This post is primarily for those of you who are new to pinterest, but there are hopefully a few treats (how-tos, pinboards) in here for vets as well. And for any of you on pinterest, look me up!
Pinterest is both a brilliant tool and a run-for-your-life time-suck. But assuming you can use a timer (or similar) and exercise a little self-control, you should definitely try it out.
Pinterest is a social site where you can curate your own “pinboards” (like a style-book or a bulletin board) of digital media (photos and videos, mainly) that you find interesting our useful. There is space for your own notes as well. You can have as many pinboards as you like, and you can decide if you want to make them public or share them only with your friends.
Pinterest on Pinterest:
Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. Pinterest allows you to organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. You can browse pinboards created by other people to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests.
Always better from the horse’s mouth, don’t you think?
When you pin something to one of your boards, besides being available for future reference/inspiration, it comes up on the homepage of anyone who is subscribed to your pinboard(s).
On your homepage, you’ll see other people’s recent “pins” and have the option to repin them, comment on them, “like” them, or you can click on the photo to open up the individual page with a full-size pic.
From the full-size pic page, clicking the photo will take you to the original URL the image was pinned from. (Great for discovering new blogs and websites!)
Well, if not used judicially, it’s good for wasting an entire evening that could have otherwise been used for, I don’t know, actually accomplishing one of the projects you’ve pinned or have been putting off.
But seriously. Assuming you can mute the siren-call, Pinterest is really great for compiling ideas and inspiration for future projects or for everyday delights. Check out a few of the Pinboards curated by some of my friends to see a few examples. (As Pinterest lets you custom-name each of your pinboards, I’ve used the creator’s title in the list below.)
You can also check out my pinboards (though we’ll have to be friends first), or just visit the Pinterest Home Page and dive in!
If you like what you see, sign up, search for a few friends, set up some pinboards, and get pinning! In addition to repinning things you find on pinterest, you can also add items from anywhere on the web, as well as upload your own photos or scanned pics.
I suggest that as you are pinning, you make a note to yourself (in the description box) of why this particular image caught your eye. This will serve as a future reminder of what you were getting at when you pinned the item. Just clipping a storage/organizing idea and labeling it “good idea” is not as helpful six months from now than the description “Possibly use this on my side of the bed?”.
This also prevents the scenario where you clip a random photo as a color palette inspiration and then have no clue what it’s a picture of or what made you pin it. (I may or may not have done this myself. But if I had, I would tell you that including a note as to what you think it is a good palette for is also a good idea.)
Also, unfollow boards that are clogging up your home page. You might subscribe to a friend who loves to post homeschool projects, but as you don’t have any kids, you’re not that interested. So unfollow that board and you’ll see the rest of what she posts, but no more homeschool bits. Under the picture it tells you what pinboard she posted that item to. Just click on the pinboard and then click “unfollow” at the top.
The real downside to pinterest is its addictiveness. Infinite window-shopping where you never tire = BAD. That’s more about me than about Pinterest, though.
My one beef with Pinterest is that there is no way to make a pin or pinboard private. As this feature comes standard on nearly all social media, I really don’t see what the holdup is. Two strikes for no private pins. What if I’m collecting ideas for a surprise party? You get the idea.
Have you used pinterest? Do you have any pinners or boards that you particularly love? If so, share them! Have any questions? I’ll try to answer them – or at least send you a link to the info – if I can.
Happy Pinning!
I forced myself to not review the Kindle until I had it at least six months. I wanted to wait to write my review because I usually find that if there are any quirks or hang-ups in a new item, I usually don’t notice them until I’m well beyond the honeymoon stage. So I restrained myself from glowing on about the Kindle until it had been around my house a while. Well, it’s been a year, and I’m still glowing.
The Kindle 3 ranges in price from $114 to $189 depending on what connectivity type you prefer (wi-fi only or wi-fi + 3G) and whether or not you’re willing to suffer advertising. In this review I’m discussing my personal experience with the Kindle 3 Wi-fi only with no advertisements. I’ll also be professing my love for the custom cover.
