A long time ago I was reading an issue of Saveur and saw an article about a trendsetting bar in Portland. The bartender at the joint had started making enormous blocks of smoked ice for his cocktails. When a patron ordered a drink that called for the smoked ice, the bartender would chip off a large chunk and place it in a glass with the booze. Then, as the ice slowly melted, the drink would take on more and more smoky notes, and the flavor profile of the beverage would change with every passi...
If you're a big fan of home improvement, then you've you've probably painted a wall or item in your day. Not only can it get expensive, it's also time consuming, and very often just plain boring. Waiting for paint to dry so that you can add another coat is, well…like waiting for paint to dry.
It feels great to wrap up in a big, fluffy towel after a steamy shower, but it's frustrating when that towel isn't quite up to the job. Over time, towels lose their ability to hold water and dry as needed thanks to daily use and the biggest culprit—laundry detergent.
Samsung's got a pair of beautiful new flagship devices coming out this spring that will surely top the sales charts. The Galaxy S5's successor is truly worthy of that title, but a second variant with a curved display turned heads at Mobile World Congress this weekend.
One of the best things about talking to other people who love food is that they point you to weirdly beautiful ingredients, like this: No, that's not an escapee from Middle Earth you're seeing. It's one of Mother Nature's best attempts at making fractals come alive into a golden spiral: the Romanesco (sometimes called fractal broccoli, broccoflower, or Romanesque cauliflower). Here's another view: So Just What Is It & What Does It Taste Like?
Hard-boiled eggs are such an amazing snack, but there's nothing quite so frustrating as trying to get all the shell off without damaging the egg underneath. I've ended up with many a sadly pitted and pockmarked egg that somehow doesn't taste quite as good as when it emerges all white and smooth.
It's that time of year again. The month after we exchange gifts, most of us tend to exchange germs. Cold and flu season always seems to creep up on us, often leaving us ill-prepared to deal with the ailments.
If you're a fan of Thai food, I'm sure you're familiar with sticky rice. There is something so special about its chewy texture and sweet flavor. If you have a desire to make it in your own kitchen but don't have the proper tools such as a traditional bamboo basket or stackable steamer, there are several other methods that work just as well. Once you try these alternative methods, I'm sure you'll be "sticking" to them for a while. What Makes Sticky Rice So Sticky?
Nothing else quite sums up my childhood like Super Mario, the Italian plumber who constantly had to defeat Bowser to save Princess Peach (aka Princess Toadstool) from danger. While it's easy to relive the classic gameplay on your Android with Nintendo emulators, not everyone has time for lengthy quests. Instead, you can get your Mario nostalgia fix with a live wallpaper for your home and/or lock screen.
The other day I was perusing my Instagram when I came upon a curious hashtag... #OnePotPasta. Intrigued, I investigated further and discovered a whole world that was previously unbeknownst to me.
Don't throw away your dead light bulbs, they may come in handy one day. This video will show you how to start a fire using a dead lightbulb. And no electricity. The tricky part is emptying out the insides, but this can be done with sticks and stones, assuming you're in a survival situation and just happen to have a light bulb with you for whatever reason.
Just when you begin to doubt the future of humanity, advances in ice cream scooping science continue to develop. Yumi showed you some super-cool ice cream hacks just in time for summer, and we've already discussed how to use a knife to slice ice cream when it's too hard to scoop.
I love cheap, nutritious food: lentils, rice, toor dal, and other beans and grains. Even popcorn. The only problem is that they usually come in floppy plastic bags that make measuring ingredients more difficult. I usually open up one corner of the bag only to have everything come spilling out all at once whenever I try to pour out measured amounts.
Google I/O 2014 is currently going on in San Francisco, but as the conference rolls on, the Android Gear smartwatches continue to be one of the hotter topics.
The new HTC One M8 has only been out for a few hours, but it's apparent that some people had their hands on the device before the announcement. And well, one them decided to drop the thing in water.
For me, the worst thing about makeup has always been taking it off. It's always that one last thing you have to do before you go to bed, and if you don't, you instantly regret it when you wake up. When you're tired, makeup removing wipes are a godsend because they're so quick.
The iPhone 5S may be the most popular Apple phone to date, but I'm still rocking my iPhone 4. No disrespect to the 5S, but I'm not upgrading until I can unlock with a retina scan or get Siri to sound like Scarlett Johansson.
Presentational video for our DIY Camera Crane project. Video: .
There are some ingredients I cook with so often I can never buy too many of them, and most of them are produce. Onions, garlic and fresh herbs are staples in a lot of dishes, and they may be inexpensive, but when you use them on a daily basis it can add up.
Unless your work clothes require dry cleaning, you probably only go to the cleaner a few times a year. And for those few items in your closet for which you do, you have to then find the time and extra budget to make a trip all the way to the cleaners and back again. In the end, it can be quite the hassle.
Creating awesomely messy slops of DIY slime and curdled fake blood isn't something new—we even have guides on making Dr. Seuss-friendly Oobleck and the radioactive green ooze that created my childhood favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (minus the radioactive part, of course).
