How To: Screw Sandwiches—Toast Is Where It's At
Local cafés and food bloggers are catching onto a gourmet toast trend that makes bread and butter look like movies before color TV was invented.
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How To: Ditch the Extract & Get Serious About Baking with Vanilla Beans
Most home bakers rely on vanilla extract as a flavor component to their cakes and cookies, but little do they know what they are missing until they trade in their extract for whole vanilla beans. The rich complexity and different notes of flavor of a true vanilla bean are often washed out and distilled into a one-note sweetness, especially if the extract is cheap or imitation. If you want to get more serious about baking, you need to get serious about using vanilla beans.
How To: The Fastest Way to Get Detailed Flight Info on Your iPhone & Mac
Turns out, you no longer need third-party flight tracking apps to get information on yours or others' flights—your iPhone and Mac can now give you flight details right from your Mail, Notes, and Messages apps.
Weird Ingredient Wednesday: 5 Kinds of Flower Waters
You might be familiar with the use of zucchini blossoms in cooking and maybe even know how to make herbal simple syrups. But if you really want to show off as someone who knows how to use flowering plants in food, try adding some flower water to your cooking/baking repertoire.
How To: Yes, You Should Add Water to Your Whisky & Here's Why
Before I get ostracized by all of you whisky lovers who live and die by whisky served neat, let me say my piece.
How To: All Out of Pancake Mix? Try Cake Mix Instead
If you're a frequent baker like myself, you've probably realized that one box of cake mix makes quite a bit of cake. If your goal is to make a simple Bundt or an easy dozen cupcakes, all you really need is half the box mix—which leaves the other half for another baking occasion.
How To: Boost Your Productivity on Android
Not many people use their phone exclusively for making calls or sending messages today. If you're an Android user, the chances are high that you're using your phone or tablet for work-related activities. However, the basic set of apps and services your device was shipped with won't satisfy most users. The good thing is that Google Play Store has a nice selection of productivity apps for every task. Below you'll find a list of apps that will help you gradually optimize and organize your digita...
No Preservatives, Please: How to Make Frozen TV Dinners
Please read the following in Rod Serling's voice. Picture, if you will, a mother. She comes home after a long day at the office, relieved that she took some chicken breasts out to thaw and will be able to make a quick and easy dinner for her family. She opens her refrigerator to get the chicken, but to her horror she does not see it… she forgot to take the chicken out of the freezer after all. What will she make for dinner now? How will she feed her family? She has entered…the Panic Zone.
How To: 7 Ways to Make Your Own Cold Packs at Home
Having a store-bought cold pack on the ready is the perfect solution for minor bumps, bruises, sprains, and strains, but why spend money on bright blue ice packs when you can make your own right at home?
How To: Make a Freakin’ Great Cup of Joe Without Any Coffee Swag
As an avid coffee drinker, I used to be a big fan of single-serve coffee machines. One day, the machine decided to stop working—which does happen from time to time—so I decided to go old school and use my automatic drip. Then, I realized that all I had were pods of single-serve coffee grinds, and I was all out of regular coffee filters!
Get Creative: Make Dumplings with Cheeseburgers & Kielbasa
Dumplings have been around for centuries in various forms; spätzle, as well as chicken and dumplings, are dough-y dumplings with no filling, whereas Russian pierogis and Chinese jiaozi are dumplings that contain meat, vegetables, or both.
News: The 5 Best Free Camera Apps for Android
Practically every smartphone comes with a built-in camera app, but these apps are generally created by the device's manufacturer. And let's face it, manufacturers are hardware companies first and foremost, so they don't always produce the best software.
Arcade Hacking: 6 Tricks to Getting More Prize Tickets Out of Game Machines
Arcade games have always been more about chance than skill (at least when I play them). Whether you're at a children's party at a Chuck E. Cheese's or drinking it up with your pals at a barcade like Dave & Buster's, you'll find similar games that hold the golden ticket to fun and cheap prizes that no one needs—boy, do you want them.