When we lived in the states, I never thought I’d own a Kindle. I love paper books and don’t commute or anything, so why should I pay for an unnecessary gadget? But after moving overseas and seeing what the alternative was (buying books at inflated prices that eventually you will have to leave behind due to their weight), the Kindle became really appealing. So, when the release of Kindle 3 overlapped with our visit to the states last year, I went for it.
Cue Little Mermaid chanting.
The Kindle allows me to carry several books around with me for about the weight of one. I can pick up with my reading anywhere, never having to decide in advance what I’ll want to read. I also save a lot of money on books. There are often free and reduced-price books, including very cheap (or free) classics. But even if there weren’t, buying ebooks at moderate US prices is way cheaper than paying the inflated import prices for books on the other side. And the Kindle has saved my back years of strain from carrying lots of books around. I’m happy about that, too.
Additionally, the Kindle has changed my travel-packing for the better. I used to end up taking a small army of books with me on trips. I just couldn’t decide what I’d want to read or how much material I might get through. Which means I’d pack too many books and weigh myself down. Like really weigh myself down. These days I just pack my Kindle and my super-thin Moleskine journal. Together they weigh less than a pound. Can you see me dancing around? Less than a pound!!!
Before getting the Kindle, I really thought that the words-on-a-screen-instead-of-a-page thing was going to impossibly trip me up. And at first it did, because I started with a challenging classic that was throwing me off a bit all by itself. Then I switched to something purely entertaining and have never thought about the “screen” again. So my tip is: start with something easy and fun. You’ll soon no longer think about the medium and be sailing through your book.
Although my review is mainly a slightly-veiled lovefest, as it is still a review, I should mention my beefs. But the truth is, I don’t really have any. At the beginning, I had some trouble with my Kindle flashing and crashing. But since a recent software update, I haven’t had any more problems.
I should also mention that reading PDFs on the Kindle is not ideal. I tried it once and haven’t attempted it again. But as I purchased the Kindle as an alternative to books, this doesn’t bother me in the least.
I very much suggest buying a cover with a light. I have the custom Amazon cover, and can’t recommend it highly enough. When reading in low light, just extend the light-arm which is powered by the Kindle itself and the light comes on (can someone say genius?!). Of course, many people opt to read on the iphone or ipad in low-light situations, but backlighting is much harsher on your eyes, which I don’t welcome after a long day at the computer screen.
I looked at other e-readers before deciding on the Kindle, and though at the time of my purchase the Kindle was my preferred product (people loved the sharpness of the print and the look of their patented electronic ink, plus it has the custom cover I mentioned earlier), I chose the Kindle as much for Amazon’s likely place in the future of e-readers as for any of those other reasons.
When we were shopping for mp3 players we chose iPods because of Apple’s place in the market, and continue to be happy with that choice. I saw the eReader the same way: there’s a really good chance if anyone will outlast the others in the market, it’s going to be Amazon.
Have you considered the Kindle? Own one? Is it worth what you spent?
Mvelopes is an online budgeting and financial management tool that aggregates your financial transactions, letting you see exactly where your accounts and budgeting envelopes stand in near-real-time. I’ve wanted to pass along the recommendation for quite some time, and now, needing to write a review post for my blogging e-course, I’m actually doing it!
Mvelopes is for people of all income levels who want to make better financial choices; be it reducing debt, saving for retirement, funding an emergency fund, giving more, or just limiting spending in certain areas.
Mvelopes is a subscription service. Fees range from $7.40/mo (billed every two years) to $11.65/mo (billed quarterly).
The fee includes access to the the service (described below), and free online billpay (up to 15 pays per month).
The Dude and I began using mvelopes over five years ago when we needed to get our financial bits under control. A friend had recommended it as a budgeting tool, and we joined in hopes of seeing where our money was going and in an effort to curb expenses. In that first month, we saved more than the cost of the annual subscription, and we were hooked. We are now lifetime members/subscribers, and still use the service even though these days we don’t primarily deal in US dollars.
