Pleasantly Surprised Search Results

How To: Lose Weight with Smoothies & Shakes

It should come as no surprise that, according to Details Magazine, nearly half of all people who make New Year's resolutions pledge to lose weight, eat healthier, and/or get fit. There are innumerable companies out there that are ready and willing to take advantage of this momentum: from those hocking "magic bullet" pills that will increase your energy or reduce your belly fat to the myriad shake- and juice-based diets that put you at a near-starvation calorie input—and will probably have you...

How To: These Two Items Make the Only Meat Marinade You'll Ever Need

My father never cooked a meat without some kind of marinade. He always used a slew of ingredients: salt, pepper, Season-All, Cajun seasoning, vinegar, olive oil, liquid smoke, Worcestershire, hot sauce, onions, lemons... I'm pretty sure this isn't a complete list, but I've honestly forgotten the rest! It always tasted amazing, but the long list of ingredients was definitely a detriment whenever replicating the marinade.

How To: 5 Surprising Uses for Your Coffee Grinder

During my time living in dorm rooms and small apartments, I would find myself in need of many different appliances—a food processor for making hummus, a blender for vegetable smoothies, or even a mortar and pestle for muddling mojito-bound mint leaves. Luckily, there was one tiny, inconspicuous tool that solved all of these problems: the coffee grinder.

How To: I Love Puff Pastry. Here’s Why You Should, Too

I always have several sheets of puff pastry in my freezer. It's unlike any other pastry dough: the layers of butter let out steam when the dough bakes (hence, the "puff" in puff pastry). The dough's flakiness perfectly compliments sweet and savory dishes, which makes it a totally versatile—and completely necessary—fixture in your kitchen!

News: These Apps Know Your Age, Gender, Emotions, & More

I think it was 1986 when I first discovered my love for making computers say stupid things out loud. My older brother got a Commodore 64 for his birthday, which came bundled with software that would speak out any term you typed in—and boy, that computer sure made a fool of itself after my five-year-old imagination got a hold of the keyboard.

How To: 12 Browser Add-Ons for Reddit Pros

Reddit, the self-proclaimed "front page of the internet," continues to take a big bite of my free time each and every day, as well as millions of its other users'. The clicking and scrolling through page after page never gets old, but you could speed things up with a few browser extensions and double your Reddit knowledge in half the time. Here are my favorite extensions you can try out for the Chrome, Firefox, and Safari web browsers.

Android Basics: How to Install Apps

Your average Android phone or tablet comes with quite a few apps already installed—even before you turn the device on for the first time. These pre-installed apps are certainly helpful when it comes to getting your feet wet with Android, but in many cases, they're not always the best apps available for accomplishing the tasks that they perform. Additionally, many third-party apps can add lots of cool functionality to your device, so you might say that sticking with only the pre-installed apps...

How To: 8 Tricks That Make Boxed Cake Mix Taste Like Homemade

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.

Weird Ingredient Wednesday: Wrap Food with Caul Fat Instead of Bacon

There are tons of greasy drippings that can be used to flavor up any dish, but none will ever be more delicious than animal fat. The bigger and fatter the animal, the juicier and tastier their fat is. For those of you who have had your fill of bacon-anything, here's your next obsession. It's called caul and its very existence will divide those that are serious about their animal fat flavoring from the pretenders.

How To: Increase the Sound & Quality of Your Mac's Speakers

During a power outage at my apartment this year, I watched movies on my MacBook Pro instead of on my television. While I had no complaints about the screen size, I did have an issue with how low the audio coming from my speakers was. External speakers would help, but I don't want to buy them or lug them around every time I want to watch a movie.

How To: 9 Creative Uses for All Those Holiday Wine Corks

While most people build collections of things with intrinsic value such as coins, stamps, or rare post cards, I collect wine corks—the natural ones, not the plastic kind. Corks are a natural product harvested from the cork oak tree. It takes the better part of 10 to 12 years before a tree can have its bark manually removed for the production of cork. Thankfully, no tree is harmed in the process and in 12 years, the tree bark can be harvested yet again.

How To: Calm Your Fear of Public Speaking for Better Presentations

Sweaty palms, stuttered speech, and terror blackouts: if you're someone who absolutely despises speaking before audiences, you've probably experienced side effects like these. No matter how well prepared we are, or how familiar our audience is, giving a presentation can be an experience more terrifying than death, according to psychologists. Unfortunately, it's impossible to avoid public speeches, but you can make these events less frightening with a few simple hacks.