http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain

(Image credit: The Lovely Drawer)

From Apartment Therapy → A Dozen DIYs for a Badass Kitchen on a Budget

READ MORE »

http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain

Open Cooking Lesson

A briny bite of cold, tender shrimp wrapped in tart, spicy cocktail sauce is what shrimp cocktail dreams are made of. Well, that and a dry Martini. This classic cocktail-hour appetizer is nothing more than cold cooked shrimp served with a spicy, tangy, tomato-based sauce for dipping.

Making shrimp cocktail and classic cocktail sauce at home (rather than grabbing that deli platter) guarantees that you’ll have plump, juicy shrimp and cocktail sauce with just the right amount of pizzazz.

Perfect shrimp cocktail comes down to nailing a few key points: Buy the right shrimp, steam and chill the shrimp quickly, and make classic cocktail sauce (which only requires one extra-special ingredient). Shrimp cocktail looks fancy, but it is a fast and flavorful recipe you’ll want to know by heart.

READ MORE »

http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain

There are two types of people in this world: Those who get excited about a salad, and those who don’t. I have my feet firmly planted in the former category, and one particularly indulgent version I can never resist is an iceberg wedge.

Maybe it’s the crispness of the lettuce, or the creaminess of the dressing. Or, let’s face it, it’s probably just the delicious, super-indulgent bacon. While it’s hard to believe there’s a way to improve upon the classic, there is one thing you can do when making wedges at home.

Want to know the secret?

READ MORE »

http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain

There are three main cocoa varieties that are used in the production of your favorite chocolate, and the easiest way to understand the difference between them is through an analogy to various members of the band NSYNC. Let me explain.

The first thing you’ll learn in the geeky chocolate world is that this type of cacao called Criollo really rocks your body. You can’t stop the feeling because it’s a sexyback, smooth ride of chocolate deliciousness.

Criollo is to cacao as Justin Timberlake is to NSYNC: He’s awesome, and everyone thinks he’s the best so they often forget about the other guys in the group (or, er, genome).

READ MORE »

http://www.thealternativedaily.com/

[…]

http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain

Celebrating Valentine’s Day over breakfast can be a special thing. Even if you’re getting the kids ready for school or heading out at dawn for an early work meeting, a special breakfast can still happen. You can make it even more special if lingering is possible!

So instead of going out to dinner, start with a rosé Champagne cocktail and whip up something special like a roasted radish and herbed ricotta omelet. Or maybe it’s just a really gorgeous piece of avocado toast. The point is to make a little fuss over breakfast. It’s a charming way to sweeten your day.

READ MORE »

http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain

Raw chicken breast meat is usually a pale shade of lightly translucent pink. But if you’ve been paying attention to the meat you buy, then chances are you’ve occasionally noticed a few extra white stripes on your protein. While seemingly harmless, an animal welfare group is advising consumers to be wary of chicken with “white striping” present, reports Buzzfeed.

READ MORE »

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/

We’re a little more than a month out from New Year’s, and most people have abandoned their resolution efforts. Gyms are emptying out; the squat rack is free again. Cars are piling up in the drive-thrus, the farmer’s markets are noticeably emptier. Was it all for naught? Are the grand visions, the big plans, the lofty resolutions really going to culminate in a sad sputter…a fizzle? Will one-time optimists resign themselves to just another personal failing, another reason to slink back into despair? If January is about hope and ambition, what’s the lesson for February?

I’m not surprised. It happens every time, and it’s caused by our dysfunctional relationship to self-improvement.

Wait, what? Isn’t self-improvement a good thing?

Sure. Improving your health, happiness, life purpose, fitness, body composition, business, and/or relationships is undeniably a good thing. And there are dozens of reputable sources of information to help you make right changes—and make them stick. There’s a lot of good advice and inspiration out there.

In fact, there are now so many life coaches, dietary gurus, lifestyle designers, and other self-improvement professionals that you could probably sign up for a free introductory half-hour coaching session every single day for the rest of your life and never run out.

How many of us are actually heeding the advice from the experts and applying it to our own lives, though? If self-improvement seems like such an obvious virtue, why isn’t everyone doing it all the time?

It’s hard, for one. It often involves discomfort and requires that we relinquish our grip on convenience.

It means placing our immediate desires on hold for future rewards. It’s declining the cake today for the visible abs next month.

But there are also two other more pernicious impediments to our self-improvement that you might not be aware of. If we want to make any real changes, we have to address them.

Imagine you’re scrolling your Twitter feed, “liking” every inspirational quote that hits you just so, redirecting every book recommendation from trusted personalities into an Amazon wish-list you’ll never actually buy anything from, emailing yourself a particularly poignant TEDx talk that, at the time, you swear will change the way you look at the world.