As a budgeting tool, it allows me to track accumulations and expenditures in virtual envelopes. I create a spending plan, and each month fund my “mvelopes” accordingly. (Once set up, this is a two-click process.) Throughout the month I can see how much money I have left in various categories – in real-time. Meanwhile, occasional expenses like Christmas and travel are being saved up for. Glorious!
As an account manager (of sorts), it allows me to track income, expenses, and payments and set aside money for upcoming costs. For example, I have an envelope for the Dude’s freelance art stuffs. When he purchases things for this purpose, I assign the transactions to the envelope. When he receives payments, I assign those to the envelope and set aside a portion of the received money in a second envelope for the taxes he’ll owe due to being self-employed. Now fast-forward. At the end of the year, I have a complete record of everything that was spent and earned that year to hand over to the professionals AND have the money set aside to pay what we’ll owe in taxes. For me, this provision alone would be worth the annual fee.
(Mvelopes doesn’t physically move the money to a new account for me, it just allows me to set it aside and not consider it spendable so that it is still there when we need it.)
As a transaction aggregator, it lets me see incoming transactions for every single one of my accounts in the same place. By checking this one site, I can see if anything looks curious about any recent transactions.
As a net worth tracker, I can see the present value of our investments at a glance, noting if anything has made a recent jump.
I imagine many people use Quicken or Money for some of these things. And these days, I’m guessing these applications are improved from the versions I used to use back in the day. But having used them in the past, I switched to mvelopes for two main reasons. First, the range of capabilities and ease of the user-interface were far superior in mvelopes than in my previous experience with these other programs. (Keep in mind that this was many years ago.) And secondly, I had more than one disaster involving lost information. Not having to jack with disasters is incredibly valuable to me. Plus, mvelopes has a dedicated help desk with chat functionality. V. nice.
For me, the downsides of mvelopes are what you would expect, and completely manageable. (If they weren’t, I couldn’t recommend it.) Here are two things I wish were a little different.
First, if you’re using cash, you’ll have to manually enter transactions. This is to be expected (thankfully our apps don’t read our minds just yet), but while the input is straightforward, it isn’t as expedient as I imagine it could be.
Secondly, and this is so nit-picky I can hardly make myself say it, but I’d love it if there were an option to view percentages in the different screens and reports. It’d be nice to see how our investments break down by percentages, or what portion of our income we’ve spent this year in different categories without running the numbers ourselves.
All up, I think mvelopes is for people who could benefit from seeing where their money is going, paying off debt, having records and reports easily available to them at any time, sticking to a spending plan, and/or being able to see their accounts all in one place. Which means I would recommend it to pretty much anyone.
As the cost is easily reclaimed by making it easy to curb expenditures, I would recommend it even (perhaps especially) to people for whom money is tight. In fact, we started using mvelopes in a season when we were borrowing from our savings to make ends meet. Mvelopes was a life-saver.
On the flip side, if you deal only in cash (and therefore have no accounts with online access), you might find that using physical envelopes makes more sense than manually entering a host of transactions.
I’ve carried on long enough. I imagine by now you have a general idea of whether or not mvelopes might be of interest to you. If it is, you can learn more here.
And, if you follow this link and request a free 14-day trial, I’ll get $15. Of course, that’s no benefit to you… which is why (if you use the above link) mvelopes will give you 20% off your initial subscription if you choose to continue after the trial period. Hooray for mutual benefit!
If you try it out, let me know what you think!
Photo by Phil Roeder
Most of you know I love chasing the home-chef dream. I do like to cook, but it’s more about the aesthetic, the process, and ultimately, putting something really delicious on the table. Which means I don’t necessarily cook as often as you might think. But that’s another story.
As a way to discover food and flavors, I often use recipes as a first foray into uncharted territory. But in the years since I began learning about food, I’ve discovered that not all recipe sources are created equal. There are a few gems out there, but I’ve sworn off far more sources than I’ve returned to.
