Learn How To Pair Wines Properly With This Simple Info-Graphic
March 5, 2013 | No Comments » | Topics: Food |
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For Anyone With A Serious Sweet Tooth: How To Make A 15 Pound Snickers Bar
March 4, 2013 | 1 Comment » | Topics: Food, How To |
Melt chocolate and butterscotch chips along with a spoonful of peanut butter.
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Possibly Life Changing Recipe Of The Day: Layered Peanut Butter Brittle Ice Cream Pops
February 1, 2013 | 9 Comments » | Topics: Food, How To |
When temperatures rise, there’s nothing like a bit of ice cream to help cool things back down! If you’re looking to beat the heat during the dog days of summer, try these Peanut Butter Ice Cream Pops.
These quick desserts are an easy way to put a homemade spin on plain vanilla ice cream. Store-bought ice cream is layered with chocolate fudge sauce, salty peanuts, peanut butter, and chunks of peanut butter cups candy, in individual popsicle form. They’re cold and creamy, sweet and salty, and the perfect antidote to hot summer days!
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How To Stop Procrastinating
January 25, 2013 | No Comments » | Topics: How To |
by Heykidcatch
Many natural procrastinators I know are people who are praised for their intelligence, and misinterpret that as a sign that they don’t need to have structure for their brain’s daily activities, and don’t need to give it the proper respect and exercise that it requires and deserves. So they neglect it – let it run wild on the internet, gorge itself on Reddit and Facebook and porn and games (the mental equivalent of junk food and jerking off), and allow it to lapse into a vicious cycle of unaccountable information binging and inevitable self loathing.
Your brain adapts to, and then perpetuates, the habits to which it is constantly exposed. That fact doesn’t work in your favor right now, but you can change that. My suggestions:
1) Structure your time. By scheduling your daily activities, you provide a motivation to be present and diligent for your responsibilities. Plus, this will discourage the huge, unhealthy blocks of surf time that arise when you don’t plan your time out ahead. As far as skill acquisition like studying goes, I recommend time management methods like the Pomodoro Technique[1] to give your brain a healthy routine length. You may also want to invest in a timer, or a program that acts like one, so you can monitor how much time you’re actually spending plugged in, and hold yourself accountable for it in the future.
This tip also extends to structuring your sleep schedule. I assume you’re in college, and there’s always fun stuff like parties and dorm CoD seshes and recreational drug use happening at any given time in college. Even if not, there’s always the internet. Learn to pull the plug, even when you don’t feel like you want to stop, and get your 6-8 hours a night. It does wonders for your self-control, self-image, and your presence in real life as opposed to inside your head.
2) Figure out why you procrastinate. Procrastination is a type of experiential avoidance[2] that causes itself through an unwillingness to feel uncomfortable emotions, or be in unpleasant situations, even at personal detriment. I personally was an internet/League of Legends addict because I wanted to avoid confronting my anxiety, low self-esteem, and feelings of helplessness, and losing myself in my laptop provided an avenue where I could feel ‘in control’. It’s different for everyone, but this attitude is rather common nowadays. You owe it to yourself to be honest about what it is you’re procrastinating from, and why you fell into the habit. It may take some reflection.
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One Recipe To Rule Them All: Peanut Butter Oreo Ice Cream Pie!
How To Make Pinata Cookies!How To Bake The 6 Layer Rainbow Cake That Has Been Sweeping The Internet Lately
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How To Make Pinata Cookies!
January 18, 2013 | 3 Comments » | Topics: Food, How To |
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How To Make The Ultimate Chocolate Bar!
January 15, 2013 | 2 Comments » | Topics: Food, How To |
Used a shoe box as the mold
First a layer of Pineapple lumps (for all non New Zealanders, they are the most amazing candy ever)
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One Recipe To Rule Them All: Peanut Butter Oreo Ice Cream Pie!
January 14, 2013 | 1 Comment » | Topics: Food, How To |
It’s so easy to whip up, here’s all you’ll need. Heavy whipping cream, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla, Oreos (will someone please tell me why I didn’t use Double Stuffed in this recipe??!), butter, and peanut butter. I found this Reese’s Peanut butter at Publix, so fun! You’ll also need a jar of Smucker’s Hot Fudge topping, which somehow did not make it into this photo.
Finely crush 25 Oreos in a food processor or blender. When we first got married, I had neither a food processor nor a blender, so I would just crush the Oreos in a ziploc bag with a rolling pin and they worked just fine. Save the rest of the Oreo cookies for later — you’ll need all but two. What you do with those two is up to you, I won’t tell if you won’t!
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For All The Tea Drinkers Out There….How To Make Authentic Chai Tea
December 22, 2012 | 2 Comments » | Topics: Food, How To |
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Damn Awesome Recipe You Need In Your Repertoire: Ragú Bolognese
December 19, 2012 | No Comments » | Topics: Food, How To |
Start with some pancetta
Cured pork is high in both glutamates and inosinates, two chemicals that trigger our sense of savoriness (umami). It’s not always in the dish, but starting with some pancetta (or prosciutto ends) will start you off on the right foot towards building intense meaty flavor. I cook it slowly to render out the fat.