For those of you who have (or had) and iPhone, one of the cooler photo apps for iOS was VSCO Cam, an extremely popular camera with pro-quality filters and effects. Now this app is available for Android on Google Play for your Nexus 7 tablet and any other devices running Android 4.0 and up.
Peaches—to peel, or not to peel? For some, it's not a question at all. The fuzz on the outside of the fruit is enough to turn some off to it completely, even though the peel doesn't have a bitter taste. Others may not mind the peel, but don't want it in their pie or cobbler. Regardless, getting rid of it is a gigantic pain.
If you're going to build yourself a water gun to cool down this summer, or maybe just a useful water pump, you'll need some check valves. However, the most expensive parts of a water pump or DIY super soaker are usually the check valves. So, let's make some from scratch for as little as $0.35 each.
Yellowed or hazed headlights don't only make your car look tacky, it also reduces the amount of light that can shine through at night. This results in poor visibility and may result in an unnecessary accident.
How to unblock a toilet EASILY & WITHOUT a PLUNGER! That's right, without a plunger! How to unclog a toilet has never been easier. A blocked toilet is without doubt a major inconvenience, but don't call the plumber just yet. Save yourself a truck load of cash and give this method a go.
Navigating through row after row of plants, my tiny fingers would reach into the leaves to pluck all the vile little creatures from their homes and deposit them into a can of gasoline. Potato bug duty, my least favorite gardening chore. Growing up, my family had a small garden every year. And every year, I was recruited to help plant, maintain, and eventually harvest the vegetables from it. There were some tasks I didn't mind, but the ones I hated most usually involved bugs (have you ever see...
Rubik's Cubes are classically frustrating on their own, but what if you want to go that extra mile and make your puzzle impossible to solve?
Food can smell great before, during, and after cooking. A pot of stew simmering away on the stove will tantalize you all afternoon, and there's nothing better than the smell of fresh-baked cookies lingering in the house for hours.
Sound waves are a lot more versatile than you'd think. For starters, you can use them to project images onto a bubble and liquefy gummy bears. And now, YouTube scientist and optical illusionist extraordinaire Brusspup shows how sound waves can also be used to manipulate a stream of water into a zigzag shape.
Wall framing. How to frame a wall. Whether you're re-sheeting an old wall or building a new timber frame wall, before you install the plasterboard or drywall, take the opportunity to have a really good think about what services or insulation qualities you might want to have in that space. There are issues to consider like electrical, plumbing, noggins for wall fixtures and insulation.
Free stuff is pretty cool. Free internet is even cooler—and free internet that is actually free is the coolest. If you would rather avoid sitting in a Starbucks and having to listen to hipsters discuss the proper length of cropped jeans, then this should be of interest.
We've shown you how to make water change color on command, but how about just half of it? What if I told you that you can split a solution right down the middle and make the color disappear from one side, just by shining light on it?
There are a number of different techniques for building underwater in Minecraft. The easiest is to fill a room with wood or leaves, then set them on fire. It'll burn down, leaving a pocket of air for you.
Assuming that you are living north of the equator, ‘tis the summer season for brewing your own sun tea. Unlike the conventional method of dunking tea bags in boiling hot water for several minutes, sun tea is brewed over the course of several hours through the natural heat of direct sunlight.
Let's face it, pretty much everyone has an automatic dishwasher. They are super convenient and are becoming cheaper to allow the general public better access to them. With that being said, though, dishwashers are also becoming a lot smaller.
To properly set a table for an informal four course dinner, keep in mind that a soup course, a salad course, an entree and a desert will be served. First, add the service plate or charger to the table. Place it directly in front of the guest two inches from the table. It will serve as the under plate before the entree arrives. Use exactly the amount of silverware needed to accommodate the meal. For this meal, you will need a soup spoon, a salad fork, a salad knife, a dinner fork, a dinner kni...
In this video, GoPlanetEarth.com shows viewers how to make bath bombs. The ingredients needed are: a half cup of Epsom salt, a half cup of citric acid, one cup of baking soda, one teaspoon of liquid glycerin, one teaspoon of water, three teaspoons of oil (the fragrance for your bath bomb), three tablespoons of sunflower or canola oil, one-fourth of a teaspoon of Borax, and food coloring (liquid). You will also need to have bath bomb molds, latex gloves, a bowl, a glass measuring cup, and pape...
Betty, from Betty's Kitchen, explains how to make oven-baked pork chops with home style gravy! First, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Betty explains that she will leave the fat trim around the pork chops before cooking. First, use meat tenderizer to season the meat. Shake the meat tenderizer over the pork chops on both sides, the top and the bottom. Get a skillet and pour peanut oil into it. Turn this on and make sure it sizzles. Pour one cup of flour into a large zip lock bag and put the p...
Unexpected guest? Families coming for dinner? or Just in the mood of some soul food? Chicken and dumplings, this fast track version will take few ingredients and little time. This two part tutorial will never have you doubting "whats for dinner?" ever again.