Several years ago I pinned down what it is that I want out of a recipe (and a recipe source). Settling this in my mind has helped me consistently find better recipes in less time. If you haven’t already, I highly suggest collecting your own (limited) set of resources that fits your food personality and personal taste. Today I’m sharing my list with you. I think more than 80% of my recipes come from the following sources. Here are my loves with a short explanation of why they make the Top 5.
Everyday Food is my go-to resource for solid, standard recipes. The vast majority of their recipes use standard ingredients and simple techniques to yield great results. I get lots of simple ideas for, well, everyday food.
I primarily use the magazine, as it focuses on using in-season items to create seasonal dishes, resulting in timely ideas-a-plenty. But I also use the website to search for standard recipes when I need them, say for a not-too-much-fuss tart or simple ways to prepare fish. This Popcorn How-To was from Everyday Food.
Fine Cooking is my go-to for exceptional recipes. In general, I am wary of recipes. I use them, of course, but I generally don’t trust them. Fine Cooking is an exception to this. Nearly everything I’ve made from them has been tasty by my own estimation (I tend to be my toughest critic) and enjoyed by everyone else. I also learn a lot of techniques from Fine Cooking as they aim to educate as well as provide recipes.
I use the magazine and magazine archive versions of Fine Cooking. I don’t go to their website much as they charge a subscription fee to access a good portion of their site, and I feel like I have what I want from print and digital sources.
The Cook’s Illustrated homepage currently reads, “You don’t need 100 recipes for Roast Chicken (or anything else), you just need one that works.” This pretty much sums them up.
I love Cook’s Illustrated because I learn a lot from their descriptions of the trial and error process they went through to get to that “one recipe”. They certainly take the descriptions too far sometimes, but I don’t really mind because by the end of a two-page article I’ve gained a great recipe as well as the understanding of what makes it great. For instance, in the Cook’s Illustrated recipe for Phad Thai they describe a no-fail way to prepare rice noodles. (If you’ve worked with rice noodles you know how temperamental they can be.) I have since used this technique on many sorts of rice noodles for a variety of dishes with 100% success. It’s back pocket tricks like this that earn Cook’s Illustrated it’s spot on the list.
Like Fine Cooking, Cook’s Illustrated charges a subscription fee for accessing most of their online content. Bump that, I’ll take print. I most frequently use The New Best Recipe as a sort of encyclopedia for recipes, but also grab recipes from the magazine on occasion.
I love Food Network because I can find interesting (and usually high quality) versions of dishes I’m trying to make. I don’t go to Food Network for standard recipes. There are better sources for that. I go to Food Network for interesting and odd finds, twists on a classic, or creative combinations. If I’m looking for a sampling of decent recipes for a specific dish, I use Food Network. Recently I perused them for Pulled Pork recipes and in a very short time I had a handful of promising options.
One reason Food Network is better for this sort of thing than the other sources is because they are a compiling of recipes by individual chefs rather than recipes conceived in a test kitchen. I feel like each recipe of a certain dish reflects its creator and is distinctive from the other offerings of the same item. With a test kitchen the recipes tend to be more middle-of-the-road and less interesting.
(An additional tip: When FN recipes were first presented on TV, they were often grouped with sides as part of an overall meal. If you follow the link to the original episode, you can get ideas for what else to serve alongside the recipe. Even if you don’t use that exact recipe you can still get good ideas for sides.)
I use the website 99% of the time, as I prefer other food magazines to the Food Network’s offering.
I have a hate/love relationship with food blogs. I hate them because usually the recipes are even less reliable than usual, and because after peaking my interest with a beautiful photo of the finished dish, the recipes never seem to deliver. I’ve had more disappointments with tries from food blogs than from any other source. And I hate, hate, HATE the long string of dish-preparation pictures. I’m sorry, but I’ve seen onions and peppers and garlic mellow in olive oil before. Many times. Please have mercy on my poor scrolling fingers.
Anyway.
What I love about food blogs is the new ideas for food combinations and plating, and how looking at them inspires me to get in the kitchen. It just so happens that Tastespotting incorporates the best of these two things while bypassing what I dislike. Score.
