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POPSCrixa Cakes (Berkeley) menu The folks at Crixa make some amazing baked goods. I love the Bulochki and Fatima's Thighs. {{Spiritualmonkey}} drools at the mere suggestion of the flourless chocolate cake.
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POPSHow to keep riding through the winter More: * We keep our bags, panniers, tool kits, lights, water bottles, and whatever else, on the bikes and ready to go. * We perform bike maintenance on a regular schedule. This includes topping off tires, charging batteries, lubing chains, and keeping the bikes clean. A flat tire or a squeaky chain is just another unwelcome excuse to take the car. Besides trying to always make riding the convenient choice, we also try to encourage each other when the going’s a little rough. And when we get a break in the weather, we always take the opportunity to go for a joy ride for the sheer pleasure of it, because keeping it enjoyable is probably the best motivator of all.
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POPSUnexploded landmines? Call the HeroRats! More: The cheapness of breeding and maintaining them is further helped by their ability to adapt to a number of environments. Once they are trained the rats seem to actively enjoy performing repetitive tasks and they do not get stressed if their trainers are changed in the way that dogs will. Plus of course – one serious advantage over dogs – they are too light to detonate a mine by themselves if they step on it. A living rat is better than a canine cadaver… The HeroRATS are currently deployed in Mozambique where they have enabled over one thousand families to reclaim their land. They have also helped with clearing areas so that power lines can be passed through – so bringing electricity which would not otherwise have been possible to over ten thousand local citizens. It is hoped that they will soon be deployed to Zambia, Congo and Angola as well, but negotiations are still underway.
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POPSMaking pâte à choux More: The next trick is to focus the oven heat so that most of it comes from the bottom during the early part of the cooking process. Preheat your oven to a medium heat, such as 300 degrees Fahrenheit. When you add the tray of puffs, kick it up to the target temperature (probably 450 or so). With the heating element at the bottom of most ovens, this will light a fire (so to speak) under the puffs and give them a big steam boost, while at the same time keeping the tops relatively moist and flexible so they can expand. As the oven heats, the tops will firm and turn golden brown, at which point you should lower the heat to a more moderate 300 or so to finish cooking the insides without burning the outsides. The insides need to be sufficiently set or else your puffs might collapse when you take them out of the oven, and that’s not a fun date for anyone. Once your puffs have cooled, you can serve them and collect accolades on the spot, or freeze them for later.
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POPSWhy antidepressants don't work for so many people More: The biochemical events that ultimately result in depression actually start in the development and functioning of neurons. "The medications have been focusing on the effect, not the cause," she said. "That's why it takes so long for them to work and why they aren't effective for so many people." Her animal model of depression did not show dramatic differences in the levels of genes controlling neurotransmitters functions. "If depression was related to neurotransmitter activity, we would have seen that," she said. Her findings in depressed rats, she said, are very likely applicable to humans. "The similarities between these regions of the human and rodent brain are remarkable," Redei explained. "The hippocampus and amygdala are part of the so-called ancient lizard brain that controls survival and are the same in even primitive organisms."
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POPSbook review: "Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It" by Karen Solomon
More: The recipes range from simple to complicated. I made rosemary-olive oil crackers and a delicious, garlicky white-bean dip quickly and effortlessly, and served them to rave reviews. But my plans for making bacon were abandoned after reading the first few lines of the recipe. Not only did I need three pounds of pork belly, I also needed liquid smoke or hickory sawdust, and seven to 10 days to get it good and bacon-like. A family brunch in a few days was not going to include bacon made by me. And then there was the s’mores debacle.… the resulting marshmallows were flat and lumpy. I apologized as I distributed them to my family and proclaimed that I would never, ever make marshmallows again. But the marshmallows melted perfectly. They browned on top, crackled as you bit into them, and oozed sticky, slinky strings of marshmallow over graham crackers, chocolate, and fingers. Everyone loved them. By the end of the weekend, I was actually thinking I might do it again.
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POPSIn search of well-fitting, attractive women's pants WITH POCKETS More: You have to call rather than web-order because there aren't many left, but the customer service reps are awesome. They will help you get a great-fitting pant. If that doesn't suit you, you can browse their current offerings in dress pants: http://tinyurl.com/yjhdj9k Lands End is superb in quality and I buy 80% of my clothes from them. I suggest you buy a number of pants in different cuts, figure out which ones you like, then order multiple copies of the right ones. (And return the others; it's free at a Sears store, or you can mail them back and pay the postage.) I have never been sorry to have multiple pairs of something I liked. (also, noting previous comments: Lands End is great for odd-sized dress clothes for women, like jackets for women with bigger arms from weightlifting. Maybe worth investigating those too.)
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POPSvideo: The Moscow Cat Circus Neat!!! If I ever visit Moscow, I definitely want to go see these folks and their cats. Of course, realizing that my own two could be earning their own cat food if they wanted to, but no... :lol:
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POPSChicago Welcomes You: Helping a unique immigrant community adjust to life in the US More: The problem is that a process that was designed for, say, German Jews fleeing to America during World War II or political prisoners escaping Castro’s Cuba is now expected to work for immigrants who may never have seen a streetlight, cooked on a stove, used a toilet that isn’t a hole in the ground or handled any type of currency. Booklets and handouts provided by governmental agencies are too simplistic to be illuminating. And the Karen are more likely than previous refugee groups to be illiterate in their own myriad and distinct languages… Chicago Welcomes You, a venture to develop a kit of bilingual orientation materials…The kit includes a 94-page book, a set of 29 ring-bound activity cards and an illustrated storybook… The book and activity cards are broadly organized into chapters covering health, safety, housing and so on, and are designed for both organized and ad-hoc learning experiences with volunteers.
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