that often, mostly because it uses a ton of oil, which is expensive, and the cleanup is a son of a mother. (That oil really splatters everywhere.) Plus, no matter how careful you are, you will get hit by hot oil at some point and it will not be pleasant.
Sometimes when non-Asians go to ramen bars, they're mildly weirded out by watching the patrons eat. To the uninitiated, the eating behaviors can seem kind of extreme. Why are people hovering over their bowls like animals at a feeding trough? Why do they let endless lengths of noodles dangle from their maw as they slurp—very, very loudly—over their bowls of broth?
You're in your car. You've got a bag of piping-hot French fries with you. You want those fries in your mouth ASAP, but you also want to dip them in ketchup. So what do you do?
Cold brewing tea and coffee are all the rage, and for good reason: they're idiot-proof. I, personally, am a total dunce at brewing coffee. It either ends up strong enough to peel paint from a car or so weak that you can see through it. Meanwhile, I have friends who inevitably brew green tea to the point where it's painful to drink it.
While you may look ridiculous doing the potty dance and crossing your legs back and forth, holding it in can be worth the discomfort when you've got an important decision to make.
HTC claims to have improved the One M8's battery life by 40% over its predecessor, but there is always room for improvement.
The late, great writer Laurie Colwin once wrote that if she were allowed to have only one fruit in her kitchen, she would always choose lemons (or limes, since they can often be used interchangeably).
3D has been all the rage for the past few years. It seems like every other film has a 3D aspect to it, our TVs have 3D capabilities, and we can even print functional objects using increasingly affordable 3D printers. And after some trial and error (ahem, Evo 3D), it's finally taking shape on mobiles.
Welcome back, my hacker noviates! In a recent post, I introduced you to Shodan, the world's most dangerous search engine. Shodan crawls the globe from IP to IP address, attempting to pull the banners of each web-enabled device and server it finds.
We've already taught you a few tricks for getting chilled, rock-hard butter to spread easily on toast, and some of you probably bypass that issue entirely by purchasing spreadable butter from the supermarket. But why waste your money when you can make a healthier, tastier version at home for a fraction of the cost?
Dried fruit makes a great, healthy snack by itself, and it's a nice addition to both sweet and savory dishes. Most people assume you have to have a dehydrator to make it at home, but you don't really need one unless you plan on drying fruit pretty frequently. Your oven does the job just fine. Drying fruit in an oven is a pretty simple process: just bake it at a low temperature for a long time. It's usually cheaper than buying dried fruit from the grocery store, and a great way to use extra fr...
Why are people so afraid of risotto? Contrary to what a lot of home cooks seem to believe, it's really not a difficult dish to make yourself. Sure, there's a lot of stirring involved, but it's not nearly the culinary beast it's made out to be. The real deterrent to making homemade risotto isn't that it's hard—it's that it requires a lot of attention. Risotto needs a lot of babying. Part of the process involves standing over it for 20 to 30 minutes at the stove, stirring almost constantly whil...
We've all heard our fair share of roommate horror stories, or have some of our own, because we never truly know who someone is until we've lived with them. Cohabitation issues generally revolve around things like bills, chores, cleaning, and groceries. Approaching a roommate, especially an adult one, to remind them to do their chores can be an anxiety-ridden and daunting task. After all, we're roommates, not parents!
Repetitive use of apps over time will eat up your storage space with by caching data on your device. This can be useful at first, speeding up your apps by not requiring them to re-download frequently used data, but as a cache grows, even the initial performance improvements can be outweighed by the unwelcomed loss of storage space. And if a cache grows too large, the time it takes an app to access the cached data can be even slower than the time it would've taken to re-download the data in th...
Point-and-shoot cameras are practically extinct these days now that every new phone on the planet has a camera built right in. This makes the smartphone market highly competitive, because the camera specs and features are a big selling point.
I've covered a few multitasking app switchers before, but none of them are as sleek and smooth as the aptly titled Switchr, a new app developed by Mohammad Adib that lets you move from one app to another quickly and smoothly—just like how I switch between my women. Well, not really, but I would.