Or maybe you’re listening to the latest episode of a guru’s podcast and the guest discusses her daily morning routine. You’re touched, you’re moved, you text a quick summary to a friend, and you resolve to adopt elements of it yourself. You jot down the gist, shove it into your “Things to Ponder” Evernote notebook, and promptly forget it ever existed.

Most people treat self-improvement like a spectator sport. They enjoy the feeling of being energized and excited about the prospect of real change and real improvements. When they’re reading the books, listening to the podcasts, scrolling through the Twitter feeds, watching the TED talks, consuming the content, they feel like they’re taking the first step toward self-improvement. It feels like a victory, and whenever we feel like we won or achieved something, we get a hit of dopamine. Dopamine perpetuates the action that initially triggered its secretion, which is why we can get addicted to dopaminergic drugs like caffeine, tobacco, and cocaine. But if we never take the second, third, fourth, or fiftieth steps, we never go anywhere real.

Consuming self-improvement content sure does feel productive. It tricks you into thinking you’ve just accomplished something. You have to keep going. Most don’t.

It’s totally normal to fail at self-improvements. Setbacks happen. And they’re not very fun, especially compared to that initial burst of inspiration when the dopamine is flowing and you’re imagining all the improvements you’ll make, all the work you’ll get done, all the productivity barriers you’ll hurdle. For a moment, you’re in the promised land. You’re doing things. That feels good. When it’s gone, replaced by the harsh reality that you failed to take the next step, it feels extra bad. That’s why self-help books are so popular, and new ones keep being published: when people read one and it doesn’t work, they move on to the next one. And there’s always a next one.

Which brings me to the second major problem: they react poorly to their initial failure. They give up. Instead of using the setback as motivation to never let it happen again, they just get down on themselves—”I’m a failure, and I’ll never be anything else,” For Grok’s sake, how about showing some compassion for yourself?

This is called self-compassion. It sounds fluffy. New-agey. But it works.

• In one recent study, scientists found that coaching subjects to accept, confront, and show compassion to themselves for their failures increased subsequent willingness to improve their weaknesses. Compared to students practicing self-esteem, subjects who practiced self-compassion were more compelled to make amends after moral transgressions, spend more time studying for a hard test they’d already failed, and improve upon their weaknesses.
• Another study found that practicing self-compassion led people to make healthier food choices.
• Self-compassion mitigated the stultifying effects of regret.
• Self-compassion promoted more self-improvement. Self-esteem promoted less.

This makes perfect sense. You accept your mistakes and move forward, because where else can you go? Self-esteem meanwhile feels artificial and forced, probably because it is. Esteem should emerge from estimable acts and successes, not be tacked on to failures.

According to the researcher who discovered the power of self-compassion, we’re really dealing with three main points:

• Self-kindness: Being as nice and understanding to yourself as you would to someone else.
• Common humanity: We’re all in this together, and everyone else either is hurting or has been hurt. You’re not alone.
• Mindfulness: Observing reality without judgement.

In other words, talk to yourself the way you’d talk to any friend, loved one, or child who was also hurting. What would you say—literally? Say it to yourself, too.

Self-compassion isn’t about lulling us into stagnancy. It allows us to continually come at life—and our goals—from a place of intactness. Why give energy to a denigrating voice? It only divides you against yourself—a waste if you ask me. Self-compassion reintegrates us. We’re stronger, more solid, and more patient as a result.

Then we’re able to bring real resilience to our self-development aims. We’re not dependent on the string of motivational fixes from outside sources. We’re not moved to abandon an effort when we lose our footing. We accept the process insomuch as we accept ourselves in it. And that’s the real starting point for success.

Thanks for reading, everybody. Share your thoughts, and have a great day.

The post The Problem with Self-Improvement Culture (and What To Do About It) appeared first on Mark’s Daily Apple.

http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain

This month we partnered with the Astrotwins to reveal the ways your zodiac sign informs your chocolate preferences. According to the Astrotwins, “Each zodiac sign has a distinct set of personality traits — and believe it or not, there’s a chocolate recipe out there to match every horoscope sign.”

You’ve got a sensitive palate, Cancer, which means you crave intense flavors that give you pleasure. Something like a dark chocolate pot de crème fits these needs because it’s delightfully rich. You’re someone who appreciates decadence and comfort. Here are five sweet chocolate treats that appeal to your zodiac sign.

READ MORE »

http://www.thekitchn.com/feedburnermain

The Girl Scouts are going all out to celebrate their 100th anniversary of selling cookies. This year they debuted two new s’mores cookies to much delight, they partnered with Society 6 to make Girl Scout Cookie-flavored gum, and now they’ve released the first ever Girl Scout cookie recipe from 1922.

When the Girl Scouts originally sold cookies, they baked the cookies themselves. The first cookie sale was in 1917 from the Mistletoe Troop in Muskogee, Oklahoma, where the troop sold cookies at a local high school for a service project.

READ MORE »