Sauté your sofritto
Carrots, celery, onion, and garlic go into the prosciutto fat to slowly soften. When they’re soft, take them out of the pan but don’t wash it yet!
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How To Feel Well-Rested In The Morning
December 17, 2012 | No Comments » | Topics: How To |
From my own experience, it’s all about giving yourself the right habits:
1. Stop drinking caffeine. Cut it out entirely. Take aspirin for the couple days of headaches. Then when you need it once a month, it will actually be a boost instead of “reset to not drowsy”. Even then, take it (small quantities: tea not soda) in the morning, never in the evening (it has a half life of around 5 hours).
2. Stop making up lost sleep on the weekends, by getting more sleep on the weekdays. Make a schedule and stick to it. Do you need 8 hours of sleep to function? Do you take an hour to fall asleep? Do you need to be up at 7AM? Aim to go to bed at 10PM, every single night of the week. Are you an insomniac who needs 2 hours to fall asleep but only 4 hours of actual sleep to function? Fine! Plan for six (but seriously consider meditation classes for while you’re waiting to fall asleep). You can adjust this as you go but force yourself to lie in bed at that time for a couple weeks until you’re used to it. If your schedule won’t allow this much time set aside for sleep, re-evaluate your life (I used to be an MMORPG addict and now regularly go weeks without playing a game).
3. Stop snoozing / setting multiple alarms. Snooze sleep is not worthy sleep. Set your alarm for the last possible time you can get up (I don’t mean like “not even time to shower” but the last possible time to do your entire morning routine with a little urgency). Then train yourself to get up as soon as it goes off.
4. Regular exercise (any kind of exertion; walking a few miles a day totally counts) is really important, you’re not going to sleep well after an all-day movie/gaming marathon.
5. Light can be more powerful (but shorter lasting) at keeping you awake than caffeine. In the morning get that awakeness you lost giving up caffeine by opening the windows and letting the sun shine in. But you also need to give yourself a sense when it’s getting dark so your body can wind down. Dimmers are cheap and easy to install. Make sure your alarm clock isn’t a beacon of light. Put sticky notes over it if you have to dim it, you shouldn’t be able to read it well in daytime. I use a projection clock because I sleep with my head facing up and I don’t have to move (or mentally wake up) much to read the time from the ceiling at night (it’s unreadable with the bedroom light on).
6. Oh it’s an hour before bed-time and it takes 45 to 90 minutes to play a round of a video game? NO. BAD. Even at 45 minutes that’s a lot of light in your face right before bed. Honestly you’re better off spending that last hour with some human contact (in a low light area) or (at least for me with some self control) on reddit with the enhancement suite’s dark background on.
7. When you do wake up in the middle of the night, keep it simple so you don’t “rev up” your brain to full awakeness. A bathroom nightlight is good, depending on your vision you may need to tape it darker.
8. The bed is for sleeping and sex, nothing else. Pull the reading light and TV out of the bedroom. For that matter, I try to get my sex done in the mornings or day time so she’s not pining for it when I’m trying to sleep. Back to the light thing, I bought blackout curtains and keep mine as dark as possible.
9. Dunno about diet though I generally don’t worry about mine. Do you wake up hungry and then can’t fall back asleep? Eat more non-sugary foods before bed (okay maybe not right before bed but soon enough). Capping the night with a small sugary food can be a digestive aid, but I mean like one cookie.
10. I found myself futily waking up many nights because I was too warm. I then read somewhere that your body temperature naturally goes up at a certain point in your sleep. I bought a programmable thermostat for my central A/C in the summer (apologies if you don’t have this option), and set it to go down two degrees at approximately 2.5 hours before I planned on waking up. It makes a huge difference.
11. Establish boundaries with your bed-mates. If they are disruptive, you can tell pets what to do by locking them out. Humans require a little more negotiation. Let your partner know when you are getting ready for bed “I’m brushing my teeth now” and encourage them to get their pajamas out of the bedroom because you’re going to sleep soon and don’t want them to have to turn on the light. Over time if you’re consistent, your partner will probably end up in bed 5 minutes after you most nights anyway. Noisy neighbors? Get a pack of earplugs and learn how to properly insert them.
12. Don’t ever use any kind of drug to help yourself sleep. Count your alcoholic drinks and switch to water at the appropriate amount of time before your planned bed time. Think of it like planning to have your hangover as you’re falling asleep, and then it never comes. “Passed out” is never the same as “asleep”.
Do most of this and you’ll find yourself calmly waking up just before your alarm, consistently. It’s what works for me, I’m not trying to be demanding I just try to consider them absolute rules to myself. They switched me from a “night person” to a “morning person”.