My standard text greeting to friends is something along the lines of "Wazzup biznitch?"—but apparently the auto-correct function on my Samsung Galaxy S3 has a problem with that. Time after time I have to retype it or just add all my made-up words to the word list—and I use a lot of made-up words, because that's what bosses do. But texting isn't the only way I communicate. I also use email, chat, and social media on a daily basis—and I don't always use my phone. So, wouldn't it be awesome if m...
A man once told me to never complain about gas prices. With the average price of regular unleaded gas at $3.34 a gallon, it's hard not to, even if it is the holiday season. Since my car averages about 22 mpg, the man offered me this proposition: "If I offered you $3.34, would you walk 22 miles?"
Find out how everything in a chemistry lab works, from pipettes to burners to recrystallization to storage. You'll get precise instructions on how to work and perform certain scientific duties in the chem lab, whether it's chemical or just ordinary high school science.
When you are tested for drugs, the drugs can be found in your hair and blood. There are three types of tests: hair test, blood test and urine test. The urine test, being the cheapest, is the most common drug test. Some ways to beat this unwanted drug screening is by drinking x-amount of water, this dilutes the drug within your system. The second method is to inform them that you are a user, or that you attend frequent rock concerts. (This method isn't recommended because of the outrageous amo...
The smell of hot curry pouring from room is inevitable. The mixture of spices filled up my nostril as I sat. The lighting of the room might not be pleasant but it is the way in which the restaurant owner set up his restaurant to stop excessive lighting, which is done with a huge decorative curtain. My attention was set on the glamorous uplifting Indian pop music, playing from the large high-definition televisions.
If you're constantly writing money amounts using rupees, which is the basic monetary unit India, Pakistan, Nepal, Seychelles, and other South Asian and East African countries, then you'll be relieve to know that there is a font you can use to create the rupee symbol in any word processor on your computer.
Corn is everywhere, and there are a large amount of methods for preparing it. If you're a corn on the cob kind of guy, you may be fascinated to know that a microwave is all you need to cook it. Bring the fresh taste of summer to the dinner table in a few short minutes by using your microwave to cook corn on the cob.
Some people hate wallpaper, but some people love it inside their homes. Those that do will eventually have to deal with wallpaper that will lose it's attachment. It will eventually bubble and curl. Curling wallpaper seams ruin the decorative effect of wallpaper. Eliminate the ugly signs of aging wallpaper with these steps.
Ron the Builder demonstrates how to plaster a wall. Mix the sealant with water to achieve the right proportions and spread evenly over the wall with a paint roller. Once the sealant is dry, you may begin plastering. Combine half a bag of plaster with the appropriate amount of water in a large bucket with an industrial mixer. Mix until the plaster is smooth. Pour the plaster onto a flat board. Using a trowel, scrape some plaster onto your hawk. Then, using a flick of the wrist, quickly scoop s...
It doesn't have to be summer to get deliciously fresh herbs and spices. Check out this tutorial, and learn how to preserve and dry your spices in the summer for use in those dull winter months.
Baby showers are fun ways to celebrate new mommy-hood. You won't want to forget the traditions though. Check out this video before you start planning and make sure you have an nice balance of etiquette and fun.
It is important to maintain a diet rich in selenium. Selenium is an essential trace mineral and antioxidant that protects your cells, boosts the immune system and helps fight infection. Check out this helpful video, and discover how to add more of this great mineral into your diet.
Big business is on the web these days and you don't have to build a shopping website or blog to get involved.
We've all been there, taking a nice stroll along the beach and, oh no, a big splotch of tar is plastered on your foot! No need to worry because there are a variety of everyday products that get that tar right off.
Everyone loves a magic trick, especially when you wow them with a seemingly normal object. In this trick, take a regular coin and make it disappear and move around magically! Soon, you will be the hit of every party!
BBQ season is just around the corner, so why not mix it up a bit this year? Instead of cooking on the same old boring grill, try out the steps in this tutorial. This video will show you how to cook using wood and add a unique, smokey taste to your meat.
Static electricity might seem like magic but you don't have to be a wizard to get rid of it. There are simple steps you can take to reduce the amount of static electricity in the air or on you by using some items you probably have at home.