Tastespotting is only online. I mostly use it for ideas, not for recipes. I’ll go to the site, type something in the search box, and then peruse related titles and photos. Recently I was looking for some ideas for empanada fillings. I typed “empanada” in the search box and soon I was browsing pictures of everything from Guava & Manchego Empanadas to Butternut Squash & Mushroom Empanadas. Yum.
You may have noticed that user-submitted recipe sites are absent from the list. This is not because I never use them, but because they require heaps of extra time and effort. I have to sort through a lot of obviously misinformed recipes (like the one for jambalaya that instructed me to let the shrimp cook in there for 25 minutes), and then sort through just as many comments in order to find out how to actually prepare the recipe. I’m just not so in to that.
Of course, my favorite brownie recipe came from Tasty Kitchen, so I don’t always follow my own advice on that one.
What are your go-to places for recipes (or food ideas) and why?
photo by cogdogblog
I’ve long envied people who fly frequently. I am irresistibly drawn to the opportunity for reflection, the no-guilt opportunity to indulge in a good read, and the overall aura of intrigue internationale. These days I fly almost as much as I’d like to. And while I still don’t get to pop from country to country for any reason at all, I do fly more frequently, and take longer flights, than I ever have before.
Recently I realized my carry-on technique (if you could call it that) could use some help. I felt uncoordinated and clunky, and was never able to get at the things I was trying to find in my bag. I also had the sneaking suspicion that I was carrying too much with me, though I didn’t know what to shed.
So I did the nerdy-planner thing and, with pen and paper at hand, pried my brain for what was and wasn’t working. As I’m currently procrastinating from packing my own carry-on for my next flight (which has a total of 18 hours of flying time), it seems a good time to write a post like this…
1) Use a roller bag and a shoulder bag. In your shoulder bag, put only items you will need during your flight, and make sure it’s a manageable weight for carrying around all day, and suitable size for stowing under your seat. Put everything else – electronics, other valuables, extra clothes, etc. – in your roller bag. This will distribute the weight better for the duration of your travel, and, if you use the right sort of rolling bag, you can even use the top edge of your roller bag as a “holder” for your drink and snack while you sit waiting for your flight.
Note: Everything else listed below goes in my shoulder bag.
2) Think about your carry-ons before you pack them. Spend a minute or two finding your problem areas. What has frustrated you in the past about the way you’ve packed your carry-ons? What have you wished you’d had with you? What do you take and never use or have duplicates of? And, especially, what will make your experience more enjoyable? For instance, I often get cold on flights, so I take a pair of thick socks. For you it might be the perfect travel pillow or a video game you can lose yourself in for hours on end. Brainstorm what your needs are and pack things that will make your day a little smoother, better, and more enjoyable.
3) Take appropriate entertainment. Consider the length of your travel day, and how much energy you might have for various activities. For instance, on short flights I can read for the duration of my travel, but on longer flights I inevitably get too fog-brained to do much cogitating. Make sure your entertainment suits your travel day. And take plenty of it! I usually take my kindle, my ipod (stocked with a few films), and my journal. And never, ever, count on in-flight entertainment. I’m speaking from experience here.
(As for my laptop, because I usually refrain from using it on the plane, I keep it in my shoulder bag until I clear security, and then put in my roller bag.)
4) Pack an eye-mask and earplugs. And if you have them, take a good set of headphones (the kind you can still hear through over all the airplane noise) and some sort of white-noise-ish track on your mp3 player. My drowner-outer of choice is a soundtrack of consistent rain. Having white noise, and being able to black out, really helps a person find their happy place when the loud kid behind them won’t stop kicking their seat. Not that I’d know.
5) Take suitable snacks and an empty container for water. I suggest one each of the following; a protein snack, a carb snack, and something sweet. For me this generally means nuts, plain crackers, and something chocolate. The protein can hold you over for a while if you’re missing a meal, the carb snack can curb hunger pains relatively quickly, and the sweets just make a long day more pleasant. As for the water container, fill it up at your first opportunity on the other side of security. When you find yourself in an airport where the cheapest water is $5, you’ll be glad you have a standby.