How To: Use Your Grater on These 10 Foods for Easier, Better Cooking
Your grater and microplane may look like single-purpose tools, but they're actually one of the most diverse appliances in your kitchen. Sure, everyone knows to use a grater on cheese and a microplane on citrus zest, but why stop there? Here are 10 things you may not have thought to grate:
How To: The Tricks to Making Boxed Mac & Cheese Even Better
For foods that encompass both tastiness and convenience, it's hard to beat boxed mac and cheese. Mac and cheese in a box takes 15 minutes to make, dirties only one dish, requires no skill, costs only two bucks, and is, despite all of the above, wildly delicious. Yet it can get even more delicious just by adding a few more ingredients.
How To: What You Should Eat (& Avoid) When You’re Hungover & Why
As glorious as a good drink (or five) can be, the aftermath of alcohol on the body is one of life's least enjoyable features. A few hours of fun can come at the expense of a day or two of feeling dead to the world, with an upset stomach, an aching body, and a headache that makes it feel as though your friends used your head for a piñata.
News: Why You Should Cook with Beer More Often
"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." We've all seen the quote, attributed to Benjamin Franklin, on numerous shirts, glasses, and bar signs. It's a good, if overused slogan. It makes one clear, indisputable point: beer is great, and life is better with it.
How To: Skip the Green Beer & Indulge in These 8 Desserts for St. Patrick's Day
Soda bread, corned beef and cabbage, and colcannon are all great dishes to serve up on St. Patrick's Day, but desserts really let your inner leprechaun come out to play. Not only can you have fun incorporating all kinds of tasty Irish liquors into baked goods, you get to dye things green.
News: Why Guinness Tastes Better in Ireland (& More Surprising Guinness Facts)
Any beer aficionado who's been to Ireland will always talk about how the Guinness there "just tastes different." But save your eye rolls, skeptics: it turns out your favorite lagerhead actually has a valid point.
How To: Get Cleaner, Healthier Teeth with These Superfoods
There are certain foods and beverages that can actually brighten your smile or improve your dental health when you chew or sip them. Once you understand their chemical properties or textures, you can look to items you already have in your cupboards or refrigerator to help keep your teeth looking and feeling their best.
How To: Make Amazing 7-Minute Caramels in Your Microwave
There are hundreds of delicious ways to enjoy caramel, from chocolate confections to sticky caramel apples and carnival bags of caramel corn. Caramel might be the special sauce that makes every dessert taste better, but it's also surprisingly simple to make.
Weird Ingredient Wednesday: Cook with Lapsang Souchong Tea
Like cigars and whiskey, Lapsang Souchong tea is an acquired taste. Some people never get over the pungent, tarry flavor and intense smell of the beverage, but using it as a rub, marinade, or other seasoning is totally smart. The tea adds a smoky yet not overwhelming flavor to dishes of all kinds. With it, you can easily get barbecue-like results for meats and vegetables, all without breaking out the grill. Lapsang Souchong tea smells like a dry campfire and tastes like a smoked sausage cooke...
How To: Cook Polenta in 15 Minutes Instead of 40
I became a big fan of polenta while studying Italian cooking. Previously, it never occurred to me that ground corn could create a dish that could rival the best pastas or potatoes. Those rich, golden bowls of cornmeal, cooked until tender and flavored with good olive oil, butter, sea salt, and fresh herbs soon became one of my favorite things to eat.
How To: Install a Custom Recovery on the Galaxy S5 (International, Sprint, & T-Mobile)
With Safestrap bringing custom recovery functionality to the AT&T and Verizon Wireless variants of the Samsung Galaxy S5, it's high time we covered this process for all other versions of the GS5.
How To: Make Authentic-Tasting Soft Pretzels at Home Without Any Drain Cleaner
Certain ingredients that a professional chef might work with in a restaurant-style setting may seem bizarre, dangerous, and even downright scary to a home cook, and for good reason.
Prebiotics & Probiotics: What Foods Have Them & Why You Need More in Your Diet
Just what are probiotics and why are they so good for you? Probiotics are "viable microorganisms" that can confer lots and lots of health benefits if they reach your intestine while they're alive. You may have heard them described as "friendly bacteria."
How To: Invert the Stock Samsung Keyboard on Your Galaxy S5 for Easier Typing in the Dark
I'll give Samsung credit where it's due—the stock keyboard on the Galaxy S5 is actually pretty nice. There's a dedicated number row that resides at the top (something that the Google Keyboard needs a hack to achieve), and various settings exist to make switching between languages a breeze.
