If you’re holding a recipe that’s speaking about butter in terms of pounds and cups, you may be left scratching your head. Butter comes in sticks—or blocks, depending on where you live—but definitely not cups. Plus, it’s a solid, not a liquid, so measuring cups aren’t much help. So how do you measure butter in terms of cups, tablespoons, and sticks? And how can you convert butter measurements into something you easily understand?...
Dahlias appear in a sea of blooms in myriad shapes, sizes, and colors. Available in innumerable hybrid species, dahlias are tender perennials that grow from tuberous roots. Dahlias need to be dug up and stored over the winter in the Upper and Middle South (USDA Zones 6 and 7), but they can stay in the year-round ground further south. Dahlia fanciers divide them into many classes based on flower form. Blooms come in all colors except true blue, range from two to 12 inches wide, and are great for cutting....
Be honest – you just came home from the market with a basket of beautiful, fresh apples and you are craving a spice-scented, fresh-out-of-the-oven apple pie, right? But you just don’t want to peel all those apples and you don’t feel like making a pie crust. Unless Mom is willing to make a pie for you, the next best thing for you to do is to make a dish of baked apples....
It’s never a good feeling to lose something valuable, but it’s especially disappointing when you leave something behind on the plane. We’ve all been there. You tuck your iPod, book, or electronic device into the pocket of the seat in front of you and drift off to sleep. By the time the flight attendant gives her usual departure announcement and passengers race ahead of you to collect their bags from the overhead bin, you’ve completely forgotten about the device you left behind amid all the chaos....
Yesterday was a big day for the city of Los Angeles with the Rams clenching their second-ever Super Bowl title, but it also marked a groundbreaking win for the deaf community. For the first time in its 56-year history, all of the Super Bowl’s musical performances were made inclusive to the deaf community through ASL performers. Sandra Mae Frank, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, contributed to the historic moment as the featured ASL performer accompanying Mickey Guyton’s amazing rendition of the National Anthem, as well as Jhene Aiko’s performance of “America the Beautiful”....
Kevin Cate was at a Waffle House in Midway, Florida, recently when he spotted a customer doing something strange. The man was sitting in a booth by himself and packaging cash with handwritten notes. Cate, a political writer and filmmaker, asked him what he was doing. The unidentified man explained that he’s been handing out money (in the form of one and five dollar bills) to strangers since 2014. So far he’s given away more than $13,000 to random people he meets at Waffle House and elsewhere....
Mardi Gras 2019 is fast approaching. Before this Tuesday, March 5th arrives, brush up on the holiday’s interesting history and some fun trivia. 1. Mobile is the birthplace of Mardi Gras. First things first, the beloved tradition was actually born in Mobile, Alabama, though many associate it with New Orleans. Mobile first celebrated Mardi Gras in 1703, with the party really heating up in 1831. 2. Mardi Gras’ purple, green, and gold colors have special meaning....
I’m a little ashamed to admit it, but there have been a handful of times when I grabbed the recipe box my mother passed down to me, selected one of her specialties, and bought all of the ingredients—only to realize I didn’t have the proper bakeware to actually make the dish. There was the time I forced a round pie crust into a square brownie pan, and the time I prepped everything to make my mom’s eggplant parmesan but didn’t have a large enough pan to bake it in the oven (and that’s just to name a few)....
Something must have happened to make me this way. I must have wandered away from my mother in a crowded Kmart long ago and been swept away in a crush of wild-eyed, frenzied shoppers before my mom reclaimed me somewhere between the ladies’ unmentionables and the layaway. Anyway, I’ve never understood last-minute Christmas shoppers, though I admit I’ve mostly witnessed them from afar. I don’t like to get too close. I wonder if they might be a little crazy to wait so late....
When you clean your kitchen, daily to-dos like wiping down countertops, doing the dishes, taking out the trash, and sweeping the floors are expected. But stuck-on food, grime, and limescale can build up in your large and countertop kitchen appliances. The good news is, there’s a way to make it easier: this $11 appliance brush set that can deep clean everything from your kitchen gadgets to your sink and stove....