6) Be smart with your toiletries. Find a moisturizer you can use for your hands and face (I like Nivea Soft
7) Don’t take anything extra. This sounds obvious. And it is. But that doesn’t make it easy to do! So remember: Once you’ve made your carry-on list, put only one of each item needed in your bag and resist the urge to add anything else. For whatever reason, this is the hardest part for me. It also accounts for why I felt like I was carrying too much with me. I was!
(Time for True Confessions: This post is for the blogging course I’m taking over at Aliventures, so it’s a little out of my personal style as I usually wouldn’t be quite as formal about something like this. Having said that, if you have any feedback on the post as a whole, please send it!)
If you’ve never met them, then you probably have no need for this post. Skip at will. Otherwise, take heart. You can win against the we(evil).
When we moved overseas I lost rice after oats after nuts after flour to the little bugs, and it took me a lot of hair pulling and internet searching and failure before finally taking my rightful place as victor. I will not be defeated by an insect I can smear between my thumb and forefinger. And you needn’t be either.
I used to think that one “got” bugs in their rice (pasta, cookies, flour, etc), as though one day the neighbor’s bugs grew tired of the menu next door and migrated on over for a new plate. But this isn’t necessarily the case. Often weevils are already in your grains when you bring them home from the store. They may not be visible yet, but let that sealed bag sit on the pantry shelf for a while and the microscopic will show themselves. This means that you can have bugs in one product without others having been affected yet. On the other hand, if the vermin found an escape route out of the packaging, they could be well on their way to sharing the love.
My back muscles are twitching.
The good news is that there are a few things you can do to win the battle of the bugs. Though I would not bet my life promising success, I can honestly say that I used to have outbreak after outbreak (I live in a part of the world particularly prone to this), and since I’ve adopted these practices I have never again had wide-scale problems.
You’ll need two weapons for your arsenal: Air-tight containers (of hefty plastic, not ziploc) and your freezer.
When you bring home any sort of grain from the store that you don’t plan use up in the near future, put it in your freezer for 24 hours. (I do 48 just to make me feel better.) Apparently the extreme cold is enough to kill anything lying dormant in your stash. Then, when you remove the items from your freezer, place them in air-tight containers, making sure the lids are securely sealed.
Also, if you have grain products you aren’t freezing, put them in air-tight containers as well.
The idea behind using the airtight containers is two-fold: to keep an infestation from breaking out (in the event something hatches from inside your grain) and to protect your goods from external assailants. Airtight containers act as a fence and a shield, respectively. Practically speaking this means that if you are religious about the rest of these practices, you could probably live without airtight containers. For me, though, the containers protect my sanity as, I confess, I don’t always remember to freeze my goods.
I have seen maybe one weevil since I began using this battle plan. I found it inside an airtight container used for cereal. As I hadn’t frozen the cereal, I wasn’t surprised. But because I had used the airtight container, I didn’t have to worry. I threw out that little batch, washed the dish, and mission accomplished.
Also, if you’ve already had weevils, it’s probably worth doing a thorough disinfecting of your pantry areas to kill off anything that might be lingering about before stocking with pest-free food.
I’ve often heard people say they keep their flour (or rice, or whatever) in the fridge to “keep the bugs out of it”. In my experience this is unnecessary. The fridge temperature will keep the eggs from hatching, yes, but you can accomplish this with a short freezer stint. The fridge will also keep the items from getting infected, but so will airtight containers. Why use up your fridge space? Of course, if this is you and you just prefer to do things this way, go for it. People find it effective.
And now, since I know you’ve been itching to hear a little “Boll Weevil” action since the beginning of this post, here it is on YouTube (audio only).
(Oh, and if you live somewhere where bugs are constantly a problem inside, you may need to take extra measures. The fridge is one option, but a cooler or large bin with a seal my do the trick too. I’d love to hear what you try and how it works!)