How To: Play Retro PC Games on Android with DosBox Turbo
If hearing the names of classic PC games like Commander Keen, Fallout, Master of Orion, and Wolfenstein 3D send you into a fit of nostalgia, then DosBox Turbo is the perfect app for your Android device.
How To: Squeeze More Juice Out of Lemons & Limes—Without Getting Any Seeds
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).
How To: 10 Easy Tricks to Make Store-Bought Pasta Sauce Taste Homemade
There's nothing better than real, homemade tomato sauce, but to really develop the flavors, it usually has to simmer for a few hours. And while it's totally worth doing if you have the time, some nights it's just not an option. That's where the pre-made stuff comes in. Jarred pasta sauce certainly doesn't taste the same, but it's really easy to dress up when you need something quick. If you don't want anyone to know your "secret recipe," here are 10 ways to make store-bought spaghetti or mari...
How To: The Easier & Better Way to Control, Track, & Locate Your Lost or Stolen Samsung Galaxy S3 Remotely
I love surprises. Surprise parties, surprise visits, surprise Patrick... But there are times when a surprise is the last thing you want, like reaching into your pocket to find that your Samsung Galaxy S3 is not where it should be.
How To: Play Any Kind of Music or Video File by Modding Your Nexus 7 into a Media Powerhouse
The biggest complaint I have with my Nexus 7 is the lack of support for different types of media files. I have a lot of movies and music that I've downloaded off the web, in many different formats, and I want them on my tablet.
News: Why Is Steampunk Plagued by Plague Doctors?
I'm sure that there are plenty of people out there who have no idea what a plague doctor is/was, so I'll start with an explanation.
News: Have a Little More Christmas in Your Steampunk
Religion is one of the most-ignored topics when it comes to Steampunk, which is surprising given how important religion was in Victorian England. Even the hot-button issues of race and gender are confronted with a greater awareness than religion.
How To: Find Inspiration for Your Steampunk Projects
Once you have the skills to bring your ideas to life, the hardest part is coming up with ideas. What do you do when you can't think of something to make? What happens when your well of inspiration runs dry?
How To: Use Qwiki (1-Minute Audio-Visual Summaries of Wikipedia Articles)
Since its launch in 2001, Wikipedia has become the number one reference site on the web, used by anyone and everyone, written by anyone and everyone. With over 18 million collaboratively written articles, there's backgrounds and descriptions on practically everything—if it exists, there's probably a Wikipedia page for it.
How To: Eat ants
Tired of the same old snacks? This cheeky treat will be sure to shock your guests. Although, we might not consider ants as a regular food source, they are edible. Plus, anything tastes good with butter and garlic.
How To: Lose Weight The Correct & Healthy Way
Obesity has ballooned into a worldwide epidemic. The World Health Organization estimates that 2.3 billion adults will be overweight and 700 million will be obese by 2015. Over 20 million children are overweight today. The reasons for these distressing figures are common knowledge: The international switch to high sugar, high fat, low nutrient processed junk foods prompted by global fast food chains and their advertising; the increasingly sedentary nature of jobs; children playing video games ...
News: 10 Ways to Lose Weight Using an iPhone
Sounds like a false promise à la infomercial or typical spammy web headline—how can a 4.8 ounce gadget aid in weight loss? But, in truth, "who" better to act as a dedicated personal trainer and nutritionalist than the iPhone? The smartphone is completely and utterly tethered to the daily life of the average middle to upper class American. It's reliable and exact. All it needs is a charged battery, the right app, and of course, as with every diet and fitness regime, a user with unwavering self...
Meat, Manners, and Mayhem: Vegetarian-Carnivore Communication
If you’ve watched The June the Homemaker Show, you’ve heard me mention once or twice that I’m a vegetarian. Over the course of my restricted diet eating, I’ve noticed that vegetarianism is a touchy subject among vegetarians and carnivores alike, particularly in meal-type situations. Here are some things for omnivores and, uh, not-omnivores to keep in mind when talking to each other about food preferences.