The U.S. Department of Agriculture likes to keep up on all the latest trends in crops, and sometimes those trends go back hundreds of years. Such is the case with South Carolina’s famed Sea Island White Flint corn, which has been a staple in households for decades, but only recently caught the attention of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service. Last month, they requested a sample of the Sea Island White Flint Corn for a researcher who is trying to figure out how to improve white corn’s flavor....
If you’ve ever watched your grandmother or mother set a glass jar filled with tea bags on the back patio to heat up in the summer sun, you’re familiar with sun tea. It’s no secret that we love an ice-cold glass of the stuff on a hot day, and this old-school method is one of our favorite ways to make it. Rather than boiling water on the stove, this nostalgic way of brewing tea harnesses the power of the sun instead....
Thanks to seemingly limitless numbers of coffee shops, corner cafes, and even rolling carts, you can easily pick up a cup of joe at just about any time throughout your day for an extra boost of energy. And while the couple of dollars you shell out for each iced coffee and cappuccino doesn’t seem like a lot, it can quickly add up. This is just one of the many reasons you may want to consider buying an affordable coffee maker for your home....
There’s always a race to the finish line when you bring home a big batch of fresh vegetables and fruit from the farmers’ market or grocery store. Before you know it, it’s the end of the week, and you have rotting asparagus and cilantro in the refrigerator. The plums? Forget about it! They were bruised and mushy days ago. Different fruits and vegetables call for different approaches to ensure they stay fresh for as long as possible....
Over the past few years, the focus on natural beauty and minimal makeup has become more popular than in the past when wearing a full face of matte foundation was the daily norm. Skin and makeup products that work to enhance and subtly boost your features now beat out those that try to conceal and hide them, which is great news for anyone in the South facing hot and humid days for most of the year....
If you can’t imagine traveling without Fido, Visit North Carolina wants to make your travels in the Old North State a step above the rest: The state’s official travel-planning destination has hired its first dog travel agent, Mo, a rescue pup from Charlotte. Selected from a pool of more than 500 candidates, Mo will offer travelers firsthand reports on DogTravelAgent.com. The sweet dog boasts nearly 40 (canine) years of “field work” experience all around the state....
You may think your dog has an extraordinary memory. After all, he knows what time dinner is served, when he should go get his leash for a walk, and he seems to fondly remember relatives when they come for a visit every year. “What we do know, is that for the most part, dogs have a short-term memory of about two minutes,” says Dr. Finn. Dogs have what we call associative and episodic memory....
No matter the season, fish is always a healthy homemade meal option. Whether your fish recipe calls for pan-frying a whole fish and serving with a smear of tartar sauce or a simple one-pan bake, the meal options are endless. However, before you actually make your fish fillets, where should you store the raw fish in your refrigerator? More so, what food safety precautions should you take as the head home chef?...
They say that everything is bigger in Texas and that certainly rings true for the homecoming corsages doled out in the state. When homecoming rolls around in most of the South teenagers may tentatively slip a pink ranunculus, white calla lily, or perfect rose onto the wrist of their date or carefully pin a delicate arrangement on to a sparkling dress. In Texas, though, there’s only one traditional option—a mum. Mums started out as a simple corsage made up of chrysanthemums, the classic flower of fall, with just a flower or two and perhaps a few ribbons....
Feed Shrubs & Lawns Fertilize spring-blooming shrubs such as azaleas, rhododendrons, lilacs, and forsythias after they finish blooming. Use a tree-and-shrub product at the rate specified on the label. If you haven’t yet fertilized your warm-season grass (Bermuda, St. Augustine, or zoysia), do so at this time. Sow Your Veggies Now that the soil has warmed, it’s okay to sow seeds of vegetables that love hot weather. These include beans, corn, melons, okra, eggplants, tomatoes, and squash....
